PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Dear Parents and Students 

In recent weeks I have reflected as I often do, on the quality of schooling provided here at Mount Eliza Secondary College.

Whilst our students gain the considerable benefits of attending a smaller secondary school where they are well known and both cared for and challenged, they miss nothing in terms of the opportunities and experiences provided for them. This week alone, we have students participating in inter-school sporting competitions, City Camp, Work Experience, Psychology excursions, and a Great Ocean Road Camp. Last week included more sporting events, two visits to university campuses and the Fit to Drive seminar.

All of these events must be carefully balanced to ensure that they add value to students’ experiences of school, whilst still allowing our firm focus on supporting them to achieve their very best.

We also acknowledged Reconciliation Week by taking a group of our young students with indigenous heritage to McClelland Gallery, where their art work produced in the Real Time Learning program last year, is proudly on display. This is an exceptional achievement for our students, whose talents are on display in the company of well-known adult, professional artists. The display and the background to this outstanding project are detailed below.

Preparation for 2017

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many families who attended our Course Selection and program expo event last week. We place a great deal of importance on ensuring that students and their families are very well informed so that decision making regarding their 2017 courses is based on meeting current and future pathways plans. It is also extremely important that parents understand the costing arrangements for some courses. We commit to providing a standard of program that is expected within our community, but in some cases this requires parent contributions to support the significant gap between government provision and program costs.

We are always willing to support families in this regard, but must be very firm about including students in courses where payment has not been received or arranged.

At present, students and their families should be accessing the information on the website:

http://www.mesc.vic.edu.au/?page_id=2796 and entering details of the preferred course in preparation for Course Selection Interviews on 15 June. Again, I want to stress that it is very important that you attend at this time so that we can proceed with confidence that your son or daughter has selected an appropriate program.

I look forward to seeing you all on the 15th!

Angela Pollard, Principal