Principal's Report

Acting SEIL and Acting Principal

I would like to inform our College Community that I have been successful in applying for the Acting SEIL role in the Wimmera South West Area for Term 4.  This decision is a significant one for my family and me and I hope provides the time to recharge and determine the next stage of my own journey, be it at Horsham College or elsewhere.  The SEIL role will provide me with an opportunity to see the system from a different perspective.  It will provide me with the time to work out what is next for me at Horsham College and also what the next stage might look like be it here or somewhere else in education.

I want to reassure that the position is an Acting Position, and at this stage I plan to return at the start of the 2024 school year.

In my absence the Department will be asking for expressions of interest for the Principal role. I   believe the process will have a quick turn around and an Acting Principal will be named before the end of the term. 

School Review 

The Horsham College School Review concluded last week, and I would like to thank all students, staff, and families for their support throughout the process.

I want to congratulate everyone in our College Community on the result, which saw us excelling in two of the five review categories, and embedding in the other.

The goals and targets for our next strategic plan are aspirational and will be challenging to meet. The actions to strive towards these aspirational goals will form our work from now through until the end of the year as we finalise our 2023 Annual Implementation Plan and complete our 2024 Annual Implementation Plan by 20th December.  Our work has been based around clarity in purpose, and students, staff and families working collectively to achieve success, and it continues to be the basis for us moving toward our goals and targets.

The 2026 goals and key targets are:

Goal 1: Improve student achievement in Literacy and Numeracy

Targets: By 2026 -

NAPLAN: To be determined once more information to schools has been provided for Year 9. 

VCE:

• To increase the mean study score for English – 32.7 (2022) to 34 or above
• To increase the mean study score for General Maths – 31.9 (2022) to 33 or above
• To increase the All study mean score from 31.6 (2022) to 33 or above

Goal 2: Increase the active participation of all students in their learning and wellbeing

Target: By 2026, to improve Year 10 – 12 positive exit destinations from 87.2% (2022) to 90%

Parent Teacher Interviews – 6th September

Parent Teacher Interviews will be held next Wednesday between 11am and 6.30pm.

This is an important part of our school calendar and I would encourage as many parents as possible to attend.  I would in particular encourage parents of students completing Year 12 VCE to come to the sessions and talk with teachers about how student support can be provided as they prepare for the end of year exams.

RU OK Day 7th September

RU OK Day will be held on 7th September. The day is an important reminder to check in on our friends and family and those we learn and work beside to ensure they are “OK”.  Those few words can mean a massive amount to someone who might be doing it tough, understanding someone is interested and cares about them.

The SRC will also be having a casual ‘Pyjama’ Day on the day to raise funds for student ‘buddy’ seats to be placed around the College.  Students will be asked to make a gold coin donation on the day and money raised will be matched by the school to purchase these seats.

End of Term – Football Colours Day

A reminder that the last day of term is 15th September.  We will have a Footy Colours Day and a whole school BBQ to celebrate the end of the term, and students will be required to make a gold coin donation, with funds again going to student seating.

School will finish at 2.30pm on the day.

PS Term 4 – Hats 

A reminder that Term 4 is when we wear hats.  College hats are now available for purchase directly from the school office/administration.