‘Mamma Mia!’
I had the privilege of attending our college production, ‘Mamma Mia!’ last week which was held in our college Unicorn Theatre. The production team have been working hard so it was wonderful to see their performance come to fruition. Thank you to Mr Matthew Weekes- Director and alumni Kyra Hatzikosmidis-Assistant Director, Ms Michelle Kelly- Backstage Director, Costumes, Set and Props, alumni Kiska Anaduta-Musical Assistant and Ms Cate Langley-Musical Director for all their hard work and dedication to our students over the last 6 months.
The cast and crew were magnificent, and the quality of performances were extremely high. What a talented team of students, alumni, and staff we have at Mount Waverley Secondary College!
Congratulations to the lead and ensemble roles:
| Leads | |
| Sophie | Beatrice L |
| Donna | Madeleine D |
| Sam | Alistair M |
| Bill | Mitchell D |
| Harry | Ewan C |
| Sky | Jessie T |
| Tanya 1 | Esther S |
| Rosie | Greta G |
| Lisa 1 | Ananya J |
| Tanya 2/Lisa 2 | Amelie C |
| Ali | Sania M |
| Pepper | Sam F |
| Eddie | Caelan G |
| Priest | Sebastian V |
| Dance Specialists | |
| Avneet A | Celia L |
| Chrissa H | Marlena W |
| Melissa J | Mia J |
| Sama G | Shahad A |
| Sophie L | Zoe T |
| Ensemble | |
| Anvi R | Briana H |
| Chloe C | Crow A |
| Dhruv G | Imogen M |
| Jacob G | Jacob W |
| Jeyoung P | Ladoste P |
| Madi H | Michael S |
| Shivakshi H | Yuna C |
Congratulations to the backstage crew, a group of very talented students who ran things behind the scenes: Ava A, Tora A, Quin A, Taite B, Marlo B, Tiya C, Karen C, Parker D, Claire D, Arwa E, Cate F, Darsh G, Petra H, Grace H, Jasmine J, Clementine J, Samadhi J, Natasha L, Vanessa L, Iha N, Bridie O, Kiki P, Paige P, Pragya P, Fathya P, Melissa S, Sri Shrestha S, Inez S, Sarah T, Sachi T, Hannah T, Ada V, Jessica W, Brianna W, Anna Z and Sunny Z.
Special thanks go to Mrs Narda McLennan our Marketing and Events Manager who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to support this show and all the other staff and students who helped contribute to this great event.
The Importance of Reflecting on our Learning
We are all members of a learning community and as such it is important to reflect on our learning so that we can improve and grow.
According to research by Professor John Hattie there are 3 feedback questions:
- Where am I going? This helps us set goals and understand what success looks like.
- How am I going? This gives us feedback about our progress and is often expressed in relation to an expected standard.
- Where to next? This feedback can help us select the next challenge and allows us to take responsibility for our learning.
Our NAPLAN results that all Year 7 and 9 parents should have received from their children, helps give us feedback to guide our students with the next steps in their literacy and numeracy development.
The subject selection process that all Year 9 – 11 students are undertaking now, is another great opportunity where students can ask these three questions to help them to focus on their future pathways.
Information evenings, subject information sessions and subject selection interviews
Well done to all the students and parents who recently attended our 2025 information evenings. These evenings are very important for students and their families to understand the courses, subjects, and pathways available next year and in the future.
The subschool teams have been busy planning subject selection information evenings and in the past week five parent evenings were held including our VTAC (Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre) Information Night for our current Year 12 students.
Thank you to the Heads of School-Mrs Debbie Sekula, Mrs Asha Vazirani and Ms Jo Rogers and their teams, our Head of Curriculum-Mr Tim Peters our Vocational Major Coordinator- Mr Wayne Griffin and the faculty heads and the Careers team for their work in setting up and organising these sessions.
Year 10 Future Options/ Tertiary Expo Day and Course Confirmation
Our Year 10 students were provided with plenty of information on Tuesday 30 July, with presentations on the guidelines for the VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) including the Vocational Major, as well as subject offerings. Students were able to talk to tertiary providers and hear from some of our Alumni about their career journeys. Thank you to our subschool teams, Faculty Heads, Careers team – Mr Phil Newnham and Ms Victoria Tortopidis for their work organising this Future Options and Tertiary Expo Day.
On Friday 9 August our Year 10 students will attend individual sessions with course counsellors to ensure that the subjects they have selected for their Victorian Certificate of Education/Vocational Major are appropriate for the career path they may chose in the future.
Subject Handbooks
The 2025 course selection handbooks for Years 7 & 8, Year 9, Year 10 and VCE are all on the college website. Further information about 2025 subjects can be found here: https://www.mwsc.vic.edu.au/our-college/college-documents/#curriculum
2024 Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey
Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey offered by the Department of Education and is seeking your feedback. The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage and appreciate your participation.
Our school will use the survey results to assist in identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies.
The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open online from Monday 29 July to Friday 30 August 2024. A random sample of parents / caregivers / guardians have been selected to participate in this year’s survey.
The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones.
The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Resources are also available in additional languages to assist parents / caregivers / guardians who speak a language other than English at home. Please contact the school for survey guides in your language.
College Raffle
Special thanks to Mrs Kari Simmons, Mrs Narda McLennan and Mr Aro Ezackial who have been working hard on sourcing some great prizes for our College Raffle this year. Over $6000 worth of prizes have been sought including a Sonic 55inch TV, a Mastercolour paint offer, winery tour and many other fantastic prizes. Please support the college by buying some tickets.
Tickets will go on sale via Compasstix on Friday 2 August at 3pm and will close on Monday 26 August.
The raffle will be drawn on Friday 30 August. Last year we raised over $4400 which went towards the student led initiative of purchasing tv display units across the college.
Feel free to forward this Compasstix link to family and friends.
Compasstix link https://compasstix.com/e/
VSMF Gold Medal
Our MWSC Stage Band won a gold award last Monday night in the Advanced Jazz Band Category of VSMF. Bands enter divisions based on two set list songs of varying degrees of difficulty and as such, only 6 bands across the State entered the advanced division.
The band was adjudicated by Mr Daryl McKenzie, a well-known Melbourne band leader and musician and Ms Bethany Robinson, an American Jazz artist who has won many awards in the USA. Bethany had nothing but praise for the ensemble when she worked with them in an onstage workshop following the performance. Congratulations to Mrs Tijtje Keatley – our Stage Band Conductor and thank you to Mr Tim Ruyg (one of our parents) who assisted on the night.
Today (Friday 2 August) our MWSC Jazz Band entered the Junior Jazz Ensemble, also playing two set numbers. This band of young musicians, directed by Mr Damien Maughan, performed beautifully, also enjoying the experience of an onstage tutorial following their performance. We are proud to announce that they also won a Gold award.
Congratulations to both ensembles on their performances!
MWSC Olympian
Congratulations to alumni Emily Whitehead, Class of 2018 who is competing in the Paris Olympics in the Artistic Gymnastics. We are so proud of her achievements and to see one of our former students compete at such an elite level is inspirational!
Mrs Karen Wade
College Principal