Teaching and Learning

We are a school that values respect, excellence and creativity, and we strive to develop students capable of being global citizens ready to embrace the future. We encourage members of our College Community to be ‘the best that they can be’ in all of their endeavours.

In presentations to both staff and students, we have spoken about the importance of teaching content, but also the importance of teaching skills. Our students need to be able to further develop their 21st Century Skills or Capabilities to allow them to best embrace all of the opportunities our world has to offer. Together with understanding content, our students need to be creative, to think critically, to collaborate and to communicate effectively.

Our Teaching and Learning Model is used by staff to properly engage students allowing for content to be shared, together with skills to be developed. Furthermore, our Collegiate Practice Program supports best practice by our teaching staff.

Content remains important but students need to be able to apply it using skills developed as part of their learning across all subject areas.

2017 VCE Results

We achieved some outstanding VCE Results last year. We congratulate Vinh Nguyen as the College Dux for 2017. Vinh will be studying Commerce / Finance at Monash University in 2018. Vinh was a special guest at our Whole School Assembly last week and he was thoughtful and insightful in his speech to the College.

Five of our students achieved a study score of 90+ with Vinh Nguyen achieving the top study score of 98.95, closely followed by Zoe Aylen 97.65, Danush Durairaj 97.30, Jason Tan 97.10 and Stephanie Nestor 92.35.

A further summary of student results is provided below:

Range % of Year 12 WHSC Students Statewide Placement - top

90+ 8.2 10%

80+ 14.8% 20%

Percentage of Study Scores over 40 = 5%

A perfect Study Score of 50 in Psychology

Percentage of satisfactory VCE completion = 97%

Whole School Assembly - Monday 5th February

We were very pleased with our Whole School Assembly last week. We welcomed our new staff and students to the College, including our new Year 7 students. We introduced our new Vision and Values for the College and reinforced our Motto, 'Be The Best That You Can Be'. A significant part of the Assembly was to recognise our 2018 Student Leaders. Please read on in the Newsletter for a full list of our Student Leaders for this year. We acknowledge our College Captains who spoke well, together with compering the Assembly in such a professional manner.

Year 7 Camp - 7th to the 9th February

Our Year 7 students had a wonderful time at Kinglake last week. We deliberately schedule the Year 7 Camp at this time of year to help students develop connections with their peers and build friendships.

We thank staff who attended the Camp for all of their hard work allowing our students to have such a memorable experience to start the year.

Year 12 Study Skills Day - Wednesday 7th February

Another successful Year 12 Study Skills Day was held last week. Our Year 12 students were able to participate in a number of sessions to further prepare them for the year ahead. We thank staff for their work in assisting students on the day.

Swimming Sports - Wednesday 14th February

Another outstanding Swimming Sports carnival with excellent performances throughout all of the year levels. The level of participation from students on the day was fabulous with House Captains and staff encouraging our students to get involved in earn points for their respective Houses.

Sport is one of the key areas important to our College Community and it is pleasing to see sporting events such as our Swimming Carnival so well supported. We thank families for their attendance on the day, and we congratulate all involved.

Professional Practice Days

Teaching staff are entitled to four Professional Practice Days each year for the life of the new Agreement (beginning this year and until April 2021). As a result, teaching staff can use these Professional Practice Days to embark on activities to further their practice. Teaching staff may be involved in activities such as planning, preparation, assessment of student learning, collaboration, curriculum development, relevant professional development and peer observation including feedback and reflection. The Professional Practice Days Program will be very useful to teaching staff as they seek to further improve their practice which in turn will have a positive impact on student outcomes.

Teaching staff will begin using their Professional Practice Days as of this term (x 1 Professional Practice Day per term). The College will seek to manage the impact of the Professional Practice Day Program in an effective manner. We have included further information from the Department of Education below. If you have any queries, please contact the General Office.

Enrolment Numbers and CENSUS

Our enrolment numbers continue to grow. For the first time in many years, we have six Year 7 Home Groups in 2018. Our total enrolment for this year is approximately 670 and we would expect this number to continue to grow in 2019.

Value of the Week - Respect

As mentioned in our last Newsletter, Respect is one of our key Values at the College. Our Year 7 students were very respectful of our College and Camp staff last week - their conduct was outstanding.

Aaron Smith

Principal

Dates to Remember

February

16

19

21

22

March

1

2