MWSC College News – Issue 11

Virtual Arts Festival 

Our first Virtual Arts Festival was held recently and students could access this via the intranet.  The quality of our students’ art work continues to amaze me and many awards were presented to students.
2020 People’s Choice Award was awarded to Alisha G – Year 10.

Media Studies
Year 9 Journalism – Sarah B, Mifa N
Year 9 Media – Isabelle W
Year 10 Media – Hanji C
Year 11 Media – Molly Rose M
Year 12 Media – Ayesha S

Congratulations to all these talented students!
Special thanks to Mrs Cecilia Carlill for creating this website and Ms Jane Carter, Head of The Arts and all of the Arts students and staff who were involved in this fantastic display of work.

Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars

Over 1500 applications from students across Victoria were received for the University of Melbourne Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars. Congratulations to Nora B and Talyssa E  who were both accepted into the Class of 2022. We will recognise their great achievements at Presentation Night in Term 1 next year.

Texas Instruments National Codes Contest

Congratulations to Riveen G A and Joshua L of Year 7 and Chris W and Alex R of Year 9 who have made it through to the semi-finals of the first ever Texas Instruments National Codes Contest. The ten teams from around Australia are:

VIC – Mount Waverley Secondary College “Team RDI (Robotic Daily Intake)”
VIC – Mount Waverley Secondary College “So indóme mát- your anta”
VIC – Suzanne Cory High School “S.C.H.S 1”
VIC – Mentone Grammar School “The Linguinis”
VIC – Melbourne High School “Farmers Improved”
VIC – Melbourne High School “Saline Soldiers”
VIC – St Margaret’s School “MISS”
QLD – Columba Catholic College “EweWillWantToWater”
WA – Ridgeview Secondary College “Food Gurus”
WA – Ridgeview Secondary College “The Saucerers”

Special thanks to Mr Warren Mc Alister who has been mentoring the two teams.

2021 Year 7 Virtual Information Evening

It was wonderful to see over 500 parents and students attend our 2021 Year 7 Virtual Information Evening online on Tuesday 24 November.  I spoke about what skills, attributes and strategies I would want my child to develop at school and encouraged the 2021 Year 7 students to get involved in the many opportunities and extra curricula activities on offer at Mount Waverley Secondary College.  I left the students with a quote from Dr Seuss “You’re off to great places, today is your day.  Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!”

College Booklist

Just a reminder that Link Educational (our previous supplier) is now called Campion Education. You will need to create an account with them to view and purchase your students 2021 book list. Pick up will not be at the college as in previous years – options are delivery to your home address, or pick up from Campion at 341 Waverley Rd, Mount Waverley VIC .  For current booklist orders please call Campion Education on 1300 433 982.  For general enquiries, please contact the Campion Mount Waverley store on 9807 5422.

Exams on the Senior Campus

Over the last few weeks the Senior Campus has been a very busy place. Students in Year 9, 10 and 11 have been completing exams and teachers have been marking them and writing reports.

The VCAA exams have also been running since Tuesday 10 November. Thanks to all the subschool teams, support staff and teachers who have been involved in all of the exams. It is always a huge undertaking made even more complex this year with the processes put in place due to COVID19.

Our Year 12 VCAA examinations conclude on Wednesday 2 December and as you can imagine the organisation of these exams is a huge logistical task. Thank you to Mr Matt Cara, Senior Subschool Leader for overseeing this process along with our Chief Examiner, Mr Alex Bernhardt. We now await our Year 12 results which are released on Wednesday 30 December.

VCAA assessors

A large number of our VCE teachers have been involved in assessing the written and performance exams for VCAA during term four. This work is important and it is a recognition of the expertise and experience of the teachers at the college.

Semester Two Reports

Teachers have been completing reports and feedback for their students.  Year 7 to Year 11 students and parents/carers will receive an end of semester report via Compass on Friday 11 December. The reports are a culmination of the written feedback from their teachers with additional information on work behaviours and, for Year 7 to 10 students, Victorian Curriculum levels.

2021 Early Commencement

Our whole school will roll over to our 2021 timetable on Monday 30 November and our 2021 Year 8 students will begin classes on the Senior Campus.  Early Commencement is a great way for students to get a head start on their studies for next year.  I encourage all students to complete set homework and read their texts before returning to school next year. A special thank you to the staff for their efforts in running this program and in particular the subschool teams, faculty heads and Mr Scott Smith (timetable) for all of their hard work.

2021 Starting Dates

A reminder that Years 7, 9 and 12 students begin on Thursday, 28 January 2021.   Year 8, 10 and 11 students begin on Friday, 29 January 2021.

Mrs Karen Wade
College Principal

Even though 2020 hasn’t been exactly the start to a new decade that we all imagined, we are exceptionally proud of our Junior School students for the positivity and adaptability they have consistently demonstrated throughout this unique year.

Our Year 7s have had an especially memorable first year at high school. The year started with the two-day ILEARN induction program, a range of sessions designed to familiarise our newest students with our school and its values. We were lucky to be able to run the annual Year 7 Orientation Camp to Phillip Island and saw new friendships and cohort camaraderie formed, plus a few capsized canoes and poorly constructed rafts along the way. We were also able to send teams to the Term 1 Round Robin and saw some fantastic sporting talent on display. The Year 7s have shown an exemplary attitude and have settled into the college despite spending a significant portion of the year learning remotely.

For our Year 8s, the year has focused on the themes of challenge and leadership; seeing challenges as opportunities for growth and learning and developing the personal capacity for leadership in all sorts of situations. Our Year 8s threw themselves into the opportunities offered in February’s Challenge Program, eagerly participating in reptile handling, improvisation, yoga and meditation, rock climbing, hip-hop dancing and more. Despite not being able to run our Year 8 Camps this year, we have admired the ways our Year 8s have overcome challenges, particularly in the way they have approached remote learning. Our Year 8 Student Leaders have been excellent contributors to school life, both remotely and face-to-face, even in the face of the setbacks of 2020.

Thank you to all Junior Campus staff for your dedication and flexibility throughout 2020. A special thank you to our Year Level Coordinators, Mr James Johnston, Ms Jo Rogers, Mr Mark Quiambao and Ms Rachael McCracken and our Student Wellbeing Coordinator Ms Danielle Mott for their unwavering support, kindness and hard work in a challenging year. Thank you also to Ms Grace Leszczynski for providing so many opportunities for our students to participate in student activities, both virtually and on-campus. Thank you to Mr Nic Barca, Junior School Leader, for his tireless and outstanding efforts in supporting our students and our Year 8 Leadership Team, and to Mr Andrew Batchelor, our Campus Principal, for his exceptional care and leadership of all students and staff in our Junior School community.

And lastly, to our Year 7s and 8s, thank you for making the most of the opportunities that this year has provided you, even though it was radically different to the 2020 we all envisaged. We love coming to work (or tuning in remotely) because of you all, and we wish you every success for 2021 and beyond.

Mr John Simon
Head of Junior School

College Captains and Deputy College Captains

Arts / Music / Sports Captains

College House Captains

College Prefects

Miss Hayley Dureau
Head of Student Voice

The 2021 Year 8 Student Leadership Team has been finalised following applications, interviews, speeches, and voting.

Thank you to all students who submitted an application and thank you very much to Mr Nic Barca, Mr John Simon, and Mr Andrew Batchelor for their time and effort in selecting the 2021 Year 8 leaders.

Congratulations to the following students:

Junior Campus Captains and Deputy Junior Campus Captains

Junior Campus House Captains

What an amazing team!

Miss Hayley Dureau
Head of Student Voice

In the midst of lockdown and remote learning, four very courageous students put their hands up to compete in the inaugural contest. Riveen and Joshua (Year 7) and Chris and Alex (Year 9) have been supported over the past few months by their coding mentor teacher, Mr Warren McAlister.

Creatember

During Lockdown the Student Leadership Team introduced Creatember. For each day in September we gave students a prompt and the challenge was then to create absolutely anything creative with that. The prompts were just single words, for example: Flowers, Lost, Fish, Royal and Potato! Students got really creative and there were so many amazing entries.

In the week leading up to Halloween students in the Junior School received a ‘spooky’ daily email with activities, which included origami, drawing and trivia questions. It was great to see the participation, and that this was well received by students during this difficult year.    ~   By Maya C    8L

Monash Tech School – Academy for Enterprising Girls

The Academy for enterprising Girls has assisted me in potentially starting a small business by recognising obstacles and tackling them with a creative and efficient solution.  These issues can range from minor to major as even the smallest adjustments can make significant improvements.  This workshop is a one day programme in which young girls gain experience in marketing their analytical skills and attain proficiency in just a short amount of time.  Students are requested to follow a step by step informative plan that guides the ideal method when approaching these problems.  I strongly recommend this short workshop for young girls who aspire to make massive impacts and advancements to the world.    ~ By Kathryn L   10E