Principal's Report & Captain's Corner

Open Day 2026

We were thrilled to welcome several hundred families to our Open Day on Wednesday 22 April. Alongside our regular classes, students showcased their talents and skills through displays and performances in Music, Outdoor Ed, Food Tech, and our Basketball and Soccer Academies. 

They also were able to view the Live FM recording in the Library (see below and here for more detail and to listen/watch the recording).

Families wrapped up their visit with a principal's address, and a video of this is available to view below:

None of this would have been possible without our fantastic Student Ambassadors, who led the tours with great confidence and warmth.

Since Open Day, we have completed three post-Open Day school tours, all of which have been oversubscribed. It is wonderful to see such strong and continuing interest in our school.

Live FM

A standout addition for Open Day was our Year 11 VCE Vocational Major students partnering with Ralph from Live FM to develop their writing and speaking skills around the topic 'Coburg Across the Ages.' Students traced the roots of our school and suburb through oral history, eventually conducting interviews with 17 guests—including graduates from the 1956 cohort, current Mayor Nat Abboud, and Doug Morgan, a former bank robber turned prison reform advocate who now speaks with current inmates about turning their lives around. The breadth of stories captured was remarkable, with some graduates sharing memories of CHS Senior, others now studying law, and many reflecting on what this place has meant to them. Throughout the process, our Year 11 students demonstrated real professionalism, managing logistics, looking after guests and creating quality content. Particular credit to Aidan C., whose people skills and genuine warmth made every guest feel welcome. The finished podcast and filming have been finalised and are available here:

Big thanks to AP Gary Vella for leading this significant undertaking.

Kool Skools

Earlier this month I was fortunate to be able to drop in to a morning of our students' recording their 2026 Kool Skools release at Empire Music Studios. It was great to hear from some of our senior students, Eloise and Astrid, who have had the opportunity to form different bands across the years, and have now had the opportunity to record in a professional music studio, four or five times across their time at Coburg High. Here's a snippet:

We can't wait to hear the recordings later this year, and see students performing in Music events this week (Week 6) and Week 10.

Year 7 Camp

Our Year 7s headed to ADANAC at Yarra Junction in April for their annual camp, and by all accounts it was a fantastic few days. We received wonderful feedback from teachers, students, and parents alike, and to top it all off, the weather was perfect! See a report later in this newsletter.

Technology Building

Good progress continues to be made on our $17.8m new Technology Building, due to open later this year. When you next visit our school, you might notice the recycled bricks on all external walls, many of which came from local brickworks, as this photo from inside the site compound confirms:

Trivia Night

1. Just twelve tickets left for our Trivia Night on Friday 12 June - book here

2. Donations requested!

Email parents.association@coburg.vic.edu.au if you are able to contribute and your business will be featured in this newsletter and our social media.

Good news - Better buses for Coburg!

I was pleased to be on hand when Minister for Public and Active Transport Gabrielle Williams announced bus improvements for Coburg, to be rolled out in 2027. The 526 (Coburg-Coburg North) and 561 (Pascoe Vale-Coburg-La Trobe Uni) will both see longer operating hours and more frequent services. Thanks to the hard work and advocacy of the @526buscampaign, @safer_murray_rd and local MPs @anthonycianflonemp and @nathanlambertmp to help bring this about. For the past five years we have tracked how students get to and from our school - 79% walk, ride or catch PT  to school and this increases to an amazing 85% after school. It’s no surprise then that our students’ rate of daily physical activity is higher than similar schools. This announcement can only increase these figures even further. Each student making their own way to and from school also means one less car on the road, easing congestion and making our roads safer.

School Council Corner - Sub-committees call out

Our most recent School Council meeting, we continued our work around advocacy for better facilities for the school, in light of the upcoming state election.

This is also a call out for parent, staff and student interest in joining the follow School Council sub-committees:

Finance Sub-commitee - handles many of school council’s routine financial responsibilities each month, oversees the annual cash budget, makes recommendations to School Council. Typically meets during business hours twice per term, online.

Walking & Riding (W&R) Sub-committee - aims to encourage active travel and making local roads safer for students. Typically meets Fridays during school hours in person at the school, twice per term.

Coburg High Engagement Group (CHEG) - helps to engage with the school community and local decision-makers to achieve better facilities and resources for the school. Meets on an as-needs basis.

Policy Sub-committee - reviews and recommends proposed School Council policies. Meets on an as needs basis.

Risk Management Sub-committee - reviews and provides advice to School Council on risk assessments, particularly for new camps and other high risk activities. Meets on an as needs basis.

Interested? Send me an email to brent.houghton@coburg.vic.edu.au by Wednesday 3 June.

Being on time matters - here's the data to prove it

As most will know we have had a focus on getting to both school and to class in the past couple of years. At last week's Student Free Day, I shared with our staff some excellent news - lates across the school day are down an incredible 17% in 2026 compared to the same time last year.

But why is this important, and why have we made it a priority?

This isn't about punishment or compliance—it's about setting students up for success. When students arrive late to school or to any class, they miss the start of lessons where teachers provide instructions, context, and warm-up activities. They spend the first part of class catching up instead of moving forward. Being on time to school AND to every class gives students the best possible chance to learn, understand, and succeed. 

We've recently conducted an analysis of our school's attendance data, tracking 248 of our own CHS students over the 24 months between Year 7 and Year 9 NAPLAN. For these students, we compared their punctuality with their learning growth as measured by NAPLAN. Note that 'High Growth' students can come from students who were low or high achieving in Year 7 - it's how they grew after Year 7 NAPLAN that we measure. We tracked both late arrivals to school and late arrivals to individual classes throughout the day. Here are our findings: 

Students who achieved high growth in Writing between Year 7 and 9 were late about 1.5 times per month, while students with low growth in Writing averaged about 2.4 per month (60% more). 

We saw a similar pattern in Numeracy, where high achievers averaged 1.4 times late per month compared to 2.3 for low achievers.  

Top performers, those students with high growth between Year 7 and 9 in all three main NAPLAN areas of Reading, Writing and Numeracy, averaged a late only about once a month, well below the school average of twice a month.

Gardens

At a recent School Council meeting, student reps Sophie and Adam relayed the thoughts of students as they did 'vox pops' around the school at break times. While there are many things to keep working on, it was pleasing to hear that students have great pride in our beautiful school grounds and the native gardens and trees added in recent times. 

Fabel, CHS Seeing Eye Dog in Training (& Brent Houghton, Principal!)

School Captain's Corner

It has been a great start to the term, and the Captains’ Team has already been super busy with everything happening around the school.

Over the start of this year we’ve been working hard to organise our Year 12 formal. In Week 2 of this term the captains and the entire year level were able to attend the event. The night was super fun and we had a great time dancing and enjoying the night with all of our friends. The amazing attire of the night lit up the entire venue, students celebrated the night through an awesome photo booth and awards across a range of fun categories. 

In Week 3 we celebrated our Athletics Carnival, it was great to see everyone dressed up and cheering on their House. The Athletics Carnival brought strong House spirit, teamwork, and respect from our cohort and we feel grateful for the enthusiasm and encouragement shared across the day.

This term the Free Fruit program has returned to the bottom of A building, this is an awesome new addition so that students can have a fresh snack at recess and lunch. This program was something which the Captain’s team fought hard for after it was previously discontinued due to rubbish issues. We are excited to see it return and hope students are just as excited to have it back for everyone to enjoy.