MWSC College News – Issue 11

 ‘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:

1. Where am I going? This helps us set goals and understand what success looks like.
2. How am I going? This gives us feedback about our progress and is often expressed in relation to an expected standard.
3. 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/69z8wyel8i 

 

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

 

Term 3 PE Program

The Year 8 students are currently enjoying their self-defence unit in conjunction with Melbourne Taekwondo Club. Likewise, the Year 7s have been heading to Clayton Pool for their swimming lessons. Later in the term our Year 8s will attend the Bounce trampoline centre, while the Year 7s will be completing a gymnastics unit. These programs are a great addition to the PE curriculum, teaching our students valuable life skills.

 

Languages Day

On Wednesday 24 July the Junior Campus held our annual Languages Day, where we celebrate the cultures of Japan and Germany. We held our traditional assembly in the morning, where we were treated to some German poetry recitals, and a great Japanese dance by our Year 7s. The Year 8s then took part in either a German Oompah band, or a Japanese comedy performance. Finally, students and staff enjoyed some delicious Obento boxes and German pretzels for lunch, while watching the traditional Japan vs German soccer game. It was great to see our students celebrating a love of languages. Well done to the Languages Faculty for their organisation.

 

Year 9 2025 Subject Selection

Thank you to all of the families who tuned in to the Year 9 2025 Subject Information Evening on Thursday 1 August. This is an exciting time for students as they start to think about their transition to the Senior Campus, and all of the new academic opportunities on offer. I would encourage all families to discuss the options and check the website for more information before submitting selections in the coming weeks.

 

Signing in and out of school

This is a reminder to all families that, where possible, all appointments etc. should be arranged outside of school hours. When this is not possible, it is important that you keep us informed via Compass. When collecting your child early, please inform us beforehand so that we can make for a smoother exit from school. At Year 7 and 8, it is compulsory that an approved adult collects the student from the office. We will not allow any student to make their own way off campus before the end of the school day.

 

 

 

Mr Matt Sheehan
Campus Principal – Junior School

It has been a busy start to term. Senior students have been involved in House Athletics, the school production of Mamma Mia, State Cross Country, excursions, sports days and course selection information sessions for 2025.

At the Year 12 assembly last week we spoke about taking Term 3 ‘one step at a time’. Whilst the end is fast approaching there are still SACs, coursework and assessments they need to get through to complete their Unit 4 work. We reminded them to support each other, seek help if needed and to maintain their attendance, stay up to date with coursework and make use of their study periods.

 

College Production

‘Mamma Mia!’ After many years at Mount Waverley Secondary College, I am always amazed at the talent we have amongst our staff and students. Each year our production seems to get better and better, and it was fantastic to see another incredible performance on Thursday 25 July.
Production Director Mr Michael Weeks, supported by Ms Michelle Kelly and a team of dedicated staff and students put together a fantastic show. It is so rewarding to see students involved in running backstage, lighting, ushering, the kiosk and the many other jobs that are required to have a successful production.

Special mention to our Year 12s who were involved in their last MWSC production as a student; Maddie D, Bea L, Parker D, Amelie C, Briana H, Greta G, Imogen M, Clementine J, Melissa S, Chrissa H, Jasmine J. Many of them have been involved in past productions since Year 7 in various ways and it was fantastic to see them go out on a high note!

 

Course Selection for 2025

The subject selection process for 2025 has begun. Information nights were held for parents and students in years 11 and 12 in 2025 to explain the process, with FAQs and slides shared to all parents and students following the evening. Most students in year 11 will continue on with the subjects they are studying this year, any students wishing to change must discuss this with someone from the Senior Subschool.

Next week on Friday 9 August, the  2025 Year 11s will have subject selection interviews. They will discuss their chosen subjects with a staff member and receive support with making their subject selections. We encourage any student unsure about subject choice, career options, questions about VCE or life after school to make an appointment to chat with either Ms Victoria Tortopidis or Mr Phil Newnham from our Careers team.

Thank you to Ms Jo Rogers, Acting Head of Senior School, and Mr James Jonhston, Acting Senior School Leader for presenting at the information nights and all their work organising the course selection interviews.

 

Continuous Reporting

 Whilst students will receive feedback in different ways from their teachers in the classroom, feedback on formal assessment tasks is provided regularly via Compass throughout the semester. Parents are encouraged to regularly check this feedback and discuss it with their student/s to support their learning progress.

 

 

 

Ms Lauren Kelly
Campus Principal – Senior School

Interact Bake Sale

On Tuesday 23 July, the Senior Campus Interact Club, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Mount Waverley, hosted a bake sale to support the NGO “Save the Children.”

We had a blast baking a variety of delicious treats, from slices and cookies to sticky date pudding and everything in between. The event was a fantastic success, with lots of students and staff flocking to the Fishbowl to enjoy some goodies. We’re thrilled to share that we raised just over $700!

We really appreciate all those who came by to support the cause. An especially huge thank you goes out to the Food Technology staff, Mr Grant and members of the local Rotary Club, Geoff and Terry, for providing us with support along the way.

The money raised will go towards improving the lives of children all over the world, promoting long term education, health and child protection. The success of this event just comes to show the power our community has to come together and create a positive impact!

by Farah H 
Deputy School Captain

 

Congratulations Jemima Montag- Olympic Bronze Medalist 

We are thrilled to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Jemima Montag for her outstanding achievement at the Paris Olympics, where she earned a bronze medal in the 20k walk. Jemima’s dedication and perseverance to her sport has once again shone brightly on the global stage, inspiring us all with her remarkable performance.

Jemima has been a cherished member of our school community as a guest speaker/presenter over the past four years. Her visits always inspire our students, sharing her insights, journey, and invaluable lessons about determination, resilience, and having an Olympic mindset.

Jemima’s commitment to her sport and her willingness to give back to young people by sharing her experiences make her not only a role model but a true ambassador for the power of dedication and hard work.

As we celebrate Jemima’s Olympic success, we remember her key messages to our students about driving for success and the support team she has around her to be the best version of herself.  We are incredibly proud of Jemima and look forward to welcoming her back to our school community to celebrate her achievements in person.

 

Positive Parenting Conversation

We are excited to announce we will be hosting a positive parenting conversation workshop on Tuesday 20 August at 6pm on the Junior Campus. Our parents can view the compass video invite for more information and to express interest. It will be a great opportunity for parents to collaborate and discuss common parenting challenges.

 

Open Parachute Webinar

We are excited to announce a free webinar “Understanding friendships and bullying” hosted by Open Parachute, a social and emotional program we are implementing to support our student’s development. Open Parachute focuses on fostering critical social and emotional skills, helping students navigate challenges, build resilience, and cultivate positive relationships.

The upcoming webinar will help parents develop practical skills and strategies to best support your child in navigating the complex world of friendships and relationships. Hosted by Ms Vicki Martin, Psychologist and Founder of Harmony and Growth, this engaging webinar will provide parents and caregivers with insights as to the importance of friendships, their significance in children’s lives, the typical challenges children encounter, and strategies parents can use to support their child to build healthy relationships.

Understanding Friendships & Bullying – Webinar

 

 

 

Mr Paul Graham
Student Support and Resources Manager

VSMF Jazz Ensembles

This week, both of our jazz ensembles attended the Victorian Schools Music Festival. This festival is an opportunity for students to perform in a professional environment, receive written and verbal feedback from well renowned adjudicators from Australia and overseas, participate in an onstage workshop with the chief adjudicator, and listen to other schools perform.

On Monday 29 July, the MWSC Stage Band, directed by myself, won gold in the Senior Jazz Band Category. 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 senior division showing the high standard of this ensemble.

The band was adjudicated by Mr Daryl McKenzie, a well known Melbourne Bandleader and musician and Ms Bethany Robinson, an American Jazz Artist who is acclaimed with 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.

On Friday 2 August, the 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!

 

Lunchtime Concert

This week the senior campus enjoyed a lunchtime concert given by the senior choir and senior guitar ensemble. Concerts like this are a great way for students to show off their hard work and gain valuable practice performance experience. Thanks to Mr Lee Jones and Mr Tom Frost for overseeing the organisation of this event.

 

Upcoming Music Dates

• Wednesday 7 August – VSMF Junior Choir
• Thursday 22 August – VSMF Chamber Strings
• Friday 23 August – VSMF Presto Strings
• Wednesday 28 August – VSMF Concert Band & Symphonic Band
• Wednesday 4 September – 60th Anniversary Celebrations (Music Performances)
• Monday 9-13th September – Southstreet (Dates TBC), Stage Band, Chamber Strings & Symphonic Band
• Thursday 19 September – Unit 3 Recital

 

 

Mrs Tijtje Keatley
Music Director

Intermediate Girls Badminton – EMR Finals

Today (Friday 2 August) our Intermediate Girls Badminton team competed in the Badminton Eastern Metropolitan Regional Finals.

Our students played exceptionally well overall and finished 3^rd from 8 teams.

Jasmine J (Year 10) was outstanding in the singles, only giving up 11 points total across 4 matches.

Well done to all our students on their performance today.

 

 

 

Mr Jay Newport
Sports Leader – Senior Campus

In the Kitchen Edition

Our numeracy newsletter articles aim to bridge the gap between the classroom and your home, helping you to support your child’s numeracy understanding in a fun and engaging way. Numeracy goes beyond just addition and subtraction. It’s about applying Math’s concepts to solve problems and make sense of the world around us. Through these newsletter articles, we hope to provide families with some helpful hints and tips to increase their numeracy skills.

In our previous articles, we focussed on numeracy activities that could be done over the long weekend and had an end-of-financial-year focus. We are looking at numeracy ideas with shopping and cooking at home with this edition.

 

Cooking

The kitchen has lots of practical numeracy opportunities. Here are some ideas for families to incorporate numeracy into your daily routines:

• Cooking and Baking:
  • Measuring ingredients: Practice fractions, decimals, and units of measurement.
  • Doubling or halving recipes: Explore ratios and proportions.
  • Baking time conversions: Practice converting minutes to hours and vice versa.
  • Temperature conversions: Learn about Celsius and Fahrenheit.
  • Cost per serving: Calculate the cost of each meal or snack.
• Food Storage:
  • Expiration dates: Practice calculating the number of days until food expires.
  • Portion control: Estimate serving sizes and practice division.
  • Food waste reduction: Calculate savings from reducing food waste.

Fun Fact – USA vs AUS tablespoon size:

In Australia, the standard tablespoon measure holds 20ml or 4 teaspoons. However, in the US, UK and New Zealand a tablespoon holds 15mls or 3 teaspoons. More often than not it is the 15ml tablespoon sold in local Australian kitchenware stores while Australian recipes are written using the 20ml tablespoon.

If you haven’t already, check the size of your measuring spoon and note it when using it in the future, adjusting the quantities if necessary. It won’t make a big difference when you are measuring ingredients such as flour and sugar, but if you measure concentrated ingredients such as baking powder or yeast, it can cause real imbalances in your baking.

Converting recipes in USA measurements:

A great numeracy activity to do at home is to consider the conversion of an American recipe to Australian measurements. Here is a useful website to convert between different measurements for recipes that are written in pounds and ounces:  https://convertrecipe.com/convert_US_to_Australian.php

 

Grocery Shopping

In our last article on 21^st June, we talked about unit prices and finding the best bargain in the sales. These can apply to everyday grocery shopping as well.

• Budgeting:
  • Create a shopping list and allocate a budget.
  • Compare prices and find the best deals.
  • Use coupons and calculate savings.
  • Estimate the total cost of groceries.
• Sales and Discounts:
  • Calculate percentage discounts and savings.
  • Compare prices before and after-sales.
• Healthy Eating:
  • Calculate nutritional information per serving.
  • Compare different food labels to make healthy choices.
• Unit Pricing:
  • Compare prices per unit (e.g., price per kilogram) to find the best value.
  • Calculate the unit price of different products.

How is unit pricing measured?

Here are the standard unit price measurements for various types of grocery items…

Remember to always check and consider the unit price…

 

Compare like products and save money…

 

Remember

These activities don’t have to be complex.

• Start with age-appropriate challenges and gradually increase the difficulty as your child’s skills develop.
• Most importantly, keep it fun and engaging.

By incorporating numeracy when cooking and doing grocery shopping, you’ll be helping your child develop valuable math skills while saving some money for the family.

 

 

Mrs Tijtje Keatley and Ms Cassie Morris
Learning Specialists

 

Class of 2014

Friday, 16 August 2024

 

https://www.trybooking.com/COTJN

(We are pleased to extend a warm invite to include past students from classes of 2010, 2011 and 2012)

 

 

 

 

Are you part of a multi-generation family at Mount Waverley Secondary College?

 

 

We would love to hear from you!

Whether you’re an alumni or have multiple generations of your family who have attended the school, we want to acknowledge and thank you for being a part of our school’s rich history!

Please email me your details at alumni@mwsc.vic.edu.au

 

 

 

Ms Victoria Tortopidis
Alumni Coordinator