Welcome back to what will be another busy year in the Middle School. My name is Ian MacLeod, I am the Campus Principal who works with Middle School. I would particularly like to welcome our Year 9 students and families as they start their journey at the Senior Campus of the college.
We welcomed our Year 9 and 10 students back to the college last week.
Year 9 Inspire Program
Thanks to the staff who supported the Year 9 Inspire program. The program had many different activities for students to engage with including Kickstart, a Careers session, locker allocation, a scavenger hunt and academic testing sessions. Thank you to Ms Asha Vazirani, Mr Adam Wheeler and Mr Tristan Kent for their work in organising and running this program.
Year 10 Camp
Camp Coonawarra was the venue for our Year 10 Camp. The students were kept busy with a wide range of activities including canoeing, raft making, flying fox and giant swing to name just a few. Thank you to at the staff who attended Mr Kelvin Nguyen, Ms Stephanie Lamborn, Ms Alisha Smith, Ms Misa Murphy, Ms Jennifer Douglas, Mr Alex Klepner, Mr Jay Newport, Ms Jo Siketa, Mr Josh Halliday, Ms Amanda Irwin, Ms Sharona Jarman, Ms Leonie Siu, Mr Hans Wang, Mr Jackson Waters, Mr Sam Zanardo, Ms Yuchen Zhao and Ms Jody Clooney. To Ms Jo Rogers, Mr Aayush Khosla and MS Stephanie Xing thank for your work in organising and leading the camp – Well done!
Middle School Team
The Middle School team are here to help you support our Year 9 and 10 students both inside and outside the classroom. Please contact the coordinators if you need any support.
The team is as follows:
Head of Middle School – Asha Vazirani
Leader of Middle School – Jo Rogers
Year 9 Coordinators – Mr Adam Wheeler and Mr Tristan Kent
Year 10 Coordinators – Ms Stephanie Xing and Mr Aayush Khosla
MS Admin Support: Karen Box
Student Diaries
Student have received their diaries which are valuable tool to support their learning. Students should record homework and upcoming events to assist with time management and organisation. The diary also contains many worthwhile resources and parents are encouraged to check it weekly and discuss “What went well” for the week.
Parking in and around the Senior Campus
The Senior Campus has parking which is for staff only. The carparks at the Senior Campus should not be used for dropping off or picking up students as this creates safety issues for both staff and students. Students should be dropped off and picked up in adjacent side streets near the Senior Campus. When parking near the college it is important that parking signs are observed and we ask that you respect our local residents by not blocking their driveways as you drop off or pick up your children.
Student Safety
With the commencement of the school year, it is timely to remind all members of our college community to observe all road laws. In particular cyclists must wear helmets and when students are crossing roads, it needs to be done with care and observing traffic signals and the crossing supervisor if present. Please discuss this with your son/daughter and emphasise the need to follow correct road safety practices to keep everyone safe.
Student accident insurance, ambulance cover arrangements and private property brought to school
Parents/carers are reminded that the Department of Education does not provide personal accident or ambulance cover for students. Parents and carers of students, who do not have private health insurance or ambulance cover, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for their injured child. Private property brought to the college by students, staff or visitors is not insured and the Department of Education is not responsible for any loss or damage. This can include mobile phones, calculators, sporting equipment and cars parked on school premises. It is recommended that parents/carers consider insurance policies that can be purchased from commercial insurers.
Compass
All parents should now have access to Compass. Compass is used to communicate with parents on a wide range of activities within the school. Compass can be access through the college website using any web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari) via your desktop computer or mobile device. Alternatively, parents can also download the Compass App from the Apple App store or Goggle Play by searching “Compass School Manager” which will allow you to access Compass through your mobile device. It is important to note that some of features of Compass are only available in the “browser” version.
Holiday Works
Across the holiday period the ICT and Facilities Teams were busy improving the college.
If you see anything different from last year on campus, it’s the ICT and Facilities teams that have made this happen!
ICT Works undertaken including:
- Department Education Internet connected
- Reimaged classroom desktops and notebooks on both sites
- Prepared new teaching and support staff notebooks
- Compass work including Learning Tasks
- Phone system updated
- Projector maintenance and installations
Thanks to the ICT Team – Aro, Andrew and Jacob for their work across the break. Well done!
The Facilities Team also worked hard across the break with the focus on the following:
- Remodelling of Senior Campus Canteen
- Pinboard installation across Senior Campus
- Sound proofing installation in M2
- Conversion of C6 into a General Purpose Classroom including demolition, repairs, painting, carpeting and new furniture
- Senior and Junior Hall floors resealed
- AC serviced and installed across both sites
- Grounds maintenance across the college
- Vertical Garden on Middle School – maintenance
- Test and Tagging of equipment across college
- Air Purifiers – replaced all filters across the college
- Various electrical works, painting and signage
Thanks to Maintenance Team – Wendy, Darryl and Dean for their great work across the holiday period. Great work!
School Photos
Arthur Read Photos took our school photos on Thursday 6 February. Information on how to order photos was given to all students on the day. For any students that missed out there will be a catch day on Monday 24 February.
Mr Ian MacLeod
Campus Principal – Middle School