MWSC College News – Issue 7

District Cross Country  

Our students have continued the Mount Waverley Secondary College tradition of participating in large numbers in sport by their active involvement in the school cross country event.  It is rewarding to see our students committing themselves to leading a life of fun and fitness through participating in sport whilst also learning the life-long skills and values of teamwork and good sportsmanship.

The District Cross Country event took place on Tuesday 9 May.  Mount Waverley Secondary College performed extremely well on the day coming second overall with over 160 students participating. 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.

Bradley C – 2^nd in the 13 boys
Olivia T – 2^nd in the 14 girls
Julian D – 1^st in the 14 boys
Frances S M – 1^st in the 15 girls
Aisha H – 2^nd in the 15 girls
Sam P – 3^rd in the 16 boys
Tom H – 1^st in the 21 boys

Our successful students will now compete at the zone level on Tuesday 13 June.

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.

Exam Dates 2023

Year 9 :  Monday 5 June –Friday 9 June
Year 10 & 11 :  Monday 5 June– Friday 9 June and Tuesday 13 June – Thursday 15 June
General Achievement Test (GAT) :  Thursday 15 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 19 – Friday 23 June. 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 new Careers Manager Mr Phil Newnham and our Careers Education and Alumni Coordinator Mrs 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.

Magnificent Work of our Education Support Staff                                                            

On Wednesday 17 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, Integration 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’s Mrs Linda Westgarth and Mrs Kari Simmons.

On behalf of the college community, I wish to thank our Education Support staff for their significant contribution to our college.

Mrs Karen Wade
College Principal

Uniform

Years 7-10

• MWSC winter skirt (of modest length – no shorter than 5cm above the knee)
• MWSC green jumper
• MWSC green softshell jacket (optional).
• MWSC long sleeve white shirt or blouse with college logo
• MWSC college tie
• Either navy knee-high socks OR ‘Carlton’ navy Kayser opaque tights
• Navy scarf (optional)
• In cold weather plain white t-shirts without writing or logos are permitted under shirt/blouseOR

• MWSC grey unisex shorts or trousers with college logo (available only from PSW – official uniform supplier)
• MWSC long sleeve white shirt with college logo
• MWSC college tie
• MWSC green softshell jacket (optional).
• MWSC green jumper  Grey socks (must cover ankle)
• Navy scarf (optional)
• In cold weather a plain white t-shirt without writing or logos is permitted under the shirt

On days when students have PE, they must wear full MWSC uniform to school. Students must bring their PE clothes to change into before their PE lesson.

Communication with teachers

In the last few weeks of semester, students and teachers are busily working on their Common Assessment Tasks. Parents/carers are encouraged to regular access Compass to keep abreast of the feedback teachers are providing, as well as any other messages that may come through. If your child has any questions about the feedback provided, we encourage them to email or see their teacher in the first instance. As a parent/carer, if you feel the need to communicate with teachers regarding a Common Assessment Task (or any other concern), please bear in mind the volume of assessment and communication that is occurring at this time when awaiting your reply.

Getting to know…. Ms Danielle Robertson

How long have you been at MWSC?
This is my third year teaching at MWSC.

What is your role at MWSC? Previous roles?
I am a Year 8 Coordinator and an English Teacher.

What do you like to do outside of school?
I like cooking and baking and I love to read!

Favourite thing about working at a school?
My favourite thing about working in a school is getting to know all the students.

If you didn’t work in a school, what would you be doing?
If I didn’t work in a school, I would probably be a Historian. I would love to travel around the world to learn as much as I could about places in the world that have been affected by history and write about it.

What kind of student were you at school?
I was the kind of student that loved school and loved learning new things, but I also hated studying (which ended up being a problem)!

Mr Matt Sheehan
Campus Principal – Junior School

Exams

Parking

Year 7 Band Program

It has been an exciting start to the term, with all Year 7’s beginning an instrument as part of classroom music. This is a great opportunity for our students to learn a creative art form in an authentic way. By applying music theory and listening skills to playing a musical instrument, the students will develop a fundamental understanding of the artform. Students will participate in weekly lessons and a lunchtime ensemble to start in the next few weeks.

Parents, friends and family will be invited along early Term 4 to enjoy a concert involving all Year 7’s and to celebrate the success of our students. Please support these students in participating in practice at home that makes up the homework for music.

RSL Concert – 18th May

On Thursday 18 May a concert took place at the Ringwood RSL featuring the Concert Band, Jazz Band, Senior Singers and Chamber Strings. Events such as this are a wonderful opportunity for students to showcase their hard work talent. Concerts like this do not happen without a great deal of hard work. Thanks to Ms Melissa Knowles and Mr Timothy O’Connor for taking the lead in organising this event, and for Mr Damien Maughan and Mr Tom Frost for helping out. Well done to all of the students who performed.

Unit 3 and Year 10 Recitals

Congratulations to the Unit 3 and Year 10 classes on completing their recitals over the past week. Recitals are an integral part of practice performance giving students the opportunity to showcase solo works, work with an accompanist and perform for an audience. These students have worked hard learning repertoire through the year and the hard work certainly paid off. Thanks to accompanist Ray Liang (alumni 2016), Rick Liang (alumni 2016) for their piano accompaniment skills and to Timothy O’Connor and Kelvin Nguyen for their assistance on cross marking the Year 12’s.

Congratulations – 2021 Alumni and Music Captain Christopher Rozakeas

A huge congratulation to Chris who was chosen as a finalist for the James Morrison Scholarship as part of Generation in Jazz for a second year in a row. Chris was one of six under 21 year old jazz performers chosen from all around Australia to compete for this prestigious prize.  This is an enormous accolade and the music community at MWSC couldn’t be prouder. Well done, Chris!

Mrs Tijtje Keatley
Music Director

Cross Country

On Tuesday 9 May over 160 students headed to Norton’s Park for our annual division cross country carnival. The conditions were treacherous, with rain consistently falling in the days leading up to the event. While we only had a few passing showers on the day, the slippery conditions on the challenging track made for an exceptionally tough day.

As usual, our students braved these conditions, and should be super proud of their efforts. MWSC came second overall, losing by a mere 18 points. We also managed to win the Intermediate and the Senior Shield which was a remarkable effort. We also have 49 students who qualified for the EMR carnival.

Congratulations to the following students who finished on the podium:

Bradley C – 2^nd in the 13 boys
Olivia T – 2^nd in the 14 girls
Julian D – 1^st in the 14 boys
Frances SM – 1^st in the 15 girls
Aisha H – 2^nd in the 15 girls
Sam Pears – 3^rd in the 16 boys
Tom Harris – 1^st in the 21 boys

Well done to all of our students who attended on the day!

Mr Gwynne and Mr Newport
Sport Leaders

Senior Boys Footy

On Friday 5 April, there was a distinctly country flavour on display for the senior boys footy team. After a solid pre-season that involved torpedo competitions to emulate kicking a ball over a silo and a practice match with the intermediate boys and some very unfit staff, the team was as ready as they would ever be.

It was a great day with the weather holding off and the boys getting to enjoy playing footy in the sunshine. During their first game we easily accounted for Highvale SC and it was great to spin the magnets and see some backmen go forward to kick some goals. We then had to play Vermont SC, and knowing we would play them in the final later in the day decided to once again spin the magnets and give players a run in different positions, unfortunately we didn’t win, but the match provided some great defensive highlights, the tackling and spoiling pressure was immense.

In the final we played Vermont SC and once again they were too strong for us, but it was a much closer contest this time around with a great MWSC second half fight back seeing some goals come from unlikely places.

Despite not progressing to the next round the boys all had a fantastic day out and we all agreed football was the real winner on the day. The theme for the day was 1%ers and every member of the team delivered that in spades.  A special thanks must go to Coach Wall for all his help organising the team at training sessions and on the day. We also want to thank our captains Jack A, Luke G and Ryan K for all their hard work and support of the team. ~ Coach Myers

Year 10 students have been busy preparing for work experience. They have completed online modules to learn about occupational health and safety. Many students have had the first-time experience of seeking out an employer, either telephoning or visiting, and taking on responsibility for the required documentation. Mrs Tortopidis has spent many weeks assisting students, providing advice, and encouraging students to persist and organise what we trust will be valuable career education experience.

Mr Phil Newnham
Careers Education Manager

Saturday 6 May saw the Production Team run a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle Fundraiser at Notting Hill.  The weather was classic Melbourne, cold rainy and grey interspersed with moments of glorious sunshine.

Ms Jane Carter and Mrs Stephanie Thomas ran the event on the day was were supported by a wonderful team of parent volunteers and students – a big thank you goes out to them.
We would also like to thank Trish Munday and Linda Westgarth for their support.  It was a great day with some fun moments (despite the weather).

More details on our Production Performances of Chicago to follow in the coming weeks.

To register for our Alumni School Reunion Tour – Class of 2003 visit: https://www.trybooking.com/CHGMD

Keep in touch with all Alumni events and news, register your details in link below to receive our Monthly Newsletter.

https://lnkd.in/g2KXcdpw

Ms Victoria Tortopidis
Alumni Coordinator