From the Principal Class Team

Class of 2016 Pathways

Once again students exiting the College after Year 12 have in almost all cases gone on to high quality pathways.

89% of this group are moving on to further education and training, having been offered a wide variety of courses from Universities and TAFEs. Five VCAL students have been offered apprenticeships in carpentry, electrical, automotive and hospitality, with many others accepting offers of full time work, study and entering the Australian Defence Force.

The most popular place for tertiary study (both university and TAFE courses) for our students continues to be RMIT, with La Trobe having increased in popularity this year and the University of Melbourne a close third.

Our students will be entering study in Biomedicine, Science, Commerce, Arts, Aviation – commercial pilot, Engineering and Nutrition Sciences. There has been a big increase in those wishing to study Exercise Science at La Trobe University as a pathway to Physiotherapy – or to keep their options open for specialisation in other allied health services.

We would like to wish our graduating students well in their career pathways and to congratulate them on their results and efforts throughout 2016.

Whole School Assembly

On 8 February the school community assembled in our school gymnasium to officially welcome our Year 7 students of 2017. What a spectacle – including staff, students and special guests we had over 1600 in attendance. The excitement built until, with everyone seated in the gymnasium, the Year 7 classes of 2017 entered. They were greeted with loud and warm applause.

We were treated to some fine musical entertainment from our school choir and bands from Year 10 and the VET VCE Class.

The welcome speeches from our School Captains, Leata Anau and Domenic Lay, and response speech from Year 7 representatives, Natalie Wieckowski and William Davcevski, were articulate and made us all very proud.

The event was all  the more special because of the presence of our School Council President Dr Tracy Nero and principals from our local primary schools. The Year 7 students were especially pleased to see their past principals there to celebrate the next stage in their educational journey.

The school House System received a huge reception as the 2017 House Captains were introduced and, with house flags held high,  paraded down the central aisle of the gymnasium.

Ms Bekiaris revealed our excellent 2016 VCE results – the best in our high achieving history. This has set the expectation for our 2017 VCE students to strive for even stronger outcomes this year and they keenly took up the challenge.

Before the assembly closed, Mr Jennings announced the special competition the school was running to recognise students who, over the year, display our school values of Leadership, Excellence, Integrity and Respect and demonstrate punctuality and good behaviour. Students who qualify for this on the recommendation of their Year Level Coordinator will go into the draw for an exciting prize.

Thank you to all the staff, students and guests who made this assembly such a rewarding and enjoyable occasion.

School Camp Facilities Update

Our school Camp at Strathbogie has had significant work done over the term break and our first Year 7 camp for the year is currently enjoying those facilities upgrades.

This work has included:

1. extending the front deck area to create a large meals/informal seating area where students are now sitting to eat meals, or just relax and read a book or talk.
2. replacement of the exterior lighting to provide well-lit pathways to ensure that campsite is secure and safe to move around after dark.
3. replacement of some tired furniture with brand new couches in the Recreation Room to again provide comfortable, quiet reading spaces for students or places to curl up and watch a video.
4. purchase of a new ride on mower for our camp manager to enable her to continue to do a great job in maintaining the site in excellent condition.

Every Year 7 student will get an opportunity to attend a camp over the next 2 terms and Year 8 students will also attend from late Term 3 onwards. There is no doubt that this experience is not one to be missed, especially at Year 7 where early friendships can be made, and students can really connect with classmates, their teachers, the school and the wonderful natural surroundings that are part of our Strathbogie campsite.

House System – Off and Running in 2017

What a start to 2017 for the House System. With new Coordinators, Ms Piera Biondi & Mr Eli Goldbaum, at the helm, there are exciting times ahead. The House System launch for the Year 7 students on Day 1 of the year saw much excitement as they were introduced to their new house.

                BUTTROSE – Yellow House

                IRWIN – Red House

                FREEMAN – Green House and

                ROSEWALL – Blue House

A chanting competition using the House names was enthusiastically contested on the day with Rosewall and Irwin coming out just ahead to collect valuable House points.

There will be a wide range of opportunities for students to earn house points this year including competing in the House Swimming & Athletics Carnivals, participating in school events, and both class & school recognition of leadership/citizenship qualities. Every staff member at the school is also in a house and they also will be able to earn house points through participation in the inter-house Bocce Competition and staff versus student events.

We are pleased to present to you the 2017 House Captains:

House Leaders 2017

Freeman

Year 8

Cindy Dang 

Jamie Koutras

Year 10

Christine Phan Dang

Natalie Truong

Year 12

Duwayne Kara

Anne Rivera

Buttrose

Year 8

Ariel Tran

Kobe Reid

Year 10

John Velio

Jason Vo

Year 12

Aaron Arcega

Victoria Su’a Faio

Irwin

Year 8

Anthony Le

Tiffany Tran

Year 10

Lucie Nguyen

John Christopher

Year 12

Linda Nguyen 12C

Debra Gaye

Rosewall

Year 8

Parnika Mahajan

Jamal Baba

Year 10

Awien Madol

Tyler Winter-Boyle

Year 12

Sang Nguyen

Nhung Cam Nguyen

The new house leaders gathered at the Whole School Assembly to launch the House System for 2017.

Art Rooms get a fantastic Facelift

St Albans Secondary College is always investing in improving student and staff facilities and over the term break our 3 Art Rooms received a welcome facelift and refurbishment. It is difficult to put into words how much improved these learning spaces are as they are now so bright, functional and well equipped areas.

The Art Faculty is very excited to work with their students in these new areas which have seen new suspended ceilings installed, new benches and storage options included, improved seating and tables for students, and the creation of dedicated spaces for Fashion and VCE students to do their work. The school has seen some amazing work from students in the Creative Arts courses and we are so pleased to be able to give them and the staff a fresh, high quality area to work in. Student work is on display in the school office foyer and is well worth a look at during  your next visit.

Further work is planned externally to these rooms to really identify this area of the school as the Arts precinct.