Campus Principal Report

End of Term 3

Our recent campus RED assembly, held on Monday 12th September, highlighted just how much has happened this term! We were privileged to have our Alumni guest join us, Jacqui Pryor – graduate of 2020, who gave an engaging speech about her life beyond Keysborough College. Jacqui spoke about working in the Childcare Industry which has perfectly blended her passion for working with children as well as drama and dance. It was so nice to hear that Jacqui was not completely sure about what she wanted to do with her career when she was in high school, but things fell into place for her and most importantly, she is very happy in her career and pathway. Our Campus Captains summarised the term’s events, which demonstrated the diverse range of events and activities held across at the campus this term.

 To summarise:

“Our Year 9’s spent a week in the city on City Experience then completed Year 9 into 10 Transition Week, to give them a taste of what Year 10 is going to be like next year. We had the Senior School Information evening followed by all of the Year 9, 10 and 11 students having 1 on 1 course counselling session to plan out their subject selections for 2023 and think about their pathway beyond Keysborough College. Many Year 12s have been busy undertaking VTAC counselling, and selecting their tertiary preferences. The Year 10s spent a week on Work Experience, where some of our students had the most amazing feedback from their employers. We had our annual Athletics carnival which is always a fun day, then a few days later 55 Junior School Leaders across both Acacia and Banksia attended a Leadership Camp. The Year 12’s had their formal, which was a milestone event, but the celebrations were short lived with the General Achievement Test, often referred to as the GAT, occurring in the following week which required focus. We also recently had our students perform in both the Wakakirri Festival and the Victorian School Music Festival – where both groups of students were awarded with significant accolades.” 

In addition, we have had many sports teams across all year levels competing in Interschool Sport and many excursions for various subjects. Over the last few weeks, we have had the beginning of Keysborough’s Got Talent; we are very much looking forward to seeing finals of this next term! We have had some Wellbeing Groups doing some exciting things too; Drumbeat Training, Equine Therapy and the ‘Rite Man’ mentoring group going out on a Camp to Gembrook. 

We were really pleased with the turn out for Parent Teacher Interviews. Our first face to face interviews since 2019! We thank all of the parents and students who attended to engage with our teachers on progress in each of their classes. We held the PTIs in the gym, which was bustling with people when the doors opened at 4pm. A special thanks to the Teaching Staff for their energy and commitment, as well as the Education Support Staff who assisted with the smooth preparation and running of the event.

I request that families support their students to be ready for Term 4, by ensuring uniform is complete and learning resources are ready. I hope everyone has a fantastic break. Rest up - let’s finish the year strong in Term 4!!

Natalie Fode

Acacia Campus Principal 

What a whirlwind of a term it has been. 

Amongst other things that go on in the normal daily running of the school we have also had: Year 9 city experience, year 10 Work Experience, a Leadership Camp for the Junior School Leaders, Athletics Day, Information Evenings, Course Counselling, Year 12 Formal, General Achievement Test, Interschool Sport and District Sports….. And that’s only in the second half of the term!

On a sporting note, the winners from our local athletics carnival represented us at the District Carnival and our Banksia Athletics Team led by the very experienced and ever enthusiastic Mr Wagner were extremely successful with the Banksia Campus being crowned as District champions in the Greater Dandenong and District Track and Field Championships. We had numerous individual age level district champions and runners up in the individual events but also won the Intermediate and Senior Girls along with the Junior and Intermediate Boys competition overall. I am sure that more individual recognition and ‘hall of fame’ status awaits our team members. 

It was great to be back doing Parent Teacher night in person. A large number of our families took the opportunity to talk with their child’s teacher and the positive vibe of being ‘live’ and not on a screen added great value to the interactions. I’m sure as we accelerate away from the 2020/2021 years the memories of that time will fade, but the value of real human interaction will become more and more important. Emails, phone calls and zoom meetings all pale in the shadow of face to face connections. We can only publicise and encourage families to attend and hope that these opportunities are taken up.

Our RED Assembly in week 9 was ably hosted by our Campus Captains and was a salute to those who have upheld the College Values to the highest degree. Six students from each year level were acknowledged for their commitment to our values of Respect, Excellence and Diversity.  We were also treated to two performances by the College Stage Band led by Mr Orr.

Our Alumni guest for this assembly was Seth O’Donnell. Seth joined us and was interviewed by Mr Wagner about his life. Seth was our Campus Captain in 2019 and he talked of his journey in schooling and sport.  He currently attends university and in the sporting arena he just won the Men’s National 10KM Cross Country title. This is a long way of saying Seth is the Australian Men’s Champion – what an achievement! A certainty for the Banksia Hall of Fame! Seth handed out the individual and team awards to our successful athletes. I hope you enjoy a couple of photos from the RED Assembly.

Richard Hastings

Banksia Campus Principal