A note from the Principal

Hello everyone

I hope you enjoy this edition of ‘Healesville High Connections’, our first for 2023.  Throughout 2022 we intentionally retained the positive, ‘community-connection’ format introduced during the extended periods of remote learning of 2020 and 2021. We are pleased that ‘Connections’ allows us to do exactly as its name suggests, connect with our community and we intend to continue to connect through the sharing of positive reports and stories, featuring HHS students and staff members.

This edition includes reports, written by numerous staff members, on the school events of the past six weeks and the sheer number of reports and events highlight how busy life is at school level. 

To our students- thank you for embracing the opportunities on offer. School life provides so many experiences and it is gratifying to see so many of our students taking full advantage of the diverse range of experiences available to them.

In this edition you will read about the Year 8 surf camp, Year 7 transition activities, local excursions, careers events, outdoor education activities, classroom achievements in Japanese, Humanities, Arts and Technology and about the excellent Instrumental Music program, to name but a few. School life is diverse, exciting, challenging and rewarding and teachers and support staff love nothing more than to see students enthusiastically engaging in these events!

To the staff members of Healesville High School- thank you!  These extra experiences would not be possible without your dedication and your willingness to work far beyond the boundaries of your job description.

Future editions  of ‘Connections’ will see the return of favourites such as ‘Five questions’, allowing the reader to learn a little about selected students and staff members and ‘Star’s', highlighting the outstanding achievements of a particular student at each year level.

Thank you to each of the contributors to this edition. I especially enjoyed reading about the Year 9 students who are spending all of term one at the School for Student Leadership (SFSL), Snowy River campus. This program is incredibly challenging and equally, incredibly rewarding for students involved. These young students spend a whole term living away from their families, working and living closely with students from other schools, and the staff at the SFSL. A daunting prospect for some, the experience has in the past been universally positive- and it must be said, the Marlo campus of the school is the most wonderful place to spend a school term! A grateful thank you to Mr Holland for introducing this program to our school and for continuing to manage and oversee the program.

As always, thank you sincerely for the goodwill, support, flexibility and care shown by so many members of our school community.

Best wishes everyone.

Allan Rennick