Dear Families, Students and Community Members,
Student Numbers 2019
Endorsing our reputation as a leading education provider in the area is the continued growth in our student enrolments. We have 76 Year 12 students leaving at the end of the year and 190-200 Year 7 students coming in at the start of next year! Our total student population next year will be approximately 974 students (including our International Students). Our growth to over 1000 students will occur in 2020 as the last remaining smaller year level (2019 Year 12 – 96 students) leaves the school and there is another larger intake at Year 7.
Reporting to Parents
On Friday of this week the results and comments for benchmark tasks completed to date this semester across Years 7-12 will be released on Compass for student and parent access. Please make sure you check to stay informed about your child’s progress. Our new progressive reporting process was introduced last year in order to provide parents and students with more timely feedback.
Family Holidays
A few times this year I have written about the importance of students regularly attending school to make the most of educational opportunities and to achieve to their full potential. The Department is not in support of families taking holidays in school time and, as such, parents are required to give three weeks’ notice to the school and they then need to work with the school to complete a student absence learning plan. Remember, every day counts. If your child must miss school due to taking part in a family holiday, speak with the Year Level Coordinator as early as possible and ensure the agreed work requirements listed in the student absence learning plan are completed during the holiday.
Work Submission Policy
At Mordialloc College we are focused on high expectations in everything we do. We want every student to achieve their highest potential. It is important that every student demonstrates a sense of pride in their academic work. As such, we expect every student to aim for his or her personal best in everything they do and demonstrate self-respect for and pride in their work. Each student is responsible for completing every task on time and to the best of his or her ability. In line with our emphasis on high expectations, we have a Work Submission Policy for all year levels and I have included a link to this here. Directors of Sub-Schools, Year Level Coordinators and teachers regularly reinforce this with our students, and I ask that you reinforce this at home as well.
Production
The excitement is building in anticipation of this year’s school production, The Addams Family, to be held in the Performing Arts Centre over four nights next week – Wednesday 22 to Saturday 25 August. There are still tickets available, in particular for the Wednesday night, if you haven’t had a chance to purchase tickets yet.
Whole School PD Day August 17th
The focus for our PD day will be on Connecting Feedback to Data, a key focus this semester as part of our ongoing work following the Curiosity and Powerful Learning framework. We are focusing on this in our staff workshops on Wednesday afternoons and in our Triad coaching program, and on Friday we have a guest speaker, well known education consultant Andrew Douch, to present. He is a very engaging speaker with over twenty years of classroom experience who has presented here before focused more on technology and the implementation of an iPad program. Andrew has a breadth of knowledge regarding 21st century teaching and learning, and we look forward to his presentation relating to our current focus area. After lunch, Learning Area teams will have the opportunity to meet and to reflect on his session and the relevant application to their current work. Thanks to Jo Greenhalgh, Acting Assistant Principal, for organising this day.
Subject Celebration Weeks
Thanks to Science Learning Area leader, Matt Brooks, and Director of eLearning, Justin Wischusen, and their respective teams for providing an array of engaging hands on activities for students to participate in this week during lunchtimes e.g. make your own lava lamp, coding mBots and mBot Rangers, Lego mindstorms, Drone challenges, google sketch up, making sherbet etc.
All students participating not only get to have some fun, they also earn house points!
High Energy Drinks
A reminder that the College does not recommend the consumption of high energy drinks due to the high caffeine and sugar content of a number of popular brands in the market. Some contain the same amount of caffeine as two to three cups of coffee and as they are drunk cold, deliver caffeine faster that a cup of coffee would. This can lead to sudden peak in energy followed by a crash that can leave you feeling worse than before. The short-term effects of energy drinks include alertness, stimulation of the nervous system and an increased heart rate, while excessive consumption can aggravate symptoms like anxiety, cause insomnia, nausea, vomiting and heart palpitations. As such we seek parent support in not allowing their child to bring high energy drinks to school, and this includes when students are on an excursion.
Learning Potential
There is an Australian Government website called Learning Potential which provides a range of resources, tips and ideas for parents of early years children through to the end of high school. Articles cover Student Wellbeing, Use of Technology, Nutrition, Careers, Being Involved, Study and Exams, Development etc. The website address is https://www.learningpotential.gov.au/ or there is the App you can download from the App store.
Child and Youth Directory
Another rich resource for parents is the Child and Youth Directory http://childandyouthdirectory.com.au/
This includes a list of services available to young people, parents and carers in our local community. This community resource provides information on services covering the cities of Bayside, Kingston, Glen Eira, Port Phillip and Stonnington.
Michelle Roberts
Principal
