Message from our 

Campus Principal

Welcome back to  school for another busy term of learning.  We continue our efforts this term to create additional opportunities for our students to engage both in and beyond the classroom in as many ways as they can with excursions, camps and activities throughout.  It will be really important for families to be keeping track of Compass for permissions to ensure that children are not missing out.  Many of our activities we are unable to accept late consent for and require both students and parents to be organised.  If ever financial concerns are an issue, please ensure that you are communicating as soon as possible with our Team Leaders and office staff.  They will assist you in establishing options to support the participation of your children.

We have three camps planned for this term that students should be already signed up for.  Year 7 and 8 are on free camps, supported by the Department of Education, and Year 9 are on their annual Melbourne camp.  We have seen so much positivity from our students who have participated in camps this year, having missed out on so much in the last two years.  We are engaging with the Morwell Tech School again this term, with a number of excursions planned for specific classes and year levels.  These, too, have received very positive feedback from participants and are entirely free opportunities that we encourage our students to engage with if they are given the chance.

This term, Anthony Di Fabrizio is enjoying a term of well-earned long service leave and is replaced as Year 9 Team Leader by Ross Johnson.  Ross has worked with the Year 9 students and families closely throughout their time in Year 7 and 8, so he is well-placed to jump straight into the role and ensure the best support and education for your children.  Anthony will return in Term 4 to the Team Leader role.

We also welcome Nia Whitney for Semester 2.  Nia is a very enthusiastic new member of our teaching staff, and she will be teaching Year 8 and 9 Humanities.  

Next week, the College is taking an opportunity to celebrate NAIDOC Week.  This is an important celebration of the cultural histories of our indigenous peoples and the theme this year is Get up! Stand Up!  Show Up!  Unfortunately, NAIDOC week always falls during the school holidays, but the College feels that its significance is such that we ensure a celebration occurs soon after returning to school.  This year, we are proud to be able to open our indigenous garden at the Hands On Learning hut and officially recognise our new logo which we have taken on with recognition of local cultural symbolism.  

The cold weather continues through Term 3 and we are aware that cold, flu and Covid are all impacting on students heavily.  We ask you to continue to keep children at home when they display symptoms of illness and we encourage you to continue a regular testing regime.  If you require RAT tests, students or parents can collect these from our office at any time and the government is arranging further deliveries of these to us to be able to continue to offer them to families to try to reduce the spread of the virus through our students and staff.  Though masks are not required, they are encouraged for our students.  Please also continue to contact us to inform us of the reasons for absence.  General illness can be entered into Compass directly by parents but a positive Covid case requires a call to our office because we have to track and report some minor details as well as enter it into our absence system separately.  Please contact reception on 5165 0600 if this impacts you.  As per government requirements, close contacts can still attend school but must wear masks at all times.  

Thanks to all of our families for working with us to make this year as great as possible and we are looking forward to continuing with another fantastic term.