Mr Peter McLellan | Head of Secondary

We are now well over halfway through the term and it has been good to have the College almost back to normal operating procedures. It was great to have the Years 11 and 12 Parent Teacher Interviews on Tuesday. It is really an important time to set these students up for the year and to have clear expectations set out for a successful journey through the Preliminary or HSC courses.

One area in which our students struggle is just how much extra time needs to be put into their life schedules that is focused on study. It is true that many of them do not dedicate enough time outside of school to homework, assessment tasks and study. The reality is that in the HSC they are competing against every other student in the state, many of whom have a much higher work ethic outside of the classroom.

I think this is an area where parents can assist by creating a normality to structured study time at home. This really needs to start in Year 7 where time is set aside each night to revise, work on assessments, and complete homework. If those things are complete, then this time could be for reading. Structure after school is great for students and gives them the skills to cope with the much higher demands in the HSC years.

I am advocating a balanced timetabling of home time that incorporates not only study time but also time for family, exercise, chores and socialising. Unfortunately, left to their own devices, students will eliminate the balance needed in life and only spend time focused on long periods of self-focused leisure and technology use.

Over the next few weeks, we will focus on giving some ideas on how to do this in practical ways. It must be stressed that changing habits is not easy with children, but the rewards will be worth it in the long run and the earlier you start, the better it will be.

Year 7 Meet the Teacher and Faculty Night - Tuesday 9 March, 7:00pm - 8:30pm

On Tuesday 9 March we are hosting the Year 7 Meet the Faculty and Teacher Night in the MPC, where you will have the opportunity to meet Faculty Co-ordinators and teachers.

The aim is to help you understand the expectations of different subject areas and to meet your child’s teachers.

It is also an opportunity to get an overview from the Faculty Co-ordinators of the different subject areas which your child will study.

The evening will proceed as follows:

7:00pm  Welcome and Devotions – Mr Peter McLellan
7:05pm  TASSWeb Parent Portal and Communication – Mrs Kerrie Rochford
7:15pm  English – Mrs Jillian Mckay
7:20pm  Maths – Mr Troy Kastelan
7:25pm  Science – Mr Stuart Drennan  
7:30pm  HSIE – Mr Michael Street
7:35pm  PDHPE – Mr Andrew McGillivray
7:40pm  Technologies – Mr Jeff Ogden
7:45pm  CAPA – Mrs Angela Scott
7:50pm  Biblical Studies – Mr Greg Masters
8:00pm  Discussion with parents  

Parents will need to use their mobile phone to scan the QR code in the MPC on arrival, and then check out when finished. If you are feeling unwell on the day or displaying any COVID-19 symptoms, please stay at home.

We want to keep you and our whole community safe.

We look forward to seeing you and your child next Tuesday at this information session.

Secondary Photo Day – Tuesday 9 March

8:45am – 9:35am -  Year 7   

MPC for informal photo, then proceed to CAPA 5 for Portrait photos

9:30am – 10:20am – Year 8 

MPC for informal photo, then proceed to CAPA 5 for Portrait photos 

10:45am – 11:15am – Year 12

MPC for informal photo, then proceed to CAPA 5 for Portrait photos

11:15am – 12:00pm – Year 11            

MPC for informal photo, then proceed to CAPA 5 for Portrait photos

11:50am – 12:45pm – Year 9

MPC for informal photo, then proceed to CAPA 5 for Portrait photos

12:40pm – 1:20pm – Year 10

MPC for informal photo, then proceed to CAPA 5 for Portrait photos

Uniform

• All students are to be in formal school uniform and need to meet our school Uniform Policy requirements. 
• All girls in Years 7 – 10 are to have their hair tied back if it is longer than shoulder length.
• All boys, if your hair is past shoulder length it also needs to be tied back.
• Boys need to be clean shaven.
• Girls may wear one set of silver or gold studs or sleepers. They will be asked to remove any extra earrings, or earrings that are not suitable.
• Please do not wear chains that can be seen. 
• Students are not to wear nose piercings and will be asked to remove them.
• All Year 12 students will need to wear a blazer.
• All students will have their uniform checked and must follow instructions of staff and be respectable to the staff supervising the photo day.
• Please check our uniform policy for further details. 

Operation Christmas Child - Year 10 Excursion

On Tuesday 2 March, twenty one of our Year 10 students volunteered to assist with the processing of shoe boxes for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child at Kings Park in Sydney. They all worked hard in the warehouse from 8:30am - 12:30pm and ended up helping to pack 1,400 shoe boxes to be sent to Cambodia. These boxes were from Queensland and Victoria that were unable to be processed last year due to COVID. The current total for 2020 is about 116,000 shoeboxes and they look to complete about 140,000 soon which will make it their biggest batch ever. All students represented the College very well, were well behaved, listened, followed instructions and gained many skills and the whole experience was a great day.

Year 11 Studies of Religion overnight Excursion