From the Principal 

Welcome to our last newsletter for the year and it's a bumper issue, with so many events happening over the past fortnight!  Thank you to all of the students and staff who have contributed to the newsletter throughout the year, sharing their successes, excursions, activities and reflections with the broader school community. A special thanks to Justine Sayers and Katie Archibald who put together the newsletter each fortnight. 

As we approach the end of the year, staff are finalising end of year assessments and following their completion, our Year 7 to 9 students will be participating in Activities week next week. Our Year 10s and 11s are attending their VCE Orientation Program this week, preparing them for their VCE studies.

We are also preparing for our 2023 Year 7 classes to come to Orientation Day next week, and a large group of our Year 9s, our Peer Support Leaders, will be coming in to assist with the day. Thanks to Cathy Lester for giving the students the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and support our newest students on their first day.

Masterplan

In our last issue, we were able to share images of the new Library and STEM building. I am so pleased by the feedback received on the new building and how it will suit our site and provide great opportunities for learning. In this issue you will see a notice from the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) giving notice about the works that are being undertaken. Houses nearby have received this letter as a part of a letter drop to keep the community up to date with the works being undertaken.

Later this week in the park you may also see works as the team begin to deliver 2 new double storey portables to ensure that we have enough classroom spaces while the works are undertaken. The works are well timed to avoid disruption to the school and we look forward to the new classroom spaces that will be ready for students when they return.

End of Year Music Concert

It was fantastic to see so many families attend the Music Concert last Friday. The students were so excited back stage and keen to perform with their various ensemble groups. Our Music Captains, Tom and Avery, were fantastic MCs for the evening and showed the importance of student leadership in all areas of the school.

With Radha Claridge, Anne Rassool and Martin Webster retiring this year it was a great send off with so many of their ensembles performing at their best. I would like to thank them for their years of service with the school and can only imagine the number of students that they have collectively taught, mentored and performed with over the many years. They will be greatly missed by the team and we wish them all the best in their retirement.

Art Show and Design Shows

The Art and Design Departments ran great shows on Tuesday evening last week. Thanks to the teams for their preparation and organisation. There were so many examples of outstanding work from our students and parents appreciated the opportunity to share in the evening. See below the great turnout for the Art awards presentation. It was also great to have live music playing to set the scene for the event.

I wish to thank all of our families for their efforts again this year working with the isolation requirements and changing Covidsafe measures implemented throughout the year. Throughout the year we have had so many of our students and staff required to isolate or care for others in our community. I particularly thank families who kept students home when unwell, or collected students from school immediately when symptoms became apparent to stop the infection spreading. These actions have kept our community as safe as possible and has meant that we have been able to offer so many events and activities throughout the year.

Next year, I look forward to celebrating as many events as we have been able to this year, hopefully with less trepidation!

I wish everyone in our school community a safe and happy break.

Chris Jones

Principal