Welcome to our first newsletter for Term 3.

 

New Staff

We would like to welcome some new staff to the College

• Hassan Hotic – Facilities Team
• Sam McCall – Wellbeing Team
• Elle Murphy – Music Team
• Angelica Dowler – Wellbeing Team
• Alexandra Bushby – Disability Inclusion Team

We hope you have a happy and productive time at the College.

Premier’s  VCE Award

Congratulations to Kelly Lam who was presented with a Premier’s VCE Award for Biology. Kelly was given the award due to her high score in Unit 3 and 4 Biology in 2023. She was presented the award by the Premier, the Hon. Jacinta Allan, at the Melbourne Convention Centre.

 

Recognition of Service

At a recent morning tea we presented certificates to staff who had reached milestones of service at either St Albans Secondary College, the Department of Education or both.

Congratulations to all the staff who received certificates, and thank you for your service to public education.

Length of Service at St Albans Secondary College			Length of Service with the Department of Education
Staff Name			Staff Name
Ms Pierra Bentley	10 Years		Mr Rod Bear	35 Years
Ms Lynne Borle	20 Years		Mr Serkan Bertan	10 Years
Mr Sam Brown	15 Years		Ms Judy Blum	20 Years
Ms Jill Donaldson	10 Years		Mr Ron Brown	15 Years
Ms Alessandrina Dorigo	15 Years		Mr Sam Brown	15 Years
Mr Geoff Hutchison	10 Years		Ms Marie Brytcz	20 Years
Ms Athina Kratsis	35 Years		Ms Alex Chan	15 Years
Mr Simon Lynch	15 Years		Ms Emily Dickinson	10 Years
Ms Mirella Mamic	15 Years		Ms Jill Donaldson	10 Years
Mr Andrew McCarter	30 Years		Ms Alessandrina Dorigo	15 Years
Mr Mario Orsini	40 Years		Ms Andrea Holliday	10 Years
Ms Amra Pajalic	10 Years		Ms Nicola Le’Toille	10 Years
Ms Loan Pham	25 Years		Ms Mirella Mamic	15 Years
Ms Tania Segura	15 Years		Mr Andrew McCarter	40 Years
Mr Emmanuel Selvarajah	10 Years		Ms Antoinette Napoli	10 Years
Ms Kornkriz Sungmongkol	15 Years		Ms Amra Pajalic	10 Years
Mr Gerard Uhl	25 Years		Ms Loan Pham	25 Years
Ms Daniela Viscio	20 Years		Mr Sean Ryan	15 Years
Ms Anna Woods	35 Years		Ms Tania Segura	25 Years
			Mr Emmanuel Selvarajah	25 Years
			Ms Kornkriz Sungmongkol	15 Years
			Ms Louise Talevska	30 Years
			Mr Gerard Uhl	25 Years
			Ms Daniela Viscio	20 Years
			Ms Anna Woods	35 Years

.

 

Earthwatch Australia Scholarship

Congratulations to Sophia Le (Yr 11) on being awarded a George Alexander Foundation (GAF) Scholarship and a place on the Earthwatch Student Challenge Team for the Ecosystems of the Murray River and Mallee expedition at Calperum Station, South Australia, 27 September – 3 October.

This will be a great opportunity for Sophia, and we wish her all the best. Thank you to Mr Myers Nguyen for his support of Sophie’s application.

Course Counselling and Subject Selection for Years 11-12, 2025

We recently ran the course selection days for Year 11 moving into Year 12, Year 10 moving into Year 11 and Year 9 moving into Year 10 for 2025.  These are an important part of our calendar of events as they allow every student to receive individual counselling regarding their pathway options and assist them in finalising decisions. Students each had individual interviews with a year level coordinator or member of the pathways team.  During the information sessions and interviews, students received information to assist them make informed decisions about subjects they should study aligned with their interests, course and career aspirations. 

The care and thorough approach given to this process is a credit to the Careers/Pathways and Sub School Teams.  The intensive work this involves is done with passion and integrity by all staff who support and assist students to make these decisions, in the knowledge they will have the support of all those at the school to achieve success.

We wish all our students well with course selection, and thank all the staff and parents involved for their support in this process, in particular the pathways team lead by Ms Cathy Armstrong, for their organisation and the support provided to students and staff during this process.

Year 8 Parent Information Session for subject selection and responsible use of social media

There was a Year 8 information evening on 30 July for Year 8 students and their parents to work through the process of selecting electives for Year 9 and also to provide parents support regarding student use of social media and other online platforms.  In addition to valuable information about the subject selection process, a guest speaker, Mr Dom Phelan, provided insights into how we can work with our young people to help them manage their use of social media and navigate the world that exists online. Dom is part of a school liaison program, Digital Thumbprint, run and supported by Optus.  Online safety is a shared responsibility and challenge for both schools and parents and this was a timely reminder of how we can work together to protect our students from some of the dangers that can occur when online.

 

The event was well attended and we thank the parents who joined us with their Year 8 children. A special thanks to the Junior Sub School Leaders Mr Craig Moore and Mr Ben Beagley for organising and running the evening.

Business and Community Partner Breakfast

We ran our annual breakfast with some of our business and community partners on Wednesday 7 August where we enjoyed a lovely breakfast, prepared by some of our senior VET students, supported by our dedicated Food Studies staff, in particular Ms Daniel Karner.  This is one of our opportunities to build connections and partnerships within the community and strengthen our relationships in a broader sense.  It aligns with the Connect, Protect, Respect Framework that we have adopted at the school and is a highly valued part of our school calendar. 

We are immensely grateful for the support and commitment of our business and community partners, whose support helps provide our students with opportunities that extend beyond the classroom, fostering their growth and preparing them for a bright future.

We were privileged to have the Honourable Natalie Suleyman MP and members of her office in attendance as well as our School Council President, Dr Tracy Nero. The guest speaker was alumni Salim Hijazeen (class of 2007) who is a PhD Candidate – Victorian Hydrogen Hub at Swinburne School of Engineering (Aviation). Student speakers were Wren Truong and Marko Majstorovic from the VCE Vocational Major course.

Guests included representatives from the Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN) who provide support to individual and groups of students and who assist them with establishing networks that can be drawn upon beyond school. Also in attendance were Local Council members, representatives from; the Brimbank Community Civic Centre Foodbank, Keilor East Rotary, The Smith Family, CHASE and Western Chances. Alumni were present, including Eangano Singehebhuye, the Chairman and Founder of Random Acts of Kindness. Some local businesses represented were the Commonwealth Bank and St Albans Complete Car Care, both of which support initiatives such as our Year 10 speed careering program and the provision of work experience placements.

 

Several leaders from our primary feeder schools were also in attendance.  This gathering is just a small sample of all those who make up our community and business connections there were many present whose connections go beyond being a member of the local business community, with a number of our business partners also being school alumni who are keen to support the school that they attended.  We thank all our business partners and look forward to continuing these strong relationships.  Thank you to our breakfast organisers, Mr Dane Stammers supported by Ms Lynda VO, a great deal of behind-the-scenes organisation went into the smooth running of this event.

We would also like to thank our guest speakers Salim, Wren and Marko.  The breakfast provided a lovely way to celebrate these important connections within our community.

Course Counselling and Subject Selection for Years 9 & 10, 2025

All year 9 and 10 students have now participated in course counselling days. We are very proud of the support given to students in careers counselling at the college and pleased to see that our middle school students have engaged positively in the program this year. It was wonderful to see so many families attend our year 10 Parent Night on Tuesday 23 July. We believe that a strong partnership between the school and families is crucial in helping our students achieve their full potential. Sometimes subject/pathway choices can be difficult to make, and your involvement definitely helps with this process.

Yr 9 Parent Information Night

Coming up we have a Year 9 Parent Information night to be held on Tuesday 3 September at 5.30-6.30pm in the gym. We would like to see all students and families attend as we will be fully explaining the city experience program which will be held in Week 9. We are looking forward to seeing all families there.

Progress Reports 

Progress Reports will be published on COMPASS soon. Year 12 reports will be published on 6 August, Year 11 on the16 August and Years 7-10 on the 30 August.

Prepared for Learning Goals

Students in all year levels have been working on their Prepared for Learning Goals. Student goals can be found on COMPASS under the Insights tab. Please consider how you might support your young person to work towards their goals. Updated information on the PFL goals can be found on COMPASS.