Principal Report 

In this penultimate newsletter for 2025, I hope you will see a combination of celebration of student life at Berwick College as well as a fierce determination to set the pre-conditions for an outstanding education program in years to come. 

Our Year 12 VCE students have now completed their final examinations and now await results to be delivered on Thursday, 11 December. As a school we have been really pleased with the way the exams have been conducted, the levels of student preparation and our staff capacity to anticipate themes, skill and knowledge areas that have been tested. 

Overall, we believe the Class of 2025 have prepared, and have been prepared, to reach their potential through this process. 

The Year 10 and 11 Semester 2 exams, which are undertaken for the purpose of establishing levels of student performance, over the semester are well under way. Berwick College deliberately replicates the external exam experience for our students five times prior to the culminating experience. It ensures our students feel safe, comfortable and are able to perform optimally at the time of most importance. 

Year 10 and 11 exams are the single most effective indicator of the student's ability to successfully undertake the experience at VCE and provides invaluable performance feedback to both the teachers, students but particularly to parents. 

I hope that parents have been able to engage with the exam experience at home, encouraging and supervising study to prioritise student potential. 

The senior schoolteachers are very much looking forward to making the most of the advantage that students gain by participating in this program. 

From Monday, 24 November, Year 11 students will participate in the 'Step-Up' program in which they complete a week of classes in their 2026 VCE subjects. 

From the 1 December, the Year 10 students will 'Step-Up' into Year 11 and commence their Unit 1 VCE subjects. Throughout the program, students will be introduced to key concepts, terminology and will be introduced to the study designs. They will also be given homework that must be completed over the holiday break. Students will be held to account for the completion of this work. Again, this program is formative in the development of skills and knowledge for the VCE. 

Year 7-9 students will 'Step-Up' into the following year's work in the week beginning Monday, 8 December. They will, however, remain in their 2025 classes and work with their 2025 teachers. 

As I write this newsletter article, the teachers are working on a professional learning day to finalise the new 2026 curriculum documentation in shared and common templates. All teachers will be able to access all areas of a guaranteed and viable curriculum in 2026. 

Later in this newsletter you will read about the Year 9 City Experience last week. I was fortunate to attend the first part of the first day and I have had a lot of extremely positive feedback from both students and parents. 

The learning was fantastic, but we have been truly gratified by the increased social connection that the excursion facilitated. 

It has reinforced our position that these experiences are worth the significant commitment of staff. Next week we will celebrate the Year 9s through the Celebration Evening. While I know that the staff are working hard to recognise every student's growth, they will do so with an emphasis on individual student presentation. 

I am particularly pleased to inform the school community that the relative growth results for our Year 9 students in the NAPLAN tests (the difference in learning growth from year 7 to 9) for 2025 in Reading and Writing now surpass both similar and network schools. In fact, in both these categories, the Berwick College Year 9 student results are now in the top three comparable schools. It means our teaching and learning program is working and our students are enjoying it. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents who were able to make a curriculum contribution this year. The school depends on these contributions to deliver enhanced opportunities and a positive learning environment. Information about parent payments can be found on our school website and will open on Tuesday 26 January. 

Finally, I am very much looking forward seeing many members of our school community at the Presentation Night, at Bunjil Place on Tuesday 2 December. It is shaping up to be a magnificent evening and I am looking forward to announcing the new vision, mission and values to guide us over the coming years. 

Josie Millard - Principal

The Rotary Club of Berwick’s Christmas appeal - For the next two weeks we have the opportunity make a difference to struggling families in our local community. Donations of items such as a small toy, book, Christmas biscuits, cereal or pantry item to Reception would be gratefully received.