From the Principal Class

Dear Viewbank College Community, 

Another busy few weeks. Our Autumn music festival was another outstanding community event, with over 30 soloists and ensembles showcasing their talents. Congratulations and thanks to the parents who supported FOPA on the barbecue and to the music staff, whose dedication to the program is commendable. 

The VCE Theatre Studies class also showcased their performance work, presenting “The Laramie Proj” to full houses over two nights. Congratulations to Pas Bartalotta and the Theatre students on incredibly moving storytelling.  

A group of our Year 9 Lead students also performed last week, part of their Lead passion projects. Well done!  Our Lead program will be highlighted with other projects coming up on Instagram and in the newsletter. 

We held our first STEAM Academy presentation last Friday. This will be followed up by further presentations for students. Thanks to Raga (STEAM captain) and Veena Nair for their work in organising these events. Friends of STEAM met for the first time last Monday. If anyone is interested in joining this important parent group, please message the school. 

Buildings and grounds 

The College is continuing to look for opportunities to improve our physical spaces and learning environments for our students and staff. 

I am interested to know what our community prioritises in terms of upgrades to our spaces. 

On Wednesday, June 4 at 6.00 pm, we will be holding a strategic planning meeting to discuss our College masterplan. 

This meeting will assist in prioritising any future Government funding for upgrades. 

If anyone is interested in attending this meeting, please contact Deanne Ioannidis on 8458 2811 or email deanne.ioannidis@education.vic.gov.au. 

College climate 

I am making another appeal to families and students to follow the Department of Education mobile phone legislation. 

Phones are not allowed to be used by students during the school day unless a medical exemption is in place. I want to acknowledge and congratulate students and families on the transition to cash/card use at the canteen. 

Students must use their lockers to store mobile devices. We still have approximately 30% of lockers without locks. This means some students store phones, laptops without security. We cannot guarantee the safety of any property if locks are not used. 

It also means that students are carrying their phones with them. This continues to be a major distraction in classes. Recently, we have had students using phones to make Tik Toks onsite during the school day. 

This is unacceptable and a breach of our phone policy and there will be consequences. 

Please have the conversation with your young person and purchase a lock if needed. 

Sharon Grimes, Principal

Emma Ford, Assistant Principal

Rachael Smith, Assistant Principal

Anna Crosswhite, Assistant Principal

Penelope Cleghorn, Assistant Principal