2021 has been another challenging year for everyone, however, once again, we should all be proud of our resilience, versatility and determination. These adjectives are particularly relevant when describing our Year 12 cohort, who have managed to complete their entire VCE whilst navigating the impacts of COVID.

Thus, on that note, I would like to share with you a summary of the results achieved by our 2021 VCE students and send my sincere congratulations to all. It is important to remember that these results are a culmination of the teaching and learning and educational support across six years at the College, working in close partnership with the love and care provided by families and friends as well as the hard work of students.

We acknowledge the committed and quality teaching exhibited by our teachers across the College as well as the invaluable care given by our education support staff. The students were also very well supported by the Senior School team, led by Conor Sheehan and Michael Harte the Wellbeing team and the Careers team.

We would also like to thank our Year 12 parents/carers, as well as the wider Koonung community, for the love and care they have given our students which led to them persevering through the challenges of a pandemic and achieving many personal goals in preparation for an exciting future.

As always at this time, it is important to acknowledge that there are many success stories to celebrate beyond an ATAR score. It is timely to recognise the significant personal growth achieved by each of our students, many of whom have overcome significant challenges and hardships to complete their VCE year. These outcomes are the result of the collective hard work of students who were well supported by their families and friends in partnership with the College. We are extremely proud of all of our students and would like to publicly recognise their hard work and resilience and wish them great success in the next chapter of their lives.

The cohort achieved a median study score of 32, which should be celebrated as this incredibly challenging year draws to a close.

Congratulations to the 2021 dux, Rui Ann Lim, who achieved an ATAR of 99.7 and Kiran Reddy earned a perfect score of 50 in Further Mathematics.

10% of students achieved ATAR scores above 95 (Top 5%)
22% of students achieved ATAR scores above 90 (Top 10%)
13 Areas of study earned median scores above or equal to 32 for their cohorts.

They are:

Chinese First Language 35

Further Mathematics 34

English 33

History: Revolutions 33

Legal Studies 33

Maths Methods 33

Physics 33

Physical Education 33

EAL 32

Specialist Maths 32

Music Performance 32

Visual Communication 32

Japanese Second Language 32

Another noteworthy achievement is that the work of two of our students has been selected for exhibition in Top Designs 2022 as part of the VCE Season of Excellence. Jasmine Nicol’s comic book which she produced as her Media product has been selected. Media received over 370 submissions this year, 34 of which were shortlisted. Jasmines comic is one of only seven Media print students selected for exhibition. Both Jasmine and Richard Leask should be exceptionally proud of this achievement in what was a competitive and talented field. Tahlia Vosnakis’ Visual Communication Design work has also been selected. Tahlia is one of only fourteen students whose work has been honoured in this way out of 390 candidates. Congratulations to Tahlia and Helen Briffa.

I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank all members of the College Council and PFA for their contributions and support of the College. Your generosity and commitment to a range of events and activities is greatly appreciated.

Thank you also to our Student representatives on College Council who have provided an important student perspective to our meetings, many of which were held on Zoom. Karina Lyons and Noah Jones have been active members of the committee in their roles as School Captains. Tinka Schmid and Rory Spicer have also contributed effectively with valuable insights. I am very fortunate to work with a wonderful student body and a dedicated and talented staff who are so well supported by family and friends.

Thank you also to the Executive team of Mary Eade, Sandra Greenhill, Stace Kerr and Mark Quinlan. It is rewarding to be part of such a united team who work together so cohesively. 2022 will bring significant changes to our Executive team as Mark Quinlan has been appointed as the Principal of Monbulk College. Mark’s expertise and passion for Teaching and Learning and his absolute commitment to Koonung and its community will be sorely missed. He has contributed in a range of roles since his arrival at the school in 1999. Mark has been an Assistant Principal since 2014 and has driven many initiatives at the College. He is also an excellent teacher of Physical Education and Maths. I am sure his Year 12 Further Maths class certainly benefited from his expertise as was evident from their excellent results. I have no doubt that Mark will make a great impact at Monbulk College and will be a highly effective Principal. I wish you every success in this role, which is well deserved. Thank you for your knowledge, wisdom and support. I am sure we will continue to collaborate through many forums.

I would also like to congratulate Michael Oaten who has been appointed as the Assistant Principal – Student Management and Wellbeing Years 9 to 12 at Hazel Glen College. Michael has been a highly valued Physical Education teacher and member of the College Leadership team. He has been very effective leading the College Wellbeing team and our implementation of the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support program.

These are both outstanding appointments, Mark and Michael have made invaluable contributions to many areas of the College and will be sadly missed. I have no doubt they will be excellent leaders of their new schools and wish them every success. Thank you for your contributions to the Koonung community, your work has made a sustained difference to our culture and operations.

As the year draws to a close, it is important that we recognise a number of other staff who will be leaving us in 2022.

Paul Dailey, Sian Pretty, Trish Paddick and Eva Attrill are retiring. All four have had substantial and significant careers in State Education and have certainly made a difference for many students, colleagues and families. We wish them well as they embark on the next phase of their lives.

Janene Watt, Rhea Chen and Monica Shi are both moving on to roles in other schools.

In addition, Helen Caine, Nicole Moussi and Pauline Volpe will each be taking leave for 2022.

We also farewelled the following staff during Term 4: Marina Novelli, Amanda Chen, Matthew Brown and Antoinette Tuckwell and of course Ella Cogger (we are eagerly awaiting news of the new addition!). We are also farewelling Aldin Hondo at the end of this term.

Finally, I would like to wish all of our families, friends, students and staff members a restful and safe Christmas and Happy New Year. I am looking forward to a new exciting and productive 2022 with great optimism.

Marianne Lee

Principal

It has been reassuring to return to an almost normal end of the academic year. The usual flurry of exam preparations, marking, finalising reports and activities to celebrate the end of the year and welcome our 2022 Grade 6 cohort, somewhat belies the true nature of the year that was 2021.

We delayed the commencement of our Year 10 and 11 exams to ensure that students were provided with access to their classroom teachers to consolidate learning and review important content. We chose to cancel our usual “Edge and Stepping into VCE” program to focus on the content for this year. Students entering Year 12 next year have been provided with some preparatory material to complete prior to the commencement to the academic year. We are very proud of how well the students approached their exams and the results indicate that despite a disrupted year they have, in general, made good progress. We will use data from these exams and other assessments to identify areas of content and individual students who would benefit form additional support in 2022.

There were celebration days for each of the Year 7, 8 and 9 cohorts. These were arranged by the Middle School team, but ably lead by our Middle School and incoming Senior School student leaders. The Year 9 celebration day was particularly noteworthy with a colour run, nicely complemented by Mat Douglas (our stalwart maintenance guru) operating the hose and the sprinklers on the oval. The Year 9s rounded out their year with their first set of formal exams, followed by a day at Adventure Park in Whittlesea to mark the end of Live Life.

Last week we welcomed over 200 new Year 7 students who will join us in 2022. There was a mammoth amount of work behind the scenes to ensure that the first day went smoothly and that each of the students joining us in 2022 left feeling that they are part of the Koonung community. I would like to thank the Middle Years team and in particular Stuart Kofoed and Allira Howe for their work to ensure that this day was so successful.

Monday was our final day of academic classes and we held our awards ceremony for students in the Middle Years. With COVID restrictions it has been many months since we were last able to have a large group in an indoor setting. The students were a perfect audience and we were so proud of how supportive they were of their peers. We congratulate each student who achieved an award. However, particular recognition should be given to the following students:

Endeavour Award: Oliver Lim (Year 7), Micaela Poon (Year 8), Corey Lord (Year 9)

Academic Dux: Jet Cheung (Year 7), Ellyse Blyth (Year 8), Darcey Gifford (Year 9)

And the Middle Years Principal’s Award: Cooper Rossely

The Senior School awards will be presented at a sub school assembly early in Term 1.

Wishing you all and safe and COVID free summer break.

Marianne Lee

Principal

Farewell Koonung

I wish to thank the community for the opportunity to be part of this amazing school. I have had many highlights throughout my time at Koonung SC. Some of the highlights for me have been (too many to list in this newsletter!):

The amazing Koonung community - students, staff and parents
Developing my teaching and educational leadership under outstanding educational leaders - Dr Rob Brookes, Jeremy Beard, Peter Wright and Marianne Lee
Koonung teachers making a difference to student learning
A new uniform for Koonung which included blazers
Developing new curriculum programs in Years 9 and 10
Outstanding VCE results over many years
Developing instructional models
Developing the amazing ski camp and hockey program
Winning state titles in hockey for Koonung

Koonung has a very special place in my educational career that I will never forget. A special thank you to everyone who supported me to enhance my teaching and school leadership skills, especially Marianne Lee who allowed me lead other challenging schools over the past few years. I am looking forward to leading Monbulk College as the new Principal but I also look forward to keeping in contact and watching Koonung continue to grow.

Mark Quinlan

Assistant Principal

Capital works program update

The VSBA has finally given approval for us to complete the fit out of the bottom level of our new building. Tenders for this work will be sought in January. The classrooms on the first floor are due for completion in March. We will have a roof on the building by the end of this week - exciting times!

Stace Kerr

Business Manager

Community notices

Box Hill Community Bakehouse

Council shared event - Sustainability Conference

Stay safe ...........