Principal's Team Report

Welcome back to Term 2, everyone! We hope you had a refreshing break and are energized for the busy term ahead. We’ve kicked off the term with some important events and have exciting updates to share. 

College Athletics Day 

We had a fantastic start to the term with our College Athletics Day held at Casey Athletics Facility. The weather was perfect, and it was a great event to celebrate our school spirit. I extend a big thank you to Kerrie Lay and Sally Pryde for organising the event along with the staff and students contributed to the success of the day. 

Learning and Wellbeing Conferences 

Our Learning and Wellbeing Conferences took place on Tuesday April 23, 2024. The Conferences are crucial for fostering support and communication between home and school to ensure the holistic development and success of our students. Based on family feedback last year, we conducted the conferences online this term.  

Your continued feedback is invaluable for us to enhance future events. Please share your thoughts via a Compass Insights survey accessible via your Compass Parent Portal. The link will show in a box on the right side of your portal homepage: 

College Production – Mama Mia 

Our eagerly awaited Mama Mia production will run in the first weeks of June with six performances across two weeks. Miss Ellis, the students and parents have been putting in many hours of rehearsal and set design, which will be enhanced with an incursion next week and a production camp in May. We encourage everyone to attend to show support for our school and the dedication of our talented students. Tickets will be available for purchase later this week; keep an eye on the College website and Compass for details. We anticipate a memorable experience with opportunities to sing along!  

Attendance Matters 

A reminder of the importance of regular school attendance for student success. Attendance every day, on time and students being organised, counts towards achieving their academic and personal goals. We value our partnership with families in supporting student attendance and thank you for the work done so far this year. Communication is key.  

As part of the College’s Annual Implementation Plan, a key point we wish to improve is to reduce the total number of students with 20 or more days of absence across the school year; this translates to maximise opportunities for students to engage with their learning, with staff and their peers at school. The Department of Education labels 20+ days of absence as ‘chronic absenteeism’ and is a great concern due to its impact of students achieving their learning and wellbeing outcomes.  

Based on our current trajectory and support from home, we are confident that there will be a significant improvement for 2024 compared to 2023. In sharing this data with you, we hope to raise awareness within our College community and we are happy to engage families with further supports where required. The table below summarises the key absence ranges for 2023 and 2024 (so far): 

Staffing  

We are advertising to fill three full-time staff vacancies; Mathematics/Digital Technologies; Health and Physical Education; and Humanities. We aim to minimise the impacted classes by ensuring our current staff from the same Learning Area takes the class or a subject-specific CRT takes the class. We ask for your patience while we address these vacancies. If you have any concerns regarding this for your student, please contact the College so a time can be arrange to discuss your students’ context. 

Thank you for your ongoing support. As always, there are many events to look forward to across the Term 2 calendar. Let’s make Term 2 a productive and successful period for our students.  

On behalf of the Principal Team,  

Warm regards, 

Jeremy Woods