Dear Parents and Families

After a wait of three years, including a near miss last year, MAC is back in 2022.  The cast, crew and staff team are really excited to present their production of The Lion King Jr, a stage show favourite this is sure to delight everyone – a perfect way to celebrate the return of what is an emblematic aspect of our College.

As always, tickets for the show on Monday 12, Tuesday 13 and Thursday 15 of September are selling fast, so book your seats as soon as you can at trybooking.com

Welcome……

On behalf of the school community, a warm welcome to several new members of staff, Alisha D’Souza has joined the Maths department; Jacob Marinelli is teaching PE; Ly Tran joins the Individual Needs team as a teacher assistant; and Jeffrey Ji will commence as a Humanities teacher on 5 September.

We wish each of then all the best for their time at St Albans Secondary College.

Scholarship Opportunities

We are pleased to announce three new scholarship awards for presentation in Term 4 this year:

• the Helen Papadimitriou English Award for a Year 10 student who shows outstanding growth and achievement in English ($250).
• the Dr Jozica Kutin Psychology Award for a Year 11 student who shows commitment and potential in Psychology ($250) and
• the Clare and Greg Sheen Award for Community Service awarded for voluntary and active tasks benefitting the community ($425 to a Year 7 – 9 student; and $425 to a Year 10 – 12 student)

Helen Papadimitriou (1985) and Jozica Kutin (1984) are former students and members of our Alumni program.  They have been friends since Year 7 and are keen to support current students to pursue their passion and talents in English and Psychology.

The Clare and Greg Sheen Award is sponsored by former staff member, Greg Sheen, in honour of his parents, and their family’s commitment to community service.

We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of Helen, JozIca, Greg and Clare.

Annual General Meeting – 7 September

Each year, schools are required to report to their school community on achievements and on progress towards the goals and targets in the 4 year Strategic Plan.

Our annual general meeting will be held on Wednesday 7 September at 5:45pm.

As well as learning about the school’s progress over the last 12 months, the meeting is also an opportunity for parents and community members to ask questions of the School Council and school leadership.

An invitation to attend this meeting is extended to the school community.  Information about how to register your attendance will be provided via the Compass newsfeed soon.

Mobile Phones – Important Reminder

The Victorian government and our school’s mobile phone policy makes it clear that students are not to use mobile phones whilst they are at school.  There are a number of reasons for this; including student safety; and encouraging a focus on face to face social time with friends during the day.

The Department of Education has asked all schools to ensure that the policy is being implemented, particularly as they have recently seen an increase in anti-social online behaviour across the state.

Phones must not be used on school grounds.  They must be switched off and left in lockers at all times.

Phones will be confiscated for return to the parent or guardian if they are not in lockers.

Reporting

Progress reports for Year 11 students are now available on Compass.

Progress reports for Years 7 to 10 will be available by Friday 19 August .

Please read through these with your child, and contact the relevant Year Level Coordinator if you have any questions.

A reminder that Parent Teacher Interviews will be held on Wednesday 14 September. These are an opportunity to discuss reports and progress directly with your child’s teachers, and to ask any questions you might have. Bookings for these will open soon, and be communicated to you via Compass.

Year 12 Motivational Lunch

Year 12 students attended our annual motivational lunch on Wednesday 10 August in the Performing Arts Centre. There were awards to recognise effort, as well as performances by the Year 12 VET Music students. Jamal Baba, School Captain 2021, spoke to the group about effective use of time including sleep and planning. It was a very informative talk that many students found useful.

The Long Walk Program

Our Wellbeing Team partnered with The Long Walk and the Essendon Football club this year to run a 9 week Art Program. The program started in February and recently concluded with Essendon Football club using elements of the student’s art on the LED screens at their home games.  

The program focused on providing a culturally safe place for Koorie students at St Albans Secondary College to come together and create an art piece, which will be proudly displayed around the school. Students worked alongside local artist, Aunty Karen, to complete their art work. They also received Long Walk jumpers and were invited to the Dream Time game and two Essendon Home games. 

Filming of the program occurred during on of the sessions with Karen which was shared on social media platforms and at a recent Essendon home game.

 

You can watch the video here –The Long Walk / Essendon FC Video

 

“The Long Walk program has meant a lot to me, it is a safe space where I can be surrounded by my people and feel comfortable in my own skin. A place where I can speak about my indigenous culture and feel understood and listened to. It has been nothing but sentimental to be given this opportunity to be gathered together once a week, escape reality and feel connected to my roots”. – Shawanna Sciberras. 

 

Year 8 into Year 9 Subject Selection

The College recently held an online webinar for Year 8 students and their families to learn more about Year 9 subjects and the process of subject selection.  Year 8 subject selection is due for completion by Friday 19 August. For support or questions regarding this process please reach out to your child’s Coordinator or the Careers Department.  

Interact Club

Interact Club is a Rotary sponsored service club for young people. Made up of students of secondary school age, Interact gives young people an opportunity to participate in fun, meaningful service projects and to work together and make connections in the community – both locally and more broadly.

The Interact Club has an executive team which for St Albans Secondary College, currently consisting of:

• President – Isra Siddique Y11
• Vice President – Tracey Nguyen Y11
• Secretary – Kathleen Phan Y11
• Project manager – Deedee Colussi Y12
• Public Relations – Vianna Tran Y11
• Treasurer – Salli Li Y10

We have approximatley 36 members across all year levels.

 

Our International Project is Project W for which our Club aims to raise funds to provide safe drinking water and sanitation to a disadvantaged school in Cambodia.  We will make a strong connection with our sponsored school and remain in contact with students at the school beyond the completion of this project for which we aim to raise $5000 this year.

To make a tax deductible donation please follow the steps below, please note that you will need to send an email letting our Interact Club know (via our school contact) the details of your donation to enable us to have it registered towards our part of the project and to be assigned to the school we are connected to.

Steps to donate:

1. Go to the Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) Web Site: rawcs.org.au
2. Select ‘Donate’
3. Select ‘Donate to a specific project’
4. Project No: 94      Year Registered: 2020-2021
5. Click donate
6. Select whether an individual or an organisation and fill in details, selecting whether a Rotarian/Rotaractor or not. Continue to fill in your name, address and payment method.
7. Once you have donated please email Tracey D’Elton at the following email address: delton@education.vic.gov.au . In this email please indicate the amount you donated to Project W in support of the St Albans SC Interact Club and whether you did so on behalf of a business or as an individual.

Members of the SASC Interact Club executive met with John and Barbara Rafter from Keilor East Rotary Club, both key Rotaract supporters of our club.  They provided assistance to the executive to plan to raise funds for Project W.

 

Brimbank Bicycle Education Centre – Our Interact Club was very fortunate to form a partnership with the Brimbank Bicycle Education Centre.  This came about by our local Rotary Club suggesting we contact the Centre to organise a working bee as they were in need of some general maintenance and gardening assistance.

On Tuesday 26 July, 19 Interact Club members along with two staff and attended the Bicycle Education Centre to undertake a working bee to fulfil the commitment to support a Community venture.  To be eligible for citation, an Interact Club is required to complete at least one Community and one International project within the year.

 

The working bee enabled us to complete the Community requirement and provided the students who attended the opportunity to learn new skills and support one another and the bicycle centre staff, to complete tasks that needed doing. These included cleaning, removing cobwebs, gardening and the provision of maintenance and checks on the bikes as well as reorganising the bike shed which, as you can see in the images that follow, looked amazing after we finished.

Athletics Carnival

All Year 7 and 8 students and selected Years 10 to 12 students travelled to the Keilor Athletics Track for our annual Athletics Carnival which was held on Friday 5 August.  Many students participated in the range of events, both traditional and novelty in the House based competition.  Students displayed a range of sporting talents across track and field events and there was enthusiastic competition in the tug of war.  More details and photos will be available in the School Yearbook that every student receives at the end of the year.

The final result came down to the last event, sealing the 2 point victory for Buttrose.  What an ending to a wonderful day of Sport!

Well done to all participants, and to Buttrose House for being named the overall winner. Thanks to Mr Robert Winduss and his team for the organisation of this very successful event.  Thank you to all the staff who attended on the day.  The dedication and participation of staff in these large events make it possible to run them as part of our broad cocurricular program; and we know that the students appreciate the opportunity to take part in events that provide connection to our school community beyond the classroom and at a House level.

The final points for each house were:

Buttrose:  2679

Irwin:  2677

Rosewall:  2051

Freeman:  2042