Principal's Report

David Reynolds - College Principal

Building Academic Practices and Progress

We are more than half-way through Term Two and after our Whole School Assembly focus on Ambition it has been good to see students applying this to their work. There are currently 727 STARR Awards recorded for this STARR Value and with four more weeks to go, students are well on their way to exceeding this year's  Term One total of 844. 

Students and parents will see further changes in coming weeks with Compass Learning Tasks as all key assessment tasks are entered onto this portal so that students and parents have access. A teacher team is currently working on improving our approach to providing students with feedback about their learning using Learning Tasks. More information on this will be available later in the term.

I am continually appreciative of the work that parents to support their children's progress at school. All of us struggle from time to time learning complex and difficult new things. When this is combined with adolescence the struggles can sometimes seem overwhelming for students.  A strong partnership between parents and the college allows us to help students work through difficult times and make sure they stay on track with their learning.

With this partnership in place, academic success is lifted substantially by positive relationships and high quality teaching and learning in the classroom.

At Melton SC we are investing substantial resources into building our teachers' professional knowledge and skills so that they can create the best lessons and climate for learning for our students. Teaching is not an exact science any more than parenting is, but we know that if we keep the needs of students at the centre of our work and continually improve our practice we will see positive results.

This year teachers have been working steadily in professional learning teams (PLTs) to develop curriculum and plan teaching using the latest evidence-based techniques. They are also working with teachers from other schools. By the end of this term alone, Melton SC teacher teams will have worked with multiple schools including our neighbouring primary schools and secondary schools across Melton and Brimbank. 

It is great to see that Melton SC is gaining the attention of other schools and the Department of Education with several teams visiting us in the past term alone keen to learn about our approaches.

New Administration Building Official Opening

It is always great to welcome the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education James Merlino and member for Melton Steve McGhie to our college. Last Thursday week we were especially pleased to welcome them to open our new administration building which is part of the Melton Secondary College and Melton Specialist School precinct development. School Captains, Akuol Akok and Tahlia Medley (pictured above) did a magnificent job guiding our guests through the new building and talking about the plans for future development before heading over the the Melton Specialist School for the official ribbon cutting. 

Western Bulldogs Goal Mentoring Program 

Thirteen Melton SC students took part in the GOAL Mentoring Program over the past six months and attended the graduation ceremony at Whitten Oval last week to have their achievement acknowledged. The Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Richard Wynn and member for Melton Steve McGhie presented each student with an award certificate and a Western Bulldogs hoodie jumper. Also in attendance were some of the Western Bulldogs AFL and AFLW players who took on mentoring roles during the program.   It was a very proud moment for students, their parents and the college.

An article that was published in The Age newspaper about this great program is linked below.

School Council Parent vacancies

The School Council currently has vacancies for three parent members to join the current team of students, parents and staff. For School Council to operate effectively we need enough parents to attend to form a quorum. With three parent vacancies this is very difficult which makes it harder for council to make decisions that reflect the views of all sections of the community.

Being a School Council member requires that you attend one meeting each month. In return you get a free dinner, friendly conversation and an opportunity to help your child's school.

If you are interested in joining council, please contact Virginia 

Long Service Leave

For the next four weeks I will be on leave. My wife and I are travelling to England and the Scottish highlands where we will do some scenic countryside walking and enjoy the sights of London. In my absence, Alan Devine will be acting principal. See you in Term Three!