Welcome back to what will be another busy year in the Middle School. My name is Ian MacLeod, I am the Campus Principal who works with Middle School. I would particularly like to welcome our Year 9 students and families as they start their journey at the Senior Campus of the college. We welcomed our Year 9 and 10 students to the college last week.
Year 9 Inspire Program
The Inspire program provides our Year 9 students an opportunity to visit the city, a day of sporting activities at Box Hill Indoor Sports Centre and a day of school based activities including a first aid course and problem solving session. Thanks to our school based presenters Ms Kerri Haworth, Mr Paul Graham, MS Jody Clooney, Ms Sophie Goyder and Ms Sarah Chase. Well done to Mr Wayne Griffin and Ms Sarah Smith for their working in making the program run smoothly across the three days. Thanks also to Ms Mardi de Kretser for her work behind the scenes in organising this program. And finally thank you to all staff who supported this program across the three days.
Year 10 Camp
The Year 10 Camp ran last week at Federation University in Ballarat. With over 240 students participating in a wide range of activities including bushwalking, mindfulness and a outdoor movie night to name just a few of the activities. The camp also provided a great opportunity for Year 10 students to engage with sessions on the Student Learning Model and Mental Fitness run by the Black Dog Institute.. Thanks to staff for supporting this camp, special thanks goes to Lauren Kelly and Tim Peters for presenting on student agency and the Student Learning Model to the Year 10 group. Well done to Ms Mardi de Kretser, Ms Electra Sassos and Mr Chris Beale on leading the camp and for your work prior to the camp, getting everyone and everything organised.
Middle School Team
The Middle School team are here to help you support our Year 9 and 10 students both inside and outside the classroom. Please contact the coordinators if you need any support.
The team is as follows:
Head of Middle School: Ms Sarah Chase
Leader of Middle School: Ms Mardi de Kretser
Year 9 Coordinators: Mr Wayne Griffin and Ms Sarah Smith
Year 10 Coordinators: Ms Electra Sassos and Mr Chris Beale
Student Wellbeing: Ms Kerri Haworth
MS Admin Support: Ms Athena Geros
Student Diaries
Student have received their diaries which are valuable tool to support their learning. Students should record homework and upcoming events to assist with time management and organisation. The diary also contains many worthwhile resources and parents are encouraged to check it weekly and discuss “What went well” for the week.
Parking in and around the Senior Campus
The Senior Campus has parking which is for staff only. The carparks at the Senior Campus should not be used for dropping off or picking up students as this creates a safety issues for both staff and students. Students should be dropped off and picked up in adjacent side streets near the Senior Campus. When parking near the college it is important that parking signs are observed and we ask that you respect our local residents by not blocking their driveways as you drop off or pick up your children.
Student Safety
With the commencement of the school year it is timely to remind all members of our College Community to observe all road laws. In particular cyclists must wear helmets and when students are crossing roads, it needs to be done with care and observing traffic signals and the crossing supervisor if present. Please discuss this with your son/daughter and emphasise the need to follow correct road safety practices to keep everyone safe.
Compass
All parents should now have access to Compass. Compass is used to communicate with parents on a wide range of activities within the school. Compass can be access through the college website using any web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari) via your desktop computer or mobile device. Alternatively, parents can also download the Compass App from the Apple App store or Goggle Play by searching “Compass School Manager” which will allow you to access Compass through their mobile device. It is important to note that some of features of Compass are only available in the “browser” version.
Holiday Works
Across the holiday period the ICT and Facilities Teams were busy improving the college.
The ICT Works undertaken included:
- Installation new core servers and infrastructure
- Replacing network switches in JC and SC server room
- Compass work including Learning Tasks and Instrumental Music classes
- Projector maintenance across both sites including projector installations in LA24, LA32 and 33, P12, P15, V2, LA12, LA13, LA37, LA42, LA52 and JC Conference Room
- Preparation works for NBN rollout across the college
- Recreation of back-up servers
- Creation of student accounts
- Reimaging computers across the college
- Wireless management system upgrade
- Disposal of old equipment
- Work on Year 7 Hybrid program
Thanks to Mr Andrew Wallace , Mr Rohan Cupper, Mr Steve Martin and Mr Aro Ezackial for leading this work across the break.
The Facilities Team work on a wide range of tasks as outlined below:
- SC Staffroom refurbishment – including painting, and new desks and shelves
- Painting on SC and JC – refreshing both interior and exterior
- Coating of older decks near lower VCE Centre
- Work on roof of SC Hall and ceilings in H2 on SC
- Testing and Tagging all electrical equipment across both campuses
- Coating of hall floors – JC and SC
- Replacement of SC Hall doors
- Updating of retaining wall on SC oval near the large staircase
Thanks to Mrs Wendy Middleton and Mr Kevin Cai for their great work across the holiday period.
School Photos
Arthur Reed Photos will be at the College on Monday 10 February to take our school photos. Students should come in the correct summer uniform for photos. Information on how to order photos will be given to students on the day.
Mr Ian MacLeod
Campus Principal – Middle School