Out of the Box

Message from the Principal

by Ms. Kellie Ind

Winter has truly hit!

After enjoying some warmer climates during my Long Service Leave in Europe, I have returned to school days that are wet, dark and cold! 

 

Thank-you to Shareen Bottrell for her wonderful leadership of the school at the end of Term 2 stepping into the role of Acting Principal, and also to Nic Barca and Nathaniel Smith who were Acting Assistant Principals, and of course to Greg Breese and Michael Oaten, our two Assistant Principals, for their leadership ensuring that the term ended well for staff and students. 

 

I also want to acknowledge and thank our staff who have been stepping in to help out when their colleagues have been absent due to illness. This team approach to teaching and learning is so important in schools.

 

Year 7 and 9 families should have received their child’s NAPLAN reports by now. Box Hill High School has continued to perform very strongly against the state and similar schools in 2024, and we have seen the positive impact of our focus on writing improvement over the last year. We also use the NAPLAN results to help us identify and focus on individual students who require additional support to improve in literacy and numeracy, as well as those students who achieved very highly and require significant extension.

 

This year we made significant changes to the student semester reports based on parent feedback last year, and we hope that, based on these changes, parents are better able to see the levels of academic achievement more clearly, and identify areas for improvement in terms of effective learner behaviours. Learning Tasks on Compass are still the main form of descriptive feedback on assessments and occur throughout the term for each subject.

 

Term 3 is that time of year where course advising and subject selection for 2025 happens for students. This year we are trying to involve parents in the process more, running parent information sessions and inviting parents to be part of the advising process. Please refer to Compass for handbooks (or reach out to your child’s coordinator if you have any questions).

 

Term 3 is also a very important time of year for our Year 12 students as they complete their final assessments and prepare thoroughly for their exams in Term 4. Throughout this year, we have introduced many new supports for our Year 12s to help them succeed – lunchtime “masterclasses”, lunchtime and after school workshops and catch-ups, career information, Unit 3 exams, mentoring, wellbeing support and changes to the Year 12 Centre to improve study conditions. 

 

More information will be provided to Year 12 students and parents to assist their achievement and wellbeing in this final semester of high school.

 

Some further reading on VCE stress and management can be found on these relevant links:

Rotary Club Forest Hill

I have been informed by Bill Marsh, President of the Forest Hill Rotary Club, that the club will cease operations at the end of June this year. Rotary has been a big supporter of Box Hill High School and our students through programs such as the Youth Citizenship Awards, MUNA, and the Ford Davis Awards at Presentation Night. On behalf of School Council and the School, I would like to acknowledge and thank the Rotary Club Forest Hill for all their support over many years. 

Year 7-9 Parents & Carers Morning Tea: “How does Box Hill High support student learning growth?” 

We will be hosting a morning tea for interested parents and carers of Year 7-9 students to come along and meet with the Principal Team and other teaching and school leaders to find out more about our whole school approaches in effective teaching and learning. Our teachers collaborate consistently in subject teams to implement high impact instructional practices, and we would love to share and discuss what we do to build greater understanding and partnerships with our parents and carers – it’s a team effort! 

 

The morning tea will be held at the school on Thursday 22 August, from 9:00 am until 10:30 am. There are limited places available. Year 7-9 parents and carers, please keep an eye out for the Compass notification sent earlier this week.