Principals Report

Hello to all members of the Delahey community.

And so we begin approaching the end of another year…let’s hope the false dawn we experienced this year is not replicated in 2022!!!

As you can imagine, the Delahey campus has slowed down as far as the chaos of normal school life is concerned, but not as far as all preparatory events for next year is concerned.

I’d like to firstly acknowledge the amazing work done by our student management team, led by Mara Aleardi and Bobby Todorovski with regard to navigating the college through the examination period with all the Covid related obstacles in our way. The identification of primary close contacts, their segregation into other spaces, and under the strictest conditions to ensure they could complete their VCE exam was conducted with military precision. Well done to the team at Delahey.

We also had to make allowances for some Year 11 students who were required to isolate for some of their exams. Allowances were made for those students to complete a selection of their exams when they returned to school.

Thankfully, our efforts seem to have slowed the transmission of the disease. In calling families for contact tracing, we have been really impressed by the willingness of families to do what it takes to keep our

community safe, often at great personal inconvenience.

Hopefully we are through the worst of it now.

Delahey have now moved into 2022-mode this week, with the Year 11 è 12 Transition

program preparing students for the start

of 2022. The Year 10 è 11 program began Tuesday November 30.

The Year 11 Awards assembly was held on Monday morning. It was an opportunity to celebrate the impressive efforts and achievements of the Year 11 Class of 2021 in this year of lockdowns. We’d like to particularly acknowledge a few students here. Olivia, Jelina and Andy all received an award for ‘Consistent Effort’ in four of their Year 11 subjects, although what was even more impressive was the fact that Isabelle, Erin and Chris received an award for ‘Academic Excellence’ in five of their subjects. Well done!

The Awards assembly was also a timely opportunity to talk to the Year 11s, particularly the award winners, that what they are doing is setting a baseline for next year. They ought not rest on their laurels or ‘cruise’ next year. We also challenged those who didn’t win an award to reflect on how they wish to complete their last year of secondary schooling and how well they can say to

themselves that they prepared for post-secondary life, be it as a student or employee (or both).

This year, Mr Sullivan was given the privilege of speaking to the Year 11s at the assembly. He spoke about how the starting part of the school year is like an adolescent at the skate park who sees a ramp up ahead. The adolescent needs to build up speed on the flat ground to make sure they can get up and over the hump. It also helps to know that we have a strong team here ready to step in and help if anyone takes a fall during the year. They can always be lifted up and reset to accelerate toward the next hurdle.

The Year 10 Experience Day took place on Monday November 29. Due to the pandemic, we had a few false-starts with organising this day, and in fact, we had to build it into the Year 10 è 11 transition program. The aim of the day is to provide our Year 10 students

with an opportunity to familiarise themselves with life at a senior campus as well as begin making new friends with peers from the other junior campus with information and activities that focus on their academic, social and emotional learning.

From 2022, the Year 12 jacket will be purchased online in the preceding year. The school has spoken extensively to our uniform supplier, PSW and we believe this is the ‘new way forward’. The PSW website is currently taking orders and payments from current Year 11 students. Jackets typically take around 14-16 weeks to arrive once the order is complete and so it is vital that they are pre-ordered. In my investigation, I have realised that this is how many schools organise commemorative school-wear. When they arrive, they will be sent to the Delahey campus for distribution

We have had preliminary discussions with our 2022 VCAL PDS teachers regarding projects. There are some exciting ideas being thrown around, including the enhancement of an outdoor space next to the staffroom which will become a recreational outdoor area to encourage staff to spend more time out of the staffroom (quite appropriate during these covid-safe times).

One of the features of this space will be a pizza oven that a group of VCAL students will build…how exciting!!

Our Capital Works program at Delahey is pretty much complete…yes, I did say, “complete”. M Block was handed over to us from the builder on Friday December 3. ???We walked around with the builder and the architect to inspect it and identify defects etc????

On Wednesday December 8 and Thursday December 9, the removalists moved everything back into the building, with the single biggest task being the repatriation of our library. It will also mean we can finally see the Study Centre in it’s new and vibrant

reincarnation…yay!!!

The courtyard area is also undergoing a major landscaping upgrade which will feature an undercover outdoor learning space, landscaped flower beds, brand new seating and tables and new artificial turf. The landscaping is about a week or two behind M Block. It’s so exciting to be able to finally walk around a (snazzy) new campus without navigating through a maze of

temporary fencing. Let’s hope our students appreciate all that has been done for them and look after it…how exciting!!!

It's been a journey that has lasted close to three years if you include the countless meetings with architects, the VSBA (Victorian School Building Authority) and our building contractor May Con.

Anyway, that’s enough from us. Have a safe, happy and healthy summer break.

Thank you so much for your support during these unforeseen times. I genuinely believe that the pandemic has allowed us to look into each other’s lives and appreciate the work on the other side; be it parents watching remote learning or be it teachers having a better understanding of what’s happening in the home.

Have a Happy New Year. See you all in 2022

Mr Renato Carinci and Mr Dan Sullivan

Campus Principals

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