PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Principal - Erin Wright

STRIVE

It has been wonderful to welcome back our Year 11 and 12, and some Year 10, students on site over the past two weeks. Everyone has been happy to be back together and able to reconnect face-to-face. I know that our Year 12 students in particular have expressed that they are thankful to have some certainty around when their exams will be at the end of the year, and felt well supported by their teachers in their remote learning to still be prepared and on track for a great remainder of the year. We know that there will be students that have, or will continue, to be impacted by the events of this year in ways that require additional support. It is important that parents communicate this to our Senior School team so that we can provide the support needed, and also ensure that any processes are in place to enact any special considerations that may apply for their VCE or VCAL completion. I have been visiting the senior study centre this week, and it is great to see that our students have settled back into some routines, are focused on their studies and are working together to share ideas and catch up on things that may have been missed or not clear during the time away from their face-to-face classes.

UNITE

Detailed information about the resumption back to on site learning for our Year 7-10 students was sent out last week via Compass. It is important that our whole community are aware of some of the important processes that the College has in place to ensure that the physical environment is as safe and hygienic as it can be.

Some important things to note are:

Parents are asked not to the visit the College unless invited to a meeting. This is to assist in minimising the additional number of people on site and lower the risk of community transmission at this time.
Students are required to bring their own refillable drink bottle as drink taps are not in use for hygiene reasons.
Students are asked to ensure that they have their own materials to reduce the need to share items such as pens, pencil, rulers and Art materials.
Students are being asked not to linger near their lockers which can be a point of congestion at times. Students will be released to class in a staggered manner, table by table, to assist with this. Students need to ensure that they are being as quick as they can getting things in and out of their lockers. Teachers will be around to supervise and assist in this process.
If students are ill, even displaying mild symptoms, we ask that you support the health and safety of the College community by keeping them home. It is advisable that anyone with COVID-19 related symptoms is tested, but this is not mandatory. If students do present on-site ill, they will be asked to report to the sick bay and parents called so that you can collect your child until they are deemed well to return to school.

If parents have any questions about the information that was sent to advise you on the health and safety protocols in place at SCSC, please email me at Erin.Wright@education.vic.gov.au.

RESPECT

Whilst we have had some time away from the physical school site, it is understandable that it may take students some time to settle back into usual routines. We ask that parents support their children with a few crucial things to ensure that we have a positive and orderly environment at the College.

Uniform: please ensure that your child is at school in full college uniform. The winter uniform is now in place and there are plenty of options available to students to provide comfort and warmth during these cooler days. We have also launched the sale of new SCSC beanies that are available from the Administration Office – more information in this newsletter about these. We appreciate parents supporting our orderly environment by supporting your child to have a clean and up-to-date uniform to wear to school. Students who are out of uniform will be issued with consequences and parents contacted so that we can put support measures into place to help them be in uniform regularly. If you do need support for your child to be in full uniform, please let your child’s mentor teacher know so that they can advise the College.
Mobile phones: the State Government legislation that was brought in at the start of the 2020 school year, restricting the possession on the students’ personal mobile phones during school hours, is still in place. Mobile phones need to be put into a students’ locker at the start of the school day and remain there until the end of the day. Phones will be confiscated if they are discovered to be on a student during the school day, and parents will be contacted and support plans put into place for repeated offences. We got off to a great start with this policy in Term One, so we appreciate the support to return to implementing this policy as remote learning ends.
Attendance: it is expected that all students are on site attending classes from Tuesday June 9th. Please ensure that you are proactive in communicating about absences (particularly due to illness) to the Administration Office, or via the Compass App. Mentor teacher will this week be calling families of students who are absent upon our return to check in and see that there is no additional support needed to re-engage our young people. If your child is anxious about their return to school, please proactively contact us and let us know so that we can work in partnership with you.

FLOURISH

We’re going to be famous! On Friday June 5th, the College welcomed a TV crew (it was only two people and they were very well versed in media related social-distancing requirements) from Channel Ten’s ‘The Project’ to film a story for their show about the wonderful work that some of our staff and students have been engaged in preparing meals for those in need in the community. This began during our remote learning time, as we sought to be able to give back to our community in a time of need. We also saw this as an extension of the work that the VCAL students already do as part of their program working with Salvos Connect feeding the homeless each Friday. Keep a look out on our College Facebook page for updated info about when this will air. I am so proud that we will be recognised in such a manner on this program for the work that has been done, but even prouder that our staff and students were willing to engage in this work selflessly during this challenging time. A huge thank you to everyone that volunteered their time.