Leadership Report

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Welcome back to an all-new school year. I hope you've had a wonderful break and are ready to start the year with excitement and enthusiasm. A warm welcome to our newest Saltwater College families, we hope that your experience at the school so far has been pleasant and enjoyable for both you and your children. We look forward to meeting every one of you throughout the year. We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome all new and existing staff members to Saltwater College. We are looking forward to having you onboard and working with you in 2024. 

It was wonderful to see so many happy and smiling faces as we welcomed our new intake of prep students this week. The children were very settled and enthusiastic to be at school, as were some of the tearful parents at pick up and drop off.  

We start 2024 building on our impressive results from 2024. It is with immense pride that Saltwater College has produced outstanding data across all areas of the school, influencing student learning and achievement, wellbeing, and engagement. We appreciate your ongoing support and collaboration as we work in partnership to continually achieve these outstanding results for our students. 

Looking ahead in 2024, the commencement of our capital works project, made possible by the $37 million funding we have secured, will begin. The project will present operational challenges for our school in the short term – from 2024 to 2026. We are currently in the planning phase, and we will keep you informed of the developments as the project goes underway.  

Secondary Campus Information - Year 9 

To ensure our school can cater to its growing population across P-9, the Victorian Government has recently funded a significant capital works project, as mentioned above. This investment will expand our permanent capacity and is expected to be completed by the start of the 2027 school year.  

Due to our expanding student population, we have temporarily relocated some of our senior students to Homestead Senior Secondary College while works to increase capacity are underway. To support us during this period, Homestead Senior Secondary College have welcomed more than 140 Year 9 students at their school from Term 1 2024. In Term 1 2025, more than 300 Year 7 and 8 students will follow, also learning from Homestead Senior Secondary College campus. As you may know, our school has a strong connection with Homestead Senior Secondary College, with the two schools only 400m or so apart. We know that many Saltwater P-9 College students plan to transition to Homestead Senior Secondary College each year in Year 10. 

We anticipate construction works for the expansion project to begin towards the end of 2024, which will deliver additional permanent teaching and learning spaces for our school. We look forward to sharing updates throughout the capital works process. With the two colleges already working closely, this exciting partnership represents a significant milestone for our educational institutions and holds the promise of a brighter future for all our students. 

We will provide ongoing updates to our school community regarding these changes and will continue to work with the Education Department to ensure any questions are addressed as soon as possible. As always, thank you for your ongoing support to Saltwater P-9 College. 

School Growth 

Our school population is continuously growing, and our current numbers are approximately 2060 students and staff of 201. We understand that there may be congestion at drop off and pick up times. As a school, we have organised staggered school start times and finish times to spread out the arrival and departure times. We have created designated Drop-off and Pick-up Zones on Keira Place, to help streamline traffic flow and prevent congestion. For the school and community to work together, we please ask that where possible, families walk, bike, or use public transport, rather than drive. We encourage you to organise carpooling groups. Using a combination of these strategies, can help alleviate traffic congestion and create a safer and more efficient environment for everyone involved, significantly reducing the number of individual vehicles arriving at the school, therefore easing congestion at peak times. 

Leadership Structure 2024  

We are fortunate to continue our distributed leadership model this year with an Assistant Principal appointed for each cohort. Every year level has its own designated Assistant Principal who oversees that cohort, and all parent communications/concerns will need to be directed to the relevant Assistant Principal. We also have two designated Wellbeing Assistant Principals, one for the Primary sector and one for the Secondary sector.  

The Assistant Principals, cohorts and additional leadership responsibility are: 

Prep – Taxia Katsouranis & Director of Teaching and Learning 

Year One – Hayley Mann & Data, Assessment and Reporting Primary sector 

Year Two – Brent Syme & Whole School Attendance  

Year Three – David Vivoda and Whole School Numeracy 

Year Four – Matt Hart & Whole School Literacy  

Year Five -Danielle Colling and Whole School Student Voice and Agency 

Year Six – Michael Nicolaides & International Baccalaureate Programme P-9 

Specialists- Mark McInerney - OHS, Intervention and School operations 

Wellbeing Primary sector - Amanda Palombi 

Wellbeing Secondary sector - Sarah O’Connor  

Ryan Ma- Data, Assessment and Reporting Secondary sector 

Joseph Doyle - Director of Teaching and Learning 7-9 

Every year level also has a designated Leading Teacher who supports their team in all areas of curriculum. Due to the current shortage of teachers, they have been placed in the classroom for one/two days of the week. The Leading Teachers will support teachers in their cohort with coaching and mentoring as well as provide Intervention and enrichment to our students.  

Our Leading Teachers are: 

Prep - Gramatiki Alexiou 

Year 1- Rohan Crowle  

Year 2 - Sarah Mason 

Year 3- Denae Vines  

Year 4- Deanna Kotevski 

Year 5 - Amberly Morison  

Year 6 - Sarah Grenfell  

Wellbeing - Keira Barlee 

IB PYP & MYP- Maria Nardo 

Literacy/Humanities - Maria Nardo 

Numeracy - Dylan Haeusler 

Student Engagement - 7-9 Chris Mernik 

In addition to the above leaders, we have also allocated Learning Specialists. Our Learning Specialists have a deep knowledge and expertise in high quality teaching and learning. They have a range of responsibilities which include supporting students and teachers across the school.  

Our Learning Specialists are:  

Stephanie Day  

Montana Vunder Messis  

James Peterson 

Gemma Fowler  

School Council 

School council assists in the efficient governance of our school and ensures that its decisions affecting students of the school are made in the best interest of the students. Saltwater College has recently notified our community about nominations for vacant positions on our College’s School Council. We look forward to announcing our School Council members in the near future. 

Curriculum Days for 2024 

Our school has five allocated curriculum days which have been approved by our School Council: 

1.Monday 29 January 

2.Tuesday 30 January 

3.Friday 23 February 

4.Monday 4 November 

5.Friday 20 December 

Please mark these days in your 2024 diary as students do not attend school on these days. 

Term dates for 2024 

Please be aware of the 2024 term days and plan accordingly for vacations and other important events.  

Mandarin Language Classes at Saltwater College 

Saltwater College is excited to introduce Mandarin language classes as a second language alongside our existing Spanish language program. This expansion in language offerings is a significant enhancement to our curriculum. 

Mandarin classes will be scheduled on a rotational basis as specialist classes for Years 1-6 classes. This unique approach allows students to explore the richness of both languages, providing them with a diverse linguistic experience Mandarin, being one of the most widely spoken languages globally, offers students the opportunity to delve into a vibrant culture and opens doors to numerous prospects. We eagerly anticipate the commencement of Mandarin classes and the continued success of our Spanish language program. 

This exciting addition reflects our commitment to providing students with a well-rounded education that prepares them for a globalised world. We look forward to the enriching linguistic journey that awaits our students at Saltwater College. 

To launch our Mandarin Language program and to celebrate the Lunar New Year, we hosted a special appearance from the the Hong De Lion Dance Association. This event is intended bring good luck and fortune to our Saltwater P-9 community.

Congratulations

Congratulations to all our students for a fantastic start to school. Wishing all our students a fantastic school year filled with learning, growth and memorable moments. We can’t wait to watch you grow, learn and develop. Welcome to a year of endless possibilities!