From the Principal

Dear Parents/Carers, Staff, Students And Friends

Welcome back to the 2022 school year.  I am extremely excited for the year ahead and am feeling very positive about the learning opportunities we will share together in our school community.  Frankston High School is a high performing school supporting students in achieving their best in their learning and through a range of pursuits whether they be sporting, music, the Arts, or student leadership.  Such exceptional student achievement across many areas is due to the leadership shown by our Principal and Leadership Team, together with the outstanding teaching and support provided by our extremely dedicated teachers and support staff.  We also have such a supportive parent/carer community who continually encourage their children to value the learning opportunities offered by our school.  Frankston High School has developed a learning culture where all community members (students, staff and parents/carers) value learning and demonstrate our best always – Optima Semper.  I feel very privileged to be the Principal of Frankston High School. 

Welcome New And Returning Staff

We welcome a number of new and returning staff to the school to start the school year:

Marisa Bailey – Learning Support

Gillian Beakley – Junior Resource Centre Assistant

Samantha Cody – Leading Teacher – Director Student Management and Engagement Year 10

Emma Davies – Food Technology

Nicole Dickinson - English

Megan Dixon – Business Management

Tiffany Greenhill – Campus Principal – Year 10, Teaching and Learning: Pedagogy

Aaron Jackson – Maths

Anthony Keane – Physics/Science

Liam McDonald – Maths

Nicole Orange – Maths

John Simon - Campus Principal – Year 7, Teaching and Learning: Pedagogy

Sarah Wallace – Outdoor and Environmental Studies, PE/Health

Birra-li Ward – Visual Arts

Anna Welsh – Disability and Inclusion Coordinator

Paige Whitworth - Maths

We look forward to their contributions to the Frankston High School community and supporting their growth and development throughout the year.  

A Multi-Campus School

Frankston High School is a multi-campus school.  We have four Campus Principals who have responsibility for making decisions regarding the students within their student cohort:

• Year 7 – Mr John Simon
• Years 8 and 9 – Mrs Cathy Hogg
• Year 10 – Ms Tiffany Greenhill
• Years 11 and 12 – Ms Helen Wilson 

Outstanding Year 12 Results

At the end (16 December) of last year we received the excellent VCE results of the Class of 2021.  Despite all of the challenges placed in front of them, they demonstrated our school values (Empathy, Integrity, Optimism, Persistence, Respect and Responsibility) to a high level resulting in some great achievements.  We can continue to be justifiably proud of Frankston High School’s renowned reputation as a high performing academic school of excellence.   

Highlights include:

• Frankston High School continuing to be the leading government school on the Peninsula and in fact obtaining results up with and ahead of many private schools.
• 10% of subject scores over 40
• A median subject score of 31 indicates that a typical Year 12 student at our school achieves significantly above average study scores compared to students in private and government schools across the state.
• The many students who were able to reach their full potential as a result of their commitment to their studies and the outstanding teaching at Frankston High School. 
• School Dux – Charlotte Thompson – 99.6

These results reaffirm Frankston High School as one of the leading schools in the state.

Frankston High School - Australia Day Awards

I am thrilled to report that Bethany Yeuong (Year 12) has been recognised as Frankston’s Young Citizen of the Year. Thank you to Mrs Helen Wilson, Mrs Sharon Bourne, Mr Brendan McKinnon and Mr Jon Christie for their leadership and support of Bethany.  This is a fantastic achievement for Bethany and would not be possible without the support of her family and the staff at Frankston High School.

Students Are Top In Their Studies In The State

Congratulations to Tess Rogers (Class of 2021) on being selected into “Top Designs” for her work in Media Studies. 

Congratulations to Darcy Halliday (Year 12) who was invited to audition for “Top Arts Drama”. 

Congratulations to Nissy Cai (Class of 2021) , Sicheng Liu (Class of 2021) and Finnian McTaggart (Class of 2021) who have been invited to audition for “Top Class Music 2022”. 

More evidence that Frankston High School has teachers who are up there with the best of the world being able to nurture the talents of our students to be regarded as equivalent to the best of those students in the state. 

House Names

In 2021 the Student Leadership Council (SLC) began the rigorous process of reviewing the House names, this process included conducting student and staff surveys.  The results from these surveys showed strong support to change the House names to local indigenous Bunurong words.  The Community Engagement and House Spirit Group (CE&HS) worked tirelessly to go about the correct process of changing the house names, this included engaging Alan Johnson (Koorie Engagement Support Officer), Aunty Roz Gardner, David Tutchener and the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation. Our 2021 School Captain Noah Oliver, and the rest of our School Captains, including our 2022 Deputy School Captain, Ryan Zanders were a key driving force in this change.  In the first Year 7 Tutorial class for 2022, Year 7 classes will have an opportunity to vote for the house they would like to be a part of.  Thank you to Mrs Sarah Bahramis for supporting and mentoring our students through this change process.  The new Indigenous house names are: Tir-Rep, Barrbunin, Brim and Yawa.  Practice pronouncing the new Indigenous house names – click on the audio links below:

Eco Team

Our wonderful Eco Team, expertly led by Mr Brendan McKinnon and fully supported by the rest of our staff, want to reduce the amount of rubbish at our great school.  We are strongly encouraging students to take any waste home with them which can then be recycled.  There is also the option of students bringing ‘nude food’ to school, which helps reduce the amount of plastic litter that enters our school environment.  We would ideally like to reduce the amount of rubbish bins we have as we drop our consumption of rubbish.  We look forward to the support of our whole school community in reducing our impact on the environment.  

Support Always Available

Frankston High School has a commitment to providing all the care and support necessary for each student to do their best and achieve the highest possible learning outcomes.  It is important when parents have concerns about their children, they contact the relevant staff members immediately to ensure a quick supportive response. 

The most appropriate staff members to talk with when you have specific concerns are the classroom teachers, then Year Level Coordinators, then Sub School Leaders.  These are the staff members who have a thorough understanding of the needs of the students in their care.  Decisions regarding students are made in partnership with parents and students with careful consideration of what is in the best interests of the students. 

In addition, we are fortunate to have seven Student Wellbeing Coordinators (Ms Kirsten Bakker, Ms Olivia Beale, Ms Michelle Beirouti Ms Myriam Camilleri, Ms Melissa Donegan, Ms Eryka Rhodes and Mr Ben Watkins) who are available to help students and their families with welfare related concerns, and also a Careers Counsellor  (Ms Sharon Bourne), who is available to counsel students and families in relation to exploring career options. 

COVID-19

Thank you to everyone in our school community for your efforts and support as we continue to manage the challenges associated with COVID-19.  It has been wonderful to have all students and staff onsite undertaking learning.  I will continue to keep you updated each day with any positive COVID-19 cases we have had onsite.  Thank you for your efforts related to undertaking voluntary rapid antigen testing twice a week to ensure we all play our part in trying to prevent further transmission in the community. 

Mr Andrew Batchelor

Principal