Principal's Report

Dear parents, students and families.

I hope all is well with you and your families. Term 1 is moving along steadily and students have continued to settle well into the year.

Whole School Assembly

Our recent whole school assembly was a fantastic event and provided the opportunity to recognise some outstanding achievements from our students. Our current students showed their appreciation and respect for our 2022 valedictorians, Maddison Garnham and Dean Penn-Valotto. The College also recognised and celebrated the recent award provided to Joachim Loepz-Valoa. Joachim was the recent winner of Automotive apprentice of the year. He has been working with Mercury Marine as part of the Head Start program. Joachim is supported via Head Start and the College to complete his apprenticeship as well as his VCE studies in 2023. The assembly provided the opportunity to formally welcome our new Student Representative Council (SRC) members for each of the year levels as well as other student leadership roles. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our student leaders for 2023.

School Captains: Michaela Roach, Deklen Berryman, Bianca Buckley, Ankido Stefan

Year 11 SRC: Eman Haidari, Tasia Esler, Jon Cooke, Mackenzie Dando

Year 10 SRC: Johnathon Roach, Shardae Boon

Year 9 SRC: Tanner Spalding, Bowen Li

Year 8 SRC: Rylan Reeves, Olivia Choo

Year 7 SRC: Asher Boon, Cjay Perkins

Arts Leader: Chloe Umali

Multipride Leader: Asma Saqib

Environment Leader: Alexander Lei

Sports Leader: Bailey Paton

Wellbeing Leader: Fauzia Rahimi

I am looking forward to working with these student leaders through 2023.

Welcome to Country

Another feature of our first whole school assembly was the completion of the first Welcome to Country at the College. The Welcome was completed by members of the local Bunurong Land Council, Uncle Josh West and his son Danny. The Welcome to Country was followed by a smoking ceremony. Students, staff and families in attendance were able to take part and also engage in conversations and questions to deepen understanding of local indigenous culture.

2023 NAPLAN preparation and 2022 NAPLAN results

NAPLAN in 2023 is occurring earlier than in previous years. In 2023 it is scheduled for mid-March. Students are in the process of receiving support in class regarding the completion of the tests. I would like to wish them every success in completing these assessments.

While on the topic of NAPLAN it was very pleasing to see the College results on the myschool website. The website shows that across all categories (aside from Grammar) the students have recorded ‘above’ average results when compared with schools with similar data. This is a fantastic result – well done to students and staff. It was also great to see completion rates of 96%, this is above the national average. 

High Expectations matched with High Support

The above phrase is one that we have been working with over the last 12-14 months. It is a statement that guides our thinking and actions at the College regarding student learning and social behaviour. The expectations that we have for our students regarding academic achievement as well as behaviours is very high. Matching these expectations with appropriate supports is integral to our approach. An excellent example of our ‘High Expectations matched with High Supports’ is how the College manages uniform, punctuality and resourcing for classes.

I would like to extend an invitation to any families experiencing some difficulties with ensuring your young person has the necessary items for school to make contact with us – I am very confident we will be able to work together to make sure your young person has all of the correct uniform and learning resources for success.

School council elections

We have one vacancy for a parent representative on school council. I would like to invite any interested parents to contact me at the College to discuss.

Many thanks and I look forward to working with you all this year.

David CaugheyCollege Principal