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Newsletter Edition 6 – Friday 25 August 2023

25th August 2023

In this Issue:

College Principal’s Report
Senior Years Campus – Principal’s Message
Middle Years Campus – Principal’s Message
Physical Education/Health
STEM
Humanities
Language
Wellbeing
Careers

Upcoming Events

Jun

10

Mon

King’s Birthday Public Holiday

Jun 10 all-day

Term 2 Finishes

Jun 28 all-day

School Holidays

Jun 29 – Jul 14 all-day

Term 3 Starts

Jul 15 all-day

Term 3 Finishes

Sep 20 all-day

June – September 2024 Jun – Sep 2024

College Principal’s Report

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NAPLAN results have recently been released and I am pleased to say that the performance of our students against this assessment in 2023 is very positive. At both Year 7 and Year 9 our students are performing very close to, or above the state average and this is an improvement on previous years. NAPLAN is just one assessment; however, it shows that our students are highly capable. The new format of NAPLAN reports also makes it easier for families to identify where their child may need additional support. Many students across our school are receiving this support and I encourage all families to make contact with the school if they believe their child would benefit. Literacy and Numeracy skills underpin success across all areas of learning, and in life after school. We will continue to focus on this as a College, but I congratulate all students in Year 7 and 9 on their efforts and of course their teachers who have supported them in their learning.

Friday August 25 is ‘Wear it Purple Day’ and it is great to see a range of students and staff wearing purple accessories to school to celebrate. Mill Park Secondary College is committed to being a welcoming and inclusive school community, regardless of race, religion, sexuality or gender. The identity of students should not be a factor in their feeling safe at school, but unfortunately this is not always the case. Wear It Purple Day raises awareness of these issues, in particular for LGBTQI students. We are flying the rainbow ‘Pride’ flag on both Campuses to acknowledge this, and I congratulate our school student leaders who have supported this day and supported their peers.

You may have driven past the Middle Years Campus and seen our fantastic Performing Arts Centre slowly taking shape. It will be an amazing facility for the college, and every day is seeing progress. I am still on a high after seeing our College Production, Rock of Ages, and it is great to know that our very talented students in Music, Dance and Drama will finally have the facilities they deserve. I look forward to sharing images of the theatre and facilities as we move closer to completion in February 2024.

You will have received an email with details of the Parent / Caregiver Opinion survey last week, and a follow-up will be communicated this week and next week. If you could take time to complete this survey it would be much appreciated. Your feedback is important to our school and in combination with feedback from students and staff it has a direct impact on our direction going forwards. Of course, we are open to feedback from families at any time and I encourage you to reach out to me or the school should you have any reflections that you think are important for us to hear. We are committed to being as best we can be as a school and your voice matters.

Finally, I would like to wish our Senior students all the best as they move into the busiest time of their Year 12 – finalising their assessments as they prepare for their trial exams during the term break. We know that it is tough and that you are under pressure, but we have your back. Your efforts are inspiring, and each week gets you closer to a successful end to your final year.

Senior Years Campus – Principal’s Message

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During our recent Year 11 assembly, we had the honor of recognising our top ten academic high achievers for their exceptional performance in Semester 1. These outstanding students have consistently demonstrated their dedication and enthusiasm in their studies, resulting in an impressive accomplishment of earning 8 or more A+ results across various subjects.

Their remarkable achievements are a testament to their hard work and perseverance, and they truly deserve to be celebrated and commended for their efforts. Without a doubt, these students have set a shining example for their peers and should take immense pride in their academic success.

Congratulations to: Tianqi, Insiyah, Shruthika, Abbey, Alannah, Rudrashka, Mily, Khanh, Dinesh and Pranpreeya.

Middle Years Campus – Principal’s Message

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It is almost hard to believe we are coming towards the end of Term 3. It will certainly be nice to hopefully experience some warmer spring weather!

We have been busy supporting our Year 8 and 9 students to choose subjects for next year. Pleasingly we had approximately 75 students in Year 9 apply to do a VCE/VET subject early in Year 10. We also held a Year 8 Information Night related to subject selection, which was attended by over 50 percent of our Year 8 families.

Several of our students took part in the Australian Mathematics competition in early August, and I congratulate those students who challenged themselves by taking part in this additional opportunity to demonstrate their numeracy skills.

Our partnership with Reclink has continued to develop through a range of lunchtime activities that this organisation has come into the school to facilitate for our Middle Year’s students. We have also partnered with the local police to offer a program to a group of our Year 9 students. The Young Men’s program helps build confidence, self-esteem and a sense of purpose while also addressing appropriate ways to deal with conflict.

Last week we celebrated Science Week at Middle Years with a range of Science-based lunchtime activities. I want to acknowledge the work of Ms Ferris, our Leading Teacher in the Science area for her work in putting this event together. On Thursday this week we celebrated Book Week with a dress up day. Students were asked to come dressed as their favourite book character. On Friday 25 August we celebrated Wear it Purple Day at Middle Years. Wear it Purple Day is dedicated to promoting the annual expression of support and acceptance to LGBTQI+ young people.

In preparation for us having our own therapy dog in Term 4, we will have a visit from a fully trained Paws Australia therapy dog on September 1 which we are all very much looking forward to.

Again, we have had several sporting teams represent Mill Park SC with pride over the course of the term. I was fortunate enough to go out and see our boys and girls Year 9 basketball teams play last week. I could not have been prouder of the way these young people represented themselves and their school at this event.

Lastly, I would like to acknowledge Roberta from Year 9 who came first in Victoria at the Dante Alighieri Poetry Competition this year. What an amazing achievement! I would like to also recognise Ms Dell’Anna our Italian teacher for supporting our students in this competition.

Physical Education/Health

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On Monday 31 July our Girls Senior Soccer team played off a round robin tournament against schools from the region. The girls showed up full of energy and excitement and this showed in the groups stages beating Roxburgh 3-0, Pascoe Vale 6-1 and Eltham 3-0. This set up and epic final against Viewbank where the girls would’ve been feeling extremely confident. After conceding the first with a penalty the girl struck back to tie it 1-1. Just before halftime another penalty cost the girls a 2-1 deficit by half time. The second half started tight and our girls managed to sneak a goal late to tie up the game. Unfortunately a little lapse in concentration and an interesting ref decision lead to a quick reply by Viewbank. The girls fought until the final whistle where a free kick nearly tied the game on the final whistle but unfortunately just sailed high. Amazing effort all day girls!

STEM

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Science Week

Last week was Science Week across Australia. The theme this year was Innovation: Powering Future Industries. This incorporates the advancement in technology in all industries, especially using artificial intelligence (AI).

Thank you to the amazing Science teachers for all of your help, which meant we could run activities each of the days we were at school last week.

Monday was a Paper Plane Competition. Many students participated and there were some amazing designs!

Tuesday was an Engineering Challenge – Catapault. Students had to use icy pole sticks, rubber bands and a plastic spoon and see who could propel a cork the furthest. There were many varied designs but in the end there could only be one winning team, which consisted of Matthew, Salam, Pasidhu of Year 10.

As Wednesday was a Curriculum Day we had SLIME for Thursday! We used PVA glue, bicarb soda and contact lens solution to create some ooey goey slime. The students could also use food dye to colour it to their liking. It was great fun!!

Friday was a Stile Escape Room. Students had to solve 8 challenges and received a clue from each challenge solved. Some of the challenges were practical experiments, including making Elephant’s toothpaste (which is the foaming cylinder in the images). Other challenges were solving Science puzzles.

The winning team was Tianqi and Rudraksha of Year 10, closely followed by Diya and Isha of Year 12.

As you can see from the photos, both pairs were pretty chuffed with their achievements.

Thank you to all students and staff who participated. It was a memorable week.

At Middle Years, a number of different activities ran over the week, including hologram making, a microscope challenge and video game coding. Many students participated in these activities over the week and learnt more about Science, and won some prizes as well!

NASA Experiment

On a clear and sunny day with no wind, students in year 11 physics were able to observe the launch of a model rocket on our very own Senior Campus oval. Students were then able to use the equations of motion to calculate the rocket’s maximum height and impulse to measure its journey.

In our continued partnership with Whittlesea Tech, Year 9 Project STEM students recently visited to learn how to use Fusion360. Fusion360 is a 3D modelling software that is used in many industries, including manufacturing and engineering.

Students used this program to create prototypes of phone stands. They needed to take into consideration the size of their phone for the stand, how the stand would be supported and where to place the charger.

In our continued partnership with Whittlesea Tech, Year 9 Project STEM students recently visited to learn how to use Fusion360. Fusion360 is a 3D modelling software that is used in many industries, including manufacturing and engineering.

Students used this program to create prototypes of phone stands. They needed to take into consideration the size of their phone for the stand, how the stand would be supported and where to place the charger.

To learn more about the nervous system, Year 9 Science students recently completed a dissection of a sheep brain. They demonstrated excellent dissection skills and were able to observe the different structures in the brain.

On the Friday 18 August, 6 of our Year 8 and 9 students attended a Women in STEAM day, run by Arcadis. Our students met lots of women in engineering and learnt more about their experiences. They were also challenged to create a “floating house” with students from other schools, in which they needed to design, buy the materials for, and then test how many marbles their house could hold. One design held over 170 marbles!

Humanities

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On Friday 28 July, 16 of our Year 11 Legal Studies students had the incredible opportunity to attend a Parliamentary Convention. The event brought together students from four different schools in Melbourne, where they engaged in a thought-provoking discussion about the ‘The Voice’ constitutional change. Members of Parliament shared their diverse perspectives on the matter, and our students actively participated in the debates, expressing their own reflections with confidence and passion. One remarkable aspect was their ability to respect differing views, making the discussions enriching and respectful. Thank you to Mr Nick Davatzis and Ms Nadine Kotob accompanying our Mill Park students at the Parliamentary Convention.

On Wednesday 23 August, Year 11 Legal Studies students participated in an engaging and fun incursion at the Senior Campus. Former prisoner and current criminologist, Arthur Bolkas, collaborated with students about his lived experiences within the Victorian prison system. Students were fascinated with Arthur’s experiences and had a lot of questions about Arthur’s life and personal circumstances. Thank you to Mr Davatzis for organising such a wonderful and engaging incursion for our students.

Language

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English Language Centre

Learning about root words and affixes

The students in the ELC have been learning about root words as a way to increase their vocabulary.

Learning root words can help students to break down large, unfamiliar words into smaller units to discover their meanings. By learning the meaning of a root word, students are actually learning a whole range of words which are derived from that word.

The ELC students enjoyed representing their knowledge of root words and affixes visually in their posters. These will be a helpful reference to them in the classroom.

Italian Poetry Competition

The Italian Department has been very busy this term, as our poetry competition finalists have returned to the University of Melbourne for the last time this year. Mill Park Secondary College has achieved a great victory with a Year 9 student, Roberta, arriving first in Victoria and with a Year 12 student, Emma, arriving second. Our Year 11 students, Laura and Claudia, and our Year 10 student, Honey, have secured their spot as finalists. It is worth remembering that we competed and won against 1,413 students from 42 schools in Victoria! We are so proud of all students who embraced this challenge and tried their best. We are particularly proud of the winning students, who will cherish such an achievement for a long time. We are now looking forward to next year when our Italian students will be able to enter this competition again.

We would like to thank Mr. Natoli, Ms. Saliba and Mr. Dungey for supporting and encouraging our participation in the competition. They were thrilled to hear that our students had achieved such great a victory.