Principal 

In November 2022 it was officially announced that Lalor Secondary College would receive $26 million in Capital works funding for the modernisation of the schools buildings as part of the Victorian Government’s Infrastructure Planning and Acceleration Fund. The school capital program is at the forefront of the Education State reforms, which are providing students and teachers across Victoria with 21st century learning facilities. 

As part of this announcement the multi-story 100’s building has been de-commissioned over the past year in preparation for the construction to be completed. Unfortunately due to the rising cost of building products, supply chain challenges and the war in Ukraine the process for tender took longer than expected. This has meant a delay in the commencement of the new building works.

However, site establishment in preparation for the commencement of the works starts this week. This will see the awarded builder move on site this week and commence the start of the new works before the holiday period commences. There may be some disruption over the next 12 months, however this short term disruption will end with the school having new facilities to deliver learning in line with the community’s expectations. 

The works will include a new 2 court gymnasium, 2 new Food Technology rooms, a Fitness Centre, 2 HPE classrooms, a new administration area, a new Wellbeing hub, a new Senior School space and Arts learning area. We are all very excited and cannot wait to see what our new school will look like in the coming years.

Celebrations

The end of the year provides us all time to celebrate the achievements of our students over 2022. There are two significant events that occur to recognise these achievements. These are :

• Year 12 Graduation Evening – Thursday the 15th of December
• Year 7 to 11 Presentation Evening – Monday the 19th of December

All students and families who will receive something at these events will be invited to attend.  I ask that you please respond as soon as possible to assist with the planning of these events.

2022

The beginning of 2022 was one of the most important in recent memory of our college. After two years of extremely challenging circumstances the expectation of returning back to a full program was welcomed, but also quite daunting for many staff and students.

To assist with the transition into a full program, 2022 started with several extended start up programs for Years 7, 9, 10 and 11. The Year 12 students were able to attend the Study Skills camp which also included discussions around managing stress and anxiety.

The success of 2022 could be measured by the number of events and opportunities that were again provided to all of our students. Sport was back on the calendar, the production of Moana Jnr was a huge success, the Year 10 Formal came back, QLD camp was back, the athletics carnival was back bigger than ever, as well as all of the leadership development opportunities that came back into the college through our partnerships with the ABCN, Smith Family and Raise to name a few. Our Music program was again able operate on site and perform a mid-year concert for families and friends. The majority of our community was able to bounce back into life at Lalor Secondary College and provide a vibrant, engaging, happy and supportive feeling after the struggles associated with the global pandemic.

During the 2020 and 2021 years of the pandemic the schools teaching and learning focus was on shifting a learning model from on site to remote learning and back again. This is very tiring and with no concrete timelines in place quite stressful. 2022 was an opportunity for our staff to shift the focus back to the teaching and learning program that occurs within the classroom. This year saw a lot of time put into reviewing Curriculum and Assessment. The school was able to develop a Curriculum Map for Years 7 to 10 that is now being used to look for opportunities for cross-curricular immersion. The school shifted our assessment to Developmental Rubrics, shifting the focus of what would be measured within the classroom. The rubrics provide information on what skills will be taught in the classroom and what skills each student needs to move to the next level of learning. We will continue to develop these rubrics into 2023 and to use them to assist students in understanding their learning journey.

2022 was also a year of review for the college, meaning it was the last year of our 4-year strategic plan. We had a school reviewer appointed from the Department of Education (DET), a DET regional representative, 2 practising secondary school principals, as well as some school staff spend many days gathering information on the school’s performance over the past 4 years. Clearly, we were unable to predict a global pandemic when we set our goals and key improvement strategies 4 years ago, however the report was still very positive with many highlights. The new Strategic Plan that outlines our areas of improvement for 2023 to 2026 will be available to all members of our community via a school website.

A huge thank you to all of the staff within our college for their continued dedication to not only providing a rigorous teaching and learning program, but for supporting our students with their mental health and wellbeing throughout 2022. They do this every day through general interactions, extra-curricular activities and structured programs. 

Our students have been wonderful this year, with calm, engaged, enthusiastic students across the college in all year levels. It’s our students that make our school and we love them for it.

To our parents, the support you have provided to your children over the most difficult of times is deeply appreciated by everyone within the college. We welcomed many of you back into the school at parent / teacher conferences and it was great to have you back on site. The entire community hopes to see more parents back for 2023.

As we look forward to 2023 with a renewed optimism, I wish our entire community a joyful, safe and festive time over the break with family and friends. 

Sincerely,

Corey Jewell

College Principal