Acting Senior School Principal Report

It is hard to believe that we are more than halfway through Term 3. Senior School has been a hive of activity with so many wonderful events to support the growth of our students.  Our Year 10 students have had a camp to Mt Buller and continue to thrive in the dance rehearsals for the Presentation Ball; our Year 11 students have Friday lunchtime barbecues each fortnight as a chance to socialise and connect with their teachers and each other; and the Year 12 students have challenged the staff to sporting events including netball, a Mario Kart tournament and footy. Thank you to all students for their willingness to embrace these activities and to the staff for volunteering their time to run them.

2025 Subject Selections

Since the Week 3 College newsletter, our staff and students have been kept busy with subject selections for 2025.  Our very first Year 10 into Year 11 Course Counselling Day proved to be successful with students receiving subject and career advice from members of our Senior School and Leadership Teams.  The individualised support offered to students and their families was invaluable and encouraged students to be open-minded about their future pathway.  Cooperation between home and the College is most important in fostering a sound education and positive outcomes for students.  Thank you to all families for their engagement in this new process.

Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey

Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey and is seeking your feedback.  The survey, offered by the Department of Education, is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement.  We sent you an invitation to complete the survey via email on Monday, 29 July.  If you have misplaced this, please contact the General Office and we can resend this invitation to you.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will remain open online until Friday, 30 August 2024.  Your opinions are important to us and will contribute to identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies. The department will use the results from the survey for research purposes and to improve outcomes for students.

The survey is being conducted online and only takes 20 minutes to complete. It can be completed on any internet enabled device (desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone) and is compatible with most browsers.

VCE Attendance

The Norwood Secondary College Attendance Policy is aligned with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment's (VCAA) expectation of a 90% attendance to achieve a satisfactory VCE completion.  If students do not adhere to the attendance requirements, they may receive an N result in one or more subjects/units.

Regular attendance is essential to enable coursework tasks to be completed, mainly in class time, thus ensuring authenticity when assessing student work.  Furthermore, students missing explicit teaching instruction are at risk of missing key knowledge and skills required for assessments.

In summary:

• To satisfactorily complete the VCE, students must meet the attendance requirement of 90% for each subject in both Years 11 and Year 12.  Attendance at all scheduled VCE classes is compulsory.
• Students who fail to attend a scheduled class must provide a medical certificate or other evidence upon return to school.  The absence is then approved or unapproved.  PLEASE NOTE: Holidays during school terms are not an approved absence.
• Students who do not meet the above requirement or who do not attend at least 90% of scheduled classes (regardless of whether they are approved or unapproved) will be unable to meet Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and College Attendance requirements.