Dear Parents/Carers,

“Empowering students for learning and life”

High Expectations

With our continued High Expectations for our Year 12 VCE and Year 12 VCAL students, we have had an excellent start to the year. Students have had the opportunity to participate in a Year 12 Wellbeing Day at the start of the year and this has been followed by guest presenters from Elevate to further support them in their studies and exploring their pathways.

Kelly Bendon (Assistant Principal), Anthony Brannan (Senior Sub School Leader) and I have already met with a significant number of our Year 12 VCE students individually, discussing their progress to date, what support we can give them and ensure that they are linked in to any support services as appropriate. We are continuing to meet with them this week. This will be the first of many meetings, and where appropriate, parents will be invited in.

Daniel Rogers (Acting Assistant Principal) and Sue Carroll (Community and Innovations Leader) have started meeting with the Year 12 VCAL students, having similar discussions regarding progress and support needed.

Parents will have received the first of many progress reports which summarises their student’s attendance, progress to date, timely submission of work and work ethic in class. These reports form the basis of our discussion with our Year 12 VCE and VCAL students, focusing on how we can best assist them in achieving their goals and providing wellbeing support if needed.

Our parents play a very important role in supporting our Year 12 students navigating through this challenging but exciting final year of their school life. On Thursday the 8th of March, we will be having a parent/student information night, and we encourage all parents of current Year 12 VCE students to attend with their student. More information about this evening has been forwarded to families.

Our Year 11 and 12 VCAL students are engaged in various projects around the school as part of their Work Related Skills (WRS) subject. The students apply their learning to practical tasks, such as landscaping, gardening etc. to beautify our school and create a more inviting and engaging work environment for our whole school community. We look forward to seeing their accomplishments.

Leadership Induction Ceremony

This Friday, 9th of March, we will holding our annual College induction ceremony of our student leaders. It is a formal ceremony where leaders of our College, such as SRC, Peer Support, House Leaders, Sports Leaders, Multipride, Sub School Leaders, Performing Arts, Visual Arts Leaders as well as our College Captains are presented with their leadership badges.

The School Captains will lead the ceremony and all speakers will talk about the importance of leaders working and leading teams.

We have a special, Mathew Cooper, an ex-student and school captain as our special guest. Mathew will be speaking to our students about his recent trip to Ecuador and his experiences in volunteering abroad and being part of a global community. We look forward to hearing about his adventures.

It is a community event, and we encourage as many parents and carers to attend and help us induct our young people into their various leadership roles.

Our school leaders will play an important role in working with us to make the school environment safe, inclusive and engaging. They will have the voice of the students and the opportunity to contribute to our continual journey of improvement.

I look forward to working closely with them throughout the year.

Year 7 Camp

Our Year 7 students attended camp at Phillip Island earlier this term and they all had a wonderful time, bonding, getting to know each other, forming new friendships and solidifying old ones. The students participated in a range of activities, from surfing, fishing, hiking to mention just a few. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff who attended the camp, led by Mr Adam Verrell. Mr Verrell and his team, (Mr Butler, Ms Shaw, Mr Atkin, Mrs Sampson, Ms Kinchington, Mrs Duffy and Ms Young) worked tirelessly creating a safe and nurturing environment for all of our students. Please go onto our website to see a slide show outlining the great experiences our students had while on camp. In our newsletter you will also find a report from our students outlining their camp adventure.

Swimming Carnival

Last Friday we had our annual Swimming Carnival which was extremely successful. We enjoyed great weather and it was great to see a large

number of our students attend and dress up in their house colours. Our Year 12 students dressed up, participated and supported their House, enjoying their final Swimming Carnival of their secondary school life. These days require significant organisation and time and a special thanks goes to Mr Geordie Atkin, our Sports Leader and to all staff for their support of this very important event in the College year.

Open Night

Our annual Open night is scheduled for Wednesday 18th of April, and we look forward to welcoming prospective parents to our school and showcasing what we have to offer. The evening will begin at 7pm, with general welcome and speeches highlighting key programs and will be attended by most of our staff and a significant number of our students, including our student leaders. Following the initial welcome, attendees will engage in guided tours showcasing the many opportunities available to young people at Lyndhurst Secondary College.

College Council Election

The College Council election process has just concluded and the following have been duly elected:

Cassie Duncan - Parent Representative

William Noble - Parent Representative

Jacqui Sampson - DET Representative

Our final Council meeting for the current term will be held on Monday 20th of March. The new Council will convene early Term 2. At that meeting we will elect office bearers and discuss co-opting community members, including student representatives.

We welcome our new members to our Council and look forward to working together to best support our College and students.

School Holidays

The last day of the school term is Thursday 29th of March. The school day will finish at 2:30pm and the office will be closed at 3:30 pm on that day. As this is the last newsletter for Term 1, we wish everyone, in advance, a safe and restful holiday.

We look forward to welcoming our students back on Monday 16th of April, for the start of term 2.

Konnie Prades

Principal

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