Principal's Report
Vermont Secondary College
2025 VICTORIAN EDUCATION EXCELLENCE AWARDS WINNERS
The 2025 Victorian Education Excellence Awards winners are outstanding teachers, principals, business managers, and support staff who demonstrate exceptional dedication and achievement in government education, selected from 41 finalists.
The Outstanding Secondary Teacher award is in recognition of effective and innovative teachers who have demonstrated excellence in teaching practice at a Victorian government secondary school and have made a significant contribution to improving student learning and wellbeing.
This year Mary Zervos of Vermont Secondary College was nominated and attended an awards ceremony last Friday evening having been short listed in the final three outstanding secondary teacher section. Making the final three is a fantastic achievement, congratulations to Mary on this fantastic, and well earned, recognition.
'High school teacher Mary Zervos has been named as a finalist in the 2025 Victorian Education Excellence Awards, nominated for the Outstanding Secondary Teacher award. Mary began teaching in 1984 at Wellington Secondary College and has been at Vermont Secondary College since 1991 where she is the Head of Learning and Teaching. She was previously Head of Mathematics and Numeracy.
She has transformed mathematics learning at Vermont, improving both student performance and attitudes.
She promotes maths as a vital life skill through her student-centred teaching and as an instructional leader, oversees curriculum planning across all year levels'.
Neos Kosmos -
More information about Mary, and the event, can also be found at -
The Department of Education -
https://www.vic.gov.au/victorian-education-excellence-awards-winners
The Age -
YEAR 12 CELEBRATION WEEK
A huge thank you to the Year 12 students (the class of 2025) for the way they conducted themselves over their final week of classes and in a wide range of celebratory activities.
Thank you also to the Program Managers for all their organisation of these events and the Heads of House, Student Managers and all other staff involved in the program over the week. Best wishes to the students over the exam period, we look forward to celebrating your results with you.
STATE ATHLETICS
State athletics was held on Monday 20th of October at the Melbourne Sports Centres – Lakeside Stadium. Vermont Secondary College had many individuals and relay teams competing on the day and finished 15th in the state out of 240 schools, a fantastic performance. Well done to all the athletes on your achievements and to Amy Malander and David Clements for all their work supporting and coaching the students at, and/or to, the State finals.
For full results of the days competition see the sports section of this newsletter.
COLLEGE COUNCIL MEETING 21ST OCTOBER
College Council had their meeting on Tuesday 21st October. They were given the annual presentation on Child Safety which is mandated by the Department of Education. Council accepted several service agreements from various providers and these contracts will be ratified shortly by the legal department of the Department of Education.
The Council received an update on the development of the newly installed classrooms. The first 8 classrooms have been installed at the front of the school, and it is envisioned that those rooms will be used for year 8 and commerce. The replacement of the classrooms near Devlin Street will have to wait till Whitehorse City Council has given permission to trim some trees so that a crane can move through that area. Also, any work in that area has to wait till after the year 12 exams as noise from that the building site will affect the exam areas.
College council approved the reports from their various subcommittees, and they received a verbal report from the student representatives. The VSC Council has also approved the 2026 Parent Payments and reduced the overall number of contributions next year. More information regarding Parent Payments for 2026 can be found in the News from the General Office tab in this newsletter.
Council President Frank Drost
MELBOURNE CUP DAY – TUESDAY 4TH NOVEMBER
Parents and guardians please note that Monday 3rd November (the day before Melbourne Cup Day) will be a normal school day for Years 7, 8 and 9 under DE (Department of Education) guidelines however we will run an alternate timetable, which will merge classes, if required on the day. Years 10, 11 & 12 will have this day as a study day in preparation for exams and for the completion of set work.
TERM 4 DATES 2025
Start Monday 6/10/25 – Finish Friday 19/12/25
2026 TERM DATES:
Term 1: Tuesday 27 January (Note students start Wednesday 28/1/26) to Thursday 2 April Term 2: Monday 20 April to Friday 26 June
Term 3: Monday 13 July to Friday 18 September
Term4: Monday 5 October to Friday 18 December