MWSC College News – Issue 16

Returning from Leave

This week was my first week back at the college after 6 weeks of long service leave. I would sincerely like to thank Mr Ian MacLeod for stepping up to the position of Acting College Principal whilst I was away and Mrs Asha Vazirani for taking on Ian’s role as Acting Campus Principal-Middle School. They both did an outstanding job. It is very reassuring to know that we have great teams here at Mount Waverley Secondary College who are very capable of working at the next level. I had a wonderful European vacation with my husband and feel well rested.

 

Night of the Museum 

On Thursday 9 November parents and staff had the privilege of visiting the Year 7 Night of the Museum displays. Our young historians researched civilisations from Ancient China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The students have been working hard over the past month to create replicas of artefacts and interactive displays. Thank you to all the Humanities Staff for supporting this wonderful educational opportunity for our students and well done to all the students who were involved. Special thanks to all the family members and friends who came to visit this exhibition. I know you enjoyed our students work come to life.

 

2024 College Captains and Prefects

Congratulations to the following 2024 Year 12 students who have been elected as our college leaders. These students went through several rigorous steps to be selected and I would like to thank Mr Myers, Head of Student Voice for overseeing this process.

Congratulations to

College Captains Madeleine D and Georgia K
College Deputy Captains Farah H and Pria T
Music Captains Vivian P and Alannah R
Sports Captains Taya F and Avril T
Arts Captains Beatrice L and Greta G
Wellbeing Captains Maya C and Clementine J

House Captains
Bradman – Parker D and Grace J
Cuthbert – Neyssa S and Vinu K
Fraser – Ashlee L and Maggie C
Goolagong – Luke C and Lachlan B
Landy – Jessie K and Grace B
Whitten – Edolie R and Zali M

Prefects
Jacky Q, Aaraav B, Mark K, Ishmanpreet K, Fathya P Krisha R, Anessa L Serena S, Jasleen N, Josh D, Dahlia C and Tanvi P

 

Arts Festival

Our annual Arts Festival was held on Tuesday 14 November.  The quality of our students’ artwork continues to amaze me, and many awards were presented to students.  Students, parents, and staff were entertained by musical items, Drama performances and Media films.  Congratulations to Ms Jane Carter, Head of The Arts and all the arts students and staff who were involved on the night. Special thanks to Mrs Trish Munday and Mrs Linda Westgarth for catering this event.

 

Sports Awards Evening    

Congratulations to Mr Danny Gwynne and Mr Jay Newport our Sports Leaders for their work in running our Sport Awards Night at the college on Wednesday 15 November. It was fantastic to see so many students and their families in attendance, celebrating and recognising the great achievements our students have made in 2023. It was also wonderful to welcome back Ms Emily Harley, a former Mount Waverley Secondary College student from the Class of 2019. Emily has shown extreme resilience in her sporting career since graduating. After being drafted by Richmond in the AFLW, she was struck down with many serious injuries, and was unable to break her way into the team, ultimately being delisted. Instead of giving up, she got recruited to Port Melbourne in the VFLW where she was a member of their 2023 premiership team. Emily willingly gave up her time to come back to Mount Waverley Secondary College for this special event and gave the students some wonderful advice regarding competing in sport at a higher level.

 

2024 Year 7 Information Evening

It was wonderful to see many parents and students attend our 2024 Year 7 Virtual Information Evening on Thursday 16 November.  I spoke about what skills, attributes, and strategies I would want my child to develop at school and encouraged the new 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!”

 

VCAA Exams

Our Year 12 exams finished this week. Thank you to Mr James Johnston, Acting Senior Subschool Leader who oversaw this process along with our Chief Examiner Mr Peter Schneider.

 

Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program

Close to 2000 applications from Year 10 students were received for this exemplary Melbourne University program this year. Mount Waverley Secondary College had one student; Nicola G accepted into the Successful Class of 2025 Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars. Congratulations Nicola and thank you to Mr Jacob Myers for supporting our students with their applications.

 

Mango Drive

Thank you to all the families who ordered a tray of mangoes in this year’s Mango Drive. We are expecting the mangoes to be delivered on Tuesday 21 November. Families will be notified when they arrive and where to collect your order.

 

Term 4 College Christmas Raffle

We have been working hard on sourcing some great prizes for our Christmas raffle for this term. Over $3300 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.  2023 MWSC Xmas Raffle Poster

Raffle tickets can now be purchased online via Compasstix link : https://compasstix.com/e/3nmkqp564b
The online college raffle is due to close on Sunday 3 December at 4pm.  Raffle to be drawn and winners announced on Wednesday 6 December.

 

2023 Examination and End of Year Program Dates

The exam dates are as follows:

Year 10 and 11 exams start Monday 13^th November and finish Thursday 23^rd November.
Year 9 exams start Monday 20^th November and finish Thursday 23^rd November.
Correction Day / Student Free Day will be held on Friday 24^th November.
The Early Commencement Program (ECP) for 2024 Years 8-12 will run for two weeks and will be held from Monday 27^th November until Friday 8^th December.
The Year End Program will then run from Monday 11^th December until Wednesday 13^th December.

 

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 details regarding tickets for the event will be published over the next few weeks.

 

 

 

Mrs Karen Wade
College Principal

Exams on the Senior Campus

This week the Senior Campus has been a very busy place. The VCAA exams for all Units 3 & 4 subjects have been running during the past few weeks and finished on Wednesday. Year 10 and 11 students started their exams this week. Year 9 will have exams in their core subjects as well.

The exams provide students with the opportunity to develop revision strategies, reinforce their understanding of a semester’s worth of knowledge and material and allows them to practice working under exam conditions.

Thanks to all the subschool teams, exam supervisors, support staff, faculty heads and teachers who have been involved in the exam preparation and class and individual revision with students.

 

Early Commencement Program

Students in Years 7 to 11 start their 2024 classes in the week beginning November 27. This program provides an opportunity for students to meet their teachers, start work for next year and, in the case of the Year 8 students, get used to the Senior Campus. All year levels will participate in a range of programs and assemblies as well as classes. A special thank you to the staff and, the subschool team, faculty heads and Mr Scott Smith (timetable) for all their hard work.

 

VCE/Senior Certificate – Vocational Major

The college introduced the Vocational Major pathway in 2023. Next year sees the program move into Year 12 as well where students will be at school, in the workforce on a placement and attending their Vocational Education and Training (VET) course.  A team of teachers has continued to work on developing the program and curriculum.

 

Staff expertise

Many of our 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 knowledge and experience of the teachers at the college when they are selected to be assessors.

Several teachers and staff have presented, or will present, at conferences during the next few weeks. It reflects the skills and expertise of the staff at the college.

 

Year 11 students – 2024 Central Australia Trip

The college is currently finalising an itinerary for the Central Australia Trip. This will be offered to students in Years 11 (2024). The trip is planned for the end of term three and the first week of the term break.

More information will be available, and an information evening will run in early term one 2024. Please contact me on caj@mwsc.vic.edu.au if you have any questions in the meantime.

 

Semester Two Reports

Teachers have started work on semester two reports and on providing feedback for their students.  Year 7 to Year 11 students and parents/carers will receive an end of semester report via Compass on the 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.

 

 

Mrs Julie Cain
Campus Principal – Senior School

Year 7 Boys Cricket

On Thursday 16 November, 13 very excited and eager Year 7 students travelled up to Shepparton to take on Notre Dame College in the quarter finals of the State Championships in Cricket. After a 7.30am departure, the boys arrived just before the 11am start time, and went into bat.

Despite a few early wickets, the boys batted extremely well and posted an imposing target of 130. Keshav scored a quick fire 34, while the bulk of the work was done in the latter overs by the Murray brothers, Mitchell and Oliver.

While Notre Dame ended up within 20 runs of our score, they never looked like chasing down our target. The boys were amazing in the field, giving up very few easy runs. Both Nethma and Nibish lead the bowlers with very tight bowling.

Congratulations to the boys. They now play the semi final, and hopefully the final, in Northcote next Wednesday!

 

 

Mr Danny Gwynne
Sports Leader – Junior Campus

VTAC Change of Preference (Year 12)

Year 12 students will receive their ATARs on Monday, 11 December 2023. This is a time of great anticipation, but we also know that many students may need pathways guidance.
The change of preference period closes on 13 December at 4.00pm. The Careers Team will be available during this time to counsel students, and students can make bookings via the Careers Corner on the college Intranet.

All relevant dates can be found on the VTAC website.

 

Morrisby – My Career Insights Program (Year 9 2024)

Future Year 9 parents and students were sent out an event regarding My Career Insights program.  My Career Insights will help students discover, develop, and drive their career planning. It is a unique chance for students to learn more about their strengths and abilities while exploring potential career options.  Consent for your child to participate in this program is due by 24 November 2023 and can be made via the compass event.

To review practice questions here is a link you might like to use https://app.morrisby.com/practice-questions

 

Work Experience Program (Year 10 2024)

Future Year 10 parents will receive a letter regarding our Work experience program for 2024 next week.  Work Experience placements will take place during the week of 24 – 28 June.

Work experience is a valuable opportunity for Year 10 students to gain insight into the world of work and understand the expectations of the workplace. It is an excellent opportunity for students to develop skills, knowledge, and experience that will benefit them in their future careers.

For more information refer to the link: Work Experience – A guide for Students, Parents and Carers

If you work for an organisation which can offer a work experience placement to one of our students, please contact the Careers Office on 9803 6811.  Work experience relies on the support of our community.

 

 

Mr Phil Newnham           Ms Victoria Tortopidis
Careers Manager            Careers Education Coordinator

Welcome to November’s issue of Mount Waverley Secondary College Alumni Newsletter.

Class of 2022 don’t miss your first MWSC Reunion event!  Register for tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/CKTPE
In this issue, read about the next reunions and take a trip down memory lane with school photos from the past.

To view November’s newsletter click : Alumni Monthly Newsletter Issue 10 – November 2023

To register your details, click here.

 

Ms Victoria Tortopidis
Alumni Coordinator