College Principal Message 

Hello Family's and Carers,

Term 3 is always very busy and this year is no exception as we seek to satisfy students’ subject choices for Years 10 to 12 and attend to the staffing requirements dictated by that. Given the current staff shortages it is good that we have brought the process of seeking student subject choices forward and I want to thank our Pathways staff very much for that. Course finalisation for current Year 10s going into their all important senior years is taking place this week; this is the final check to ensure the subjects align with career aspirations, interest and capacity. I am sure that, where possible, families will attend the appointment with their child. Thanks again to the Pathways Team as well as Campus Leaders, Team Leaders and Campus Principals who, between them, will have a one on one conversation with each of our Year 10s about their pathway. This more personalised approach is a change from past practice and is in direct response to student and family feedback. The Art and Technology staff successfully ran their mini Expos at junior campuses last week as the Year 8s get their first taste of elective choices leading into Year 9.

Planning for the new senior secondary certificates is underway. Students currently in Year 11 are now able to proceed largely under the current course requirements for VCAL and will be awarded the VCE VM if successful at the end of 2023. While schools need to offer the Victorian Pathways Certificate, by far the majority of students interested in trades, employment, TAFE qualifications or work will enrol in VCE VM.

As per the Department of Education and Training instructions, to help cope with the continuing high rate of absenteeism, we will run our common Professional Practice Day for junior campus staff on Tuesday September 6. There will be no junior campus classes running and so no junior campus students will be required at school on that day.

Last Monday one of our Community Liaison Officers CLO), Tluang Lausaw hosted a Chin information night at Kings Park, capably assisted by two students from the community (pictured below). It was wonderful to welcome the many families who enjoyed a lovely early dinner from a local Chin restaurant as well as learn a bit more about how the Victorian education system works. Sadly our other CLO, Abraham Nyeith has left and we are advertising for a replacement. Both CLOs have worked very successfully with families both in positive and difficult situations.

Our last Curriculum Day for the year will be on August 10 and our CLOs (including Abraham who is returning for this event!) will lead sessions on cultural inclusion. This will link with attendance and making students more connected to school. We will also be continuing our work on defining, but more importantly developing an Aspirational Learning Environment, as per the AIP. Students will be leading part of that session. In addition we will have a session about assessment rubrics linking to

our Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum and one run by Safe Schools, raising or reinforcing awareness of the needs of LGBQTIA+ community.

Cultural Inclusion of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community will take centre stage in coming weeks as well when staff will have the staff meeting dedicated to Cultural Understanding and Safety Training.

I know we say it every year but our VCAL projects are amazing and a brilliant way for students to learn about team work, communication and customer service in real world scenarios. The EB Foundation fund raiser was a great success as was the Christmas in July. A credit to everyone involved.

The Mayor of Brimbank, Jennifer Nguyen, is making her long awaited visit to Copperfield to run a session on community involvement and citizenship responsibilities with our student leaders and SRC members this week on Wednesday.

The numbers of students coming in Year 7 2023 are similar to this year’s and we will run the same number of Home Groups at each campus. The Transition Team is excited to be running our Orientation Night for new families and students in person this year. It will run on the same night at both campuses, November 10, and we are looking forward to welcoming new families.

Ms Pip Griffiths

College Principal