Principal's Report

Welcome to Term 4. 

This is an exciting time of year, but it is guaranteed to be a busy one.  Our graduating class of 2022 will have their final assembly next Monday 17th October, with their final day.  In celebration of their achievement, we formally invite all parents/guardians of our Year 12 Students to their Final Assembly on Monday 17th October. The Assembly begins at 10.00am and finishes at 11.00am, with an opportunity for families to then move into Freeman House, together with their children and Year 12 Teachers. Parents/Guardians attending the Assembly are asked to sign in at the front office, to then be escorted to the Gym. 

To our graduating class of 2022, I wish to offer my sincere congratulations and best wishes. The completion of 13 years of schooling is significant and not achieved by all. Research shows that those who complete Year 12 are often more likely to be successful in the future. Education is the key to unlocking many doors. By working hard at school, one can learn and develop skills that will better equip them for the challenges of a fast paced, ever-changing world. To those graduating students who will sit the end of year exams, best wishes.  Please remember that the ATAR is a rank, it does not define you as a person or predict your future success. Success can be achieved by everyone. If you are prepared to work hard, show determination, resilience, and grit, you will achieve success.

During the September holidays, students in Year 10-12 redeeming missed time attended the college. Throughout the year, we have been encouraging all students to raise expectations across several areas including attendance. Successful students maintain high levels of attendance. Absence can create gaps in learning and understanding and this can disadvantage students. This year, student attendance has improved when compared with previous years, but as we strive for continued improvement, more can be done. Congratulations to the students who have achieved an attendance of 90% or higher. As we say…Attend now and succeed tomorrow!

We are continually striving to engage and improve learning outcomes at our college.  Over the past few years, we have sought feedback from students, parents and staff and revitalised our learning programs including exciting new subjects. Did you know, students can select from over 100 subject choices?

Recently, we spoke to students and asked them what they enjoy about being a student at our college. Here are a few of the things they had to say:

• 'The thing I like about coming to school is learning in English and having fun in class' - Cody, Year 8
• 'I like the support the teachers give and how many options we have for our subjects' - Kasha, Year 11
• 'The thing I love most about HPSC is the cultural diversity and the friendliness of everyone' - Jovana, Year 12
• 'I like how the student have the opportunity to pick our own subjects from a variety of different subjects' - Lilly, year 7

This term, we welcome Elise Ong a Maths/ Science Teacher from Mornington Secondary College. Mr Musa will move into Mabo House replacing Mr Marks as a Student Learning Leader. Ms Habiba has joined the Hollows House team and will be working as a Student Learning Leader each Friday during Term 4. 

We also welcome the following staff returning from leave;  Ms. Sue Coyle; Ms Lisa Den Elzen; Ms Rabecca Mphande; Ms Jacquie Binns and Ms Amy Johnson.

Today, we welcome Mr Jarrod Flanagan to our Careers Team. This is a new role for Jarrod as over the past 12 months, he has previously been working with us as our HeadStart Co-ordinator.     

We are only a few weeks away from the handover of Stage 2 - our new STEAM Building. This is very exciting, as this is a beautiful contemporary building with wonderful learning spaces. This building will contain state of the art machinery including a CNC Milling Machine, CNC Router, Vinyl Printer and Cutter, Precious Plastics Re-cycling Processing Machinery (we will be able to re-cycle plastics and use this to create anything!) 7 Prusa 3D printers and Koenig Fibre Laser Cutter - see below (this is the first one to be installed in a school in Australia!)

I cannot wait to see our students and staff enjoying these new spaces. The STEAM letters stand for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics.  

Last Friday, we experienced a significant rain event, with a significant amount of rain falling in a short period of time. Water entered buildings and flooded 12 classrooms. I wish to thank parents, students, and staff for their patience during this time. This week, the drying process begins, and we hope to be back in the spaces soon. We have sandbags in place for the heavy rain expected this week. The inadequate drainage system in several areas of the school will be improved during the stage 3 building works. 

Uniform

An important Uniform reminder- As mentioned, a number of times over the year, from the start of 2023, the old HPSC spray jacket will no long be able to be worn. Over the past two years, we have been slowly phasing in the new soft shell HPSC log jacket and from 2023 all students  Year 7-11 are required to wear the new jacket. Our Year 12 students will of course, have the Graduate jackets, which is a long- standing tradition.   

Thank you for your continued support of our learning community.

Wayne Haworth

Principal