Aspire9

This past week has seen much action on all the Year 7-9 Campuses with the launch of our Year 9, Aspire9 Focus weeks. Mornington Year 9 students joined Year 9 students within their House Community groups from both the Rosebud and Tyabb Campuses for either:

Camp

A four-day Outdoor Education program providing students with a varying degree of personal challenges, including the Howqua Challenge (horse riding and mountain bike riding), Murray rafting and a new art adventure day camp experience.

City Experience

A series of day trips to the City where students develop their teamwork and navigation skills around the city with group investigations.

Having previously attended the City Experience, I can attest to the wonderful opportunities for growth and personal development. Students benefitted from visits to The Shrine, the State Library, The Big Issue Head Office – with a focus on the issue of homelessness, and an Indigenous History Tour along the Yarra River. More importantly than all this perhaps was the opportunity for these students across the three Year 7-9 Campuses to come together in preparation for the important role as the combined Year 10 class on the Senior Campus in 2026.

A sincere and heartfelt thank you to Mrs Emma O’Dowd, Ms Lauren Ori and Ms Bec Seal for their tireless efforts in arranging so many aspects of the Aspire9 Focus week.

Cross Country

Congratulations to Sebastian House and Mr Egan victorious House Coordinator taking out the 2025 House cross country. Well done also to Chisholm House coming in second and Mannix House for third. Thank you again to Mr Morgan, Ms Hutchinson and Mr Luppino for arranging the day.

Mayor's Choice Award for Aboriginal Artwork

Congratulations to Eliza Sinclair-Wadham, Year 9 Mannix, whose artwork was selected by the Mayor of the City of Kingston for display in her office. Eliza entered an art competition through her local gathering place, Derrimut Weelam in Mordialloc, and won the Mayor's Choice Award. She painted the artwork and then used real emu feathers to add the texture to the body of the emu.

Cows Create Careers

Our Year 9 Plant and Animal Studies students were delighted to welcome Friesian calves to our Mornington Campus as part of the Cows Create Careers Program. Over a period of two weeks, they will have the wonderful task of bottle feeding and caring for the calves, a wonderful hands-on learning opportunity for enriching student understanding of agriculture and animal care and learn about the dairy industry.

Dangerous Road Crossing

Following a number of significant near misses involving vehicles needing to stop abruptly to avoid pedestrians who are crossing the road inappropriately, the College would like to reiterate its directive regarding student movement. To ensure the safety of all road users and pedestrians, students and families are reminded that students walking on the north side of Oakbank Road is not permitted. This policy is particularly applicable to students crossing from the north side of Nepean Highway to Oakbank Road. Thank you for your cooperation in promoting safety within our community.

Students must refrain from crossing in front of moving traffic. Please utilise the designated pedestrian crossing and wait for the traffic signals to change, even if it requires a wait for lights to change.

Wishing you continued blessings,

Stephen Veneris

Deputy Principal
Head of 7-9 Campus, Mornington

Student Photo Permissions

At times, photographs or videos of our students will be published in newsletters, on the school intranet or website, or in our social media. Copies of our Standard Collection Notice and Privacy Policy are available on the College website in the Enrolments section of our Policies page. Please note that consent to use these images in this way, if provided at enrolment, may be withdrawn at any time by contacting our marketing team via email: marketing@padua.vic.edu.au .