Magnificent Work of our Education Support Staff
On Friday 16th May our Education Support staff were acknowledged and celebrated for their contribution to the college. We are very fortunate to have a terrific team of support staff helping to care for and education your children and run our college. Our Education Support staff, to mention a few, include our friendly and caring Admin and Finance staff, Wellbeing staff, Inclusion Assistants, Nurses, Interpreter/EAL Assistants, Resource Centre, Science Laboratory and Food Tech staff, as well as skilled maintenance and ICT staff.
It is such personnel who are quiet achievers and who so admirably support our teaching staff in effectively delivering the curriculum. This large team of personnel are ably led by our talented Business Manager Ms Kari Simmons and Student Support and Resources Manager Mr Paul Graham.
On behalf of the college community, I wish to thank our Education Support staff for their significant contribution to our college.
2024 Annual Report
The 2024 Annual Report has been endorsed by College Council and now has been endorsed by the Department of Education. A copy of the report can be found on the college website if you would like to read it. We again achieved excellent results compared to the state and similar schools which was extremely pleasing.
Division Cross Country
The District Cross Country event took place on Tuesday 13 May with over 160 students participating. Mount Waverley Secondary College performed extremely well on the day, coming first overall winning the Junior Shield and coming second in the Middle and Senior Shields.
I congratulate all the students who competed and represented our college with pride. Thank you to Mr Jay Newport and Mr Danny Gwynne for all their hard work in getting the team ready for this event.
Well done to the following students who finished in the top three of their events:
Katia K – 2nd in 13 girls
Taara R – 3rd in 13 girls
Daniel K – 2nd in 13 boys
Daisy W – 1st in 14 girls
Seth J – 1st in 14 boys
Zach C – 2nd in 15 boys
Steven G – 3rd in 15 boys
Hannah R – 3rd in 16 girls
Julian D – 1st in 16 boys
Frances S.M – 1st in 17/20 girls
Aisha H – 2nd in 17/20 girls
Hayden V – 3rd in 17/20 boys
Our successful students will now compete at the regional level on Thursday 12 June.
NEVR Showcase
The NEVR showcase was held on Wednesday 14 May and is a new event which invited schools with medium to large ensembles to gather for a day of playing and collaboration. Our Concert Band was invited to perform on the day. Thank you to Mrs Tijtje Ellis and Mrs Melissa Knowles for supporting our students and special thanks to Mr Ian MacLeod for representing the Executive Team at this special event
Senior Campus Careers Week
Special thanks to Mr Paul Newnham our Careers Education Manager and Ms Victoria Tortopidis our Careers Education and Alumni Coordinator, for putting together a fantastic program of sessions for Career Week last week. It was pleasing to see so many students engage across the week to hear from a range of presenters.
Celebrating Diversity-IDAHOBIT Day
Our staff and students organised activities on both campuses to help celebrate diversity at Mount Waverley Secondary College recently. It is lovely to see that we are an inclusive school.
Professional Practice Day in Semester 2, 2025
The Department of Education has approved that teaching staff will be entitled to 1 Professional Practice Day in 2025.The department recommends that schools hold this professional practice day on the same day for all staff. This is to make it easier for schools who are finding it hard to source casual relief teachers.
Our Professional Practice Day for 2025 will be held on Monday 3 November (the day before Cup Day) and students are not expected to attend school (unless they have scheduled Year 12 VCAA examinations on this day).
Preparing for Examinations
At this time of year our students are diligently studying for their outcomes and exams. It has been pleasing to see students studying in the library and VCE Centre, attending Homework Club, catching up with teachers for additional support and attending revision classes to ensure they are thoroughly prepared for their exams.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish each student all the best for their exams. I am sure they will be rewarded with results that reflect the hard work that has been undertaken throughout the first semester. Our learning community is proud of the way our students approach their learning, whether it be academic studies, learning a musical instrument, mastering a drama performance, or representing our college in one of our many leadership programs. Our students and teachers approach all activities with great enthusiasm, matching this with hard work and knowing they will achieve success by giving their best.
VCE Northern Hemisphere Examinations
I would like to thank Mr James Johnston Senior School Leader, our Chief Examiner Mrs Trish Reid and her team for the smooth way in which they ran the VCE Northern Hemisphere Timetable examination process on Tuesday 20 May and Wednesday 21 May. Our students were involved in Unit 4 Accounting and Biology exams. The examiners stated how well behaved our students were, which is a great credit to our school.
Semester 1 Exam Dates 2025
Year 9: Monday 2 June – Friday 6 June
Year 10 & 11: Monday 2 June – Friday 6 June and Tuesday 10 June – Thursday 12 June
General Achievement Test (GAT): Tuesday 17 June
Year 10 Work Experience
All year 10 students are expected to complete a week of Work Experience during the last week of term from Monday 30 June-Friday 4 July. If students need help finding a placement, they should look for guidance on our college website as there are over 400 employers listed there. For easy access to Careers Corner students can click on the link below. https://sites.google.com/mwsc.vic.edu.au/careers/middle-school/work-experience or make an appointment with our Careers team which comprises our Careers Manager Mr Phil Newnham and our Careers Education and Alumni Coordinator Ms Victoria Tortopidis.
Work Experience is an opportunity to give our students:
- an understanding of the work environment and what employers expect of their workers.
- an opportunity to explore possible career options.
- increased self-understanding, maturity, independence, and self-confidence
- increased motivation to continue study and/or undertake further training.
- a better understanding of how the school curriculum can help prepare young people for work.
- an introduction to workplace recruitment practices.
- enhanced opportunities for part-time and casual employment.
- the opportunity to include the employer’s work experience evaluation in future job and course applications.
- opportunities to develop work-related competencies and acquire skills.
- the chance to ‘try out’ a workplace.
Source: Work experience manual for Victorian Secondary Schools
I would like to sincerely thank Mrs Tortopidis for her work in organising all the documentation required to send our students into the workplace.
Mrs Karen Wade
College Principal