Header
---
Ann Stratford

Principal's Report

Mooroolbark College has made a commitment to improving literacy outcomes for all students from Year 7 through to Year 12.  Literacy, the ability to read, view, write, design, speak and listen, is vital to ensuring your child has the best chance to succeed in their schooling and everyday life.

People with good literacy skills are more likely to have:

• higher self-esteem

• better health

• better jobs

• higher wages

At Mooroolbark College every teacher is a teacher of literacy.  The ability to read, write, comprehend, speak and listen occurs in every classroom, every classroom not just in the English classrooms.  Staff members from a range of different teaching areas, have been attending an intensive program in order to lead literacy development at Mooroolbark College.  Yesterday our focus was on the importance of improving vocabulary.  Young people who have a wide vocabulary, are able to comprehend and articulate the world around them effectively.  One of the most powerful ways to improve vocabulary is through reading. 

The College’s Independent Reading program has been successfully initiated.  If your son or daughter is in Year 7 or 8 they are reading 20 minutes a day; 1 hour and 40 minutes a week.  Every Year 7 is reading at the start of period 1 every day and every Year 8 student is reading at the start of period 2 every day. To support their learning, they are also writing in their reflection journal at the end of each reading session.  The reflection journal is an opportunity to develop strategies to improve their comprehension of text.  It is also structured to encourage students to think about their reading, draw conclusions, predict and evaluate the text.

You can support the Independent Reading Program by:

• Talking with your child about what they are reading

• Discussing new words or phrases they may have come across

• Exploring the Digital Library, OverDrive. This is available through Compass to all students at Mooroolbark College.  This means students can borrow books any time, day or night. 

• Talking about things that you have read or viewed that were amusing, interesting or useful.

If your son or daughter is in Years 9 to 12, Mooroolbark College staff are implementing literacy strategies in all their classes as a result of our ongoing professional learning.  These strategies include reading out aloud in class, using various comprehension strategies, using complex sentences and directly teaching subject specific vocabulary. This promotes a culture for improving literacy across the curriculum in all year levels; which is certainly a priority for Mooroolbark College.

Numeracy is also an important skill and the Mathematics staff have been working with Mr Peter Sullivan from Monash University, to enhance our students’ ability to problem solve.  To put it simply, we want Mooroolbark College students to be mathematical thinkers.  This can be challenging for many students as it requires them to be prepared to ‘have a go’ and not wait to be told ‘how to’ solve a problem.  It requires students to experiment with many different strategies to solve problems and collaborate with other students.  This approach, coupled with quality direct instructions, has already made a positive impact on how students approach mathematics.

I would like to thank Mr Todd Zaresbski and Mr David Innes for running the Year 7 Parent Maths Night last week.  At Mooroolbark College, we value the opportunity to include parents and guardians in their child’s learning.  Outcomes for students are always improved when teachers, students and parents work together.  One of the key messages from the night was centred around ‘making mistakes in maths’.  Often in mathematics, students give up when they make mistakes.  Our staff are working with students to challenge that thinking by showing them that they can learn through making mistakes. 

Literacy and numeracy remain a priority for Mooroolbark College.  This year is a review year for Mooroolbark College and in Term 4, the College will be setting the next Strategic Plan.  We encourage parents and guardians to complete the survey, which will be posted on Compass early next week.  We are interested in your feedback on how we communicate, listen and respond. We value our parents and guardians at Mooroolbark College.

---
Sophie Scholfield (Red House Captain)

College Captain

Captain Profile: Sophie Scholfield (Red House Captain)

What do you hope to achieve this year in your role?
There are many things that I hope to achieve as Red House Captain, but mostly I would just love to see students get involved with activities and each other in home group.
 
Who is a leader that you admire and why do you admire them?
A leader who I admire is a leader in a different way than most. I admire author John Green, who despite the many challenges he faces, John always looks at all the positive things in his life.

What are some of your goals for the future?
In the future, I hope to finish Year 12 and study Psychology at university. I am also really excited to travel overseas.

Final comment
No matter how hard things may seem, there is always something in your life that is positive.

---
Open Night

Open Night

Congratulations to the Smit family from Mount Evelyn Primary School who were the winners of the Open Night Competition and today received their prize of an IPad.

Open night was a fantastic night; it was great to meet so many new people. Green screen photos taken on the night and the slide show presentation are available on our Facebook page.

---
Athletics Sports Carnival

Athletics Sports Carnival

On May 1st, students and staff attended the annual Athletics Sports Carnival at Knox Athletics Track. The cold weather, did not dampen the spirits of the students throughout the day. It was terrific to see students and staff representing their house’s including colours from colourful outfits and body paint.

Congratulations to all athletes who participated and were awarded vital points for their house. We witnessed outstanding results, with plenty of students taking away multiple blue ribbons and booking their spot in the 2017 Mooroolbark College Athletics team.

The novelty events were a new addition to this year’s carnival and were a hit. These events included the egg and spoon race, three-legged race and capture the flag, the atmosphere was electric all day.

The race for the house carnival champion was looking tight between Yellow and Blue house throughout the individual races, however, Yellow house was a force to be reckoned with after cruising to victory in the relay races.

Well done to Mr Bell and Yellow house for winning the Athletics carnival.

Hundreds of students used the opportunity to dress up in house colours and creative outfits to show their support for their House. Many took the trouble to co-ordinate fashions and some spectacular war paint and hired outfits were on show.

A special thanks to the staff who displayed such wholehearted involvement supporting the day, joining in with all that was offered.

Photos from the day will be available on W Drive and our College website which show the dedication and innovations that were a highlight and greatly added to the carnival atmosphere of the day.

Congratulations to all students and staff for participating and making 2017 another successful Mooroolbark College Athletics Carnival.

Lachlan Mann & Zac Parr
Sports Co-ordinators

Click to see more photos

---
Maths Forum

Mathematics Forum

On Wednesday 3rd May, the Year 7 Mathematics Parent/Guardian Forum provided an excellent opportunity for parents/guardians to hear from our mathematics leaders. David Innes and Todd Zerabski, spoke about how maths is taught at Mooroolbark College and how parents/guardians can support their child with their learning.

---
Yarra Ranges Tech School

Yarra Ranges Tech School

Throughout the Term, the Year 8 students will be spending a day the Yarra Ranges Tech School. Here they will be completing the first part of the High Tech Hospital Challenge; working with robots to create programs to assist children and their recovery.  8A, 8C and 8F have already attended, with each class coming up with unique programs with their robots. Students had a great experience and have already begun asking, ‘when do they get to go back’!

---
BATS Production

Bats Production

Rehearsals for this year’s College Production ‘BATS’ are well underway. Students and staff have been practicing at lunchtimes and afterschool to ensure another excellent and entertaining show is produced. BATS is a spoof of all things horror – in an old fashioned way. It’s sure to be a ‘howling’ success. Tickets will be on sale soon.

---
Community Circle

Community Circle

Mooroolbark College is committed to supporting our local community, below are the notices to assist in keeping up to date with:

Mooroolbark College PTCA is raising funds. Here's how you can help...

Support our fundraising by buying the NEW 2017 | 2018 Entertainment Membership for your Mum, other family members, or even spoil yourself this Mother's Day. Entertainment Memberships are filled with hundreds of valuable offers for everything you love to do, and you'll be helping our fundraising at the same time!

Buy from us NOW!

Click here for more details

Mooroolbark College has recently developed a partnership with The Professionals Real Estate – Mooroolbark through former student, Regina Atkinson.

On behalf of The Professionals Real Estate – Mooroolbark, a donation of $500 will be made to Mooroolbark College for every house sold through the Mooroolbark College community. If you are considering selling your home, Regina can be contacted on 0417 565 624 and mention that you belong to the Mooroolbark College community.

Click here for more details

---
Calendar Term Two 2017

Calendar Term Two 2017

College Office Hours

MONDAY- THURSDAY: 8.15AM- 4.00PM

FRIDAY: 8.15AM- 3.30PM

Term Two 2017

Tuesday 16th May
- College Council meeting 7pm

Thursday 18th May
- May Concert 7pm

Friday 19th May
- House Cross Country Carnival

Monday 22nd May – Friday 26th May
- EDUCATION WEEK- Healthy Mind, Healthy Body

Tuesday 23rd May
- Community Relations Meeting 4.30pm

Friday 26th May
- National Sorry Day

Tuesday 30th May
- NEVR Concert Hamer Hall 7pm

Wednesday 31st May
- Year 11 exams begin

Monday 5th June
- Year 10 exams begin

Tuesday 6th June
- Education Meeting 6pm
- PTCA Meeting 7pm

Monday 12th June
- Queen’s Birthday Public holiday

Tuesday 13th June
- Resources Meeting 4.30pm

Wednesday 14th June
- VCE GAT

Thursday 15th June
- Year 12 Social

Friday 16th June
- Report writing day
- Students not required at College

Tuesday 20th June
- College Council Meeting 7pm 

Monday 26th June – Friday 30th June
- Recognition of NAIDOC Week
- Year 10 Work Experience

Tuesday 27th June
- Community Relations Meeting 4.30pm

Friday 30th June
- Last day Term 2 -  2.30pm finish

Term Three 2017

Monday 17th July
- Term 3 begins

---

Follow us Online:

 

Facebook Twitter Instagram