Letter from the Editor

I can't imagine what it's like being a film director at a premiere screening. The red carpet rolls out, the ‘who’s who’ of the entertainment industry get lit up with camera flashes and the eyes of the mere normal people eagerly await the flood of movie recommendations and social critics review of their latest piece of art. I don’t ever think a director is going to sit through their film and think “eh. Maybe not my best.” There’s too much pride at stake.

Recently, the College has undergone a review- a Department of Education process that happens every 4 years that sets out the strategic plan for the next few years. Over two days of review, a panel of 6 reviewers ventured around our school; met with staff, students, parents and all sorts of focus groups to determine how the school was travelling, and where to next. This gave the leadership team at the College this reflection time, which to be fair was a bit strange; with the dynamic nature of schools, there are not many times where you get to sit back for a day and think, "yeah, we're doing some good stuff." 

I wasn’t too heavily involved in the actual review days, but I was privy to the initial conversations about the College from the feedback session the review team gave regarding the College and I can I just say, some of the feedback really gave me a sense of pride. The comment that stuck with me was from a reviewer that participated in the previous review. She remarked that the school felt like a completely different school to what it was 4 years ago, showing the leaps of improvement that the school had made in a relatively short time. The other sentiment that was shared amongst all the reviewers was the collective nature of how fondly our staff and students speak about our School and the connections that are formed over the high school journey.

Are we perfect? In short, no, but then again, I challenge you to show me a perfect school. Are we heading in the right direction? Absolutely. The data that is recorded across many sources suggest that we are making progress towards the betterment of the school and the educational outcomes of all our students. There is certainly still work to be done, but there is also a collective ‘want’ of many the College stakeholders to see success for our young people.

The outcome of the strategic plan is yet to be finalised, but I’m looking forward to sharing this with the community in due course. If you’re interested, the Annual General Meeting for the College will be held on the 4th of May at 5:30pm at the school- feel free to come along and hear first hand what the next 4 years are going to look like.

Until then, akin to the Spielberg’s and Tarantino’s of the movie world, for us it is back to it; making the latest instalment of “the story of Heathmont College 2026,” which is sure to be our best one yet.