Our current College prospectus recognises the commitment to discovering and nurturing the abilities of every student, setting the highest expectations. We are justifiably proud of our students’ achievements. Under Mr Mitsinikos’s leadership, the work of our college has centred on an improvement plan that builds the capacity of not only our staff, but our students. This has included the third iteration of the House system – a vertical house structure.
We now operate with smaller teams of teachers working with a particular group of students. Under this approach, a team of approximately 10 staff provide the core subject teaching for a group of students. The coordinator of the group works with the staff to provide for the needs of that group. In addition, this arrangement has the advantage of staff being attached to an area of the school for a large section of their teaching time and so provides them with a clearer view of their position within the school. To advance this sense of involvement even further, students remain within the particular teaching group for 6 years. This has the clear advantage of both the coordinator and core staff knowing students well, being aware of their progress over time and understanding the particular needs of that student. In addition, parents are more familiar with the people responsible for the student’s progress at the school, and should therefore feel free to seek any information or to make contact wherever they consider it necessary or desirable to do so. An added bonus of this approach is the interaction of students from a variety of year levels. We organise various activities throughout the year that sees students operate as a group, and thus break down the sense of separation.
Each of our Houses are named after prominent people from our Melton community – Lang (Horace & Thomas Lang), Barak (William Barak), Pyke (Pyke Family) and Watts (Hannah Watts). Building works to improve physical spaces of the new vertical House system, including the Administration area and House offices were started during 2018.
Our College Vision and Values are the result of the collaborative work of staff, students, parents and the community. Our vision to achieve success for our community through respect, responsibility and collaboration as well as our values – Respect, Achievement and Responsibility – are at the core of our college’s decision making. In essence, this vision and our values have not changed since our beginnings in 1986. Kurunjang Secondary College is a learning community for the 21st Century. We need to continually evaluate knowledge, work creatively with others, appreciate diversity and think flexibly to succeed in a global environment.
At present, Kurunjang Secondary College has a multi-cultural population of approximately 950 students. In identifying their future goals, our students begin to realise that ongoing learning will prepare them for their future. Equipping our students with the skills to achieve their goals, and encouraging to strive to achieve with firm determination, will help prepare students for life beyond our college. Many of our students will take a prominent place in society, or perhaps the world – the potential is there in all of them.