From the Acting Senior School Assistant Principal 

We have made it! The final week of the term. This is the week to celebrate the small actions and we are encouraging our students to think about the things that they are grateful for. Reflection is integral is acknowledging what we feel proud of this semester, appreciating our growth. This can support us to set goals for Semester 2.

Well done to all Senior School students who were exceptional during our mid-year exams. We were so impressed with how smoothly the sessions ran and were proud of our students demonstrating aspiration through this experience. This is a credit to the consistency and high expectations set before and during this period for our students.

Thank you to Robyn Boardman (Careers, Pathways & Transitions Manager), David Felbel (Year 10 Leader) and Peter Ryan (Leading Teacher Curriculum 10-12) for facilitating a fantastic Year 10 excursion to Swinburne University Students learnt about Swinburne’s programs (as an introduction to tertiary study), participated in two subject-specific workshops and were introduced to their Course Selection program for 2024.Students were highly engaged after a huge two weeks of their first examination period. 

Our course selection process for 2024 has begun. We had a successful Webex last week introducing our 2024 Senior School programs to our Year 9, 10 & 11 families. With over 60 families in attendance we are excited for our students and their course selection process over the coming weeks. Thank you to Peter Ryan (Leading Teacher Curriculum 10-12) and Samantha Francis (Leading Teacher - Assessment, Feedback & Data-Driven Practice) for compiling all of our Semester 1 of attendance, Learning Behaviour and academic data to produce our recommendation letters. These were emailed to Year 9 & 10 students this morning, supporting them to start thinking about the subjects for next year. We encourage families to review information and resources on the Compass NewsFeed to support them over the holiday period.

I was so proud of the Year 12 students who organised our 2023 AHS Year 12 Formal. Held at the incredible venue, Luminaire in South Melbourne, our students did us proud in their exceptional organisation and attention to detail, as well as their behaviour on the evening. 

We had our largest staff group and I think who celebrated the end of Semester 1 together with the Year 12 community, dancing the night away.

We had 140 Year 11 & 12 students sit their first VCAA examination, the General Achievement Test (GAT) last Thursday, completing two general knowledge and skill examinations as part of VCAA’s quality assurance of VCE assessments. They were exceptional in this conduct, supporting each other as a community through this enormous day. Thank you to our Year 11 IB students who organised morning tea and lunch in the form of a BBQ for our VCE students. This was a great demonstration of our Senior School community supporting each other.

We are celebrating the end of term together this week through our DARE Assemblies. Our DARE values are uniquely embedded into our school community at Auburn. The acknowledgement of these positive student behaviours in our classroom is integral to students celebrating their contributions and reflecting on the variety of ways we can model these values. In addition to our DARE values, we had an incredible number of Senior School student receive their extra-curricular badges, recognising their participating in our extra-curricular programs and activities. A huge congratulations to these students for taking on these opportunities within our community. 

Congratulations to the following students who were recognised as an exemplary DARE student, receiving DARE awards in three categories:

• Year 12: Patrick B, Wonjae K and Darien K
• Year 11: Bart B, YJ I, Lishan DS, Neo M, Jasper K, Raphael LA, Kai M, Shaylan P, Kristen A and Sophie N
• Year 10: Amelie T, Audrey S, Elliott B, Ivy L, Jinx R, Yong L

It has been a pleasure working with the Senior School this semester. I wish all of our Year 10, 11 & 12 families a safe and restful break.