Need to Know 

It's great to be back!

It has been wonderful to return to St Helena after spending Term 3 as Acting Principal at Viewbank College. While I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Viewbank, there really is no place like home!

One of the great benefits of my time away has been the opportunity to forge a strong collegiate relationship with one of our neighbouring schools. There is enormous value in schools working together, sharing ideas, expertise and opportunities, and I look forward to seeing this partnership continue to grow.

I would also like to extend a huge thank you to Daniel Stephens, who stepped into the role of Acting Principal during my absence. I am very grateful for his leadership, commitment and care for our school community throughout the term.

Locker Security – Some Changes Ahead

Our locker bay roller doors have certainly seen better days! Many are now in desperate need of replacement, and their stiffness has also created an Occupational Health and Safety concern for staff who are required to open and close them each day.

After carefully reviewing the considerable costs of replacing these doors, we have made the decision not to continue separately securing the locker bays with roller doors, except in areas that sit outside our fenced perimeter.

St Helena is now almost entirely fenced, providing a secure school environment. We are confident that students' belongings can be kept safe, provided students take responsibility for properly locking their lockers.

Unfortunately, we regularly see lockers left wide open during the school day, sometimes with laptops, phones and other valuable items clearly visible. No security system can compensate for belongings being left unsecured!

I ask all parents and carers to have a conversation with their child about the importance of locking their locker every time they leave it. It is a simple habit that can prevent considerable distress and inconvenience.  The college will not take responsibility for belongings stolen or missing when students have not secured their locks.  

The exception to this change will be locker bays outside our secured fencing, predominantly those used by Year 10 students. These areas will continue to have roller doors to provide an additional level of security.

Farewell to the Class of 2026

Today we farewelled our Year 12 students in true St Helena style, with a special breakfast, a final student-led assembly, some wonderfully creative dress-ups and, of course, their final parade out of the College.

These occasions are always a mixture of celebration, nostalgia and a little sadness. For many of our students, St Helena has been a significant part of their lives for six years, and today marked the end of a very important chapter.

I would particularly like to commend the Class of 2026 for the way they have approached their final days. They have embraced the fun and excitement of finishing school while demonstrating genuine respect for their fellow students, our staff and the College. It is entirely possible to celebrate enthusiastically and responsibly, and our Year 12s have shown us exactly how that can be done.

To our graduating students, thank you for the contribution you have made to St Helena. You leave with our warmest wishes and our confidence in the exciting futures that lie ahead.

For those preparing for VCE examinations, I wish you every success over the coming weeks. Remember that your examination results are important, but they are not the sum total of who you are or what you are capable of achieving.

I look forward to celebrating with you all again at Graduation!

Looking Ahead to 2027 – Changes to Bell Times

As part of our ongoing commitment to reviewing and improving the way we operate, we have been evaluating our Strong Start program and listening carefully to feedback from both students and staff.

As a result, we will be making some minor adjustments to our bell times for 2027.

Our Strong Start program will become a five-minute session incorporated into the beginning of Period 1, rather than operating as a separate session.  Strong Start will be run by the Period 1 teacher and will continue to be the time students check receive announcements and ensure they are ready for the rest of the day.  

This change has several benefits. It will maintain the important daily connection and organisation that Strong Start provides, while reducing one movement around the school for students. It will also allow us to start the school day five minutes later and finish the school day five minutes earlier.

That final adjustment may seem small, but for students who have been struggling to reach their afternoon buses on time, those extra five minutes will make a very welcome difference!

Note: schools are required to provide 300 minutes of instruction time per day.  Our new times still fulfill this requirement.  

The revised bell times will be communicated to families again well before the beginning of the 2027 school year.

This is a good example of how listening to student and staff voice can lead to practical improvements that make the school day work better for everyone.

Student Behaviour 

We are delighted to share some fantastic news about the positive progress being made across our school community! As we move towards the end of our school year, our students have already recorded a whopping 8,911 Merits. This is credit to each of our students who consistently demonstrates the College values. Each student should be proud of every merit they receive.

Compared to this time last year, the number of negative behaviours recorded has reduced by an impressive 240. This is a significant achievement and reflects the ongoing efforts of our students and staff to create a positive, safe and supportive learning environment.

Our student survey results also highlight encouraging improvements in two important areas: managing bullying and respect for diversity have both improved by 5% since last year. These results are a positive indication of the work being done to foster a school culture where students feel respected, included and supported.

We are proud of these achievements and the growing focus on making positive choices, treating others with kindness and celebrating the differences that make our community unique.

Thank you to our families for your continued support in reinforcing these important values at home. By working together, we can build on this progress and continue to ensure that every student at St Helena feels safe and valued.

St Helena Feminist Collective 

My name is Mads Bethune, and I have been the leader of Feminist Collective for nearly 3 years. This year, as busy as it was, proved to be a good year for Feminist Collective. We started off by celebrating International Women’s Day, inviting staff, students and members of the local council to a morning tea, headlined by the star guests of Ash Riddell and Jasmine Garner, two North Melbourne AFLW players. The morning tea was a massive success, with many questions asked and experiences shared surrounding their involvement in women’s sports, and how they are role models to many young girls everywhere.

 The majority of Feminist Collective time this year was spent having lunch time discussions around real world issues, and celebrating achievements that have occurred in Australia and across the world, including things like Australia reaching the 8th place out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report.

I have loved being able to lead this club, and share news of things happening in the world. I have enjoyed the difficult discussions and the fun times that I have shared with the leading teacher, Sian Clarke, and the many students who have participated across the year. It is my pleasure to hand over to Maddie Papanestora, who will be leading Feminist Collective in 2026.

Hi everyone, its Maddy P here. 

I am very excited to be the next leader of the Feminist Collective in 2027, and I am proud to be following on from Madi Bethune, and I look forward to the club's future. We have many ideas for what activities and events FemCol will undertake in 2027, and I look forward to sharing this with the school when the time comes. If you are interested in joining and participating in FemCol, let Ms Clarke or myself know on teams. I'd also like to thank Madi for being a wonderful FemCol leader and Service Captain. Thank you.

Staff Merits 

Please use this link:  https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/m3D6a06TMN

Finally...

It has been a busy and rewarding return to St Helena, and I have been reminded once again of what makes this such a special school community: talented students, dedicated staff, supportive families and a shared commitment to excellence.

As we move through the final term of 2026, I look forward to celebrating many more achievements and finishing the year strongly.

Karen Terry