Assistant Principals

From Mrs Stathatos

Curriculum Day- July 27th

Successful workplaces invest time and resources into their staff and so we arrive at a day that is significant for the Maroondah Secondary Schools Partnership. Accordingly, our Curriculum Day brings together staff from 5 schools in the Maroondah region to learn further about the topic of Differentiation. The Department of Education has highlighted Differentiation as a high impact teaching strategy, hence our attention to it. Unlike previous years, where consultants have spoken to staff, this year we have practising teachers and leaders in the field of differentiation taking us through strategies that can be applied to lessons. Professional development of staff is an important aspect of their continuous learning and of providing quality teaching to students.

Parent Student Teacher Interviews- August 29

Parent Student Teacher Interviews will take place on Wednesday 29th of August 12pm-8pm in the Junior School building and the Library. It is a terrific opportunity to meet with teachers about student progress at this stage of the year and especially for directions about revision and study before the VCE examinations for Year 12 students.  Our continued support of student learning will be evident by the progress reports that will be available to families prior to the interviews. The progress reports will focus on Learning Behaviours of students as well as academic progress. A poster on the Learning Behaviours is attached. The poster is designed by Arts Prefect, Lily Joslin- Boyle, and is being put up in learning spaces around the school. 

Further information about booking interviews online will be announced in the next newsletter.

Instructional Model

Increasingly staff are using the GANAG model of instructional practice to organise their lessons. By having knowledge about the different phases of a lesson, parents can talk to their children about the learning they are doing in class. The GANAG model follows the following schema:

G for Goal or Learning Intention

A for Accessing prior knowledge

N for New information

A for Applying new information

G for Goal Summary or Success Criteria

Students have the Learning Intention for their lessons made visible to them.

Reading Strategies for improved understanding

 A Community of Practice which has been formed to support the reading of non- fiction texts for junior students, is making terrific recommendations and providing guidance about developing the skill of reading. There has been a concerted effort to create questions and sentence stems to promote metacognitive reading comprehension. These include the following: Predict- What can we look at to give us clues about the type of text we’re about to read? What type of text do we think it is? How do we know? Make connections- What have we already learned on this topic? What skills are we going to need to use? What do you think this might add to what we have already learned? This is similar to… We are equipping our students with the tools they need to improve their reading comprehension.

Many events that are taking place in the next fortnight including award ceremonies, the college production, the Victorian schools music festival, subject competitions and more. We wish the best of luck to all students participating and competing in these events.

Eleni Stathatos

Assistant Principal

From Mr Barut

Welcome back to all our students and families.

I am sure that the mid year break gave everyone an opportunity to recharge and refocus on what needs to be completed for the rest of the year.

This term is very, very busy, notwithstanding the importance of the teaching and learning program, but, indeed, the plethora of activities that our students are involved in.

As I write this piece, I have just returned from the Year 8 Wellbeing Day at Croydon. The place is buzzing! Students are working through activities that have a focus on Positive Education - Respectful Relationships, understanding themselves as people, The Law and even a session on doing push ups and lifting weights! A huge thank you to the Junior School team, the Wellbeing team and all the teaching staff that are attending and assisting with the running of these very important days.

On another note, subject selection for 2019 is upon us – students from Year 9 onwards will be focussing on honing their subject selections, as their learning interests are piqued by curriculum offerings.

There will be several information nights coming up, so please keep an eye on Compass, as these nights unfold in the next few weeks.

Today marks the Middle School Academic Award recipient afternoon, where 92 students across Years 9 and 10 will be acknowledged for their excellent academic achievements thus far – congratulations to those recipients.

On August 1st, it will be the Junior School’s turn, as we celebrate our exemplary academic achievers in Years 7 and 8.

James Barut

Assistant Principal

From Mrs Allison

Welcome back!

Despite the bitter cold weather, all students have been keen to catch up with each other and are settling well into study for this semester. It is a very important time of the year for students, especially senior students to reflect on their semester one performance, and to focus on developing strategies for improved effort and attitude to study. Parent teacher interviews will be held on August 19th. This is a great opportunity for parents to meet with teachers and discuss their son/daughter’s progress.

Wellbeing days

In the last week of Term 2, all Year 8 students participated in a Wellbeing day, held at EV’s in Croydon, that focused on healthy relationships. The sessions provided students with an awareness of health issues and appropriate management strategies. Thank you to the Wellbeing team and other staff who organised and/or supervised activities on the day.

Roadside safety

It is important for students to understand that crossing roads, especially busy roads like Great Ryrie St and Bedford Road, require careful monitoring of traffic flow. Please use designated crossings or select safe places to cross, rather than running behind buses or in front of cars. Parents, could you please remind your son or daughter about correct roadside procedures to ensure their ongoing safety.

The Addams Family Musical Production Camp

Last week, I visited the musical production camp and was so impressed with the energy and high motivation of all students. This camp is a culmination of long hours of hard work since early this year resulting in great teamwork. A special thank you is extended to all music, drama, dance and other attending staff for their dedication to this wonderful program. I would encourage you to purchase tickets to the show before they sell out!

Wellbeing Focus: Positive language

Maslow’s ’hierarchy of needs’ states that in order for child to self-actualise they need to experience a sense of belonging and esteem. Building confidence in children is very important, as this is the key for coping with difficult situations and problems in life.

Through the use of positive language, parents will help develop a child’s self-efficacy and improve their ability to build positive relationships. Children can be encouraged or dispirited, so a focus should be on a child’s strengths rather than their weaknesses.

Lea Waters, in her most recently published book ‘The Strength Switch’, encourages parents to ‘flick the strength switch’ to build resilience, self-esteem and optimism in children. Waters, states that a positive approach enhances self-esteem and energy in children and teenagers, through discovering their strengths and talents using positive emotions as the resource. Bringing out the best in children, through positive language, will also assist us in being the best version of ourselves.

Maria Allison

Assistant Principal