What a great photo! Our year 10 students are sitting their end of year exams in the library this week for all of their core subjects; the year 11 students finished their exams this week and the VCE students sat their exams over the past 3 weeks. The focus at school over this time has been on learning, commitment and perserverence and the students have shown they possess these qualities in buckets.

We enjoyed the celebrations with our Year 12 students a few weeks ago as they finished their 13 years of secondary schooling with a breakfast and assembly at school and a day out together bowling. I really commend them on their behaviour and attendance in the VCE exams this year. We eagerly look forward to receiving the results in December and then helping celebrate the achievements of this cohort. This Friday night they will attend the Year 12 formal along with ten of their teachers. The Graduation ceremony will be held on Friday 6 December at the University of Melbourne Science Gallery and families have received invitiations to attend this formal event. We are delighted that the Minister for Education will also be in attendance, along with the local member Ms Kathleen Matthews-Ward, the scool council president Ms Vinnie Lonigro, and the Senior Education leader for our area, Ms Amanda Busitil.

Our students have certainly stepped up this year. We have noticed significant improvements in classroom engagement and in students aspirations to do their best both academically and in all extra curricular activities. We are excited about the prospect of moving into the new buildings next year and look forward to seeing the students learning in such a wonderful environment.

This newsletter covers a number of very worthwhile excursions and opportunities for students. You will read about two excellent activities for students in the STEM classes we run at the college. STEM has been a popular subject in schools for some years now and we are excited about the prospect of having new buildings next year where students will have terrific facilities to learn new skills. It also leads nicely into our events at our partner school SCOE at the university of Melbourne, where students are able to participate in many activities throughout the year.

STEM stands for SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING and MATHEMETICS. All of these discipines interact in some way and our teachers are exploring these interactions with students in their classrooms, allowing scope for creativity and discovery.

I love reading about the students' who participated in the Innovators' program, provided to us through the region. These students have learned about sustainability and the urgency for the world leaders to take responsibility for looking after the planet. Our students are our future leaders and we are in good hands!

And lastly, I again invite parents to come in to the school and see how the buildings are progressing.

I hope you enjoy reading and sharing our celebrations!

Dr Lisa Vinnicombe

Executive Principal

$400 School Savings Bonus