Principal's Report

Dear Edgars Creek Community, 

Welcome to 2026, and to what will be another exciting year at Edgars Creek Secondary College. 

I warmly welcome all students, families and staff back to school and extend a special welcome to our new year 7 students and students new to the college this year. Starting at a new school is an important milestone, and I hope that your transition from primary to secondary or from your previous school to ours has been a smooth one.  

For our parents who have their first student starting secondary school this year, I strongly encourage you to take the time to explore this resource.

Over the past few weeks both myself and the school leadership team have had a chance to do a range of learning walks throughout the day. I have been especially impressed with the way our students have settled back in and how they are showing up each day ready to learn and engage positively in their classes. As families will now be aware, the structure of our school day has changed this year to shorten the number of classes students have on any given day and provide maximum time to deep dive into learning. As we come to the end of week 5, the positive impact of this change is already noticeable. 

Welcome to New Staff

As Edgars Creek continues to grow we continue to be proud of the strong teaching and support staff interested in teaching at our college. Of course, like many schools we continue to navigate staff shortages and the community is to be assured that we are working towards ensuring that any teacher gaps are filled as soon as possible. 

In 2026 we welcome the following new staff: 

• Erin Buttimer - English and Humanities
• Tim Cikron-Tighe - English and Humanities
• Isuri Dona - Mathematics
• Sam Dwyer - Digital Technologies
• Youseff El Abbas - Health and Physical Education
• Nhi Tran - Music
• Tyler Rushton - Learning Specialist//Disability Inclusion
• Kiara Ferreira - Wellbeing
• Joanne McDonald - Reception 
• Karrie Saville - Finance & Admin
• Alexander Williams - Music and Drama 

We also welcome back: 

• Phill Adams who has been on secondment as Assistant Principal 
• Zac Anderson who returns from a year as an acting Primary school Principal,
• Sophie Muir who returns to us after a period of family leave and
• Erin Copeland who returns after a year of secondment at another school. 

As a principal, I embrace opportunities for staff to develop their craft and capacity and sometimes this means allowing them to spend time working in other schools. The experience, ideas, and growth these opportunities enable, supports us as a school to learn and grow as well. I look forward to seeing how our returning staff put to use their learnings here at ECSC.

Senior School Study Centre and DI/Wellbeing, Student & Staff Collaboration Hub

As a result of our growth, I am excited to announce that over the holidays we took delivery of a modular building that has been deployed as our senior school centre. This centre is designed to support year 12 students by offering them a quiet place to study and seek support from their coordination team or teachers. At the moment, the room has been set up with temporary furnishings while we wait on delivery of our new purposely chosen furniture designed to promote positive study habits. 

We are also excited to complete an upgrade to our administration building which included the redevelopment of one of our spaces into a collaboration hub. This space is designed to support the work of the Disability and Inclusion as well as the Wellbeing team. The centre provides a quiet space for our visiting teachers to work with priority students and also provide our teachers, leaders and support staff additional space to meet with parents.  

School Council Update

At the time this publication lands in your inbox, there is still time for parents and students to nominate to be on school council. Information can be found in my Compass communication. As Executive Officer of school council, I would like to congratulate the following DE school staff who have successfully gained a position.

• Maria Cuzzupe
• Phill Adams 
• Gabe Addley

I look forward to the contributions these members will make to the council over the next two years. 

Mobile Phones must be securely stored in student lockers. 

A reminder that it is a Victorian Government requirements that students do not access their mobile phone during the school day. It is a government requirement that these devices are securely stored in student lockers out of site. Parents are asked to remind their student of this legal requirement. For more information please review our Mobile Phone Policy.

Parents are reminded that every student at Edgars Creek is provided a locker. It is the responsibly of each student and their family to ensure that the locker has a secure lock to keep the students belongings safe. Combination locks such as the ones below are suitable and provide excellent security. These are readily available at Coles, Woolworths, Officeworks and Bunnings.

Parents are reminded to not contact their child directly during the school day. If there is an emergency and it’s absolutely necessary to communicate with your child, parents must call the school office and leave a message with reception staff, who will then ensure the message is passed on.

Up and Coming Uniform Review

During the first half of this year, I intend to work with our uniform supplier to do a complete review of our college uniform. This will include working with students, parents and our school council to determine whether our uniform and range of items are still fit for purpose. Please keep an eye on Compass for opportunities to give feedback during this process. Until then, students are reminded that they are required to be wearing the correct college uniform at all times. 

As you read through this publication, it will be clear that it has already been quite an action packed start to the year. I look forward to the year ahead and working with all of you as the year progresses.

Best wishes, 

Adam Smith

College Principal