From the Principal's desk

October 2022

Hello Community Members

It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of the school year. At two ends of the schooling spectrum we have Year 12 students in the middle of exams or completing their work schedules knowing that their relationship with Northern Bay College (as students) will soon be over after, in many cases, 13 years. On the other end of the cycle we have begun hosting the Prep students of 2023 who will be so excited about coming to school - now that they are big and old!

Here are some of our Year 12 students from their first Northern Bay school photo and their final one earlier this year.

The September holidays were a busy time for our most dedicated and supportive VCE staff who supported students through study and exam preparation activities through the break. Well attended by our keen and hardworking Year 12 students these sessions really are a testament to the desire to go the extra yard that is a feature of the team working to support our senior students through this important year of education.

GROWTH - Year 12 Final Day of Classes

It was with great celebration and joy that our Graduating lass of 2022 engaged in activities to mark their last day of formal classes for the year for VCE students. As is the case year in year out, our most senior students conducted themselves with great maturity, a strong sense of inclusion and great respect for their peers and the staff who have worked alongside them as they marked this important milestone. Throughout the day our students (and staff) - dressed to the theme of ‘90’s Pop-Culture - decorated the school in true Celebration Day style, participated in a range of activities with their teachers and were presented to the Campus in a wonderfully fun and cheerful assembly. These students will now prepare for the End of Year exams which kick off with English next week while others work hard to finalise their portfolios for final gradings.

We should all be very proud of this excellent group of young adults who represent themselves so well. On the Year 10-12 Community Pages there are some spectacular photos of the day.

COLLABORATION - IMPACT CAMP

As you can see from the mast head on this page, I am not always at the Principal's desk!

In the photograph above the IMPACT Year 10 students on their City Arts Camp early last month are having a great time. Spending the day with a delightful group of students as they braved all weathers to explore a range of Arts highlights in the city was very rewarding. The content of the program and the students themselves were a credit to the College. Please see a greater insight into their experience on the Programs page.

GROWTH - Inspiring Stories

A short note to recognise what was a truly inspiring presentation made by Year 11 student Aima Sadiq Ali to the Barwon North Principal Network. Aima shared with the audience of principals and regional leaders her schooling journey - a journey that began with shocking uncertainty in her homeland of Pakistan. Aima discussed the motivators that drive her towards her goal of becoming a pilot and touched on her incredible achievement in completing the Kokoda track in September as part of the Geelong Youth Engagement team.

Aima told the group that her drive is inspired by her mother and the staff who support her every day. Aima’s presentation was acclaimed as the highlight of this meeting and reminds us all of the truly inspiring students we are so fortunate to work with every day.

Unfortunately, it was not filmed but below is a short talk with similar content, given by Aima at Harmony Day earlier this year (before her Kakoda Experience which she highlighted with the Principals.

Collaboration and Growth - College Review Process

Recently all staff had the opportunity to engage in work around our new Strategic Plan - the document that outlines our goals and plans for the next four years. As you are aware we had a School Review during the year which provided some extremely positive feedback for the work that takes place at our school whilst offering some terrific suggestions for our next stage of work. Having our entire staff team contribute to the development of these key actions is vital and we are so appreciative of the thought and dedication that was put into this session. This work will help us to develop our next Annual Plan where these key actions will take centre stage to our college wide improvement initiative.

Kindness

We are so fortunate to have students who want to extend their positive school experiences with others. There have been many examples over the past few weeks.

Run Club

Some of our senior students have been planning and designing a weekly program which promises to be an outstanding success and an invaluable addition to our school extra-curricular activities. In addition to the student leaders, we have a number of staff and highly regarded external coaches who support the growing number of participants in the RUN CLUB.

Please take time to look at the Programs SEED page for photos and insights.

Operation Uganda

A casual Dress Day with a raft of fun activities, staff raffle, students' baking for sale and a really important message was shared last week with a student initiative fund raiser to assist Ugandan girls attend school. They have no essential feminine products and so miss out on schooling - so we are hoping that the $550 raised will allow 55 young women to access their education.

Well done to all involved.

Halloween Activities at the Kindergarten

The IMPACT Year 10 students following a huge success with their puppet play that they showed our Early Learning Centre children recently were back in Performance and Presentation mode for Halloween.

They designed and put in place a raft of activities to take to the Kinder using their arts skills. Dance, Visual, Performing and Creative were the art forms they shared. Again - find time to have a look at the IMPACT page or the Family Learning Centre page for some terrific pictures showing how carefully they worked with our children.

A further act of kindness and giving back are our students in Hands on Learning. Their leaders Linda and Rod are always looking for ways to give back to the school community. One group are just finishing off really well constructed LIBRARY Boxes for Big Books for our Campus Libraries. Thank you all. You can see the construction on our Programs page.

COLLABORATION- Community Event

There is a wonderful opportunity for our community members to be a volunteer at the International Beach Volleyball events in Torquay later this month. Schools and general public are invited to volunteer over 2 weeks. Our terrific Karen / Karenni community are talking the opportunity and our Multicultural Education Assistant are taking some students for a day not to be forgotten. For further information please see the article on the Community Page

GROWTH - Year 7 2023

I have had two special opportunities recently to meet with students and families. Firstly we held an information afternoon for Year 5 and 6 Families to showcase our outstanding Secondary Education Programs and curriculum delivery at Northern Bay College.

It was often a point raised by families that since we did not physically change buildings or sites at the end of Primary School - we just kept on a Primary School. Nothing could be further from the truth and we work hard to ensure that the year 7 and 8 program is equal to or an improvement on the programs in place at other secondary schools.

The second event was to honour our Year 6 cohort who excel in one of the college's 4 pillars of excellence - The Arts, Academic, Science & Technology and Sport, Phys Ed & Health. A presentation to 30 Scholarship recipients was held with parent guests and we honoured these outstanding young people who will hopefully lead others in pursuit of excellence in their fields of study during secondary school.

PERSISTENCE - Goldsworthy Build

Although the weather has been very unkind to our demolition and construction teams at Goldsworthy Campus - persistence has seen the the grounds cleared ready for the build over the coming months. The photo below shows the vast size of the land to be built upon and a reminder of the artist's impression of what the Goldsworthy aspect of the Campus will be with the magnificent teaching and learning space, the Administration Centre and the Art Display Centre as well as the new Performance space - which is stage one of the rebuild.

The Queens Platinum Jubilee Tree

We are delighted that our introduction to all of our campuses about this exciting project is progressing. Funded by the Federal Government each campus will plant a magnificent tribute to the late Queens passion to have trees regenerate the planet and to serve as a long lasting memory of her service to Australia over 70 years.

The Students at Peacock have been shown the purpose of the Tree Canopy soon to adorn the grounds in celebration of the Queens Jubilee and in Memory of her incredible reign. Soon Hendy and Wexford with Tallis later this month learn of the initiative. Of course Goldsworthy will be later next year once the overall design of the new grounds is more complete.

GROWTH - 2023 College Captaincy

I am looking forward to Friday 11 November when the new Captains of the College are announced. Voting is currently underway and there are six incredible young people waiting for the outcome. These young people presented their ambitions for Captaincy to a Goldsworthy Campus assembly which was filmed and then shared across all campuses for voting.

I was impressed, moved and incredibly proud of the students who are candidates for these important roles in a school community.

The following students, their teachers and their families should be incredibly proud.

Fiona Williamson, Jevic Mwanza, Anita Ali Asghar, Ali Sina Wali Zada, Indy Mayo and Aima Sadiq Ali