Principal's Report

It’s been a big couple of months at Coburg High - full of connection, creativity and celebration.

Walk for Hannah

We finished Term 3 with a whole-school event in memory of our much loved teacher, colleague and friend, Hannah Willmott. It was a special day - a mix of reflection, community and a bit of healthy competition (with staff once again being thrashed by the students at Capp Reserve!). For a video of the day, see below:

Hannah clearly left a mark on so many at our school. Earlier this year, we invited students and staff to write messages in a condolence book. Reading through those entries, ten words appeared again and again: Amazing. Dedicated. No nonsense. Fun. Loved the outdoors. Understanding. Passionate. Caring. Supportive. Inspiring. Hannah will always be remembered for all those things and more, and we hope that this day was a fitting way to remember her care for our students and love of the outdoors. We also raised funds which will support students in the Outdoor Ed program for the years to come.

Arts Show & Burgfest

Early in Term 4, the Visual Arts team put on two brilliant events, our Arts Showcase (for the first time ever at Schoolhouse Studios in Coburg and Burgfest at the Pentridge Cinema. It was fantastic to see the range of student creativity on display, from paintings and sculpture through to short films, some that made us think deeply and others that made us laugh.

Year 12 Celebrations

What a finish for the Class of 2025! From breakfast and assembly to the guard of honour and graduation dinner, it was a joyful send-off. Huge thanks to David Snaddon, Katherine Ryan, Donna O’Shea and Christina Scholzhorn for organising such fitting celebrations. 

Congratulations also to all our graduates, and our wonderful School Captaincy team of Hasti, Josh, Clifford and Sienna for co-ordinating these festivities.

A more detailed wrap-up, including the award winners from graduation, appears on the next page.

Year 11 Camp

Our Year 11s recently headed to The Summit for three days of adventure, teamwork and a bit of mud. 

This camp is aimed at getting students ready for Year 12 2026. Thanks to all the staff who gave their time to make it such a success.

Technology Building

A quick update on our school upgrade project, the $17.8m Technology Building. As many will know, the original contractor responsible for the project entered administration in March this year. Since then, the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) has been working to remobilise the project with a new contractor. The re-tender is now live and expected to close in the next few weeks, with evaluation to then follow. The aim is to have work recommence early in 2026.

While it’s been a long process, it’s good to see movement again. Once the new contractor is on board, I’ll share further updates with our community.

If you’d like more information, the VSBA can be contacted directly at VSBA@education.vic.gov.au or on 1800 896 950, and more detail is also available at schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au.

Oval Resurfacing

Work on the oval is progressing well, with the surface levelled, seeded and on track to be handed back to the school ready for the start of Term 1, 2026. McDonald Reserve is a great alternative space for students to be using for PE classes and recess and lunch recreation.

Literacy support 

Our Year 7 Literacy students have been working hard to understand the etymology of words as part of their Spelling Investigation KLTs, see a photo of some of the students celebrating their work with Angela Greet above. 

Each year we look closely at our NAPLAN results each year. We are very pleased to see that the Year 9 NAPLAN Literacy results (for students who required additional assistance in Year 7 NAPLAN 2023), had shown significant growth. Well done to Angela Greet and Chloe Tayler (former and current Literacy Leaders) who have led the Literacy Intervention program for the past three years, which underpins this significant achievement. 

Merri-bek Youth Ambassadors 2025-26

We're very pleased to recognise three of our CHS students as Merri-bek Youth Ambassadors: Henry, Manuel and Sanjay.

Compass Wallet 

New in Term 4, students are able to pay for food at the canteen using their Compass card. 

Instructions for putting money onto Compass cards can be found on 'Community' tab, then 'Canteen' - detailed instructions can be found on the Community page of this newsletter.

Student Athletic Success

Congratulations to Wilson R who came first in Hammer and third in Discus and Adrian W who came second in 100m and third in 400m at Victorian All Schools Athletics Championships held last week.

Halloween

Well done to our Librarian, Dianna and the Student Voice Team, for coordinating the fantastic out of uniform day for Halloween. See a further report later in this newsletter and check out the CHS Instagram page for more info about the day. 

Brent Houghton

Principal