Welcome back!
At the end of Term 2 we celebrated the achievements of our Year 11 students at a celebration assembly. We recognised those students that had upheld our ILEARN values of integrity, learning, excellence, accountability, respect and nurturing, as well as those students with 100% attendance.
As Term 3 begins we are reminding our Year 12s that whilst they are fast approaching the end of their secondary schooling journey, there is still a lot to get through before we get there. Last term we held an assembly with our Year 12s to encourage them to make “every day count” instead of counting the days. Students were reminded that the subschool and their teachers are here to support them and we would like to encourage all students to reach out if they need help.
2026 Course Selection
The course selection process for 2026 has begun and will continue next week. An information night for VCE VM and VET has already taken place on Tuesday 29 June and a course information session will be held for parents and students in Years 11 and 12 in 2026 on Tuesday 5 August to explain the process and answer FAQs. Slides and key information will be shared to all parents and students following each evening. Most students in Year 11 will continue on with the subjects they are studying this year, any students wishing to change must discuss this with someone from the Senior Subschool.
Next week on Friday 8 August, 2026 Year 11s will have subject selection interviews. They will discuss their chosen subjects with a staff member and receive support with making their subject selections. We encourage any student unsure about subject choice, career options, questions about VCE or life after school to make an appointment to chat with either Ms Victoria Tortopidis or Mr Phil Newnham from our Careers team.
Thank you to Ms Sarah Chase (Head of Senior School), Mr James Johnston (Senior School Leader), Mr Wayne Griffin (Head of Senior Pathways) and Mr Phil Newnham (Careers Education Manager) for presenting at the information nights and all their work organising the course selection interviews.
Graduation Dinner
In 2025 Year 12 students will celebrate the culmination of 13 years of schooling by attending a formal dinner at the Caulfield Racecourse. Last year was the first time in several years that we held a formal dinner and it was a fantastic way to recognise the significant achievement of finishing secondary school and we look forward to a fantastic night. Please make sure that you keep an eye on Compass to respond to any required actions for this event.
VCE Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences
On Thursday 24 July VCE parents and students were given the opportunity to meet with teachers. This opportunity is provided early in Term 3 to our VCE parents to allow for the discussion of students’ Semester One reports, and areas for improvement moving into Semester Two with enough time to ensure that change is possible. We hope the interviews also provided an opportunity for parents, students and teachers of Year 11 students to discuss subjects for 2026.
VCE Premier’s Awards
On Wednesday 2 July, myself, Mrs Karen Wade and Ms Lynette Spiller had the pleasure of attending a ceremony for the Premier’s VCE Awards. The awards recognise top performing students for their academic achievements for their VCE or VCE subjects in 2024.
For the first time top performing students in the VCE Vocational Major were also recognised. We had 3 students receive awards for their academic performance in a VCE Study. VCAA uses Individual Graded Assessment scores to determine the order of merit and identify the best students, students must also receive a study score of 46 or above. Both Neyssa S (Health and Human Development) and Maya C (Art Making and Exhibiting) received Premier’s Awards for their achievements in a VCE subject after both receiving study scores of 50.
We would like to recognise Ms Cara Hill (Health and Human Development) and Ms Lynette Spiller for all their work in supporting the students with this achievement. One current Year 11 student also received a Premier’s award for her achievements in Hungarian, which she studies externally, so we also had the pleasure of congratulating Petra H on her achievement.
Absences
Attendance in VCE is important to support students to experience success in their chosen studies. The school has attendance policies in place to support our students to meet the required number of hours of class time to meet the requirements set out by the VCAA. The Year Level Coordinators will be monitoring attendance and communicating with parents should concerns around attendance arise. If you are contacted regarding concerns about your student’s attendance we ask for support to ensure that you are supporting their attendance at school. Please also ensure medical certificates are acquired if a student is absent on the day of an assessment task or SAC/SAT.
Ms Lauren Kelly
Campus Principal – Senior School