From the Principal Class Team
Brimbank Young Researchers Program
This year, four students from the College were involved in a Young Researchers Program in partnership with Brimbank City Council and Swinburne University. The students (Jaderick Calimlim, Tran Nguyen, Taylah Tran and Perneil Calimlim) developed skills relating to researching issues in society and how to conduct interviews. They also explored the ethical complications that are necessary to ensure research integrity. Our students researched bullying at St Albans and they found the area of biggest concern across their research sample was the impact of online bullying that occurs outside of school. The students met regularly throughout the year with the Brimbank team, along with students from other schools, presenting their findings this week to the Brimbank City Mayor, Counsellors, school principals, teachers and students. We congratulate them on their incredible work and their commitment to helping improve our school community. The College has an ongoing commitment to educating and supporting our students regarding online conduct and how to best respond to cyber bullying. Moreover, the principal team will ensure this research by our students contributes to our 2019 planning.
Student Attitude to School Survey
Earlier this year, at the start of Term 2, our students completed the Annual Attitude to School Survey. This survey gathers data from students to support student wellbeing, engagement, school improvement and planning in schools. The survey results are in and this year 95% of students completed the survey providing the College with some valuable information on how to best support our students. They survey results (Figure 1) indicate student opinions in relation to key themes, in comparison to other state schools across the state. In all but one area, St Albans Secondary College is in the top 50% percent of high schools in the state. In many areas results place the College in the top quartile in comparison to other schools. Overall our students feel classroom behaviour and bullying is very well managed by the school and on the whole our students report that they have high expectations, are motivated and resilient. One of the areas, through student forums, that the College has already started to analyse has been our results in advocacy and teacher concern. Feedback from our students has indicated that as these surveys were conducted earlier in the year as they were still building relationships with new teachers and staff. As always, these results will help support the course of our work to ensure all our students feel, Connected, Protected and Respected.
Figure 1
Parent Opinion Survey
Thank you to all of the parents and guardians who completed the annual Parent Opinion Survey online recently. The results obtained are important for us to help us understand what we are doing well, and were we need to refocus our energies.
Some of the highlight results were General Satisfaction, with a 91% positive endorsement rate, and School Pride and confidence which had a positive endorsement rate of 90%. Some areas for us to investigate further include Teacher Communication and Parent Participation and Involvement, which had positive endorsement rates of 62% and 68% respectively.
Whole School Assembly
The second of our two Whole School Assemblies was held on the morning of 24 October. The main purpose of this assembly was to farewell the Class of 2018, and wish then good luck for their exams and future endeavours. The assembly opened with a lovely rendition of the National Anthem sung by Year 12 students Maioa Timeteo, Rachel Pinto and Tammy Nguyen.Well done to our three musical presentations, the Year 10 Band, the Year 11 VET Band and the Year 12 VT Band, Major Sixth.
A number of awards were presented at the Assembly. These included:
The Crocker Cup to Buttrose House
The Roger Martin Science Award to Cindy Nguyen of 10E
The Long Tan awards to Laura Van Keulen (Year 12) and Iqra Siddique (Year 10)
The Leadership and Citizenship award recipients were:
Year 7
Leadership - Daud Malik 7D
Citizenship - Kaiasi Pinomi 7B
Year 8
Leadership - Thao Bui 8C
Citizenship - Sarah Liu 8I
Year 9
Leadership - Anh Ngyuen 9L
Citizenship - Janet Huynh 9H
Year 10
Leadership - Jennifer Co 10A
Citizenship - Patrick Shaw 10E
Year 11
Leadership - Ashlyne Van Wyngaarden 11E
Citizenship - Nathan Wos 11W
The school prizes, for students with 100% attendance and displaying the College's values, were won by Brendon Dang (7E), Thien Tran (10C) and Da Mi Tran (12E).
Thanks you to all who participated, and to the entire College community for their active listening.
SASC fashionable sweep at the 2018 Fashion and Design Awards, winner of the secondary school division
On Friday, 12 October we had a contingent represent SASC at Gala Finale presentation at the Fashion Awards. We won or achieved a place in almost every category and were named the overall winner of the Secondary school division, which included schools from across the state in all sectors. Congratulations to the creative team of staff and students in The Arts department, the huge haul of trophies provided acknowledgement for the talent and many hours of dedication the team had put into the designs and finishes of the outfits. The students who modelled were composed, professional and showed off the creations to an appreciative audience of representatives of all the registered schools, TAFE entrants as well as the private sector of designers. Well done to all involved it was a fantastic effort. We had the individual winners in both the Year 9-10 and 11-12 designer of the year award.
And finally....
Very best wishes to all of our students sitting exams over the coming weeks, particularly to those doing their VCE.
Principal - Ms Kerrie Dowsley
Assistant Principal - Mr Craig Jennings
Assistant Principal - Mr John Coulson
Assistant Principal - Ms Tracey D'Elton