Altona College Newsletter

Principal's Reflection

Dear families,

 

As we draw closer to the end of term, I am pleased to share some student voice and encourage families to participate in the parent survey that opens soon.

Every year, all staff, students and parents are invited to contribute to surveys that are implemented consistently across all government schools. 

The Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS) is completed by all students in years 4-12 and this year I was excited to see that our students are noticing positive changes in our school. Students are asked to provide a 5-point rating for several questions about their personal experiences and attitudes to school. This year, our students combined results show significant improvement across 100% of the 21 measures: 

 

  1. Classroom behaviour – improved by 10%
  2. Stimulated learning – improved by 9%
  3. Perseverance – improved by 10%
  4. Sense of confidence – improved by 10%
  5. Management of bullying – improved by 10%
  6. Respect for diversity - improved by 12%

  7. 6-7 transition – improved by 14%

     

Culturally, our staff are looking for opportunities to measure our impact in terms of the value we add, rather than the standardised outcomes we achieve. You will hear us referring to ‘growth’ as we believe this to be a much more equitable measure of our practice and should ultimately result in long term and sustained excellence. Excellence should be pursued and celebrated, but growth for every learner remains the ultimate prize.

Having said this, I also recognise that finals fever is upon us and at this time of year, there is little reward for all but the champions! In this endeavour we can also celebrate the fact that our results have outperformed state, local network and similar schools across the state in the following measures:

 

  1. Effective classroom behaviour
  2. Advocate at school
  3. School stage transitions (year 7 and senior)
  4. Sense of inclusion
  5. Effort

  6. High expectations for success

     

Furthermore, our 2025 student feedback outperformed similar schools in every other measure! 

We acknowledge that there is always work to do, but as with many teams in pursuit of excellence, internal culture and belief often precede outstanding performance. True as this may be, belief alone won’t silence the critics, and these results represent the voice of our students speaking very loudly about the direction our school is heading.

At the same time, our staff survey has revealed a similar pattern of growth, especially around the quality of professional learning and instructional leadership that is being provided to help our staff perform at their best. The most outstanding strength is measure of trust and positive culture among staff which has consistently outperformed state, network and similar schools over recent years.

The final piece of the puzzle is of course the parent survey. I appreciate that taking the time to complete our survey is often challenging in busy households, but a larger response rate helps ensure we can use the survey as a valid assessment of parent perception.

 

In other news, we are also making progress with the beautification of our site. We have engaged Steve from ‘Made by Mobbs’ to complete a landscape masterplan for our College. The plan will consist of concept planning for some key projects identified by students and families, including:

 

  1. Development of primary playground
  2. Development of a gathering space / yarning circles behind block E
  3. Creation of more casual seating and shade for secondary students
  4. A general planting guide to promote sustainability, longevity and a consistent aesthetic throughout our grounds
  5. Beautification of our perimeter, particularly along Civic and Grieve Parade

  6. Other general guidance and planning for future works.

     

This work started many years ago with a parent formed grounds committee and I feel very proud to honour and continue that effort with a plan that will assist local spending, grant applications and hopefully some exciting working bees in the future!

Further to this, I have sought guidance on acoustic treatments across the school, with the aim of reducing noise and improving the overall experience in every classroom. Felt has been installed in more classrooms in the senior centre as well as our OSHC building to ensure those children have a more comfortable space. Acoustic windows and doors are being designed and quoted for Block B, which I will then seek further funding for. Our hope is to keep upgrading our school so that the facilities reflect the hard work and commitment that our staff and students are demonstrating! These upgrades are essential as we will be at full capacity based on next year's enrolments and will need further facilities to accommodate future growth.

Heading into the holidays, I hope everyone enjoys the spring break. For our senior students, we know there is often very little rest in the lead up to exams, but there is so much excitement ahead of this one last hurdle – more on that in the next newsletter!

 

As always, please stay safe, take care of each other and reach out if there is anything I can clarify or support with.

 

Warmest regards,

Nathan Guthridge

Principal