About Us

Lalor North College has been a Champion School for the Musical Futures model since 2010. Instrumental Music Coordinator, Dino Azzollini is the facilitator of the program and leads a team of highly energetic and skilful instrumental and vocal staff at the school. 

Lalor North College is a year 7-12 school and music is one of the most popular electives. The music program at the school has grown over the past several years due to the hardworking staff at the school: Dino Azzollini, Lou Rossini, Mia Sifonios, Phil Smardenkas, John Smardenkas, and especially due to the support of the school administration and principal Timothy Cottrell.

The program’s strength is due to the classroom and instrumental teachers working hand in hand to achieve its goals. The staff harness the students love of music through performance-based classes which enables the students to experience and participate in music making.
 
Dino works tirelessly in liaising with local primary schools in the area. Workshop days with primary schools, where the Musical Futures model is employed have been extremely successful. Students from years 5 and 6 come to our College and are skilled up with a basic four-chord song on instruments that most of them have never played before. By the end of the morning session they perform the song to an audience at the school and professionally record it.

Apart from a large classroom and rehearsal rooms, Lalor North College has a well-equipped recording studio run by our qualified Sound Technician Phil Smardenkas. Primary school students are invited to record at the school and are presented with a CD at the end of the year.

All this culminates in the “Big Night Out” which is an evening concert at the school, where local primary schools and our own students perform in front of 700 people.

Our vision 

We aim at inspiring, engaging and motivating students to participate in music making. We also create initiatives that grow and build good relationships with students and develop an engaging and rewarding learning environment. In addition, we encourage and assist to develop skills and knowledge for students who decide to undertake music as a profession in the future through our VET Music program at the school. As a VCE/VET music provider in the northern suburbs, Lalor North College also has students from other secondary schools joining our class and learning under the Musical Futures Model.

Through Musical Futures workshops and PD days, Lalor North College has mentored and supported primary and secondary teachers across Australia and overseas. Teachers have been given the opportunity to come to the school to observe the model in action. David Price the architect of Musical Futures in the UK has conducted in-depth workshops at Lalor North College. Dino Azzollini has also been to New Zealand and conducted workshops at the University of Auckland. These workshops have been well received and highly beneficial to schools already involved with Musical Futures and to schools wanting to employ the program.

Click here to go to Lalor North's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhKBMPgK8vA