Highvale Secondary College Newsletter

Principal's Report

Evan MILLER

Principal

 

Athletics Carnival and new school houses

On Thursday 1 August we held our annual Athletics Day at the Bill Sewart Athletics Track. It was our first event with our new House names, Bunjil, Burrimul, Kaan and Marrum. It was great to see many of our students and staff dressing in their house colours and competing in many of the events. The coveted staff vs students relay was run twice with students winning the first relay and staff winning the second relay. The champions of the day were Burrimul House. A big thank you to Adrian Schmid and Phil Tawa, our sports coordinators, who organised all staff and events on the day. 

Recognition of Service

At the beginning of this Term, the Department of Education acknowledged staff who have given a high number of years’ service to teaching. We had three staff recognised for 35 years’ service to the Department. These staff were:

  • Helen Gogos
  • Phil Sloane
  • Shani Edwards

This is an amazing achievement, and I would like to acknowledge and thank them for the service they have given to Highvale Secondary College. 

 

Acting Principal and Acting Assistant Principal last term

I would like to extend my thanks and acknowledgement of the leadership shown by Leigh Hunter and Stephen Jarvis who filled in as Acting Principal and Acting Assistant Principal in my absence last term. They did a fantastic job.

 

New Strategic Plan Goals and Key Improvement Strategies

At the beginning of Term 2 our school review was undertaken. It was a very thorough review and highlighted our strengths and areas for improvement. The review panel included, our school reviewer, Peter Fotheringham, our challenge partners, Glenn Morris (Principal of Doncaster SC) and Andy Jones (Director of Huddle Learning Systems and a previous school Principal) and members of the leadership team. We have now received the school review report. 

 

Below are the 3 goals and 8 key improvement strategies that came out of our school review and will be our focus of our next 4 year Strategic Plan. 

  1. To optimise the learning growth of every student in all areas of the curriculum
    1. Refine and strengthen implementation of the Highvale teaching and learning model
    2. Redevelop and document school curriculum to better align with the Victorian Curriculum 2.0
    3. Enhance school capability to use assessment and evidence of learning to inform teacher practice and monitor student growth against the Victorian and senior secondary curriculum.
  2. To ensure the achievement of high-quality wellbeing and learning outcomes for all students
    1. Create an organisational design that enables/cultivates highly effective team-based practices and culture of evidence-based collaboration, feedback, and professional responsibility that supports improved practice
    2. Continued implementation of the whole school tiered model to strengthen student attendance, engagement, and resilience
    3. Strengthen partnerships with families and carers that enhance student learning and wellbeing
  3. To develop interdependent learners who are emotionally and cognitively engaged
    1. Develop a shared understanding and commitment to a vision for Highvale students as leaders of their own learning
    2. Develop consistent and coherent models to enact student agency across the curriculum and within the Highvale teaching and learning model 

NAPLAN results 2024

We have received the schools NAPLAN results for this year and similar to last year, they are exceptional. While it is pleasing to see such strong Year 7 results, we are very excited to see the growth of our Year 9 students has continued and they have also received very high achievement in NAPLAN this year. Once we have fully analysed the NAPLAN data, we will communicate further with the school community celebrating our results. 

 

 

New Website

We have recently launched our new school website which can be accessed via link below: Home - Highvale (highvalesc.vic.edu.au)