Principal's Notes

ANZAC Day

Anzac Day commemoration events are an important way for our community to recognise the courage and sacrifice of all service men and women. Our school community has a strong tradition within the armed services and our school joins a number of different commemorative events over the school year.

During the first week of Term Two there were several Anzac Day commemorations involving our students. On Tuesday April 24 the whole school assembled for our own Anzac Day service, where we were extremely fortunate to have in attendance, Lieutenant Commander RAN (Retired) Dave Lassam. School Captains Sophie Smith and Alex Gommers led the assembly confidently and the Legends Band, directed by Amanda Morrison played the New Zealand and Australian national anthems; and the Last Post and Rouse were played by Amanda, our instrumental music coordinator. All representatives of our school completed their duties exceptionally well and with great respect.

On Anzac Day our school captains Alex Gommers and Sophie Smith completed readings at the Healesville Dawn Service, at the Healesville RSL and they carried out their duties respectfully, whilst also representing the school in the most wonderful way. We are fortunate to have such mature and capable student leaders. Again the Legends Band represented Healesville High School and played the New Zealand and Australian national anthems perfectly. Thank you to all staff members and students involved.

Pupil-Free Day (May 22nd)

A reminder that on Wednesday of next week all members of staff will be involved in a full day of professional development activities and as a result, no classes will be operating. I am mindful that pupil-free days cause inconvenience to some families so I would like to thank all parents in advance for your support and understanding. I hope and believe the outcomes will justify any inconvenience experienced by families on the day.

Thank you once again for supporting the school and understanding the need for such days.

Open Night

Recently a highly successful Open Night was held at Healesville High School. Feedback received from visitors to our school was overwhelmingly positive and heartening as it showed that the excellent work being completed, and progress made by students and staff is being recognised in the wider community. The night itself provided parents of current grade four, five and six students with an opportunity to visit our school, hear from various speakers who explained many school programs and meet with our staff and many of our students. It was with great pride that all staff members and many students showed our school and its programs to our visitors. The success of the night was as a direct result of the work of Chloe Jackson, Head of Junior School, our staff and a large number of students.

The school captains, Sophie Smith and Alex Gommers each took a prominent role in the formal part of the evening and represented our school, as always, with distinction. The Sax Ensemble played confidently and entertainingly to welcome guests as they entered the Performing Arts Centre and Amber Holland and Eve Burt also spoke proudly and impressively about their experiences as current students. Our home economics classes prepared and served delicious finger food under the expert guidance of Ms Gayle Shelley, and teachers from each domain area worked with students to present interactive displays for our visitors.

A sincere thank you to everyone involved in preparing for and presenting on the evening. I am very proud of our students who are fantastic representatives of the school and very positive in their outlook and perspective.

The most impressive aspect of the evening, I believe, was the teamwork and sheer hard work of staff and students. Well done to all!

NAPLAN

Many of you would now be aware that the NAPLAN testing for Year 7 and Year 9 students is currently being completed and the data generated from this testing provides an important check for us as a school to ensure our teaching and learning is on track. We are committed to continuous improvement and NAPLAN helps to corroborate our teaching, particularly of content in Mathematics and skills in English

The annual Student Attitudes to School Survey will be conducted over the next three weeks providing a further opportunity to capture and respond to student reflections about their learning at Healesville.