Message from our
Campus Principal
Dan Swallow
Dan Swallow
The end of the year is an exceptionally busy, but exciting time.
I have had the privilege of conducting the Academic Award assemblies for our year levels with so many awards going to worthy recipients. I am always exceptionally proud of the efforts that our students make and their achievements. They reinforce the message that they are part of a great school and reassure me that as a College we will continue to excel academically into the future. Later in the term, our College will come together for the College Awards Presentation and I look forward to seeing our students being successful recipients in the College’s major awards.
Our Year 9 and 10 Human Powered Vehicle students have recently returned from their weekend away to Maryborough where they have presented their year’s work and raced their vehicles against other schools. Again, a tremendous success with one of the team’s achievement first place in their category for the design portion of the event. This makes me most proud because it is where they have demonstrated the learning that has taken place throughout the year. All the teams were really competitive on the track too. We look forward to seeing how they develop this further into next year.
At the time of writing, I’m looking forward to our music students presenting Kurnai on the Lawn next week. Over my time with Kurnai, I’ve seen our music program grow and develop. More recently this has been under the leadership of Chris Gretton who advocates strongly for our music program and ensures that we are participating actively in our community as well as at our school. We’ve also been lucky to have Kathryn Sims join us at Morwell Campus this year to work with Chris and encourage the growth of our music program at the campus. She has been an incredible asset.
We soon welcome our new Grade 6s on board for our Orientation Program in Headstart, having already farewelled our Year 10s to the Senior Campus to begin their Year 11 studies. This is an exciting time for new and old students as they begin a new journey. For some, this is at a new school, for others a new year level. Headstart brings an opportunity to meet their new teachers, get to know their new classes and go away to Christmas holidays excited for what 2024 will bring.
We are currently working hard to secure our staffing for 2024 and are excited to announce that we have resolved a number of changes to our teaching team already. We welcome Tarna Flake to teach English at Morwell Campus. She has been with our College for a number of years already, working at Churchill and University Campuses. Robert Xu joins us from Churchill Campus to teach Maths. Karen Anders returns to Morwell Campus after a number of years away and will be one of our Learning Specialists in 2024. Ben Campbell joins us as a Science teacher in 2024, having been with us for a few weeks earlier in the year. Roxy Hibberson, who worked with us as an aide for some time and left to teach primary during the year returns to teach Maths and PE in 2024. Nicole Ashton, who has been a valuable member of our College Leadership but working at both the Region office and at another school in recent years also rejoins the College at Morwell Campus in 2024 to teach English and Humanities.
As much as these are a number of changes, we are also pleased to have some consistency for our students in 2024 with our Year 7 and 8 continuing to be led by Daniel Murphy, Year 9 by Ross Johnson and Year 10 by Sheryl Tangi. These are familiar faces for our students and families and we are lucky to have them continue with us as managers and advocates for our students. Please communicate with them about any concerns you have.
With the year drawing to a close, this is my last opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. I look forward to connecting with you all at various times over the final weeks but mostly to seeing our families and students back again in 2024 for another successful year.
Mr Dan Swallow
Morwell Campus Principal