Newsletter

Principal's Report

Welcome to the 2020 school year

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Welcome to the 2020 school year, and a special welcome to all of our Year 7 students and any new students at other year levels who either joined us during Headstart towards the end of last year or are joining us this year for the first time.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break with family and friends and look forward to a positive and productive year ahead.

Positive Start 

We have had a smooth start to the year, with 110 Year 7 and our VCE students commencing on Thursday 30th January and then all students resumed on Friday 31st January.

We started the day with our first whole school assembly for the year in the gym. The assembly began with a warm welcome to our 110 new Year 7 students wishing them every success for the first year at secondary school. All students and staff then acknowledged through a round of applause that starting their secondary school education is a significant milestone in their lives.

During my address to the students I highlighted the positive feedback from staff, students and community members in relation to the Headstart program and the positive attitude towards learning from students. As we begin this year, staff will continue to build on high expectations, an orderly environment and will have a strong focus on teaching and learning, in-particular we will be focusing on developing the skills of each student as a reflective learner and enabling them to identify their learning growth in each subject,  recognising the next steps required to improve or move forward with their learning.

Attendance and educational outcomes

Each year a school get lots of different information and data which tells them how things are going. The data comes from students, families, staff and some from the Department of Education. Last year we had a lot of positive data showing growth and improvement and we celebrated the achievements of our VCE students with many great results which led to all students who applied for university receiving places in a course. There was one set of data that was concerning  and after sharing it with staff at the beginning of the year, we are all quite concerned. This data is our attendance data.

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your education. Students should be learning new things at school every day. Attending and participating in school helps develop:

  • important skills and knowledge to help you learn
  • social and emotional skills such as good communication, resilience and team work.
  • Build connectedness to peers and a sense of belonging

 

Research suggests those who attend school every day and complete year 12 have:

  • better health
  • better job opportunities
  • higher income across their lives

Our attendance rates need to improve. We have a target of 90% attendance. This is equivalent to being away for 20 days a year. 80% attendance is 1 day off a week and 75% attendance or less is equivalent of a term or more away from school which has a significant impact on learning progress.

This year we are going to target this. Progress to the next year level will not be automatic. Year 10 students need to have exemplary attendance to progress to VCE or VCAL next year and we will be looking at this across all year levels. It is an expectation that students will be here at least 90% of the time and we are asking families to support this.

Mobile Phones

As most will be aware, late last year the State Government issued a new mobile phone policy banning them from use during the day at school. This was introduced during Headstart last year and I have no doubt this contributed to  such positive feedback from staff and students during the 2 week period. This year, we have provided every student with a new lock for their locker free of charge. This is to ensure that each student has a safe and secure location to store their phone during the day.

Welcome to new and returning staff

  • Ashlee Williams – Ms Williams will be teaching Health & PE as well as humanities to students in Years 7 – 9 this year.
  • Michelle Meehan – Ms M will be teaching English in Years 7 – 10
  • Lachlan Coleman –Mr Coleman will be teaching Year 7 Maths and our VCAL students
  • Alison Howe – Ms Howe returns from leave and will be teaching Year 8 Maths
  • Ms Brisbane & Mrs Metz will be taking some of the Food classes throughout Term 1
  • Shereena Boyd – Assisting in Food Tech and the Arts Wing
  • Cathy Cassidy – Has joined our integration team
  • Tash Dowsett – Has also joined our integration team.

 

Introducing the College Leadership Team

Please don’t hesitate to contact us here at the College, if you need to speak to someone.

  • Principal – Jennifer Roep
  • Assistant Principal – Chery Evans (oversees Teaching and Learning and Positive Climate + Year 7, 9 and 11)
  • Assistant Principal – Nathan Wallace (oversees Curriculum and Data + Year 8, 10 and 12)
  • Year 7 Level Leader – Mrs. Caroline Fletcher
  • Year 8 Level Leader – Mrs. Kylie Lambert
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