MWSC College News – Issue 17

Star Performers

Congratulations to the following Year 12 students; Anne F who had her Studio Arts work shortlisted for the VCAA Top Arts Exhibition and Ethan L who had his Visual Communication Design work shortlisted in the VCAA Top Design Exhibition. Their pieces have been shortlisted from thousands of works from around the state and is an indication of how our Visual Arts program is growing from strength to strength.

The Stan Gallery Exhibition

I had the pleasure of visiting the Stan Gallery in Mount Waverley last Wednesday night to see the launch of an exhibition of our Year 11 and 12 students’ artwork on display. It was great to see our students work displayed in a gallery setting.

The Stan Gallery is located at 49 Stanley Avenue, Mount Waverley, and you are most welcome to visit this exhibition which will continue through to Sunday 17th December during the following hours: Thursdays & Fridays 1.00pm – 6.00pm   Saturdays & Sunday 9:00am – 2:00pm.  My sincere thanks to all the staff and volunteers at the gallery who made me feel most welcome.

PSW Exclusive Shopping Night

Thank you to all our 2024 Year 7 parents and students who attended our exclusive shopping night at PSW our unform supplier recently. This was a great way for our families to receive excellent service as they prepare our new cohort of students for secondary school next year.

Secondhand Uniform/Book Sale

Special thanks to everyone who donated books or uniform items to our second-hand sale which was held on Friday 24 November. We raised over $7,000 which will be used to help support student-led initiatives. I would like to sincerely thank all of our wonderful parent volunteers who ran the sale on this day.

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.

Our Year 12 VCAA examinations concluded on Wednesday 15 November and as you can imagine the organisation of these exams is a huge logistical task. Thank you to Mr James Johnston, Senior Subschool Leader for overseeing this process along with our Chief Examiner, Mr Peter Schneider. We now await our Year 12 results which are released on Monday 11 December.

2024 Early Commencement

Our whole school rolled over to our 2024 timetable on Monday 27 November and our 2023 Year 8 students began 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 sub school teams, faculty heads and Mr Scott Smith (timetabler) for all their hard work.

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 Monday 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.

Term 4 College Christmas Raffle

We have been working hard on sourcing some great prizes for our Christmas raffle for this term. Over $4500 worth of prizes have been donated including a Soniq 55” TV, Novetel Accommodation and meal voucher, Mercator Ceiling fan, Brilliant Bathroom Heat Lamp and Exhaust fan and more.   The MWSC raffle is running online, and tickets can be purchased via Compasstix.

Please support the college by purchasing either raffle tickets for $2.50ea or $12.50 for a book of 5 tickets or $25 for a book of 10 tickets.  Feel free to forward the Compasstix link to family and friends. All proceeds will go toward student led initiatives.   Raffle tickets can now be purchased online via Compasstix link : https://compasstix.com/e/3nmkqp564b

Online college raffle and is due to close on Sunday 3 December at 4pm.  Raffle to be drawn and winners announced on Wednesday 6 December.

Jazz Under the Stars

The Mount Waverley Secondary College ‘Jazz under the Stars’ evening is an annual event which will be held next Wednesday 6 December on the Senior Campus. The concert will feature the MWSC Jazz Bands, Past Captains Band, Super Band, Staff and Alumni Bands and will begin at 4.30pm for a sausage sizzle and music will start at 5pm. Please enter via Gate 5, Beaufort Street.

This wonderful evening is an outdoor picnic style event where families are asked to bring a chair and a picnic to enjoy with friends.
Proceeds from the $5 entry donation and sausage sizzle will go toward the Generations in Jazz Festival 2024.

We hope to see you there!

Year End Program (YEP)

The YEP Program will then run from Monday 11^th December until Wednesday 13^th December for students in Years 7-10 who have enrolled in this program. Students will receive information regarding this program next week. 

Presentation Night

This year, Presentation Night will be held on Thursday 14 December at The Besen Centre, 7.00pm, 87-89 Station Street, Burwood.  Students will be notified if they are to receive an award and will attend a rehearsal at the college next Thursday 7 December during the school day. Information regarding rehearsals and how families can purchase tickets for the night will be emailed out shortly.

Mrs Karen Wade
College Principal

End of 2023 Academic Year

As our Early Commencement Program has rolled around again I wanted to take the opportunity to thank this year’s Junior Campus community for all of their hard-work, support and wonderful resilience.

I wish our Year 8s the best of luck at the Senior Campus, and look forward to our Year 7s stepping up to the challenge of being our leaders in 2024. I would like to thank all of the Junior Campus staff for their great work in another challenging year, and wish all those moving campuses or to new schools all the best of luck. Likewise to all of the students who are seeking excellence elsewhere, we thank you for contributions to the MWSC community, and look forward to hearing of your successes in your new schools.

To all the families, have a happy and safe end to the year, a relaxing break over summer, and we look forward to working together again in 2024.

College Values

Many of our students have been recognised by school staff for upholding and demonstrating our our college ILEARN values. Well done to all of the students below, and dozens more who have been recognised this term. Here is just a sample:

Integrity: Pantelina works well with others. She is always ready to advocate for herself as well as give space for others when working in a team.

Learning: Divit is committed to learning in Maths. He asks fantastic questions and is focussed and engaged during lessons.

Excellence: Well done to Celia for having an excellent attitude towards her studies. She always shows interest in class, asks questions, and completes all work.

Accountability: Salma is a mature student who works very well in class. She is polite and respectful and follows up on any missed work when she is absent. Salma has an excellent approach to her learning!

Respect: Saipranav is a very polite and respectful student. He is friendly and welcoming and always greets me cheerfully during class and in the yard. It is a really kind gesture that makes me smile!

Nurturing: Well done to Svara for the way she conducted herself at camp. She was friendly to all, mixed well with different groups of students and was always positive.  Just the type of student we need on a school camp.

Junior Campus Leaders 2024

At last week’s final Campus assembly for the year we were able to thank the 2023 Junior Campus Student Leadership team and announce the team for 2024. These students have been through a rigorous process, and we are sure that they will do a great job!

Well done to our Junior Campus Captains Dhineli & William, our Deputy Captains Henry & Advika, and our House Captains Nulara, Bradley, Divit, Sanchitha, Taite, Keira, Lalita, Amali, Declan, Swathy, Partha, and Jacob!

Mr Matt Sheehan
Campus Principal – Junior School

As we moved further into November, Middle School students completed exams as the final assessments for their 2023 subjects.  Following the exam period students progressed to their next year level to start the Early Commencement Program this week.  As always, this program has proved to be very successful with students engaging in new and interesting learning as they commence their 2024 studies.  The program will continue in this coming week.

STEAM Centre

The STEAM Centre is fantastic addition to the college adding purpose-built Technology, Art and Science learning spaces.  This new building has been buzzing with students and staff alike as we commenced classes in these brand new classrooms.

Senior Campus Courts

Work has been progressing on the Senior Campus Courts and we are very close to having it hand over to the school.  These court add another option for PE Classes to use across the year.

Mr Ian MacLeod
Campus Principal – Senior School

Early Commencement Program (ECP)

The ECP started this week for all students in Years 7 to 11, they attended their 2024 classes – Year 8 to 12. It has been great to see the students engage in their new subjects. Students in Year 8 have been able to spend time on the senior campus and have had an opportunity to settle in and meet their new teachers. VCE students will be given homework to do, and this must be completed before they start their classes next year. Students have access to this information via the Compass and through Google classrooms or Microsoft Teams which have been set up by their classroom teachers.

For students completing VCE/ Vocational Major the message at assemblies focused on doing their best and ensuring that students attended class (unless they are absent due to illness or a school approved activity), complete all assessment tasks and activities to the best of their ability and complete all coursework and homework set by the teacher. Students need to do this to ensure they satisfactorily pass the unit.

Reports – Years 7 to 11

Teachers have been working hard on completing reports. These will be available via Compass on Monday 11^th December. Please log in to the parent portal to access the report. The reports provide an opportunity for further discussions at home around progress and achievement on Learning Behaviours, Victorian Curriculum Levels (for Years 7 to 10), Common Assessment Tasks and/or School Assessed Coursework/ Learning Activities and for Year 9 to 11 students their exam results.

Each assessment item also includes advice on areas for improvement. I would like to acknowledge the hard work of teachers in assessing, marking exams, and writing reports at a very busy time of the year.  A special thank you to Mr Andrew Wallace, one of our Information Technology team, who has assisted me in overseeing and managing the process.

Talented staff

Several of our VCE teachers have recently presented at subject association conferences and professional development workshops for teachers. This reflects the skills and experience of the staff who work at the college and their willingness to share their expertise with teachers across the state.

Mrs Julie Cain
Campus Principal – Senior School

Global Citizenship Student Ambassador Program

Throughout the year, six Year 9 students, Jayda, Samadhi, Shaurya, Nicholas, Sania and myself  were given the opportunity to take part in the Global Citizenship Student Ambassador program. The program was spaced across 10 sessions that empowered us to take action upon issues we cared about, connect with peers and build leadership skills.

During the sessions, we collaborated with other schools via webex to discover what issues they wanted to focus their projects on. Our team decided that we would address the problem of food wastage around the school and in food tech classrooms by creating a worm farm.

With the help of Mr Myers and Mr Laan, we created our worm farm by drilling holes into buckets before stacking them and adding the compost. To voice our project to the school and broader community, we created a website as well as posters that were placed on screens around the school. At the end of the program, we presented our project to the other schools and discussed our problem and chosen solution, how we got the community involved and the challenges we faced along the way.

Overall, it was an incredible experience that helped build our critical thinking skills, understand different issues on a local and national scale, and leave with a sense of pride over making a small change in the community.

 by Aisha H (9B)

The last Alumni Newsletter for the year will be available soon featuring our Class of 2023. Don’t miss out.

Having this monthly Alumni Newsletter, we can share achievements and memories.  If you have any updates or news to share, please email me at alumni@mwsc.vic.edu.au.

Past students please register your details click here to become part of our Alumni community and receive directly to your inbox the Alumni Monthly Newsletter.

Students from Class of 2022 please register your details here.

Students from Class of 2023 please register your details here.

Ms Victoria Tortopidis
Alumni Coordinator