Principal's Report 

Dear Maffra Secondary College Families, Students and Community Members,

As Term 2 draws to a close, we reflect on a period marked by both significant achievements and deep sorrow within our school community. It has been a long and busy term, filled with learning, growth, and shared success across classrooms, sport, and creative pursuits. Our students and staff have continued to show commitment, resilience, and a strong sense of community in all they do.

Tragically, this term has also been overshadowed by the heartbreaking loss and serious injury of some of our students. Our thoughts remain with their families, friends, and all those affected during this incredibly difficult time. As a school, we are united in grief, and we continue to support one another with care, compassion, and strength.

Annual Report 2024

Our 2024 Annual Report was approved for publishing and can be found on our website or by clicking on the link here 2024 Annual Report. We saw improvement in many of the areas of the Annual report with the following areas showing strong improvement and growth:

· The General school satisfaction from parents increased by 28% last year, placing us higher than similar schools, our network schools and State in this area.

· Our school climate has continued to improve, increasing by 13% placing us well above similar schools, our network schools and the State.

· Our senior secondary certificate completion is very strong at 97%, just ahead of the State average and our Mean study score for all VCE subjects placed us in the top 25% of all government and non-government schools in Gippsland.

· Our students Sense of Connectedness has continued to improve (8%) continuing to place us above similar schools, network and State averages

· Our students are also telling us that the way we manage bullying is also improving with a 14% increase in their perceptions of this, again placing us above similar schools, the network and the State.

· Our student retention data is also improving. This tells us that the percentage of students that start with us in Year 7 stay on at Maffra SC through to at least Year 10. This percentage is also above the state average.

· The strong careers and pathways team continue to provide support and opportunities to ensure that students from Year 10 – 12 going on to further studies or full time employment is continuing to increase (please note this data is based on 2023)

· We are in a strong financial position which will allow us to develop our upper quadrangle once the F-Wing toilets are completed in the first half of 2026.

Whilst our NAPLAN data shows that the percentage of students identified as strong or exceeding in Year 7 and 9 for Reading and Numeracy is lower than the State and Similar schools, this report doesn’t show the growth data we see with our students from Year 7 to Year 9 in NAPLAN. This is something we do well and are proud of, and we know if students are with us from Year 7-9 they are achieving at or above the state average for their growth which reflects the high quality teaching and learning occurring every day at Maffra SC.

Attendance continues to be a concern for our school with the number of days students are absent each year on average, continuing to increase. We have work to do in this area, and no doubt it will be a focus as we head into our school review next term. I am pleased to say that we are already seeing an improvement in this area this year and congratulate and thank all of the students that are achieving attendance at or above 95% for the first half of this year. 90% attendance is the equivalent of having a day off every fortnight on average.

Semester 1 reports

Your child’s 2025 semester one report has now been published digitally to Compass and a hard copy has been provided to your child to bring home. Please read this report with your child and discuss it with them.

Students receive an overall comment from each subject teacher, regarding learning achievements made and areas for improvement. Each student across years 7-12 has received an S (satisfactory) or N (not satisfactory) for each subject.

To achieve an S, students are expected to have:

· Exemplary attendance, and

· Completed all required coursework tasks, and

· Completed and submitted all Common Assessment Tasks (CATs) for the subject, to a satisfactory standard.

The Satisfactory subject result provides you with important information regarding whether your child has met the minimum requirements and can be said to have reached a satisfactory understanding of the learning outcomes. Importantly, your child does not need to be at the ‘expected’ standard for the year level at which they are enrolled to achieve an S – we are looking for their learning growth regardless of starting point, demonstration of a sufficient level of effort and pride in learning, along with completion of key learning activities and assessment tasks which cater for different abilities.

If you have any queries regarding individual subject results or comments, please discuss this with your chils and if needed, contact your child’s subject teacher or year level coordinator.

School Review 2025

Next term we will undertake our School Review. Schools undertake a school review every 4 years to inform the directions of the school’s 4-year School Strategic Plan (SSP). There are 2 components of a school review:

1. the pre-review self-evaluation (PRSE) where we review our data and other evidence to form a collective view of current practice and areas for improvement. As part of this self-evaluation we seek feedback from staff, students and parents/carers

2. a review facilitated by an independent school reviewer with a panel comprising the principal, school council president, Senior Education Improvement Leader, and two challenge partners. The panel considers the PRSE and undertakes additional fieldwork activities such as classroom observations, focus groups and interviews. The review concludes with a report proposing draft goals, targets and key improvement strategies for the school’s next SSP.

The school reviewer also completes an assessment of the school’s compliance with the Curriculum and Student Learning Minimum Standard. Compliance with the other Minimum Standards for registered schools is assessed separately through the Minimum Standards Compliance Assessment conducted by the department’s Operational Policy, School Engagement and Compliance Division (OPSEC). As a school, we completed this in May and have met all the requirements.

Throughout this term we have run focus groups with staff, students and parents/carers about our school’s progress against our current strategic plan over the last 3 and a half years. The feedback has been very positive and has reflected the changes in the school throughout this strategic plan. We were also provided with suggestions on what we can improve on and where these different groups would like to see the school in the next 4 years.

On Tuesday I met with our Reviewer and our Senior Education Improvement Leader to plan out the review days which will occur on Wednesday 13th August, Thursday 14th August and Monday 18th August (with Friday the 15th August being a student free day). The review days will consist of classroom observations and focus groups

discussions with staff, parents and students, along with an analysis of our school data and then plan for the new strategic plan, identifying goals, key improvement strategies and targets to measure our progress over the next 4 years.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or would like to provide further feedback.

Uniform

As we have come into the colder weather we are starting to see an increased number of non-uniform items being worn. We have a seen an increase in black clothing being worn under t-shirts and some students attending school in black tracksuit pants.

Our school uniform is decided by school council and it is my responsibility to enforce the uniform that the parents on school council agreed upon. As you are aware, our uniform is predominantly navy blue and many students choose to wear the sports uniform each day. If your child is finding they need to layer up, then navy blue long sleeve tops can be worn under their navy sports t-shirt, or a white long sleeve top under their white t-shirt however, this does not replace wearing a jumper. We are finding a small number of students are wearing non-uniform items and think if they can just put a school t-shirt over the top.

We are very fortunate to have many community organisations offering to support our school families if there is financial hardship. Uniform in a school is a great equaliser and fosters a sense of community and pride among students, making them feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. It also minimises the instances of bullying related to appearance. Next term we will have a focus on our uniform and students wearing non-uniform items will be asked to remove them and offered a second-hand uniform item to wear. If you are unable to afford school uniform for your child, we can support each family with this so please contact Tracey Shelton on 5147 1790.

As of next year, there has been a change to the Department of Education’s uniform policy. Schools and school councils must review and update their existing student dress code policies in line with the new affordability requirements by the end of Term 4, 2025. As part of this review schools must remove any branded ‘below the waist’ items from their school dress codes and consider additional strategies for reducing uniform costs.

From 2026, schools cannot include branded ‘below the waist’ items in their student uniform but they can continue to have branded tops including t-shirts, jumpers and jackets. Schools can determine their own transition timetable for all other locally determined strategies to reduce the cost of school uniforms.

Students may continue to wear existing branded ‘below the waist’ uniform items until outgrown or worn out. Our school council uniform sub-committee met earlier this term to discuss options. The only uniform items that have the school logo on them below the waist are part of the sports uniform and we are currently pricing the cost of these without a logo (tracksuit pants and shorts). It was agreed that the shorts and tracksuit pants would remain the same in all other aspects.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the school on 5147 1790.

E-scooters and bikes

Each term the Principals and Wellbeing Leaders in Wellington meet with the Victoria police to discuss trends that are emerging in our community and we seek advice and support on different issues. In the most recent meeting, the incorrect use of e-scooters and e-bikes was raised as a concern for police in the Wellington Shire. As a result, I would like to share the following information to all families and students so that you are aware of the requirements around the use of these but also for you to speak with your child/ren as we want everyone to be safe. Further information can also be found on the VicPol Road safety website and the Transport Victoria Website

Jennifer Roep

Principal