Principal's Report

Student Achievement: Year 11 Media Students’ work selected for Short Film Festival

Congratulations to Hayden Bardon (Year 11, Rutter House), Jasper Davis (Year 11, Stewart House), James Ferres (Year 11, Rutter House), and Fynn Holmes (Year 11, Everard House) whose short film 'Standoff,' produced as part of their Media folio was selected to be screened at the Nillumbeats Short Film Festival!

The film features the following performers: Tristan Peacock (Year 11, Rutter House) in the lead role supported by Ben Coe (Year 11, Stewart House); Tom Westerman (Year 11, Rutter House); Dylan Mackay (Year 11, Stewart House)

The film will be shown at Hoyts Greensborough on Wednesday 20 September from 6:45pm - 9:00pm. 

Tickets will be available closer to the date. Congratulations to all involved.

STEAM Centre Development

On the approval of the Asset Management Plan 1, the Victorian Schools Building Authority (VSBA) has gone out to tender for the architect firm that will be awarded the contract. Three firms were invited to a school briefing (based on VSBA approval) and I am pleased to say that the three of them, Centrum Architects Pty Ltd, Haskell Architects and Zen Architects, submitted tender documents outlining their proposal. 

Interviews were conducted on Friday; 1 September and a decision will be made, and the contract awarded by Wednesday 6 September.

The successful company will then begin its work, firstly to develop the school Masterplan and then to begin work on the STEAM Centre design.

We are all excited to see this project move forward and I will certainly keep you updated as we begin our journey.

All Gender Toilets

After almost two years of discussion and planning, we are finally going to see this work begin. It has been a real struggle to get this project up and running even though we had received funding from the State Government to do the work. The change to the building industry, partly due to the pandemic, has had a dire effect on the cost margin for the project. Suggestions to minimise the design in order to achieve the project within the designated funding figure would have meant that the school would receive a build that was not to our need or specifications. So, in order to get the project moving the school has had to commit to an investment of $120K in order to ensure that all of our students feel safe using toilet facilities, in particular our transgender students.

The design involves a move away from the usual school male/female toilet facilities to the development of individual toilet cubicles to be used by all students. There will be no binary labelling so that any student can access the facility and feel comfortable and safe to do so.

The major work will begin during the coming Term 3 break, and we hope that the major building works will be completed during this time in order to minimise noise during the term. It is anticipated that the work will be completed prior to the end of Term 4.

Once again, I will keep you updated as the work progresses.

Year 7 City Experience

I congratulate all our Year 7 students on the way they engaged with the City Experience Program over the last three weeks. I was fortunate to catch up with two of the groups and I was impressed with their active participation and the learning they have gained from the experience. I want to thank the Junior School coordination team under the leadership of Melissa Hughes and all the staff who took time out to take part in the Program. It was certainly worthwhile.

School Working Bee

On Sunday 27 August we held our Working Bee for Term 3. It was very well attended by parents, students, staff and community members. We managed to get a great deal done in the space of three hours. 

We were joined by Miriam Ford and Suzie Gordon, both members of the Australian Plants Society Yarra Group. Their participation was welcomed as they were able to lead and direct the large planting task that we had ahead of us. A big thank you to Miriam who also donated the many plants that were planted on the day.

It was a very successful day and I thank all participants as well as all members of the Grounds Committee who do a marvellous job in preparation for the day. 

VINCENT SICARI, Principal