From the Principal
Life at Mornington Secondary College is always busy offering many opportunities for our students to participate in.
The swimming carnival was a huge success with many students getting into the spirit and dressing in house colours and fabulous costumes. The basketball rings are always popular with students in between events as is the music that plays all day. Our VCAL students cooked a tasty BBQ.
The Divisional Swimming Championships have been run and won. Mornington Secondary College came a very close second to Dromana.
Our very own pool is now in operation. The building that houses the pool has had a new roof, new mezzanine floor, new stairs and painted throughout.
Sporting squads have begun with many students arriving early to school to play basketball, netball or aerobics. Breakfast club is open for business, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. All students are welcome to have a slice of toast or a hot cross bun.
Excursions are well underway and the Year 10 Outdoor Education students have already spent a few days on Phillip Island.
The Year 8 camp is scheduled for the second last week of this term and students will also be going to Phillip Island.
In my last newsletter, I mentioned the State Government initiative to employ Tutors to assist students who struggled academically during COVID 19 lockdown. I am pleased to say we currently have the equivalent of 6.3 full time Tutors and will be employing another tutor next week. Students have been identified using their PAT test results and teacher judgement.
Currently the Tutors are introducing themselves to the students and will make contact with families shortly. Following is a short introduction from some of our tutors:
Carly Brannan
I'm a qualified English teacher with more than 15 years of experience working across the public and private sector in media and communications based roles, including for Twentieth Century Fox, Screen Australia and as a consultant for other leading film distributors.
I am experienced in the provision of private tutoring in VCE English, working in partnership with each student towards achieving individualised learning goals, both in pursuit of wider curriculum objectives and with consideration of each student’s post-VCE plans.
I enjoy living on the Mornington Peninsula with my young family.
Cameron FitzGerald
I grew up in Ballarat where I also studied Exercise & Sport Science (Maj Rehab) at Federation University. As an Exercise Scientist I was fortunate to work closely with several VFL clubs in Strength & Condition and as a sports trainer, as well as working extensively as a personal trainer before going on to complete my Master of Teaching. After spending some time teaching in Ballarat and surrounding areas, I moved to Gippsland before making the big jump over to the Mornington Peninsula. I love AFL & NRL, surfing, hiking and fishing, and running. I’m really looking forward to getting to know the students.
Fiona James
I have been working as a Maths teacher since 1998 in 4 states of Australia and also in Africa. I have been living on the Mornington Peninsula for 3 years and have spent the majority of my time teaching in Catholic schools. I am also a trained primary teacher and look forward to working as a tutor over the next 6 months at Mornington Secondary. Working with students more one to one, is something I very much enjoy, and I aim to help students clarify many of the areas they are still struggling with in Maths. I very much look forward to meeting and working with the year 9 and 10 students in the school community.
Each student will have an individual learning plan and each Tutor will work specifically on skill development. Included in this newsletter are the Tutors introducing themselves to our community.
Year 9 students participated in the Morrisby online career survey. The survey identifies the strengths and likes of each student with the outcome being a list of possible careers. An interview will take later place this term or early next term for each student to discuss the outcomes and where to next.
The Year 9 GRIT program has begun and it has been very popular with our students and staff. The first camp will occur during the last week of this term.
Open night was held on 10th March with more than 300 visitors touring the College. They stopped to view student work and/or listen to staff talk about their subject areas. It was a fantastic event.
Thank you to the Mt Martha Lions club. They cooked sausages for our visitors whilst they listened to music performed by our students.
Linda Stanton
Principal