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OFFICE HOURS 8.30AM TO 4.30PM
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BORONIA K12 COLLEGE NEWSLETTER
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KEY DATES
MONDAY 12 JULY: Term 3 Commences
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THURSDAY 15 JULY: District Cross Country
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MONDAY 2 AUGUST: Year 9 and 10 Basketball and Table Tennis and Girls Soccer
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WEDNESDAY 11 AUGUST: Year 8 Wellbeing Day
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THURSDAY 12 AUGUST: Year 5 and 6 Hoop Time Competition
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TUESDAY 17 AUGUST: Year 5 and 6 Summer Sport
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FRIDAY 20 AUGUST: Year 8 Basketball and Table Tennis
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TUESDAY 24 AUGUST: Year 3 and 4 Hoop Time
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THURSDAY 26 AUGUST: Year 7 Basketball and Table Tennis
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PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
This week we held our end of term assembly, virtually. It was a good reminder that we are still operating in an uncertain space when it comes to navigating our way through a worldwide pandemic. This terms lockdown was no doubt our smoothest transition between face to face and remote learning. I can’t thank our staff, students and families enough for the stoic way in which they responded.
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Despite the assembly being short and online we were still able to celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of our students throughout the term. All award recipients were very deserving, I did notice some families featuring heavily in this round of C.A.R.L Awards and I am sure that their parents are very proud.
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This week I have announced my departure from Boronia K-12 College. I have been provisionally appointed to the role of Principal at Cranbourne East Secondary College, starting Term 3. Sharing this news with our community has been personally challenging. Whilst I am excited to take on a new promotional role, leaving Boronia K-12 College is hard, and the decision was not reached easily. When I arrived at Boronia K-12 College in 2017, I committed to advocating for our school and the broader community. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last 4.5 years and confident that I am leaving the school in a better place and more importantly in great hands.
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I am pleased to announce that Matt Scammell will be taking on the role of Acting Principal during Term 3. I am confident that under Matt’s leadership, with the support of the Kath Middleton, Adrienne Tanner and our Leadership Team, the work we started together will continue.
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There have been many highlights, as someone that came from a secondary teaching background, I have loved the unreserved, unapologetic honesty of our Junior School Students. They certainly tell you how it is, and they are never backward in coming forward.
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The staff at Boronia K-12 College are second to none. Our teachers and support staff are all committed to ensuring that the conditions are right for our students to thrive. I encourage all parents and carers to continue working in partnership with the team at Boronia K-12 College because educating these young people is best done together.
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I want to thank our School Council and in particular, Drey Baldwin (President), Susie Colling, Rachel MacDonald and Shaye Owen who have been there with me since the start! They have been, and will continue to be, determined advocates for Boronia K-12 College.
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I have loved my time serving this community, it has certainly seen me grow as a person and a leader and I will take the lessons learned into the next phase of my career.
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For the last 4.5 years I have said the following two things, more than once.
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“You get more of what you focus on, so focus on the good stuff in life!”
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“You are not a product of your circumstances; you are a product of your decisions.”
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They are important messages that I hope are taken forward into the future, by everyone.
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Lastly, Boronia K-12 College is not the school it was 4.5 years ago, and it is not the school that it is going to be into the future. School improvement is a journey and a destination never reached. I trust you all to continue shaping and moulding the future of Boronia K-12 College, to enable better outcomes for all students and the community.
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I wish this community, and everyone in it, success into the future and look forward to watching that journey from afar.
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Thank you for your support, Goodbye and Good Luck!
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ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
As Term 2 comes to a close, I would like to acknowledge the incredible work of the BK-12 community over this difficult period. Together, we have risen to every challenge presented to us with a calm and unwavering determination to do our very best. In particular, I want to congratulate every parent, carer, student and staff member who has shown support, resilience and adaptability in ensuring we continue to provide purposeful and stimulating learning, firstly in home schooling and then back at school when it was considered safe to do so. Thank you for your words of support, encouragement and appreciation which have kept us going.
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Due to the unexpected lockdown, our exam period was modified. Last week, students in Years 7-10 sat their end of semester exams in English and Maths and completed their final assessments in all other subjects. Students should be proud of their efforts; they displayed great resilience in adjusting to these changes in a short time frame. Exam results will be reported to families on Semester 1 reports via Compass. All formal exams were cancelled for VCE subjects with staff and students focused on completing School Assessed Coursework and Outcomes. A series of practice exams will now be run early in Term 4 for all VCE students after the Knox Network holiday revision sessions. Not only will this give students the valuable opportunity to become familiar with performing under exam conditions but will also help to consolidate and deepen student’s knowledge of the content in each subject in the lead up to the final exams in November.
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The school reports that will be released on Friday 25 June via Compass will reflect the learning behaviours of all our students over the first semester, measuring levels of engagement during remote learning and back to on-site learning as well as academic achievement and progress. Please take a moment to share these reports with your sons/daughters and work together to discuss improvement strategies and continued learning growth. Educational research has proven that intelligence is changeable (not predetermined or fixed), and that academic growth can be achieved by everyone through working hard, being resilient and acting on the feedback that is provided in the end-of-semester reports. These are the keys to achieving this growth.
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The commencement of Term 3 brings with it the process of subject selections for the following year. The initial focus of 2022 course information will be directed towards our current Year 10 cohort. This is an important process and one that requires careful consideration. To assist students and parents/caregivers in understanding the various options that will be available as they move into Year 11, 2022, we will deliver a general VCE/VCAL overview session for all Year 10 students in Week 1 of Term 3 during Mentor classes (Wednesday Period 5). This will be followed by a Subject Selection Expo in Week 3. In the same week, a Parent Information session will be held on Thursday 29 July 2021. We are still awaiting Education and Health Department information to determine if this session can occur onsite or on-line. Stay tuned for more details about this event as well as subject selection procedures for Year 10 and Year 12 students in 2022.
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We always appreciate the support of students and parents/carers in ensuring that the College uniform is worn correctly. As the recent conditions suggest, it is quite cold and students need to be mindful in making sure that their uniform is appropriate for both school and the conditions. Whilst our classrooms are heated, we understand that transition to and from school as well as at recess and lunch breaks can be chilly. We advise that students consider wearing a plain white T-shirt under their school shirt for extra warmth. Students who wear trousers may wish to wear stockings or ‘skins’ under their long pants and students are encouraged to wear the navy school scarf and/or beanie for neck and head warmth. Finally, I wish to remind all families that if any student has a genuine uniform emergency and is unable to wear any part of their uniform on any given day, they should provide a signed note from their parent/s or guardian/s explaining the reason. The temporary alternate item should be as similar as possible to the school uniform (e.g. a navy jumper or windcheater). The school has a supply of spare jumpers and jackets for students to borrow if necessary. We welcome the donation of any school uniform items that are in good condition and no longer required by families. These donated second hand uniforms will be redistributed to families in need and are very much appreciated. Families wishing to seek uniform assistance are asked to contact Ms. Costa (Student Wellbeing Coordinator) or Ms Tanner (Assistant Principal - Wellbeing) regarding any concerns relating to these matters.
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Regular attendance in school allows every student to continue their growth and achieve their best results. It is important to remind parents that certain attendance requirements are expected at each year level, especially in the later years of school. Students falling below the expected attendance level will be followed up and potentially counselled into another pathway. If students are away for any reason such as illness or family reason, please provide a medical certificate or written explanation so this absence can be recorded as ‘Approved’
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Safe and Relaxing Holiday
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I am looking forward to Term 3 with a renewed sense of a return to normality and routine. I trust that every family will have a well-deserved break and, with restrictions easing in the coming months, you can get out and about safely. I wish all families and staff a safe and restful break. I look forward to seeing you all safe and sound on Monday 12 July, 2021.
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Assistant Principal Secondary
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EARLY LEARNING CENTRE
These are the ways that we have expressed ourselves creatively this term….. Weren’t we busy!!
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We found creative ways to share about ourselves through many different methods as you can see in these photos. We painted on paper and mugs, painted our bodies, drew, collaged, used chalk, pencils, textas, water coloured paint and crayons. We made a rainbow collage with recycled items from our homes, we made a special Anzac day piece, and we found creative ways to explore numbers and writing and the letters in our names. We used playdough, sand, tanbark and flowers to create our names, make cakes and explore nature creatively. We were creative with our construction sets and worked in groups to create pieces together. These various experiences provided us with opportunities to share about ourselves through play and during this we were able to learn things about our friends as we worked together and shared ideas and perspectives.
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We found that we could express different emotions through things that we made or created and with what we shared with others. Most often we expressed joy and happiness with what we created. We loved to share with our friends, family and teachers our achievements and this brought us a sense of accomplishment.
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CARL AWARDS
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Across the school year staff nominate students who display on a consistent basis our school values of Community, Achievement, Respect and Lifelong learning. In Term 2 the focus was on Achievement. Congratulations to the following students who are recipients of the Term 2 CARL Awards. Well done on your academic achievements and excellent attitude towards your learning.
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PRIMARY ART
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These are just some of the art pieces created by our Year 3/4 students this Semester. These art pieces highlighted the contrast between warm and cool colours. Well done to all of our Primary students on creating some fantastic masterpieces this Semester.
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ART CLUB
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We hold an Art Club each Friday Lunchtime in Room T2.
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All Primary and Secondary students are welcome!
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Students are able to work on any project they like. A great place to get creative!
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JUNIOR SCHOOL
Although we spent a couple of weeks doing Remote Learning, we have still had a wonderful term! The Year 3-6 students attended three WebEx sessions a day to continue their learning and the F-2 students were able to do a few a week to have fun and check in with their teachers. It was wonderful to see everyone adjust so well to Remote Learning and remain engaged with their work and teachers.
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The Foundation students continued developing their knowledge around numbers, addition, the alphabet, writing, narratives and The Zones of Regulation. They even completed their spelling! Their teachers loved all of the wonderful work and videos that they sent through via SeeSaw and email. Everyone also enjoyed the WebEx sessions, as they were always fun!
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The Year 1/2 students completed their spelling through Remote Learning, Mrs Dorazio even completed a spelling session via WebEX. Everyone enjoyed attending the WebEx sessions and completing different activities throughout the weeks. Some of the wonderful things the students were also able to continue developing was their ability to visualise when reading, their confidence when writing and subtraction when working with numbers.
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The 3/4 students loved the fact that they had a laptop to take home from school, so were able to attend WebEx sessions with their teachers three times a day. They were able to continue working with their teachers to keep developing their growth mindset. They focused on cause and effect and synthesing when reading and developed their knowledge of goods and services to create an advertisement using appropriate persuasive techniques. When working mathematically, they continued to develop their understanding of multiplication and division.
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Throughout Remote Learning, the 5/6 students have been working on money and financial savings. Within this topic, they have deepened their understanding of discounts and percentages. In writing, they have been studying persuasive text. They were set the learning task of writing a persuasive piece for a competition held by Jackson Taylor. Since returning to school, the 5/6 students have been working on a learning task, revolving around “Sharing the Planet”. The task they’ve been assigned with is researching a global conflict of their choice, and presenting it in a format of their choosing. They have also begun the maths topic of percentages. Using dice and numbers to find out the percentage of different roles.
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Since returning to school, Miss Hancock and Miss Costa have enjoyed finishing off the Berry Street activities for the term by delving into ‘emotional intelligence.’ It was wonderful to see how all students had a much deeper understanding about emotions and strategies that work best for them to stay in their ‘learning brain.’
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We are excited for next term and to get back into running assemblies and having fun events again!
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By Cailey and Myra (Junior School College Captains)
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PRIMARY SPORT
The Year 5/6 students enjoyed finally getting out for some interschool team sports after a long 2 year wait! The Soccer, AFL Football and Netball teams were fantastic throughout the day showing terrific skill, teamwork and sportsmanship.
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All teams came home with at least 1 win across the day with a few teams just missing out by 1 win to make it through to the next level. All staff and students are very much looking forward to doing it all again in Term 3 with our Summer Sports Round Robin competition and Hoop Time Basketball day.
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MIDDLE SCHOOL
As we near the end of Term 2, it is important to acknowledge efforts of our Year 7 to 9 students in being quick to pivot remote learning for two weeks before returning to on-site learning last week. Establishing and re-establishing different routines can sometime present with challenges, which is why we as teachers are very pleased with the way most of our cohorts have again navigated their way through this.
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It remains important that our students continue to focus on demonstrating our Learning Culture as a way of achieving their personal best in all that they do, successfully completing Term 2 and making a positive start to Term 3. To do this, we have reminded students that adhering to the following expectations would ensure this was achieved:
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I look forward to finishing the term strongly and thank you as parents for your ongoing support in encouraging our young people to make good choices and be the best they can be. We look forward to end of term ‘Whole School Assembly’ where the winners of our CARL awards will be publicly recognised for their achievements in Term 2.
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Students were visited during LMG and invited to participate in next term’s ‘Buddy Program’. Participation in this program will involve students attending a Junior School class for a regular scheduled session once a week to assist the teacher and students with a range of activities.
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The purpose of the ‘Buddy Program’ is to provide Year 8 students with an opportunity to build stronger, positive relationships and connections with teachers, peers and students across the whole College, as well as promote engagement and academic success in their regular classes. It is a wonderful opportunity for our students and I look forward to seeing this unfold in Term 3.
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Director of Middle School
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SENIOR SCHOOL
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Evidence from all over the world confirms that regular and consistent school attendance is essential for all children to succeed in education and to ensure they don't fall behind both socially and developmentally. Children and young people who regularly attend school and complete Year 12 or an equivalent qualification have better health outcomes, better employment outcomes, and higher incomes across their lives. School attendance is important as it maximises life opportunities for children and young people by providing them with education and support networks. School helps people to develop important skills, knowledge and values which sets them up for further learning and participation in their community.
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Conversely, non-attendance and limited school participation has a variety of negative effects on students, both academically and socially. Absenteeism can increase social isolation, including alienation and lack of engagement with the school community and peers, leading to emotional and behavioural difficulties. It is also associated with a greater chance of dropping out of school completely. These outcomes have later implications for employment, a range of health risk behaviours (drug and alcohol abuse), homelessness, poverty, welfare dependence, and involvement in the justice system.
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“Every Day Counts - There Is No Safe Threshold for Absences”
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Do a few days off really matter?
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As has been stated previously, non-attendance has both an academic and a social impact. There’s a well-documented correlation between absences and achievement, which demonstrates that every day matters. It is also important to note that impacts of absenteeism are cumulative. Patterns of absence in the primary years often continue and grow in secondary school. Studies of chronic absenteeism (missing more than 10% of school days) show that absence has a compounding negative impact on academic performance
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Parental attitudes can shape a child’s attitudes to school attendance:
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Parental attitudes and involvement, in the form of support with homework and academic progress, and active encouragement and monitoring of attendance at school has been found to be critical in increasing a student’s attendance, engagement and achievement at school. Correspondingly, a lack of such parental involvement can have negative effects on student attendance. If parents do not value education and are not involved in their child’s schooling, children may adopt similar attitudes, which might inform their decisions about whether to attend.
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What can you do to help your child attend regularly?
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- Set positive attendance habits early.
- Set high expectations for your child and do your best to model them in your own life
- Reach out to the school when you begin to experience difficulty in getting your child to attend
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Lateness is a type of absence:
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Just as full day absence can become pattern-forming and impact negatively on achievement, so too is lateness. While 10 minutes is not long, it’s important to consider your child’s emotional space as they enter the classroom. A child who arrives late to school has no time to mentally prepare themselves for the lesson and the day. Lateness is also cumulative. If a child is late by only 10 minutes a few times a week, the hours soon add up. In a single year this may add up to more than 20 hours of learning missed
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Some Statistical Data to Ponder
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Nationwide research data conducted in 2018, indicated that most Australian students attend school regularly, with 75% of students attending at least 90% of school days in 2018. However, a closer look at this data indicates something concerning. If 75% of students attend at least 90% of the time then the reverse suggests that 25% (1 in 4) Australian students were absent for more than 10% of school time, or 20 or more days. These students are missing at least a month of school over the schooling year.
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Term Two Attendance data for Boronia K-12 College, indicates that across Years 10 to 12 the percentage of our students attending at least 90% of school days was lower than 75% of students. This data, although only a limited snapshot, is suggestive of some attendance concerns for our students. Boronia K12 is working to improve our monitoring of student attendance and our response to students absenteeism. Further information about attendance strategies and initiatives will be forthcoming early in Term 3.
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In short, there is no safe level of absenteeism — every absence impacts achievement. Building and maintaining positive attendance patterns is a three-way partnership between students, parents and schools, where all parties hold an important piece of the puzzle.
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When things begin to deviate from the ideal, all three parties need to work together in a “no blame culture” to resolve the underlying causes and return the child to class as soon as possible.
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Director of Senior School
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VCAL NEWS
Both the Intermediate and Senior VCAL students have been busy in their respective programs. Over the past couple of weeks, they have been working on the following:
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Senior VCAL – have presented some project ideas to Ms Middleton, indicating project ideas for around the college, timeline for progress and completion, materials required, OH&S concerns and resolutions and how it fits into their VCAL program. From this, they are going to run a Christmas in July Pizza Lunch and Free Dress Day. In preparation for this, last week they ran a Pyjama Day for senior students and had a practice run at creating pizzas for themselves. In numeracy, the students have been planning a Treasure Hunt that they are running for the Year 3/4 students and ran this event on Tuesday 22 June.
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Intermediate VCAL – students have begun to have a Project Day every Tuesday, in order to do more work on their hands on projects. They have been in the Timber room working on their Marble Mazes and are starting to plan ideas for blocks for the Kindergarten and giant yard games. They are also starting to create whisper phones for the primary school students to use and whilst doing all of this considering OH&S.
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OFFICE REMINDERS
Schools are now mandated to utilise the Service Victoria QR codes for electronic record keeping.
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QR codes will be required to be used by:
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- all parents/carers/visitors who enter buildings when on the school site.
All building entry and exit points will now display QR code posters. If you are required/invited to enter buildings on school grounds, for whatever purpose, you are now required to use the provided QR code check-in. If you are not able to check in using a smartphone or tablet, a supported check-in service is available at the General Office.
Using the QR code system does not replace the existing requirement to also sign in on the Compass Kiosk at either the General Office or Gym (when you attend for a purpose such as a parent/teacher meeting). Thank you for your support and understanding of this important health direction.
It remains important that students/staff/parents/carers remain at home if unwell and get tested if symptoms are consistent with COVID-19.
Thank you for your support!
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BORONIA K12 COLLEGE QR CODE
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CAREER NEWS
For the past 3 years, Year 9 students across Victoria have been given the opportunity to participate in a fantastic Careers Program called My Career Insights (Morrisby) which involves completing Career Assessments based on student strengths, interests, personality, work style and learning style which is then followed by a 30 minute one-to-one meeting with a Careers Counsellor. The program has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students who have participated and we were very pleased to run this program at Boronia K-12 in early June.
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While the plan had been to have the Career Counselling sessions on site at school, the recent lockdown made this impossible. Therefore, our Year 9 students were asked to have their meetings via Webex while they were at home doing Remote Learning and they took this in their stride. Our students were punctual, polite and enthusiastic and the counsellors that worked with them all said that they had a great time working with our students. Student feedback has also been really positive and I would like to say a big THANK YOU to the Year 9s and their parents who made sure these sessions were a priority. An extra shout out also to those students who had their meetings on the Curriculum Day and did so happily, while some of their friends were enjoying a sleep in. A great effort all around, and we look forward to exploring some of the career suggestions that came out of the program with you in the next few weeks..
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