News and Information from Lilydale Heights College

Principal's Report

Shane Kruger

Maximising learning growth to ensure all students can thrive.

 

Welcome back to Term 2!  I hope everyone enjoyed a well deserved and refreshing break.

 

The Resilience Project

This week our staff participated in professional learning on The Resilience Project. The Resilience Project is a school wellbeing program that focuses on the key pillars proven to cultivate positive emotion: Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness (GEM), along with Emotional Literacy, Connection and Physical Health. The more positive emotion you experience, the more resilient you will be!

 

Gratitude is about paying attention to and being thankful for the things we have. 

 

Empathy is about understanding others’ feelings and perspectives and being kind to others. 

 

Mindfulness is about bringing our attention to the present moment and being aware of our thoughts, emotions and surroundings. 

 

Emotional Literacy is about labelling our emotions as we experience them and increasing our emotional vocabulary.

 

There is a wealth of supporting academic research on the mental and physical benefits of these strategies. One of the strategies that we will be using at LHC are GEM chats. GEM chats are brief conversations (typically 2-5 minutes) that encourage us to practice Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness. We would love for our families to also be involved in GEM chats and so I will be posting a GEM chat prompt in my Weekly Wraps on Compass that families can use at home to encourage conversation, reflection and to promote positive wellbeing. 

 

GEM Chat for this week:  Gratitude:  What are three things that went well for you this week? ? 

 

Congratulations – We're Sustainability Awards Finalists!

We’re excited to share that Lilydale Heights College has been named a finalist in Sustainability Victoria’s ResourceSmart Schools Awards!

 

Finalist Categories:

ResourceSmart School of the Year – Lilydale Heights College

Secondary Teacher of the Year – Shannon Sargeant

 

This recognition highlights the incredible efforts of our staff and students in promoting sustainability through a wide range of initiatives. From programs like There is No Planet B and Ocean Plastic Waste, to collaborating with Monash University on the Idle Off Project and working with Zoos Victoria on Fighting Extinction, our community has shown real commitment to making a difference. We've also conducted school-wide waste audits, held secondhand book sales, built nesting boxes to support local biodiversity, plus many more initiatives.

 

The ResourceSmart Schools Awards celebrate the legendary efforts and impacts made by schools in sustainability. The theme this year is ‘Working Together’. 

 

Speaking of working together, since 2008, 1,600 ResourceSmart Schools (including us!) have worked together to: 

  • save more than $63 million on bills 

  • plant more than 5.1 million trees 

  • save more than 110,000 tonnes CO2e greenhouse gas emissions 

  • divert 100,000 cubic metres of waste from landfill 

  • save 1.9 million kilolitres of water. 

The ResourceSmart Schools Awards are a joyful and affirming celebration of schools and students and their sustainability triumphs. The awards are the state’s largest sustainability celebration for primary and secondary school students, teachers and school volunteers taking remarkable sustainability action. We are proud to be recognised among the schools doing sustainability work that benefits students, the planet and the wider community alike. 

 

Learn more about this year’s finalists: https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/2025-rssa-finalists

 

These awards celebrate the passion, innovation and action of schools across Victoria – and we’re proud to be recognised for our work in sustainability. Congratulations to everyone involved – what a fantastic achievement!

 

Election

As many of you would be aware, the Federal election is being held this weekend and we were fortunate enough to have one of our alumni students, Jol Scobie, come in and talk to our Year 12’s about all things politics and elections. Jol represented https://www.buildaballot.org.au/ and shared with our Year 12 students the roles of the Senate and House of Representatives and how our preferential voting system works. Jol did not represent any political parties during the presentation as it was focused on ‘how to vote’ and why it is important to vote. In fact, students had the opportunity to take part in a mock election to highlight how the preferential voting system works. I had to concede as I was not elected as Prime Minister, that role went to Miss Golding.

 

Having one of our alumni returned to the College to share valuable insights and practical skills to help prepare them for life beyond school was a fantastic opportunity for our LHC students. A big thank you to Jol for delivering such an engaging presentation.

 

Don’t forget to vote this weekend!

 

 

Shane Kruger

Principal.