Principals Report

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending the College Performing Arts Showcase and what a showcase it was!  It was wonderful to see the culmination of students and staff working tirelessly over many, many weeks to bring it together.  It was an absolutely brilliant show and I’m in awe of how talented and hard-working our students are.  I’d particularly like to recognise the work of our performing arts staff – Kitty Skeen, Hayley Townsend, Chris Hewitt, Alex Vincent, Gordon Graham, Kimberly Lee and Ash Griffin who supported the students to put on such an amazing show.

Coinciding with International Youth Day, our local MP and Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas visited the College on Friday 12th August to meet with student representatives from our Project Ready class, and Student Representative Council. Mary-Anne spent half of her time at GSC hearing from our Year 10 Project Ready students and what they will be doing for their community project, as well as discussing a youth centre in the Macedon Ranges.  The latter half of the session was spent responding to questions from our SRC about sustainable population growth in the local area, funding for government schools and how young people aspiring to change the country for the better can go about it.  I was so impressed with how all our students interacted with Mary-Anne.

As we’re now in the second half of term 3, analysing student subject preference data is underway as this ultimately informs the development of the 2023 timetable.  I want to thank all the students and families who took the time to attend the Subject Expo and Information Sessions, diligently pouring over the subject handbooks to then submit their preferences by the due date. I appreciate this is an important process in setting up students for their post-secondary study and future career paths and one that is very carefully managed by the College.

In the last newsletter I mentioned that this term the College would be participating in our school review – a requirement of the Department of Education every 4 years. This week sees us commence the formal meetings related to this review process. I’m excited for what this review will bring with respect to shaping the development of our School Strategic Plan and look forward to involving the college community in this process when we can.

Outlined later in this newsletter is the Attitudes to School Survey that is currently open for parent/carer feedback.  I encourage all of you who have received an invitation to please carve out some time to complete the survey as all feedback assists us in our future planning. 

As the blossoms start to appear and daylight in the evening lasts a little longer, I’m reminded that winter is almost behind us, and we can look ahead to the joys of spring and hopefully some warmer days to come.