Welcome

Welcome

Our Northern Bay Challenge Newsletter aims to keep members of our wider NBC Challenge community updated with work that is happening at our college and through the programs that are directly funded by The Challenge.

We have had a wonderful year at NBC through 2022 and are so proud of all that has been achieved - large parts of which have been made possible through the Challenge and our many generous supporters. To highlight the huge growth in our college this year we share some news of our Year 12 results for 2022.

Our Brilliant Year 12 Results 

This year we celebrate some truly outstanding results delivered and achieved by our Graduating Class for 2022. This group of students have overcome amazing circumstances through these past three years to graduate which such success. With regard to the achievement of this class if is worth noting some very significant figures –

• This year our VCE students achieved a median Study Score of 26 which is a huge improvement on our most previous years and is in fact our most successful VCE outcome in the history of Northern Bay College.
• Our VCAL students increased their completion rate by a whopping 30%. This is truly remarkable and is a wonderful stamp of approval to our VCAL students and staff team who worked incredibly hard to return this outstanding outcome. Again this is by far the most successful outcome produced within the VCAL program in the history of Northern Bay College.
• We also celebrate the outstanding achievement of College Dux - Bush Duong - who achieved the exceptional ATAR score of 97.85 – this again is the highest ever individual ATAR that has been achieved by a Northern Bay College student.

What is clear from the above achievements is that there is much to celebrate for our college community in 2022!!  Well done to everyone involved!!

CoGG Youth Council

It is with great pleasure that we announce three Northern Bay College students who will represent the youth of Geelong in the coming year of Youth Council for CoGG. This is an astonishing achievement for one school and only goes to demonstrate the deep sense of service that exists within so many of the students at our school. This is a clear nod to the opportunities provided to our students by our staff teams to develop their voice and activate the change they want in their world - all major aspects of our current and future Strategic Plan. 

Congratulations to Ali Agha Wali Zada, Aleena Eftikhari and Ashton Stonehouse (here with Scott Diamond and Erin Prendergast, Goldsworthy campus principal) who will do a wonderful job representing themselves and our school community.

Exciting Opportunity for Supporters in 2023

We plan big around here and in 2023 we are aiming toward a fundraising target upwards of $100,000 from existing and new donors to fund the exciting projects we are undertaking. To back the success of the Northern Bay Challenge in recent years these funds provide scholarships, project funding and general support to the students at the College.

Often, we have enquiries from our community or corporate groups about how they can help support our students and the school.  Northern Bay College endeavours to provide a rich learning environment that supports the any pathways and interests of our students.  For many of our students they are the game-changers; the first in their family to complete Year 12 and to consider university.  For students to learn about the diverse range of occupations and industries that exist or that are emerging, hearing about what others do, engaging in work experience, taking a workplace tour or having a mentor to discuss questions about their chosen profession when necessary is invaluable. You could consider:

• Link our students with other businesses, work experience or structured workplace learning, employment pathways. 
• Offer mentoring or tutoring
• Assisting with monetary donations which can provide scholarships to cohorts of students, purchase specialist equipment to target the interests/passions of the donor or direct needs of students
• Donate resources or access to experiences.

If you read through this newsletter, the areas the college is looking for support include:

• Employers, industries, professionals, mentors/tutors to support our students in a range of occupations and industries
• Opportunities and guest speakers for the Year 7/8 Scholarship groups to visit and engage with to build up their career knowledge and meet their aspirations, and
• Employers who could take our students requiring one day per week for Structured Workplace Learning as part of their Victorian Certificate Education – Vocational Major. These are often trades such as carpentry, plumbing, hairdressing, hospitality, etc.

2023-24 Year 7/8 Scholarship Cohort interest areas:

Mentoring Opportunities

We are looking to boost our mentoring support for students. Are you up to the challenge? What can you bring to encourage our students. Further to the student interests above, the current cohort of students also have the following interests:

The School Camp

The college has part ownership of Staughton Vale Outdoor Education Camp (SVOEC) and is calling for support - a brilliant opportunity for philanthropists to focus their support on a proven resource needing financial underpinning. This camp provides an alternate way of engaging with students away from the standard school room structure. 

We have run two Wellbeing camps this year during the school holidays. This term's Wellbeing Camp focussed on supporting students with their transition to Goldsworthy Campus and saw Year 8, 9 and 10 students come together for three days of self-discovery and team building. 

As is quickly becoming the norm on these camps the students participated with great enthusiasm and generosity as our wellbeing team worked to create lasting connections. 

Regarding our SVOEC we have two wonderful opportunities for our sponsors:

1. Firstly there is an opportunity to be an official sponsor of our School Holiday Wellbeing Camps. These camps allow the college to build an increased connection with selected students through a purposeful and highly engaging program. The camps that have already run have delivered some outstanding results with data indicating a huge increase in both personal confidence and connectedness to staff and peers. To be involved the Challenge Committee is offering 'Supporter Shares' @ $1,000 per share. To become involved please contact the college directly or The Challenge via the 'How Can You help?' page at the end of this Newsletter.

2. The second opportunity surrounds supporting SVOEC itself. The college is committed to further developing this site and to this end the Vocational Major students this year completed some very positive developments at the site. Any financial support for these projects is received with great gratitude. Take a look at his video to see the outstanding work students have completed on a MIni-Golf Course that adds wonderfully to our Staughton Vale camp site. What started as an idea to contribute and give back to the college has helped to add so wonderfully to the environment at our SVOEC. Congratulations to the VCAL team who continue to show how creative and committed our students are.

We send a heartfelt thanks to all of our supporters during 2022 and look forward to being in touch in 2023. Wishing you all a very safe and relaxing christmas season.

Yours sincerely,

Ken Harrison and Scott Diamond

The Challenge Chair & College Principal