McKinnon Secondary College
Encyclopedia
McKinnon Secondary College is a Public secondary school located in the Melbourne suburb of McKinnon
McKinnon, Victoria
McKinnon is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 12 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Glen Eira...

. The school was ranked 37th in Victoria in terms of VCE median study score in 2009.
McKinnon is also known for its large music faculty.

Entry

Press reports have indicated that parents will relocate their residence to within a popular State school's "birth zone" to attempt entry for their children, with the potential effect of increasing the value of real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 within that zone. In order to cope with the rising student numbers at McKinnon, the college has had to shrink the "school zone", allowing fewer students to enter the school.

Facilities

  • Gymnasium and weights room
  • Sound auditorium with five music studios
  • Nine computer laboratories
  • Year 12 Centre with private study area
  • 250 seat lecture theatre, named the Alan Lawrence Lecture Theatre after a long-serving ex-principal
  • Art/science/technology wing
  • Korean Garden
  • MERC (McKinnon Exploration Resource Centre)
  • School canteen
  • Multicourts
  • Gym
  • New Year 7 wing (2010)

VCE Results

McKinnon Secondary College is consistently in the top non-selective
Selective school
A selective school is a school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria, usually academic. The term may have different connotations in different systems....

 government schools in Victoria for the last decade, and in 2003 was the state system's second top non-selective-entry VCE school. In 2009 it was ranked 37th in the state out of all schools, and ranked 4th out of public schools

Music

McKinnon Secondary has many instrumental groups that cater for people of different ability, instrument and music style preference.

The colleges music ensembles include:

  • Years 7 to 8 bands
  • Years 7, 8 and 9 strings
  • Symphonic wind band
  • Junior Stage Band (Little Mac)
  • Intermediate Stage Band
  • Senior Stage Band
  • Orchestra
    Orchestra
    An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...


  • Wind quintet
  • Saxophone Ensemble
  • String quartet
    String quartet
    A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

  • Percussion ensemble
  • Choir
  • Senior singers

The music faculty at McKinnon holds many performances such as the Spring and junior concerts. An event considered important in the school calendar is the Winter concert, held annually at Robert Blackwood Hall, in Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

. The college also produces a musical every second year. The most recent musical to be performed by the college was 'Hot Mikado'. Five shows where performed from 20 to 23 May 2009. The school also participated in the 2008 Rock Eisteddfod proceeding to the final and finishing in sixth place.

Languages

McKinnon Secondary offers two languages, German and French. The school previously taught Korean.

It is compulsory for students in years 7 and 8 to learn a language. The college also hosts the Victorian School of Languages, which allows students to learn a language out of school in their own time as a subject for VCE
Victorian Certificate of Education
The Victorian Certificate of Education or VCE is the credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete high school level studies in the state of Victoria, Australia. Study for the VCE is usually completed over two years, but it can be spread over a longer period in some cases...

. 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.

Enhancement program

The college offers an enhanced maths and science program for selected students called ELMS.

Sports carnivals

McKinnon Secondary holds 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.

Extra curricular activities

McKinnon Secondary offers activities including: Tournament of the Minds and interschool debating.

Uniform

Students are required to wear a uniform.
The teachers are very strict on uniform policy. The colours of the uniform are red, blue, green and white.

Alumni

  • Musician Harry James Angus
    Harry James Angus
    Harry James Angus is an Australian singer-songwriter, trumpet player and guitarist. He is one of the lead vocalists in the Melbourne band The Cat Empire along with Felix Riebl. He joined the group in early 2000...

     of The Cat Empire
    The Cat Empire
    The Cat Empire are an Australian ska and jazz band formed in 1999. Core members are Harry James Angus , Will Hull-Brown , Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala , Ollie McGill , Ryan Monro and Felix Riebl...

    .
  • Actor James Frecheville
    James Frecheville
    James Aitken Frecheville is an Australian actor best known to date for his lead-role in the Australian film, Animal Kingdom, as confused teenager and youngest member of a criminal family in Melbourne's underworld, Joshua "J" Cody.-Early life:...

  • Property developer Henry Kaye

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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