McKinnon Secondary College

McKinnon Secondary College is a State Secondary College located on McKinnon Road in McKinnon, Victoria, Australia.

McKinnon Secondary College is a year 7 to 12 co-educational school with a student population of approximately 1400. The College was founded in 1954 in the south eastern Melbourne suburb of McKinnon, near Caulfield. McKinnon Secondary is well known for its high VCE results, achieving the top results of all the non-selective government high schools in Victoria in 2005. McKinnon is also known for its large music faculty, with many high-achieving ensembles and music students. All students are given the opportunity to learn an instrument and be a part of the school's many bands.

Entry

It is Victorian State Government policy to grant first priority entry to the State school which is closest to the enrolling student's residence. This means that if there is a high demand for enrolments, the students who live outside a "school zone" are not guaranteed entry. Some students may, however, be granted enrolment based on "curriculum grounds", or having a sibling already enrolled. This is the case at McKinnon Secondary, and other sought after schools in Victoria. Press reports have indicated that parents will relocate their residence to within a popular State school's "zone" to ensure entry for their children, with the potential effect of increasing the value of real estate within that zone. In order to cope with the rising student numbers at McKinnon, the college has had to shrink the "school zone", allowing less students to enter the school. The college offers a few places to international students, who pay higher fees. However the vast majority of places are given to McKinnon zone residents.

College facilities

• Assembly hall
• Gymnasium and weights room
• Music auditorium with five music studios
• Seven computer laboratories
• Year 12 Centre with private study area
• Resource Centre
• 250 seat lecture theatre, named the Alan Lawrence Lecture Theatre after long-serving ex-principal
• Art/science/technology wing
• Korean Garden
• MERC (McKinnon Education Resource Centre)
• Library
• School canteen
• Onsite uniform shop (previously known as the Korean house)

Music

McKinnon Secondary has many instrumental groups that cater for people of different ability, instrument and music style preference. Some of the college's bands practice during school-time, lunch or out of school. Some ensembles perform at different competitions around Australia; in early 2007 the college's Senior Stage Band, along with other high-performing music students, played at a music competition in China.

The colleges music ensembles include:

• Years 7 to 9 bands
• Years 7 and 8 strings
• Symphonic wind band
• Little Mac Big Band
• Senior stage band
• Orchestra

• Wind quartet
• String quartet
• Percussion ensemble
• Choir
• Senior singers

The music faculty at McKinnon holds many performances such as the Spring and junior concerts. The most prestigious of all McKinnon's concerts, however, is the Winter concert, held annually at Robert Blackwood Hall, in Monash University.

The college also produces a musical every second year. The most recent musical to be performed by the college was Grease.

Noteworthy musician Harry James Angus of The Cat Empire is a McKinnon Secondary graduate.

Leadership

McKinnon Secondary encourages leadership and provides a great number of opportunities for students of all ages to attain leadership positions. The college gives student leaders many different jobs and responsibilities, such as; running assemblies, organising events and distributing sports equipment. Student leaders are mostly chosen by teachers and student managers, however, the junior school council (JSC) representative is elected by students. The most prestigious leadership role in the school is School Captain.

Sports Carnivals

McKinnon Secondary holds several different sports carnivals throughout the year where students can compete for their houses (Chisholm, Monash, Gilmore and Flynn). The three carnivals are; swimming, athletics and cross-country. Students who win, or do well in these competitions, go on to represent McKinnon at inter-school sporting events. Each sports carnival has a different theme, which the students dress to. Themes in the past have included; pirates, under the sea creatures and heroes. At a district competition level, McKinnon regularly claims the Bayside District Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics titles.

The Swimming Sports Carnival Theme This Year (Which was held at the Caufield Pool 14/3/08) Was Disney. Principal Pitsa Binnion Dressed as Mini Mouse and Principal of the Junior School, Andrew Newton Didn't go by the dress code and wore his Collingwood FC Colours.

Extra curricular activities

McKinnon Secondary offers a very small, yet diverse, range of extra curricular activities. These activities include; Tournament of the Minds, HPV (Human Powered Vehical) and interschool debating. All the schools that McKinnon competes against in debating are private schools.

Languages

McKinnon Secondary offers 2 languages, German and French. The school previosly taught Korean, however it was unpopular and soon phased out.

It is compulsory for students in years 7 and 8 to learn a language. However in year 9 it may be dropped for other elective subjects. The college also offers a program called VASS, which allows students to learn a language out of school in their own time as a subject for VCE. This enables students to learn another language, or their native language, as part of their VCE. Year 10 students have the opportunity to go on exchange trips to either Germany or France and have an exchange student live with them for a period of time.

Mckinnon secondary offers a range of excursions for students learning a language. Some of these excursions include trips to restaurants, such as the German Buffet; The Cuckoo. French students have the opportunity to see films at the Melbourne French Film Festival.

VCE Results

McKinnon secondary College receives consistent high results in VCE, finishing in the top three of all the non-selective government schools in Victoria for the last decade. The college's results are far higher than its "like schools" (schools where the students come from similar ethical, social and economic backgrounds.) McKinnon's VCE achievements have contributed greatly to the rising house prices in McKinnon (the college only accepts students from whithin the Mckinnon zone.)

Uniform

Students in the senior school (years 10 to 12) are permitted to wear the senior school bomber jacket or blazer. Students in the junior school (years 7 to 9) may wear the waterproof jacket outside of class. The student are expected to wear the uniform properly and with pride or they face harsh disciplinary action from teacher. Navy scarves may be worn by all students during winter up until lunchtime. McKinnon Secondary also has special sports uniforms, which they lend to students participating in high-level sporting competitions. There is no dress-code for most teachers, however the physical education (P.E) teachers are required to wear a special uniform.

Boys Summer/Winter uniform:

• Grey shorts/pants
• White shirt
• Navy, red, green & white striped tie
• Black lace-up shoes
• Woolen navy jumper
• Black leather belt

Girls Winter uniform:

• Tartan skirt/navy pants
• White shirt
• Navy, red, green & white striped tie
• Woolen navy jumper
• Navy stockings/long socks
• Black lace-up shoes

Girls Summer uniform:

• Blue dress
• Navy socks
• Black lace-up shoes
• Woolen navy jumper

Sport uniform:

• Rugby jumper
• Red t-shirt with collar
• Navy shorts/tracksuit pants
• Bucket hat or cap (summer only)
• Runners

Criticism

The school has been known for higher than average school fees and voluntary (voluntary being unknowingly charged to the parents), as uncovered in a Herald Sun article, being the third highest public school in Victoria.

External links

• Official Website
• McKinnon Secondary College on Google Maps
• Victorian Government Schools