Principal Team Report
February 2023
Principal Team Report
February 2023
Dear MC Community,
It’s hard to believe that our first week of the 2023 school year is already drawing to a close.
Vale Andrew Holt
Our whole college community is mourning the loss of our Year 11 student Andrew Holt. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends at this difficult time.
Students, staff and families are reminded that support is available at the college – please reach out.
Year 7
Our thanks to Year 7 Level Coordinator Laura Chiappa and her team of Year 7 teachers who inducted our new Year 7 students so successfully on Tuesday morning. By recess they were ready to head off to their first formal classes. We now look forward to their camp at Toolangi in Week 2 and the Year 7 Family BBQ & Music Night on Thursday 16 February.
Leadership Assembly
Today we held our Leadership Assembly, where we welcomed our Year 7s, acknowledged our Year 12s with their special badges, and presented our student leaders with their badges of office. Photos of the event will be published in the next edition of Links.
School Council Elections
We will publish details of the School Council Election process via Compass Newsfeed next week. Community members with questions should contact the principal, Harry Ruff, at the college on 9874 3422.
The 2023 Mullauna College Leadership Team and the Student Management & Wellbeing Team
In the tables below, we have summarised for your information these two critical college teams. I look forward to working with them, and all other staff, both Education Support and Teachers, in order to deliver the best possible experience for our students at Mullauna College in 2023. At the core of our work will be Learning & Teaching, aimed at maximising the wellbeing, engagement and learning achievement outcomes of our students, through the broad range of classroom and co-curricular programs we offer. We will achieve this best when families support us in our work, and keep us informed of issues that are having an impact on their children.
The Mullauna Leadership Team in 2023:
Harry RUFF | Principal
| |
Jeff McMILLIN | Assistant Principal | Resources, Transition and Community Partnerships; Student Services. |
Michael BRAY | Assistant Principal | Learning & Teaching and college operations.
|
Naomi JALLAIS | Learning Specialist
| Classroom practice, English as an Additional Language (EAL) and pre-service teachers |
Nathan HUGHES | Learning Specialist | Staff induction, VIT (teacher registration), classroom practice and professional learning |
Jacquie BRUSH | Leading Teacher – Learning & Teaching | Learning & Teaching, Assessment & Reporting, and Professional Learning.
|
Monique CHISHOLM | Leading Teacher – Student Learning Performance
| Student Learning Performance (data analysis) and whole-school Literacy |
Daniella TAGLIERI
| Leading Teacher - Student Development | Student Management and Wellbeing; college timetable |
The Student Management and Wellbeing Team in 2023
POSITION | NAME |
Assistant Principal – Student Services | Jeff McMILLIN |
Leading Teacher – Director of Student Development | Daniella TAGLIERI |
Head of Senior School and Year 12 Coordinator | Penny NEVILL |
Year 11 Coordinator | Rebecca KIMM |
Year 10 Coordinator | Amanda LEAHY |
Head of Junior School | Lisa LARMOUR |
Year 9 Coordinator | Anthony LAM |
Year 8 Coordinator | Kathy HALPIN |
Year 7 Coordinator | Laura CHIAPPA |
Transition Coordinator | Jeff McMILLIN |
Careers and Pathways Coordinator | Nik SMITH |
Student Wellbeing Coordinator | Erin BRIEDIS |
Mental Health Practitioner – Social Worker | Bernie O’HALLORAN |
Adolescent Health Nurse Educator | Natalie KEARNEY |
VCE Accountability sessions – Wednesdays in Period 5
One critical task parents can undertake to support their child’s learning is to ensure that all homework and any required tasks are completed and submitted in a timely manner. Last Wednesday, we conducted our first accountability session for VCE students who had not completed required work by the due date; in this case, it was work set during last year’s Headstart program in preparation for classes this year. Staff will continue to refer students to these weekly sessions to ensure progression in their learning.
College Tours
One college program is already planning for 2024, with our regular Friday morning tours commencing this week. Please refer to the website for more details and help to spread the word to prospective families.
Some key college policies
Please refer to the section titled ‘Policies’ for some key college policies regarding:
Privacy; Student Accident Insurance; Personal Property brought to School; Mobile Phones; Cricket Balls
Annual privacy reminder for 2023
Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy. Please take the time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages: Amharic, Arabic, Dari, Gujarati, Mandarin, Somali, Sudanese, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese.
Student travel to school
A reminder that:
Some ‘Reminders’ repeated from the previous Newsfeed (Friday 27 January):
Carparks & school driveways
A reminder to our school community of the restricted access for vehicular traffic to the school grounds, especially now that the building program is underway.
Parents are requested not to enter the college driveway / car parks between 8am and 4pm unless transporting an ill student.
Please use Tirana Street or neighbouring side streets for drop off and pick up.
Please avoid blocking neighbours’ driveways and be aware of restrictions.
Changes to uniform policy for 2023 school year
As communicated late last year, we have made changes to the Mullauna College uniform for 2023. We have attached the PSW price list for the PSW store in Croydon. The new uniform brochure is also attached for your reading. In summary, the key changes are listed below:
Please ensure your child has the correct uniform, and do contact the college if you have any queries or concerns, or need assistance with the purchase of uniform items.
Parents and Carers
Please continue to monitor our information updates through the Compass Newsfeeds.
If you have any new information or concerns about your child, please do not hesitate to contact the appropriate staff member at the college. This is particularly the case for concerns parents have for their child’s learning or wellbeing.
In most cases, the relevant Year Level Coordinator is the best first-point-of-contact. They are:
School costs – parent payments
Compass is now open for contributions (voluntary) to be made, and we sincerely thank those families who have already made this payment or started a payment plan.
We are well aware of the financial challenges many families are currently experiencing and have been following the discussion in the media with keen interest. We encourage all families to:
As a school, we will ensure that the differences between:
are always clearly spelled out.
We will continue to work closely with our parent representatives on school council to ensure we continue to provide an excellent state education within our funding model and along DET guidelines.
To further support the school and our community, we plan to establish a Mullauna Community Association this year; this parent/carer group will assist with school activities, fund raising opportunities, and act as a parent voice and advocacy group. This will be actioned at our first school council for the year.
Thank you for your continued support.
Warm regards,
Harry Ruff
Principal
For the MC Principal Team
Coming key dates:
Friday 3 February – Leadership & Welcome assembly
Tuesday 7 February – Alumni assembly & afternoon tea
Thursday 9 & Friday 10 February - Year 7 Camp
Monday 13 & Tuesday 14 February - Year 12 study camp
Thursday 16 February – Year 7 Family bbq and Music night
Thursday 23 February – College Swimming Carnival
Monday 13 March – Labour Day public holiday
15 – 17 March – NAPLAN testing
Tuesday 28 March – Staff Professional Practice Day – student free
Wednesday 5 April – Student Learning Conferences – no scheduled classes
Thursday 6 April – end of Term 1