From the Principal Class Team
Dear Parents and Guardians
It is our pleasure to welcome you and your children to the 2017 school year; and to extend a very special welcome to our new Year 7 students, to all those students who are joining our school in other year levels, and to their families.
We hope your years at St Albans Secondary College are happy, filled with lasting friendships, and rewarding both personally & academically.
We also warmly welcome the new members of our teaching and education support staff for 2017:
Anda Cavar - Drama-Humanities
Angela Hanely - Science/Biology
Anna Beall - Youth Worker
Ben Beagley - EAL
Bron Salton - LOTE French/English
Cheree Dobra - VCE English
Chloe Marie - Science /Maths
Damien St Pierre - Maths
Duong Nguyen - Science/Chemistry
Emily Simoes - Integrated Studies
Emma Viney - LOTE Japanese/English
Helen Sultana - Food/Textiles
Jason Price - Specialist Technician
John Hammond - Maths/Maths
Louise Ferguson - Junior Sub School Assistant
Max Smith - Food Technology Assistant
Melrose Tran - Music/Humanities
Rosanna Williams - Science
Salvina Vella - Science/Biology
Sophie Williams - VCE English
Stephanie Rofe - Health/PE
Vicki Bunce - Library Resource Centre Coordinator
On behalf of all staff, we wish each of you all the very best for your time at St Albans Secondary College.
Introducing the College Captains
Student leadership is a highly valued and respected aspect of our school community and decision making process.
And working with the student leaders is one of the most enjoyable and satisfying aspects of our role as members of the Principal team.
This year we are delighted to announce our College Captains, Leata Anau and Dominic Lay, and Vice Captains, Reynold Nguyen and Fai Srikhum. We would also like to congratulate Immy Nund-Dam as the Year 12 VCAL SRC representative.
Their first official role was to welcome the Year 7's at the school assembly last week. They spoke eloquently and in such a heartfelt way about what the school means to them, and what they hope for for the new members of the school community .
School Captains
Leata Anau & Dominic Lay
School Vice Captains
Reynold Nguyen & Fai Srikhum
Left to right:
School Vice Captains -
Reynold Nguyen & Fai Srikhum
School Captains -
Leata Anau & Dominic Lay
Year 12 VCAL SRC -
Immy Nund-Dam
We know they will represent their peers with dedication and enthusiasm, and they will be excellent ambassadors for the school. We look forward to working with them.
VCE and VCAL Excellence Awards
Congratulations to Garry Nguyen on his outstanding VCE results for 2016. Garry achieved an ATAR of 99.35 and is enrolled to study Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne.
Some teachers describe Garry as one of the best students they have taught. He is positive, organised, helpful, an asset to the class, a pleasure to teach and a role model for other students. His academic performance is outstanding.
Garry displayed an exemplary level of commitment and enthusiasm towards his studies and worked consistently to improve himself. He is very pro-active in his approach to his studies, taking the initiative to do extra work or to seek additional help. Garry also has a very caring disposition and would willingly assist other students in class who were experiencing difficulty.
Garry's commitment to his studies has been unwavering since his junior years. He received a High Achiever’s award in Year 8, and was named Year 9 Student of the Year in 2012. In addition, he was the recipient of Achievement Awards in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
He participated in a range of extracurricular activities such as the Australian Mathematics competition, receiving a Certificate of distinction over three consecutive years. He has also been awarded with the Roger Martin Science Award.
In 2015, while in Year 11, Garry studied two Year 12 subjects (Accounting and Further Maths) achieving a study score above 40 in both of them. His remarkable effort in Further Maths, for which he achieved a perfect score of 50, was acknowledged in April of this year when he received the Premier’s VCE Study Award at The Palladium at Crown.
He has been involved in fundraisers, helping people living in poverty in Vietnam, as well as raising funds for the construction of temples. Garry has also shown leadership qualities, as the Senior Rosewall House Captain and in this role has proved himself to be reliable, enthusiastic and approachable.
Congratulations Garry and best wishes to you for the future.
Garry Nguyen
We also congratulate Abdi Mohamed on being recognised with the VCAL Excellence Award for 2016.
Abdi is studying Business Diploma at RMIT TAFE.
Abdi has been a strong ambassador of St Albans Secondary College’s VCAL program. VCAL is a hands-on option for students in Years 11 and 12. The VCAL gives practical work-related experience, as well as literacy and numeracy skills and the opportunity to build personal skills that are important for life and work.
During his two year VCAL course, Abdi grew in confidence and maturity - taking on tasks and responsibilities with enthusiasm and commitment.
He organised a variety of activities, including a Jumping castle and hamper raffle for Youth Day and a Bunnings BBQ and Barrista course for some fellow students and himself. He also volunteered his time at St Vinnies to make a community connection for his issues work on homelessness.
Abdi regularly spoke of his work placement and the positive experiences he gained from working with a qualified electrician. He has received complimentary reviews from his supervisor, and from his co-workers and customers.
Abdi is eager to learn and works hard to build on his industry knowledge and skills, with the ambition of one day working as an electrician. He is consistently motivated and strives for high standards. He is never too busy to assist others, and works to achieve his full potential.
We wish Abdi every success in his TAFE course.
Abdi Mohamed
Assessment for Teaching - Curriculum Day Wednesday 22 February
On Wednesday 22 February, we will commence the next stage of our work on assessment.
The focus is to develop and implement rigorous, reliable, challenging assessment that is based on the standards.
We will be supported in this work by Michael Francis. Michael is known to many of our staff through his work on assessment with the University of Melbourne.