Mooroolbark College Newsletter – December 2023

8th December 2023

Our latest Mooroolbark College Newsletter is here!

The Mooroolbark College newsletters are an important form of communication for our school community.

Each newsletter contains a great deal of information about what is happening in the College including upcoming events and celebration of student success.

Enjoy reading about all the amazing things happening around our College.

Upcoming Events

Christmas Day

Dec 25 all-day

Boxing Day

Dec 26 all-day

New Years Day

Jan 1 all-day

Australia Day

Jan 26 all-day

ANZAC Day

Apr 25 all-day

December 2024 – April 2025 Dec 2024 – Apr 2025

ENGLISH

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The English KLA would like to bid Andrew Nyhuis and Alex Scott a fond farewell. They are both moving on to new positions in other schools and we wish them all the best in this next chapter in their careers as educators.

Our senior students have completed their orientation for VCE and we were impressed with the energy they have brought and we are excited for what the 2024 school year will bring. All year 11 and 12 VCE English, English Language and VCE-VM Literacy students will have holiday homework over the summer break and it is important that they complete it on time so that they don’t start the school year off already behind; this includes reading all prescribed texts and watching prescribed films.

Our junior students have finished their final CATs for the year and have completed a successful step-up program that was designed to make sure they are ready for English in 2024. Year 7 have just finished a film study unit and are currently working on an Indigenous language and storytelling unit. Year 8 have also just finished a film study unit and completed some NAPLAN preparation in step-up. Year 9 have ended the year with a unit on Argument Analysis which is one of the main components of senior English.

It has been an amazing year in English at every year level and we are so proud to see how much our students have learned, grown and developed. We hope everyone has a well-deserved break over the holidays and a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We will see you in 2024!

Favourite Christmas Movies:

Mrs. George: The Holiday

Mrs. Broekmann: Last Christmas

Ms. Valk: Love Actually

Mrs. Harris: Love Actually and Home Alone

Ms. Orams: Nightmare Before Christmas

Mr. Nyhuis: Jingle All The Way

Mr. Scott: Die Hard

Mr. Ingham: Klaus

Amy Broekmann

ENGLISH KEY LEARNING HEAD

MATHEMATICS

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What a year it has been in Mathematics! We have seen lots of learning growth from our students as they build their fluency and understanding.

Over the last few weeks our Year 7 – 9 students completed the Step Up program. During their Mathematics classes, students completed a variety of activities, designed to revise the important concepts covered during the year in preparation for the start of 2024. Students completed online games, worksheets, hands on activities and a combination of group and individual work, plus lots more! Our Year 9 students were given a booklet which was specific to the Mathematics they will complete next year: Foundation, General or Advanced. Well done to all students who worked had during these two weeks to complete the tasks. I’m sure you found them to be beneficial and a good recap of the important concepts.

I would like to take this opportunity to farewell some staff that are leaving Mooroolbark College at the end of 2023:

Brodie Challis, Tracey Mattingley, Yi Jiang, Blake Pearson, Emalyn Wicking, Ryan Evans

Thank you for all of your hard work and for the care you have shown for your students in Mathematics. Mooroolbark College is so grateful for your tireless efforts and wishes you the best of luck in your future endeavours.

I look forward to an exciting 2024 with the implementation of the new Victorian Curriculum 2.0 in Mathematics. Staff have been working behind the scenes to update our curriculum so that we are ready for the beginning of the 2024 school year. The change to curriculum may lead to some changes to our assessments, however I will update you on this early next year.

On behalf of all of the Mathematics staff, I would like to wish all families a safe and happy holidays. Take some time to relax and recharge and we look forward to seeing you back in 2024.

Kara Salmon

MATHEMATICS KEY LEARNING HEAD

SCIENCE

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The end of the year is always busy and this year has been no exception. Science students have completed numerous experiments, completed exams, finished CATs, and took part in the Step Up and Orientation programs. Congratulations

One of the last topics that Year 8 students covered was Energy (Light and Sound) and used Hudson Light Boxes to explore refraction, diffraction, reflection and the spectrum of light.

Photos of Year 8 students using light boxes

Photos of Year 12 Biology Orientation Class completing Experiments on Optimal conditions for enzyme activity.

Photos of Step Up Program

Melinda Lori PUI

SCIENCE KEY LEARNING HEAD

HUMANITIES

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It’s the end of the year and what a year it has been. First of all I would like to thank all the staff and students in the Humanities faculty for their hard work and dedication throughout the year. It’s been wonderful to see the learning and passion that has taken place throughout our classes all over the school.

Classes have well and truly finished across the subjects of Accounting, Business Management, History, Legal Studies and Work-Related Skills, with VCE exams all running smoothly. We wish all our finishing students the best of luck with their future endeavours and the senior team is already well underway with content and classes for our 2024 cohort as well.

We’ve also had a terrific end to the year for our junior and middle years students with the introduction of our Step-Up program. This new initiative is aimed at giving some new structure and drive to the end of the year and allows students to get a head start into next year’s materials already. We saw a terrific uptake in energy and motivation in Humanities classes in this program and I’ve been really impressed with how well everyone’s worked.

Finally, I would like to finish off with a very fond farewell to both the role of Humanities Coordinator and to Mooroolbark College. It has been a great honour to work in this position this year and to have the opportunity to explore and share the terrific work that’s being done in this faculty but I have great confidence that I leave Humanities in the very best of hands for next year.

Thanks again for all the terrific work and passion this year and I wish you all a very safe and relaxing holiday break.

Alex Scott

HUMANITIES KEY LEARNING COORDINATOR

THE ARTS

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It has been a fantastic year in The Arts. Students have been working hard to create some incredible work in both Visual Arts and Performing Arts.

In the Visual Arts, we introduced our new VCE Arts subjects, Art: Creative Practice and Art: Making and Exhibiting. Students have loved the new courses and have created some amazing work on various themes, such as identity. The second half of the year saw The Arts host our two showcase evenings; The Night of Excellence and the annual Mooroolbark College Film Festival. The sheer amount of work, the quality and the variety was phenomenal. The night also saw voting once again in our highly coveted People’s Choice Award, which was taken out by three winners this year; Hayley Lamb of Year 11 for Art: Making and Exhibiting, Inica Smit of Year 12 for Art: Making and Exhibiting and Drew Clarkson of Year 12 for Art: Making and Exhibiting, Media and VCD.

It has also been a big year in the Performing Arts. We have continued to run our new Performing Arts subject at Year 7 and 8 which helped to combine the areas of Drama and Music into the one semester. Outside of the classroom, this year’s College production of ‘High School Musical’ was a huge success! The performances were amazing. All of the students and staff involved should be very proud of their work. It has recently been announced that next year’s production with be a production of a much loved story, The Wizard of Oz. In Instrumental Music, our wonderfully talent music students have put on a number of lunchtime concerts as well as hugely successful Winter concert and Spring Concert. It has been amazing witnessing these young musicians perfect their craft.

2023 has been a fantastic year and we can’t wait to continue to showcase the amazing work and performances being created in The Arts in 2024.

Matthew Neil-Holland

THE ARTS KEY LEARNING AREA LEADER

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION

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To start, I would like to congratulate all our VCE students have completed their finals exams for their schooling. A big shout out to Andy Uren and Mathew Bell for running extra revision sessions for students in the lead up to their exams.

Orientation classes for Year 11 and 12 have been a huge hit with students finding out what VCE and VCE-VM is all about. From coursework to SACs and beginning their new units, students should be extremely proud of the efforts and commitment thus far.

Our new Year 12 students continued orientation and decided to organise a staff versus students Netball match. I’m sure this will be the first of many to come. The students fought hard but unfortunately the teachers were just too strong going out with a 2-game lead.

Wishing all our wonderful students a safe and happy holiday break. I look forward to showcasing the achievements of our students in 2024.

Stephanie Todd

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION KEY LEARNING HEAD

MOOROOLBARK COLLEGE PARENTS ASSOCIATION

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As 2023 comes to a close, the Mooroolbark College Parents’ Association wishes all students and families a safe and happy holiday period. It has been a busy year for the MCPA with fundraising, event support, and new gear being invested in for the school.

JOIN US IN 2024!

We meet twice per term alternating between in-person and online meetings. Come join us and become a general committee member, there is NO obligation to take on an office bearing role.

CANTEEN

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The canteen has had another busy Term and we would once again like to acknowledge and thank our student helpers that assist us on a daily basis with various jobs around the canteen. A big Thank You to Campbell Robertson, Will Harston, Maddi Meyer and Mataya Schmelze. We would also like to thank and acknowledge Mary Taithul who recently gained some valuable hospitality work experience in the canteen. Mary completed an online Food Safety Course whilst she was working with us and scored a perfect 100%. That is an amazing effort Mary, well done!

Next year the canteen is seeking parent volunteers to help us in the canteen on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. The time slots that need to be filled are from 10.30am – 2.00pm. If you are available and have any hospitality experience, or just a love of cooking and food, I would love to hear from you. You will need to complete a free online Food Safety course and also have a volunteer Working with Childrens Check. Please email me at donna.emery@education.vic.gov.au if you are interested or have any questions at all.

In anticipation of a busy 2024, I would like to draw your attention to Flexi Schools, which is our online canteen ordering system. I have included a copy of the Flexi Schools flyer which walks you through how to download the app. Next year the canteen will have a dedicated window for collection of all lunch orders, we can’t wait to see how efficient the lunch order line will be.

I would also like to thank Sarah Pearsall and the fabulous students from The Sustainability Club for the wonderful Christmas decorations on display in the canteen and for potting the succulents that decorate our area. Special mention to Ross Wallbank (Facilities and Ground maintenance) for creating the “shelving” in the canteen made from discarded bread crates and old wooden fencing. We look forward to working with the Sustainability Club and our 2024 School Leaders to embed sustainability into our area.

I wish all our wonderful students and staff a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and we look forward to seeing your happy and smiling faces next year!

THE CANTEEN TEAM

Donna, Lynette, Melissa and Miranda

COMMUNITY

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