PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Mooroolbark College is a vibrant and dynamic community which never ceases to amaze me, constantly demonstrating our college values of compassion, endeavour, respect, and resilience within their daily lives and this term is no surprise. As the term comes to an end it is time to reflect on how incredibly busy and satisfying term has been, full of engaging learning experiences, along with many special events.
It was great to see so many students and their families attend our annual Year 7 Transition BBQ, getting to know Ms Abbie Hansen and the team of ‘Ready to Learn Mentors’, along with the House Leaders, Student Representative Council Leaders and investigating the lunchtime Clubs that are available. I would like to also thank the Mooroolbark College Parents Association for their support with the catering, making the evening a huge success.
It was warming to see such enthusiasm from our Class of 2022 who returned for a reunion afternoon tea, catching up with staff and students, sharing their journeys so far and reminiscing on their time at the College. I would like to thank Mrs Michelle Colette and her team for putting on this event and we wish the Class of 2022 all the best in their future endeavours,
The Swimming Carnival was again another fantastic event, thanks for Ryan Exon and his team, giving our students the opportunity to come together in their Houses – Baan, Darrang, Biik and Ngawan, competing for valuable house points and further building connections to the students within their house. A fabulous effort to Ngawan House who came out on top as the overall winner. Congratulations Ngawan! I look forward to seeing the Houses come together again in their house colours for the Cross Country on Monday 8th May and the Athletics Carnival on Wednesday 24th May.
Again, it is fantastic to see Year 9 Artech students visit the Yarra Ranges Tech School to participate in the ‘tech taster’ sessions. During these sessions students experimented with different materials and processes to build and heat a small house. We are privileged to be involved with Yarra Ranges Tech School where our students work together with industry, community and tertiary sector to design and develop innovative solutions to further enhance their learning experiences.
It was lovely to hear all the stories from our Year 7 students back from Forest Edge CYC. It was a wonderful 3 days for students to form relationships and connections with their teachers and peers whilst also focusing on our College values and Year 7 theme of ‘Resilience.’ Our Year 7’s were definitely challenged, developing their creative and critical thinking skills, allowing for opportunities to collaborate and develop teamwork within their peer groups. This would not be possible without the commitment and time given by of Ms Abbie Hansen and her team.
Term 1 has seen student progress reports published to students and parents/carers to assist in a clear understanding of student progress in relation to their learning as well as areas for improvement. This enables students and parents/carers to identify progress in relation to both individual subjects as well as learning behaviours. These reports coincide with parent teacher conferences which were again another positive learning interaction, providing another excellent opportunity for parents/careers and students detailed feedback in relation to their progress and further strategies for improvement in their academic journey.
Time to celebrate, Mooroolbark College was invited to showcase to the Outer East Principals Network and North Eastern Victoria Region Leaders our work within the Numeracy area of the curriculum. For the last 12 months we have been working with Rolling Hills Primary School in area of action research in Numeracy, focussing on Foundation to Year 12, reflecting on school achievement data and best practice to streamline our students’ learning outcomes as they make their transition through school. We received fantastic feedback and have been asked if we could share our findings in the future. I would again like to congratulate the Numeracy Implementation Team.
Proudly we have been working with Deakin University and hosting pre-service teachers for many years, with Health and PE pre-service teachers are here this term. We recently hosted Deakin University Mentor workshop with our mentor staff and the Deakin team. The focus of this session was to continue to reflect and enhance the program for both mentors and mentees and their professional growth. This was a very powerful session and I would like to thank the Mooroolbark Staff who attended this representing us and gaining fabulous feedback from Deakin University.
I would like to thank Mr Matthew Coghlan and his team for coordinating the 2023 NAPLAN testing in Literacy and Numeracy and congratulate students from Years 7 and 9 for exhibiting the College value of Endeavour in successfully completing NAPLAN testing so early in the academic year. While students and families won’t receive the results from this National Test until late July, the College utilises previous NAPLAN data to reflect and make teaching and learning decisions on how best target the learning needs of our students in years 7 to 10. Various ways we reflect on NAPLAN data to further improve our teaching and learning programs are to;
– look at learning growth from grade 5 to year 9 and review strategies in place to increase student learning.
– compare our student data against students across the state and country.
– ensure our guaranteed and viable curriculum reflects the needs of our students.
– target individual students who require learning extension and support
We look forward to receiving this year’s results to further review and reflect on how our students have grown in their learning journey and plan for their future learning.
Over the term Ms Abbie Hansen has given Year 6 students from Bimbadeen Heights Primary School, Ruskin Park Primary School, and Manchester Primary School a snapshot of life at Mooroolbark College. Student have taken part in several transition activities ranging from art lessons to science inquiry tasks. In their Art lesson students created some fantastic watercolour cat artworks. We can’t wait to see these students continue their artistic endeavours at the College in the years to come.
It is great to see another year of the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge getting underway with ‘Wild about reading’ as the theme for this year. I look forward to seeing as many Year 7 – 10 student reading 15 books or more of the challenge. There are many prizes up for grabs, along with a hot chip lunch in the library for all of those who met this challenge! If you missed registering, please see Mr Tyrone Ingham or any of the Literacy LORE team. The challenge runs from the 1st of March to the 8th of September giving students 173 days to read, read, read!
Friday the 24th of March saw Year 11 students participate in Mooroolbark College’s 60th Debutante Ball. I would like to congratulate the Debutantes and their partners for continuing to live the College values, successfully reaching this special moment, navigating dance rehearsal, fittings, organising family and friends to celebrate this evening with them and furthermore forging new friendships. It was fabulous to see the Debutantes present their newly acquired dance skills to our special guests for the evening, Ms Jade Hubben and Mr Andrew Nyhuis. I would like to acknowledge and thank the College’s Debutante Ball coordinators Ms Jodi Mathieson and Mr James Taylor. Both Jodi and James have worked tirelessly to make this evening special for every student here. They have shown patience, understanding and commitment. The hours of work these staff members have put into the organisation of the Debutante Ball program is exceptional. I would like to recognise the contribution to the event during the day by Di Bouwhuis from the Mooroolbark College Parent Association who was working behind the scenes sewing up dresses, settling nerves and just being a calming influence, thank you again to Di. Last but by no means least I would like to thank Mrs Julie Medlin, our College Council President for representing the College Council and Parent Community again attending the evening further showing her support for our students.
It was fantastic to see our Harmony Day assembly with so many presenters and performers taking part in celebrating Australia’s multiculturalism and the successful integration as a community. It created an opportunity for our college community to think about inclusiveness, respect and belonging regardless of belief, cultural or linguistic background. Students were encouraged to keep working hard and continuing to aim for excellence as Baan house showed by leading the House Cup. It is a privilege to be part of Mooroolbark College and should be celebrated.
We welcome Mrs Ann Stratford College Principal back from long service leave and thank the College community for their ongoing support during this time, we look forward to hearing some amazing stories from her journey afar.
I would also like to wish our students and their families a restful and fun filled Easter holiday break and hope our college staff have some lovely time with their families too.
Rachael Williams
ACTING PRINCIPAL