Dragon e-newsletter

Principal's Message

Principal's Report

As we head into the last week of Term 3, I want to reflect on my experience so far at the College. It has been an amazing time of learning for me. I want to say what a privilege it is to have the trust of the community. I get so many people bumping into me in downtown Bairnsdale offering their support and positive comments. I was at a restaurant last week and a lovely, young lady commented how the community had so much positive talk about the work we were doing this term. I was truly humbled and appreciative. Talking the place up means we are talking the students up and that cannot be a bad thing.

I notice, now and then, some of our more troubled students cause an issue in the school and it naturally attracts a lot of attention, which is usually negative. I feel for these young people who come from homes that are clearly not as healthy as we would like them to be. Their frustration, at times, comes out in the school zone and it is very unhelpful. I choose not to focus on that, though. Society has its issues and we have to move to support these young people in personal crisis. It should not define who we are, though, and what we aspire to be. For every negative event, there are a thousand positives and they usually do not gain any spotlight. Kindness is mostly anonymous, unfortunately.

I went to the footy the other night and there were 52,000 people at the Cats v Eagles game at the MCG. Some angry Eagles supporter near me was ejected for being obnoxious. It was uncomfortable viewing as I saw this guy's anger spill out with his nasty words. It wasn't about the footy, he was clearly an unhappy human. When I thought about it later, it was clear that I did not notice the thousands around this guy who came to the ground with good cheer. At the time, his angry noise made it impossible to focus on the 'good'.

As a school, that is what we must all do - focus on the good and support a change in the 'not-so-good' so it has a chance to become better. Too often, we define ourselves by the lowest point and not the mid and high points. Let's work together to turn this around. Our school has lovely students, hard working teachers, polite parents and a future that is really looking bright. Let's all search for the anonymous good stories and shine a light on them. Together, we are better - but we all need to pitch in. Life is how you tell it; so spread the good news.

I wish everyone a happy holiday. We will publish a newsletter in the weekend before school returns. Take care and be kind.

Pupil Free Day Coming Soon - October 16

Our school is undertaking some major improvements and we need your support. On Wednesday, October 16, there will be a Pupil Free Day. Students in VCE will have the chance to connect with their teachers (a timetable will be sent home for all students in Year 12), but the rest of the school will take the chance to learn and grow together.

Our entire leadership team will take a trip to Narre Warren South P-12 College to view one of the best VCAL/VCE programs in the State. We want our school to match the best so we want to see it in action. The types of students who attend Narre Warren come from a similar backgrounds so we feel we have much to learn from their experiences. Their results are better than ours so we want to see what they do.

The Educational Support staff back at BSC will be working to learn and grow in their roles with administration and support for students with disabilities. Teachers will either be supporting VCE students or developing curriculum for 2020 and beyond.

We are very excited by this opportunity. Getting in to see Narre Warren is extremely hard to do as many other schools want to visit. With our improvement agenda, we have been able to 'jump the queue' (respectfully) so we are grabbing this chance with both hands.

Further Flag of Pupil Free Day

Our school undertook a major review in Term 2 and we need to get together with Regional staff and our Senior Improvement Education Leader, Tony Roberts, to map out the future plan.

I know it stretches families, but I must raise a flag to inform you of another Pupil Free Day in about Week 4 of Term 4 (to be confirmed). During that time, we will map out the 4 Year Improvement Plan known as the School Strategic Plan. All staff need to be engaged in this work as we all need to 'own it'.

Once the exact date is known and School Council ratify it, then we will let you know. This is a flag so you know it is coming up soon.

New Standards and Expectations - Term 4

Term 4 marks a few new initiatives. We are trying to be tighter on our common expectations around Uniforms, Use of Mobiles, Respectful Language and Tone and overall Behaviour. As such, we will be bringing in some new systems that we want the community to support.

We believe in creating a safe and happy environment. If anything threatens that, we must act swiftly and with high moral integrity to protect students and staff from harm. We believe that students should run by the mantra of "In Class, On Time, On Task and Learning."

We are promoting three basic principles that we expect students to maintain:

  • Nobody has the right to interfere with another’s learning or wellbeing
  • Follow reasonable staff instructions
  • Use respectful language and tone

There are implications of our insistence upon these standards as students who have trouble will be held to account. We are drawing a line in the sand and expect students not to cross it.

Staff are also being held to account and more coaches are being brought in to make sure lessons are orderly, engaging and differentiated.

Staff will run by three principles as well under the mantra of "Protect, Act and Teach."

  • Protect: Promote learning, safety and wellbeing
  • Act: See something, say something, do something
  • Teach: Orderly, Engaging and differentiated

Please get behind these initiatives when they start in Term 4. They are an important component of our school reaching its potential and we need everyone on board to make it a success.

We will have an Engagement Team to support students having trouble upholding these expectations. We want students who have trouble to make the change and we are here to help. If they still cannot make these changes, then consequences will follow as we build processes to protect students doing the right thing.

Bairnsdale Heads to Canberra

Some of our Clontarf kids went to Canberra to meet the Prime Minister, Mr Scott Morrison. Find below a Facebook link so you can learn about what happened in the meeting.

We are proud that our Clontarf team reached the highest office in the land to make themselves and the program known.