Principal's Message

Dear Families,

Our vision at Victoria University Secondary College is to provide a dynamic and supportive learning environment where all students are challenged to achieve their potential and become successful, confident and responsible members of society. Our vision statement reflects the school's commitment to providing a positive and nurturing environment for students that support their academic, personal and social growth.  As we continue to learn and work throughout 2023, we will be reinforcing this message with our students and broader school community and using several improvement strategies, processes and procedures to help us bring our vision and values to life.

As we continue to build a positive school culture and climate to support this work, we are focusing during Term 1 on supporting students with a positive and safe learning environment.  Our approach to School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) underpins this work and is driven by our school values of Respect Ourselves and Others, Aspire to Achieve and Strengthen the Community.  These are core values that we ask each student to demonstrate during the school day and as they act as a member of our school community, so this also includes when students are out on sporting events, excursions or camps.  We ask that parents have a conversation at home with their children about how these values can be demonstrated on a daily basis.

As a college we have several programs in place to support students to learn and understand the expected behaviours and our values.  At the other end of the scale, we have a tiered system of responses when students breach our values and expected behaviours.  When this occurs, parents/guardians can expect to be notified by year level coordinators or a member of our leadership team.  When we must apply a response or consequence to behaviours, we aim for these to provide an opportunity for the student to learn and to move forward in a positive manner.  We ask for parental support when we must respond to a breach of our expected behaviours or values.

A copy of our Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy is included below for your reference.

Staff Professional Development - Thursday 2nd March 2023

Thursday 2nd March was our student free day which enabled staff to spend time working together to share their classes’ data and plan for how to better meet our students’ needs. Our Data Leader Mr. Troy presented a new data tool which staff were able to interact with for the first time. Teachers worked in teams throughout the day with others from the same learning area and shared their data across both Junior and Senior campuses. Staff were very enthusiastic about the day. It was a successful day, which I am positive will lead to staff having a greater understanding of what is required and necessary to include in each student’s learning program this year. Well done Mr. Troy for organizing and running such a successful data day and for making data easy to read, understand and comprehend. 

I would also like to thank Ms Koo, our Curriculum Leader, for facilitating a session on Cornell Notes Developmental Rubrics. Staff were given time and the opportunity in their Professional Learning Teams to work on the rubric so that it is developmental.

Overall, it was a fantastic day and staff were extremely positive and complimentary of the two presenters.

Athletics Carnival - Friday 3rd March

It was great to run our Athletics Carnival this year once again. It was an exciting day, and it was fantastic to see students having the opportunity to participate in events and win points for their House. All students were encouraged to come dressed in their House colours to support their peers on the day. Music was played and lots of dancing and cheering took place to support their fellow students who participated in the events.

Homegroup teachers congratulated their students on their participation, respect for one another and collectively strengthening our school community by cheering for their fellow students. Our students made us all very proud!!!

I want to especially thank our two Sports Co-ordinators - Ms White and Mr Downing - for their professionalism and all-in-all contribution to an amazing athletics day. Please enjoy the gallery below. 

College Board 2023

I would like to thank the following parents, staff and students for their dedication and support of the school this year as part of our College Board: 

Student Members - Rebecca Tat Y12, Luke Kiselis Y12

Parent Members - Tupuna Ngaue, Joanne Walsh, Maria Kiselis, Victoria Musumeci

Staff Members - James Dowie, Glenn Leyland, Sue Atzarakis, Annette Lawrence, Jason Austin

Community Members - Ellen Arnott, David Lawrence, Seychelles Camomot Y9, Greta McCoy Y9, Syeda Zoya Imran Y8. 

NAPLAN

NAPLAN testing is now underway for our Year 7 and Year 9 students. It is used as a measure of student progress and allows schools to target further support, along with our own internal testing and teacher judgements based on student needs.

NAPLAN testing has been moved forward to March this year from its usual scheduling in May. Our staff have been working with students and supporting them with activities that provide NAPLAN like tasks, with a particular focus for our Year 7 and 9 students on reading, writing and numeracy tasks. Parents who would like further information are welcome to contact Mr Leyland, Junior Campus Principal or view the information sheets on Compass. 

Student Accident Insurance/Ambulance Cover Arrangements and Private Property Brought to Schools

Parents and guardians are reminded that the Department does not provide personal accident insurance or ambulance cover for students. Parents and guardians of students, who do not have student accident insurance/ambulance cover, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for their child if injured or seriously ill, including the cost of ambulance attendance/transport and any other transport costs. Please note that staff may contact emergency services for a student without parent consent if the parent cannot be contacted, or in an emergency situation.  This is why it is extremely important for the school to have your current contact details. Additionally, private property brought to school by students, staff or visitors is not insured and the Department does not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage.

Mobile Phone Use

In accordance with the Department’s Mobile Phones Policy issued by the Minister for Education, personal mobile phones must not be used at Victoria University Secondary College during school hours, including lunchtime and recess, unless an exception has been granted. Where a student has been granted an exception, the student must use their mobile phone only for the purpose for which the exception was granted, and in a safe, ethical and responsible manner. 

Please see Mobile Phone Policy attached. I have provided a snapshot of that information for you below.

At Victoria University Secondary College: 

• Students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored in their locker during school hours (8:45am-3.02pm), regardless of whether they are in class or not.
• Students are not to contact their parents using their mobile phone during the school day. 
• When required, parents or carers should reach their child by calling the school office. 

Equal Ed Program

At the senior campus VUSC is working closely with an organisation called Equal Ed to empower our Year 10 students to reach their goals and potential by increasing access to learning and development opportunities.

Equal Ed will be working collaboratively with our school community to deliver innovative and engaging services and solutions.

Equal Ed aims to develop a model for student wellbeing that can be adopted by schools that moves away from a “crisis-response” approach to a “student empowerment” approach involving:

• Reduction/removal of stigma
• Increasing students' understanding of the signs of psychological distress and the experiences of psychological distress
• Supporting students to better identify their own needs, support systems and internal resources and how to leverage such systems and resources
• Develop and implement an 8-week pilot program that provides an opportunity for continuity in content, scaffolding of concepts, and enables students to apply key concepts to enhance wellbeing.

Everyday Counts - Don’t Be Away

Attendance at school is a vital factor in determining outcomes. Missing school can have a major impact on a student’s future and in fact a student who misses one day a fortnight will miss four full weeks by the end of the year. By the end of Year 10 nearly half a year of schooling will be missed which not only makes it difficult to grasp key concepts taught but also effects preparation for senior school pathways. 

There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind and absences can affect their educational outcomes. Being absent can be a source of anxiety for the student. 

It should be noted that students who miss assessment tasks due to absences not approved by the school (e.g. family holidays) will not have these tasks graded. Students are still expected to complete the task upon their return to assess their learning progression. For Years 7 – 10 subjects, a Victorian Curriculum judgement will be made.

Coming to school every day is crucial, but if for any reason your child must miss school, parents can ensure their son/daughter does not fall behind by:

• checking COMPASS and completing the work uploaded to the portal
• urging them to speak with their subject teacher and find out what work they need to do to keep up
• developing an absence learning plan with their teachers and ensure they complete the plan
• remember, every period counts and everyday counts.

As always, parents and guardians are welcome to contact the school and speak to staff if they have concerns about their child's attendance or progress.

Uniform

A reminder that students must be in full winter uniform in Term 2. Ties are compulsory for all students with the winter uniform. VUSC scarves are available at the office for $15, other scarves are not permitted. New uniform items can be purchased from PSW (online or in store) and good quality second hand items can be purchased from local families at www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au. 

Elaine Hazim

College Principal

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Child Safety at VUSC

Victoria University Secondary College is committed to providing a child safe and child friendly environment, where students are safe and feel safe. 

Our child safety and wellbeing policies outline the measures and strategies we have in place to support, promote and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students: 

• Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
• Child Safety Code of Conduct
• Child Safe Standards Risk Register
• Child safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedure

All of our policies are available on our school website here. As valuable partners in promoting and maintaining child safety and wellbeing at VUSC, we welcome and encourage your feedback.