Mount Alexander College

SEAL Program for year 7 in 2014: NEW Testing Times

macollege — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:49:27 +0000

Following late approval from the Department of Education & Early Childhood Development (15 April), and the limited amount of time before our first testing date (11 May), Mount Alexander College has re-opened testing for eligible grade 6 students until 12 July 2013.

Click here to register for the next round of testing.

If you have previously sat for a SEAL entrance Test conducted by Edutest, you may sit the test again. This is a great opportunity if you have just heard about our SEAL program or you did not get into another school’s SEAL program.

Click here for more information.

Curriculum Afternoon

macollege — Fri, 03 May 2013 02:31:56 +0000

On Tuesday May 7^th students will be dismissed at 2.25pm as staff will be participating in ongoing professional development – ‘Supporting Professional Practice through Classroom Observations’.

All students except year 7A will be dismissed.

We are requesting group 7A to be a model classroom for a numeracy lesson with an external consultant Chris Botheras. Chris will teach a model lesson with teachers observing and later analysing student engagement. Chris will be demonstrating a range of techniques and strategies to assist professional learning at our college.

As a rewards and thank you, each student in 7A will receive a $ 4 canteen voucher. The students in 7A will be dismissed at 3.15 pm.

Select Entry Accelerated Learning

macollege — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 23:03:43 +0000

Mount Alexander College has had a huge shot of confidence shown by the Department of Education & Early Childhood by their approval of a Select Entry Accelerated Learning Program being offered here from 2014. We join the list of 37 government secondary colleges across the state as being approved SEAL sites. Our program for select entry for gifted and talented year 7 students in 2014 is now open for application. Applications close on Friday 3 May, and testing will be conducted at The University High School on Saturday, 11 May.

The team of teachers at Mount Alexander College have fully supported this initiative and they have all worked hard to support our accelerated program’s development. Late in 2012 the CHIP Foundation (Children with High Intellectual Potential Foundation) conducted half day professional learning workshop for staff, and the college has joined the Victorian Gifted and Talented Children’s Association (VGATCA) network. More workshops are planned for teachers.

My sincere thanks to Malcolm Miller PSM, Acting Regional Director SWR; Peter Henry , Deputy Regional Director ( Service Planning); Grant Rau, Deputy Regional Director (Performance, Accountability & Improvement); and Mona Malouf, Senior Adviser, (Regional Performance & Planning), for their support and guidance with the SEAL application; and to Rob Newton (principal, The University High School; Tony Tataro, (former principal of Buckley Park College); and Moonee Valley secondary and primary principals for their support and encouragement.

Click here for more information

Click this link to apply for the program in 2014. Applications close on Friday 3 May 2013

Working Bee

macollege — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 22:08:28 +0000

The College working bee on Saturday 16 March was an outstanding success with over 30 parents, students and staff attending. Despite the (beautiful) rain we worked on cleaning up the entire yard, removing weeds, debris, branches, two peppercorn saplings and lots of refuse. The Mt Alexander Road perimeter gardens were mulched and a new garden bed dug in, conditioned and mulched at the Mt Alexander entrance to the school yard. This will be planted out later. Thanks to everyone for attending, for bringing the relevant equipment and for filling the dumper so skilfully! It was great to see some junior students there as well and they really worked very hard. Thanks to Kirsten Wood and Meg Dunley (from the PFA) for lots of organising.

Parent Teacher Interviews

macollege — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:32:46 +0000

There will be a Progress Reporting afternoon for your child on Wednesday 27^th March from 2.30pm to 7.30pm. At the reporting session, parents will be given interim reports for each child. We hope all parents will take the opportunity to use the report as a basis for their interviews with teachers.

Students will follow a shortened timetable for the day and be dismissed after period 5 at 1.40pm. Teachers will not be available to supervise students after 1.45pm.

We strongly encourage students to attend the interviews with parents.

Please note that staff will take a dinner break between 5.00pm and 5.30pm. No interviews will be conducted during this time.

The aim of this meeting is to discuss your child’s progress and to provide any other feedback required in regard to academic, social and emotional wellbeing.

The interviews will be scheduled to last for 5 minutes. At this stage Ms Wignell and Miss Nguyen are not available on the evening.

Appointments should be made using the online booking system by clicking the PTO image to the left or by going to the below address

https://bookings.parentteacheronline.com.au?school=3wf7g

Notice to Parents/Carers

macollege — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:16:20 +0000

Dear Parents/Carers

I am writing to you about several important matters.

A working bee will take place on Saturday 16 March from 9.30 to 1pm for all interested students/parents/staff/community members to tidy up several areas of the grounds. If you can come along for all or part of that time we would be most grateful. There will be a sign in book at the office on Saturday morning. Please bring gardening equipment.

A welcome morning tea will also be provided for all new parents on the same day (Saturday, 16 March at 11am) in the social staff room. Working bee members, Parents & Friends and College Councillors will be in attendance, so it would be a great chance to meet others.

The annual House Athletics Carnival will be held on Thursday, 21 March, and all students are expected to attend and support their House teams. Students should bring lunch, bottled water, sun screen, hats and dress in colours appropriate to support their house. Travel will be bus, and all permission forms were returned at the time of the swimming sports in most cases.

On Sunday 24 March at 10.30 am Tours of the college will take place. Interested parents should assemble in the “Sound house” car park. Please inform anyone you know who might be interested to have a look at our facilities. We would welcome any student tour guides as well. Please inform Ms Bentley if you are interested.

The Term 1 Parent-Teacher-Student interviews will take place on Wednesday, 27 March from 2.30 pm to 5 pm and then from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm in the college library. All students are encouraged to attend with their parents. The interim report will be handed out to parents in the library just before their interviews. Interview times are to be booked on line following the procedure that you will receive in the post this week. If you do not have internet access at home you can use free internet access at Flemington, Ascot Vale and Sam Merrifield Libraries; Flemington & Wingate Avenue (Ascot Vale) Community Centres or at IEmpower in Stubbs St, Kensington.

Alan Davis
Principal

Industrial Dispute

macollege — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:39:42 +0000

On Thursday 14 February the Australian Education Union has called for stop work action as part of their registered industrial dispute with the government. This school will be affected by AEU teacher and education support workers who will participate in the stop work campaign.

As a consequence of this industrial action the following arrangements have been made for the day:

All year 7 students to attend school.
All year 11 VCE students to attend school for periods 1 & 2 only
All year 12 students to attend school for periods 3 & 4 only
Years 8-10 students are not required to attend

If any parent cannot arrange for their child to be supervised on this day, students can attend, BUT the college office will need to know by Wednesday so that supervision can be arranged.

The canteen will not operate on the strike day.

Notice to Parents

macollege — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 02:48:48 +0000

Dear Parents/Carers

Let me say how pleased everyone was with the start to the school year with students in uniform, ready for lessons and their daily interactions with staff and other students. Some students will need to put greater effort into getting their books and materials so that they can fully participate in their lessons.

The Parents & Friends Association will run a second hand book and uniform sale on TUESDAY, 5 February to assist anyone who might like the opportunity to buy some items. The sale will take place at the school between 10 and 11am. Please come to the general office for directions.

The next PFA meeting is on Monday, 4 February at 7pm in the staffroom. ALL parents are welcome. The meeting usually takes about an hour. New members can join at the meeting.

From the beginning of the school year the majority of Teachers and Education Support staff are working to a 38 hour week in support of the AEU industrial campaign. This has meant that the year 7 camp, year 12 study skills camp and some other after hours programs have been postponed. As soon as the work bans are lifted we will proceed with these additional programs. Thanks for your consideration and support.

A reminder to parents, carers and independent living students that school charges and fees can be paid at the office between 8.30 am and 4.20 pm each weekday. Payment plans can be developed, credit card or cheque payments are accepted as well as cash. It is vital that we have these legitimate charges paid so that we can pay our bills to suppliers.

Finally, a reminder that a single notice has been sent to all families in regards to the Swimming Sports (19 February) and Athletics Sports (21 March) sports. We urgently need the permission form signed to cover both compulsory events and for the forms to be returned to the office as quickly as possible.

Yours faithfully,

Alan Davis
Principal

Artist in Residence Successful Grant

macollege — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:50:35 +0000

The Department of Premier & Cabinet has granted our college $10,000 to support an Artist in Residence in 2013. The cartoonist, Peader Thomas will work with year 7 & 8 students in art classes sometime in term 2 or 3 to assist students to develop their artistic skills. The cartoonist will use digital software to work with students to publish a range of interconnected cartoons. We are extremely pleased to have an artist of the calibre of Peader Thomas on board in 2013. Special thanks to year 7 parent Seth Seiderman, Peader Thomas and Jenny Cocks who helped me write the submission.

Music Soiree

macollege — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 02:31:26 +0000

On the twenty third of October, the music department was in chaos. The cause for this chaos was the music soiree’. Organisations, last minute rehearsals and setting up massive amounts of chairs were all included in the mess. Over at the Flemington Primary School hall there was much kerfuffle. As people hurriedly set up chairs, the musical groups from MAC were undertaking last minute changes and practices. At the magical time of six thirty people started arriving. Students and parents alike began to sit down and wait. The year 7 sat somewhat quietly at the back of the crowd to watch until it was their turn to play. The groups were varied. There were senior choirs, foreign instruments, young groups and even a ukulele group. The night was enjoyed by all and half an hour after the predicted ending time people started to leave. Some stayed to help the packing up. The venue was large and had an abundance of space. Overall, the night was amazing and each group being given a loud round of applause.

Frank Dunley
Year 7