Principals Report
It truly has been an unusual year not just in Melbourne and Australia but of course all around the world. I am very aware that for every family the pandemic has impacted in some manner. Schooling across the world had to adapt quickly to remote learning and also adjust curriculum to support students back to onsite learning. As the College Principal I sincerely thank all our families for your ongoing and support throughout the year. Our students; your children, all did the best they could while navigating constant changing conditions. Looking ahead to 2021, I am very excited for the opportunities that the year will bring. We will have the start of Senior school with our first year 10 students. We opened with 85 Year 7 students, in 2021 we will start with over 240 students and 10 Year 7 Home groups. We will have over 700 students at the College. The Stage 2 build has continued to track fairly close to schedule with the Sports gym due for completion and use for the start of Term 2 2021.
As we prepare for the final school day of 2020 I also want to acknowledge the commitment and hard work of all the ECSC teachers and education support staff. Everyone stepped up to do their best during remote learning to continue to deliver engaging curriculum while tracking the wellbeing of our students. They have also all had to navigate a COVID safe workplace - continuing to teach onsite with masks; keeping a distance of 1.5 metres and constantly following safe hand hygiene practices with students. I am proud of their dedication and determination to deliver the best possible learning opportunities they could across the year.
Stage 2 Building Update
Fantastic images taken by the College drone of the current build. I am sure many of you will notice the extensive growth that has occurred since the College first opened in 2018.
State Wide Orientation Day
On Tuesday 8 December we had the opportunity to meet our new Year 7 students for 2021 - all 240 of them. After weeks of lockdown it was truly enjoyable to host so many students from so many primary schools in the Northern suburbs. Many of our families have built or moved into Wollert over the last year and this is reflected in both the enrolments at the Secondary College as well as next door at Edgars Creek Primary School. As a College we ensured the students experienced an engaging taste of high school. There were many opportunities for engaging with each other and meeting teachers - everyone went home feeling tired!
School Council 2020
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our School Council for their commitment this year. They have all become experts of connecting online via Zoom. Our School Council President, Melanie Taimani, has continued to chair meetings during the lockdown and restrictions; she has also joined me in online meetings where we have been negotiating the possible use of the Scout Hall that will be built on the DET College site in the future for our students. Thank you to:
Melanie Taimani
Mary Timotheou
Cara Horner
Robert Micelotta
Cooper Richards
Daniel Sousa
Glen Cowan
Anthony Asta
Chantelle Gianinotti
Farewell and thank you to staff and Welcome to new staff
Every year say farewell to staff who decide to move onto other schools and other adventures. We say goodbye and thank you for their service to:
Jacqueline Taylor
Huss El Houssen
Ethan Gorski
Emily Rose
Conrad Soderlund
Dominic Bruno
Luke Miranda
We appreciate the commitment they have given to our students and wish them well for their future endeavours.
For 2021, the College will welcome 20 new staff members. It has been a long recruitment drive this year as we navigated the lockdown restrictions. All these new teachers are needed to cater for our increased home groups; increased subject/elective choices and increased number of students. We conducted our staff induction both online and onsite. All the new teachers participated in become familiar with the emphasis we place on student growth; differentiation - both extending and supporting students; our Principles of Lesson Delivery and the importance of understanding data in order to understand how each student learns. We have created a separate page in this newsletter for all our new staff so you can familiarise yourself with them all.
In final, I hope all ECSC families have the opportunity across this summer break to enjoy being with extended family and friends. Take care, keep safe and I look forward to welcoming all the students back on 1 Feb 2021.
Jo Camozzato
College Principal