From the Principal

Dear Parents/Carers, Students And Friends

Centenary Year

Welcome back to the 2024 school year. This year Frankston High School turns 100, having provided a century of excellence and community to Frankston. Originally opened on 12 February 1924, to 64 students and located in Young Street Frankston, everyone who has been a student, staff member or parent, should feel as proud as I and the current staff and students do at being able to work together and learn in such an outstanding school.

Throughout the rich tapestry of 100 years, the school has changed and continued to evolve. A consistent theme throughout has been high expectations and ensuring that each student who attends our great school, has every opportunity for success in life. There have been some fantastic stories of success and personal growth from our alumni, all of them speak so highly of the quality of education provided by the wonderful staff. I am extremely grateful for all of the outstanding leadership demonstrated by such visionary Principals and Campus Principals/Assistant Principals, whom came before us, that ensured our school provided wonderful opportunities to the students and Frankston. It is both humbling and inspiring to follow in the footsteps of the Principals of Frankston High School who paved the way: Mr John Albiston, Ms Marion Heale, Mr Kenneth Rowe, Mr Lionel Stanes, Mr Max Smale (Relieving); Mr Alan Slater (Relieving), Mr William Raff, Mr Harry Carter, Mr Lloyd Jones, Mr Frank Smith, Mr Percival Langford, Mr William Bishop, and Mr Robert Chapman.

We continue to be a high performing school supporting students in achieving their best in their learning and through a range of pursuits whether they be sporting, music, the Arts, or student leadership. Such exceptional student achievement across many areas is due to the hard work and leadership shown by our Principal and Leadership Team, together with the outstanding teaching and care provided by our extremely dedicated teachers and support staff. We also have such a supportive parent/carer community who continually encourage their children to value the learning opportunities offered by our school. Frankston High School has developed a learning culture where all community members (students, staff and parents) value learning and demonstrate our best always – Optima Semper. I feel very privileged to be the Principal of Frankston High School each day and in our Centenary Year.

Welcome new and returning staff

We welcome a number of new and returning staff to the school to start the school year:

Leonie Argiriou – Health and PE

James Arshid – Maths

Emily Blaak – Health and PE/Outdoor and Environmental Studies

Luisa Harrasser - Curriculum Assistant: Outdoor and Environmental Studies and PE

Sarah Hill – English

Brigitte Lang – Visual Communication and Design/Art

Michaeli Lyon – Careers Practitioner

Paul Mirabella – Health and PE

Daniel Myers - Maths

Ginger Parker – Health and PE

Nicole Orange - Maths

Peter Pidduck - English

Lisa Pizzol - Maths

Holly Quinn – English

Olivia Slade – English

Rebecca Stroud - English

Lorelei Tildesley – Curriculum Assistant: Outdoor and Environmental Studies and PE

Libby Toovey – English/Humanities

Rikara Van Pelt - Science

Sam Webster – Information Technology

Melody Westlake - English

William Whitelaw – English

We look forward to their contributions to the Frankston High School community and supporting their growth and development throughout the year.

Outstanding Results from our Class of 2023

This cohort of young adults are to be congratulated on their outstanding results that embodied the Frankston High School values (Empathy, Integrity, Optimism, Persistence, Respect and Responsibility) to a high level resulting in some great achievements. We can continue to be justifiably proud of Frankston High School’s renowned reputation as a high performing academic school of excellence. We wish you all the very best with your next exciting chapters.

Highlights include:

Frankston High School continuing to be the leading government school on the Peninsula and in fact obtaining results up with and ahead of many private schools.
Over 10% of subject scores over 40
A median subject score of 32 indicates that a typical Year 12 student at our school achieves significantly above average study scores compared to students in private and government schools across the state.
The many students who were able to reach their full potential because of their commitment to their studies and the outstanding teaching at Frankston High School.
School Dux – Dhani Handoyo – 99.55
40+ scores = 10% of students
21% of scores over 90 = top 10% of the state.
43% of scores over 80 = top 20% of the state.

Pathways Report For Our Class Of 2023

Our Class of 2023 graduates have now received their December and January tertiary offers, following a year of excellent VCE results. The students received a range of exciting offers across a diverse range of university and vocational education (TAFE) courses. The offer process will conclude soon.

210 students received one or more tertiary offers via VTAC. 186 students have received an offer for their first, second or third course preferences. Many students received more than one offer.

The breadth of the courses being undertaken by our students is impressive and ranges from Environmental Management and Sustainability, to Design and Media Communications, Aviation, Engineering, Law, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Biomedical Science, the Arts, Education, Psychology, Fashion Design, Marketing, Health Science, Animal and Veterinary Biosciences and many more.

Our students will be embarking on their tertiary journeys across a range of different universities, including the University of Melbourne, Monash University, Deakin University, Swinburne University, ACU, Victoria University, La Trobe University, RMIT and Federation University. We also have many VCE VM students commencing vocational education courses at TAFE colleges across Victoria, including at Chisholm, Holmesglen, RMIT and Swinburne University.

We would like to congratulate our Class of 2023 on their outstanding accomplishments, and we have no doubt that they will make great contributions in their chosen fields.

Thank you to our Careers and Pathway’s Team for their work in supporting our students through the exciting (at times, daunting) process of VTAC applications, offers, scholarships and SEAs. A special mention to the highly experienced and passionate Sharon Bourne of whom worked on weekends and over the holidays to support our students. Thank you to the dynamic Jessica Bambridge (Head of Connectedness and another one of our Career Practitioners) and Kelly Lin and Sharon Koning (International Program) who also supported our students.

Frankston High School - Australia Day Awards

I am thrilled to report that Kelly Gilbert, Class of 2023, has been recognised as Frankston’s Young Citizen of the Year for her leadership and community work. Thank you to Ms Tiffany Greenhill, Mrs Sarah Bahramis, Mrs Jessica Bambridge, Ms Kelly Mitchell and Ms Brittany Harvey for their leadership in working with Kelly last year. This is a fantastic achievement for Kelly and would not be possible without the support of her family and the staff at Frankston High School.

A Multi-Campus School

Frankston High School is a multi-campus school. We have four Campus Principals who have responsibility for making decisions regarding the students within their student cohort:

Year 7 and 8: Mr John Simon
Year 9 and 10: Ms Leah Hannas
Year 11 and 12: Ms Tiffany Greenhill
International Students: Mr Cameron Heyes

Support Always Available

Frankston High School has a commitment to providing all the care and support necessary for each student to do their best and achieve the highest possible learning outcomes. It is important when parents have concerns about their children they contact the relevant staff members immediately to ensure a quick supportive response.

The most appropriate staff members to talk with when you have specific concerns are the classroom teachers, then Year Level Coordinators, then Sub School Leaders. These are the staff members who have a thorough understanding of the needs of the students in their care. Decisions regarding students are made in partnership with parents and students with careful consideration of what is in the best interests of the students.

In addition, we are fortunate to have seven Student Wellbeing Coordinators (Ms Michelle Beirouti, Mr Jarryd Brand, Ms Myriam Camilleri, Ms Melissa Donegan, Ms Erin Gooding, Ms Claudia Tymms and Mr Ben Wilson) who are available to help students and their families with welfare related concerns, and also a Careers Counsellors (Ms Sharon Bourne and Ms Michaeli Lyon) and a Pathways Coordinator (Mrs Jessica Bambridge) who are available to counsel students and families in relation to exploring career options.

Privacy Reminder

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to remind yourself of the school’s collection statement, found on our website.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents.

Student Accident Insurance, Ambulance Cover Arrangements And Private Property Brought To School

Parents/carers are reminded that the Department of Education (DE) does not provide personal accident or ambulance cover for students. Parents/carers of students who do not have private health insurance or ambulance cover are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students. Students’ accident insurance policies are available from the private insurance market. These cover a range of medical expenses not covered by Medicare. They can be obtained by parents for individual students.

Private property bought to the college by students, staff or visitors is not insured and the DE is not responsible for any loss or damage. This can include mobile phones, calculators, sporting equipment and cars parked on school premises.

It is recommended that parents/carers consider insurance policies that can be purchased from commercial insurers as Frankston High School does not have a whole school policy.

Mr Andrew Batchelor

Principal