Principal Message

Dear Parents, Carers, and Students, 

Term 3 has been a wonderful whirlwind of events coupled with success across all aspects of our College. As a college we are incredibly proud of our achievements this year and in particular students’ performance across a range of academic and extra curricula program. We have so many rich examples of students striving for personal excellence and being the best version of themselves, there is a lot to be proud of at EMC right now. 

Over the past 3 years our College has had a strong focus on academic achievement, this has been underpinned by three key strategies, 

1. The introduction of the 3L – Language and Literacy for Learning, 

2.  School Wide Positive behaviour Support (SWPBS) Framework and 

3. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). 

Our learning and implementation of these three strategies have had a profound impact on the way our school operates, the way our teachers teach and the way students learn. Each of these strategies can be linked to the improvement in student learning outcomes, results on the attitudes to school survey data, where 27 out of 28 measured improved and the staff Opinion survey which has shown significant improvement. During this time we have seen systemic improvements in VCE results and NAPLAN growth for our students. 

Literacy leaders at our school, Mark Howard and David Thomas have been asked to present a case study on the implementation of 3L at the National Conference for the Australian Association for the Teaching of English / Australian Literacy Educators’ Association, sharing the College’s approach to developing a whole school literacy program. This work has also been presented at the International Systemic Functional Congress. Further to this in term 4, Ian Price will be presenting at a National event sharing the way that EMC has integrated into the DET PLC model, the work of Simon Breakspear’s Teaching Sprint and the Tom Sherrington Walk thrus models, along with the incorporation of instructional coaching the use of IRIS. 

The pursuit of academic excellence is motivating and rewarding for both students and staff at the College. Our most recent NAPLAN results and VCE results demonstrate the aspirations, commitment and the hard work of our students and staff, with outstanding results and student growth. Developing a personal excellence mind set is important.

Parents and carers should never underestimate the role that they play in ensuring that young people are successful at school. Your own values and beliefs about the importance of learning and education are an essential ingredient in a students success. Being interested in your child’s outcomes, their reports and their participation in school based activities is paramount in ensuring that students remain connected and engaged at school. Providing a study routine coupled with a quiet learning space at home and helping where you can are all positive options to show the importance that learning plays in the future of a young person. Keep up the awesome work everyone, as the students at EMC are working hard and outperforming their peers in other schools. 

And importantly we have remained focussed on providing a breadth and depth of senior pathways program. Working hard to support students and families to make informed decisions on senior pathways programs. 

As a College we are incredibly proud of the outcomes that we achieve with the young people enrolled at EMC. Ensuring that our community has access to the full breadth of programs from School Based Apprenticeships and training (SBATs), VCE Vocational Major, VCE Tertiary Pathways to Vocational Education and Training (VET). We are fulfilling our goal of providing “pathways for every aspiration”. 

Term 4 is an exciting time as our Year 12 VCE tertiary pathways students finalise preparations for their end of year examinations. These students have worked hard, made sacrifices and above all committed to being the best version of themselves this year. We are incredibly confident that our students will achieve the results that they have been so focussed on. As a community we will wish them all the very best in their final preparations.

Over the past month we have been working with the Year 11 Cohort to identify our Year 12 leaders and College Captains. This has been a wonderful process, as our aspirational leaders share their thoughts on leadership, their aspirations for the future and their vision for success. It is wonderful to hear about how they want to build mentoring programs between Yr 7 and 12 students, how they want to support those that find schooling hard and create a legacy for the students that follow in their footsteps. All of the aspiring leaders have proven that our College is in great hands. I am pleased to share with you that our 2025 College Captains are:

Spohie Lovisa and Kai Amery

AND our college Vice Captains are:

Noah Thomas and Isabella Cauchi,

This term we have seen the personal growth and development of our students across engaged in:

• College Production – Mamma Mia
• Sport
• Debating
• Science Week
• Winter Breaks
• Incursions such as Man Cave and Big Sister
• Consent education 
• Leadership conferences

We are able announce that EMC has now won the Term 1 and Term 3 Northern Peninsula District Sports cup, seeing our students participate and compete in more sports teams than the other Peninsula schools, including Frankston, McClelland, Monterey, Mt Erin, Carrum Downs and Patterson River. This is great achievement and a wonderful reflection of the pride that so many students have when representing our College. 

This success coupled with our extra curricula program provides opportunities for all students to engage in activities that they are passionate about and assists students to develop a strong sense of belonging and connection through participation. I do encourage all students to consider the diversity of activities and make sure that they are making the most of these opportunities created at the College.

As College we are always striving to innovate, and challenge ourselves, we were really proud to Launch the EMC Combine – a student Athlete basketball program. I am please to also announce that we are working with the FDNA to investigate the viability of introducing a Student Athlete – Netball program. This will be a unique program and I am certain will be well supported by the community. These programs will run in parallel to our specialist programs allowing students to participate in both opportunities. This year we were really excited to see a record number of students apply to participate in the specialist programs. 

Wishing everyone a fantastic break. 

Take care and kind regards,

Dean King

Principal.