Principal's Report

Term One 2022 Concludes

All students are active participants in a learning culture that promotes academic excellence and personal development through a diversity of challenging experiences.

VISION

“Working together, learning together” – Working together to enable all students to achieve their potential and become confident, effective learners who contribute productively to society.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

Doncaster Secondary College acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which our school is situated, the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to elder's past, present and emerging and extend that respect to any and all Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. We value the ongoing contribution to the cultural heritage that the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people provide to our school as well as the city of Manningham. We recognise that this land was never ceded and there is no treaty, and we commit to efforts towards reconciliation as a school community. We at Doncaster Secondary College are inclusive of individuals from all backgrounds including the LGBTQIA+, culturally and linguistically diverse as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

It’s hard to believe that we are already at the end of term 1. I want to acknowledge the sustained focus and efforts from my staff this term. They have done an outstanding job of supporting our students and families to reengage with learning. To be able to be onsite has been incredible and has given us some sense of normality back into our lives. Having said this, I am also aware that many of our families and staff have been impacted throughout the term by the ongoing COVID situation – as positive cases or household contacts. I wish to thank all families for their timely communications to the school, assisting us to keep monitoring our COVID safe practices and keep our community informed. Our student management and wellbeing team, and our administrative support team, have been tremendous in ensuring that our absent students have been cared for throughout this time.

Despite these challenges the school has been an energetic, enthusiastic and engaging environment providing opportunities for student engagement in a variety of activities throughout the term including: our swimming trials and house athletics carnival, interschool sport, Persian New Year celebrations, Trans visibility day, student representative council, music turbo days, club and enrichment activities, camps and excursions. These programs are integral to embedding a culture where students enjoy strong social ties, and feel accepted, cared for, and supported by their peers, teachers, and the wider school community. These programs strengthen community cohesion, helping to improve student learning, development and social inclusion. At the time of writing this article for the newsletter, I was informed by our performing arts coordinator of plans to put on a play in term 3. We look forward to hearing more about these developing plans.

I would also like to thank all who have contributed and attended our Open Night - it was our night to showcase our College to prospective parents, carers and students. It was also an opportunity to share our vision for learning, our new and unique mini-school teams, and celebrating what our wonderful school and community can offer those who join us in the future. A highlight of the evening for our prospective families was the involvement of our current and former students in leading the open night tours. They should be very proud of the way they represented themselves, the College and their families.

Student led conferences

Tuesday’s student led conferences were an opportunity for our students to showcase their learning, including the development of their personal and social capabilities, and critical and creative thinking skills. Student led conferences are different to the traditional parent teacher interviews that many parents/carers have experienced in our own time at school. The major difference is that students are expected to lead the conversation. In doing so, students take on an active role where they are able to present their own ideas, opinions, knowledge and experience. In most instances were opportunities for families and teachers to discuss the information presented by students and provide further feedback.

Thank you to my staff who prepared students for the conferences. Students were supported to reflect on the teacher feedback provided through the common assessment tasks. The feedback that students receive from their teachers is vital however, it can be missed if the focus of students is only on the grade or %. Educational research highlights the importance of self-assessment and reflection on student achievement. Opportunities for self-assessment and reflection are built into the preparation for student led conferences, and into the planned review and reflect activities in each lesson. This allows students to build their capacity to:

identify their current knowledge and skills
articulate the strategies they will use to progress their learning
identify the next steps in their learning

The conferences provided our families with an opportunity to celebrate their child's learning journey, and strengthened the partnership between home and school.

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

On Tuesday 29 March, all teaching staff were involved in showcasing their learning from their first PLC inquiry cycle. PLCs are integral to building the capacity of teachers to meet the needs of their students and maximise student learning growth. Through these learning communities, staff share expertise through looking at student learning data to identify and develop learning programs which meet students at their point of need. Building a PLC is a proven way for schools to increase student learning by creating a culture that is:

focused on continuous improvement by linking the learning needs of students with the professional learning and practice of teachers
committed to professionalism
fueled by collaborative expertise.

School Council Election Results

Following our recent School Council ballot, I am delighted to announce that our Parent representative vacancies have been filled and now include: Pranil Chandra and Andrew Mishura, our incoming Student Representative is Zachary (Year 12), who together with Chloe (Year 12) look forward to representing all aspects of the student body at school council. Our two DET Employee vacancies were filled by Belinda McGee (Assistant Principal) and Tim Sprigg (Resources and Facilities Manager) who were elected unopposed. Alan Wang who is a parent will joins us as a community member.

I would also like to thank all our outgoing councillors, Sofia Georgiou, Gus Cantone and Demi Pape who have been strong advocates and supporters of the Doncaster Secondary College community.

Sofia Georgiou

Tenure: 2012 – Feb 2022

College Council President 2014 – 2020

Gus Cantone

Tenure: 2016 – Feb 2022

Demi Pape

Tenure: 2018 – Feb 2022

Their contribution has been greatly appreciated by me and our community.

At the March Meeting of Council, the Executives was also re-elected:

Vicki Paradisis – President
Andrew Mishura – Vice President
Julie Daniell – Treasurer

Thank you Vicki, Andrew and Julie for your commitment and continued contributions to Council. I look forward to working together throughout 2022. On the same evening School Council also endorsed the Doncaster Secondary College 2021 Annual Report, and our 2022 Annual Implementation Plan. These significant documents outline our performance over the past 12 months on a number of measures, as well as our priorities for ‘Learning and Wellbeing’ in 2022. These documents will be uploaded on our College website in term 2 as mandated by the Department of Education.

Term break

When reading the latest DET update, I came across an article titled ‘Strategies to help your staff to reenergise over the break’. The information which I have included below refers to ‘Psychological detachment’ and ‘Mastery and control to combat ongoing work fatigue’. I think that the advice is helpful for all members of our community including staff, parents/carers and students. After such a challenging and tiring transition back onsite, the term break is a time for everyone to rest, reset and reenergise for the learning program in term 2. I know that members of our community will manage this time in different ways. Some staff and students will feel better by using this time to catch up and prepare for the learning which is to come, whilst others will need to completely switch off. I trust that you will find the balance that is required. ***Year 12 students may be using this time to prepare for upcoming assessments. It is still important for our senior students to find a balance, rest, reset and reenergise for the future learning program.

Psychological detachment

Psychological detachment means completely switching off and not thinking about work in your non-work time.

Ideas to detach and recover from work

keep your work laptop out of sight
create a ‘ritual’ when you transition from work to home that sends an internal message that work is finished
avoid mixing your work and personal emails.

Mastery and control to combat ongoing work fatigue

Mastery is another effective way to recover from work fatigue. It involves setting yourself a challenge (like an exercise or charity challenge), or goals in a skill area you enjoy – that is not related to work.

By focusing on a personal challenge or hobby you can:

detach from work stressors and immerse in activities that aren’t related to work/school
discover new activities or skills that bring you joy and the feeling of accomplishment.

Control goes hand-in-hand with mastery. Control means having autonomy and self-determination in how you spend your non-work time. We know this can be tricky, especially if you are a parent or carer, but it’s worthwhile. An idea such as carving out 15 minutes to an hour alone for ‘me time' can help you recover and recuperate. These recovery tactics are about creating and cultivating an identity for yourself away from work/school.

Our families may notice that staff have put an out of office message on outlook. If your communication requires an urgent response, please email Doncaster.sc@education.vic.gov.au

I will be doing my best to follow my own advice over the term break, and in doing so prioritise time away with my family and friends. Please make the most of the break and enjoy yourself with family and friends, and stay safe. I look forward to seeing our community return on Tuesday 26th April.

Glenn Morris

Principal