Principal's Update
Dear Families, Students and Community Members,
Outstanding VCE results and DUX 2018
This year we have achieved the best VCE results in the school’s history -16% of ATARs over 90, 9.8% of study scores in the 40s and a median study score of 30. This is a truly outstanding set of results and a credit to all staff and students who have all worked so hard to achieve so much, not only this year but over the course of the six year journey for these students.
Congratulations to all of our Year 12 students who received their results last Friday. They can be very proud of their achievements. Special mention in this newsletter must go to our very high achievers. First of all our Dux for 2018, Sabrina Berg, who achieved an ATAR of 99.3, an absolutely sensational result. Sabrina is in the top 1% of the state and she plans to study for a Bachelor of Science Advanced - Global Challenges (Honours) at Monash University. I would also like to congratulate Angus Macpherson for achieving an ATAR of 99.03. He is also in the top 1% of the state and plans to study physiotherapy at Latrobe University. Annie Ea achieved an ATAR of 98.95 and two perfect study scores of 50 for English and Health & Human Development. This is another wonderful achievement and Annie plans to study Pharmacy or Physiotherapy at Monash University. Tessa Love achieved an ATAR of 98.2 (in the top 2% of the state) and plans to study Arts at Melbourne University. Mikayla Begent achieved an ATAR of 97.25 (in the top 3% in the state) and plans to study Chemical Engineering and Pharmaceutical Science at Monash University. Bailey Bocksette achieved an ATAR of 96.45 (in the top 4% of the state) and plans to study Physiotherapy at Monash. Naena Good-Jackson achieved an ATAR of 96.45 (in the top 4% of the state) and plans to study Arts at Melbourne University. Alex Vujicic achieved an ATAR of 90.2 (in the top 10% of the state) and plans to study International Business/Arts at Monash.
We held a results celebration morning tea on Monday for all our Year 12 teachers and students.
While we celebrate individual student success stories, it is important to remind everyone that your final ATAR score does not define you as a person. In the end it is a rank for tertiary admission. It won’t necessarily determine where you will go in the future or how happy you will be. All students should feel proud of their efforts and be satisfied that they have given their personal best.
Awards Night
Our annual Awards Night held at the City of Kingston Town Hall in Moorabbin on Thursday 13 December was such a wonderful celebration of achievement of Personal Best. We had the opportunity to celebrate student successes in a variety of areas such as Academic Excellence, Achievement Endeavour, the Arts &Technology, Sport and Community Involvement. High quality entertainment was also provided by students in the areas of Music and Dance. It was also a most significant occasion for our Year 12 students. All students were presented on stage in academic gowns to celebrate the achievements of the graduating class with the entire school community. It was wonderful to welcome back our Dux from 2017, Jemima Cleaver. She gave a fantastic speech reflecting on her time at Mordialloc College and the past year studying for her Arts degree at Melbourne University. Our School Captains, Sabrina Berg and Bailey Bocksette, were our MCs for the night. They did a terrific job and they gave very thoughtful and inspiring speeches.
At Awards Night, there are many prizes awarded on the night. Students are nominated by their teachers at the end of each semester and this can be in one or more categories: Academic Excellence -The ‘Academic Excellence’ award is bestowed upon students who have demonstrated outstanding academic results within a subject. They have consistently worked above the expected level and/or have achieved a B or an A (in relation to Victorian Curriculum Achievement levels) on their reports where possible. At VCE level students need to be consistently attaining High or Very High on all assessments; Achievement Endeavour - The ‘Achievement-Endeavour’ award is awarded to students in recognition of consistent efforts made to strive for their personal best. They have demonstrated academic progress within a subject and have made significant improvements to reach their learning goals; and Community Service - The ‘Community Service’ award is awarded to students from across each year level who have served the College in a particular way. For example participation in a variety of school activities as determined on an annual basis such as SRC, House Athletics, House Swimming, School Production, subject competitions, contribution to the College magazine, participation in open night, primary school visits, etc.
Unfortunately, given the size of our school we can’t recognise all students at the Awards Night presentation and thus we have set criteria for each year level (how many nominations they must receive) to be invited on the night. Therefore invitees are the top performing students in their year level. All other students who were nominated by their teachers for an award will have received these academic or achievement certificates last Friday in class. They should still be very proud of their positive work ethic and achievements this year.
This year we introduced a new award category – Dux of each year level based on close examination of achievement data over the year. The Dux for each year level was only revealed on the night, therefore students weren’t named in the program.
Congratulations to the following students:
Anna Kuppe Dux of Year 7
Timothy Whitford – Dux of Year 8
Victoria Vasilenko – Dux of Year 9
Noreigh Zuniga – Dux of Year 10
Eleni Hatzis – Dux of Year 11
My thanks must go to Laura Gorman and Peter Walters for all their work putting the evening together for us, to my teaching staff who all had an allocated role on the night to ensure the effective running of this significant event and to Catherine Boulton in the office who worked tirelessly behind the scenes on the administration. To see the list of all award recipients please click on the link below.
Orientation Day
All our new students starting next year in Year 7 enjoyed Orientation Day last Tuesday - making new friends, becoming more familiar with the College and getting to know the Year 7 teaching team. My thanks to all staff involved in running or supporting these programs, especially our Year 7 Coordinator Liz Evans and Director of Middle School Daniel Williams. As in previous years, we also ran a special transition program the previous week over two days for students in Grade 6 identified as at risk in transitioning to secondary school. This was organised and led by our wellbeing team (Di Douglas, Lana Paten and Ann Marsh), supported by our wonderful Year 10 Peer Support student leaders. This program is so important in ensuring Orientation Day isn’t too daunting for these students and, of course, the start of the following year is smooth.
Staffing 2019
Next year we have a few staff taking leave without pay, going on family leave or relocating and, with our increase in enrolments, a number of new teachers have been employed.
Leaving/Taking Leave
Joe Shanahan – Senior Humanities – taking 12 months LWOP to work at Trinity Grammar
Kate Daly – English – relocating to Adelaide with her family
Amelia Hargreaves – Maths/Science - went on family leave during Headstart, returns in 2020
Ariana Nickou – Maths/Science - family leave for 2019 to have her first child
Liz Evans – Maths/Science - family leave for 2019 to have her first child
Jane Jamieson – Careers – taking 12 months LWOP to work at Sandringham College
Michael Follent – Guitar - resigning his position to pursue other interests overseas
Returning/New
Emily Court – Art/Technology – returns from 12 months leave
Kathryn Bevan – Media/Drama/Food – returns from 3 terms leave
Liz Commons – Maths/Science – returned during Headstart from family leave, working 0.6 (job sharing with Alana Singh who is 0.4)
Beth Glover – Middle School assistant returns from family leave
Alison Stansby – who was