Executive Team Report  

Last Wednesday all students completing a Unit 3/4 study were required to complete the GAT. It was a very big day of testing. This year the GAT was broken into two parts: Part A consisted of 100 multiple choice questions and two written pieces; this part focused on Literacy and Numeracy skills. Part B assessed skills in mathematics, science, technology, the arts and humanities with an increased focus on critical and creative thinking skills, as well as an extended writing task. Taken together, the GAT involved 4 hours of testing. The break in the middle of the day provided a great opportunity for a BBQ facilitated by the Senior school team who provided sausages, chuppa chups and bananas as fuel for the afternoon session and they encouraged the students out into the sunshine to relax or play a ball game or two. Usually the GAT is scheduled in June but the new format resulted in a shift to the later timeslot. We anticipate it returning to June in 2023. 

2023 student leadership 

Over the last three weeks many of our Year 11 students have participated in interviews for 2023 leadership roles. Peter Hodkinson has been very busy conducting interviews, ably assisted by many of our current student leaders. Peter, Allira Howe and I had the opportunity to speak to each of the students who nominated for College Captain and the final candidates for this role will address the whole school cohort on Koonung Day. An election will follow later in the day.

Spring Music Concert 

On Wednesday and Thursday night last week we held our two Spring music concerts. This is a lovely way to end the term and welcome in the change of seasons. Wednesday’s concert covered a vast spectrum of musical genres, including the Concert Band, Swing Band, Jazz, Swing and Brass Ensembles. I was blown away by the musical talent on display, with many of our students playing multiple instruments, in multiple groups. VCE student Jesse Pickering moved the audience with her beautiful rendition of Stay by Sugarland, which was her vocal solo for her recent VCE Unit 2 recital. There are just too many people involved to name, but many thanks to all participants, as well as our amazing instrumental music staff. College Music captains Keiko Rice and Jack Stabek hosted the Wednesday evening show with aplomb and on Thursday night Ronak Sen stepped into the role to replace Keiko. 

Father's Day breakfast 

On Friday morning we again hosted the Father’s Day breakfast. It is such a special event and I can not thank our wonderful PFA enough for the time and effort that went into making the morning so memorable. The “forest” was a wonderful place to be with opportunities to fish, draw and reflect. As always, I would like to thank Bread Street Bakery for their continued support and all of the parents who so gracefully cooked for items for the breakfast. The Dad joke activity was a major success and there were many groans from the audience as some of the entries were shared.

Interact Trivia Night 

On Friday evening, (yes it was a busy day) the Senior Centre came alive to the groovy beats of the 70s, 80s and 90s, as the Interact Club hosted its annual Trivia night. Many of our families, students and 2 full tables of staff attended the quiz, hosted as always by our Interact leaders Viraj Patel, Helen Ball and Katherine Hadji-Michael. As well as having a jolly good time, Interact raised funds for the worthy cause of Australian Rotary Health Lift the Lid - funding a university scholarship research into Mental Health. My understanding is that the staff team who had been leading all night was narrowly defeated by a parent/student table. The staff team appeared to be still licking their wounds on Monday morning.

Koonung Day

This Friday we have Koonung Day and we are anticipating a beautiful spring day with a variety of activities. It feels like a very long time since our last Koonung Day and we are looking forward to a day which provides students with an opportunity to relax and enjoy doing something different where the focus is on developing connections and making the most of an opportunity to support our fledgling Business Management businesses before we break for the holidays. The day will conclude at 2:30 pm. 

Below are just a few photos from the day - stay tuned to the next newsletter for a full report on Koonung Day. 

VCE trial exams

Over the holiday break the Year 12’s will be gearing up to for their final exams. On the last Friday of the holidays they are expected to attend a trial English exam. This is a great opportunity to experience the rigours of the final exam and help manage those inevitable nerves. Then in the first three days of term 4 student’s will complete trial exams in all of their other subjects. Teachers will endeavour to complete feedback on these exams prior to the first scheduled class on the Thursday morning. Clearly this may be a little challenging for the classes that completes the trial exam on the Wednesday, but we will do our best.

Capital works update

Last week we transferred funds to the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) for the final stage of the new building. This will provide for the relocation of our office and administration area to the bottom level of A Block and complete the reorientation of the school to have a main entrance facing Box Hill Crescent. The current administration area will be transformed into a new Wellbeing hub which was funded under an inclusive school grant we received in late 2020. The final stage of A block will go out to tender on September 20 with an anticipated commencement date of 15 November and a build time of 4-6 months. The Wellbeing space will be completed over the Xmas break. 

Sandra Greenhill 

Acting Principal