As the 2016 school year draws to a close, all of our Year 7 to 11 students have undertaken their 2017 course commencement programs and have had the opportunity to spend time as Year 8 to 12 students. They have had an introduction to their teachers and subjects for 2017 and will be well prepared to get into their studies from Day One next year.

Year 12 VCE Results Released

Year 12 results are now released and special congratulations go to Dat Phan with an ATAR of 98.3 and Robert Doyle with 98.25. Both were acknowledged as the Highest Performers at the Graduation Dinner because the teachers could not make a call on who would be Dux, and for good reason with a .05 difference between them. Congratulations also to the whole cohort who achieved a 98% completion rate.

2017 Staffing

Our significant increase in enrolments in recent years, as well as a few retirements has led to the college recruiting quite a number of new teachers. This will be the case again for 2017 with ten new teachers joining our staff. So far we have engaged

Minh Nguyen Maths/Science

Shumailla Paracha Maths/Science

Sally Christie English/Media

Malcolm Fretz English/Media

Marlee Zirkler English/Humanities

Malisa Govori Art

Natasa Ciabatti Italian/EAL

Aaron Boyle PE/Health

Aaron has worked at FCC as a CRT (casual relief teacher) throughout 2016 so he is not entirely new to us, and Sally is part of our alumni so she will be joining some of her ex-teachers as a colleague. However, we look forward to welcoming all of our new teachers to the staff for 2017. We will also be welcoming Elaine Rose, Jak Dunstan and Mayling Constantinou back. All three will be returning from extended leave, although Mayling will not be re-joining us until term two.

We will be bidding farewell to Gayle Anderson and Maureen O’Flaherty who are retiring at the end of this year. Gayle has been teaching for approximately 37 years and after the closure of Fitzroy High, she joined the staff at FCC in 1993 as a Health and PE teacher. Gayle also coordinated the VCAL program at the college for several years, and supported and guided many students through to successful completion of this program. Maureen O’Flaherty has spent approximately 35 years within the teaching service and commenced at FCC in 1997. For many years Maureen has been the International Student Program coordinator, and in fact has had this role since the program was first introduced into the college. She has recruited and supported numerous students through this program, with the majority of them coming from Vietnam and more recently China, although many other countries have been represented within the program. We thank both Gayle and Maureen for their different and valued contributions to the college, and wish them the very best in their new lives ahead.

2016 Awards Presentation Evening

Our Presentation Night was held at the Moonee Ponds Clock Tower for the second time and it again proved to be an ideal venue for this occasion. Once again students led the proceedings with Tia Altschwager, James Madsen-Smith, Maddison Lewis and Vincent Victory as the masters of ceremony. The usual array of awards for academic performance, sport, leadership and community contributions were presented to a wide range of students, and many students were involved in the music and theatre performances that were interspersed throughout the evening. Congratulations must go to the masters of ceremony, those involved in the performances, and of course those who were recipients of the awards.

It was a very successful and positive evening and was great to have the public recognition of the varied achievements of so many of our students.

Centenary Art Show

As well as celebrating the brilliant artworks and design of our students, our Art Show this year was used to celebrate the centenary of FCC. In a nutshell, the one hundred years of history of our school began in 1916 when Footscray Technical School opened its doors on the corner of Nicholson and Buckley Streets. From there it moved to Ballarat Road in 1943 with the opening of a new junior campus, the Footscray Junior School. Eventually by 1968 this site had developed into the Footscray Institute of Technology and in 1972 the secondary school separated from the Institute but remained on the Ballarat Road site – the current site of Victoria University. After some years of considerable community campaigning, and political and industrial pressure it was agreed that a new secondary school would be built, and hence our school came into being on the corner of Kinnear Street and Farnsworth Avenue.

In keeping with the marking of the centenary, it was thought appropriate to open the Art Show with someone who was closely associated with the design and building of our current school. Hence Paul Rovis was invited to be our keynote speaker. Paul had worked closely with the architects who designed our current building and he had also been head of the Art department at the school, as well as becoming an Assistant Principal. He spoke in some detail of his experiences working with the architects during the building phase in the late 1970s, and prior to its opening in 1980.

As for the actual art show, and as is always the case, the exhibition had a very impressive range of student artworks in the different mediums, reflecting the depth of creative talent amidst our students.

Centenary Open House

In addition, the centenary year was honoured with an Open House afternoon on Sunday (20th November) and it provided an excellent opportunity for many ex-students in particular, to visit their old secondary school. As well as checking out the impressive centenary displays, there was the option to tour the school, listen to music performances by ex and current students, and/or partake of a sausage or burger from the BBQ.

Thank you to all parents for your support and willingness to work together with the school for another year. On a personal level it has been a difficult year, and I thank all of those parents and families who offered gestures of support and kindness – they were very much appreciated.

On behalf of the college, to all families, we extend our best wishes for the festive season. We hope the holiday period is a relaxing one for all, and look forward to the return of our students in the new year.

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