Principal's Report
Welcome Back to the 2021 School Year
Welcome back to all our families; and in particular, I extend a very warm welcome to all our new families that are joining South Oakleigh College. It was wonderful for the Principal Team to be able to meet and welcome many new families and students in Years 8 – 12 into our school community this year. We look forward to welcoming our Year 7 students and their Parents/Carers onsite at the Year 7 BBQ and welcoming them personally to our amazing school community.
With the commencement of the College school year, our aim is to continue to work together to manage the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. As always, the health and wellbeing of our students and staff are of paramount importance.
The Department of Education has published an updated Operation Guide for schools based on the latest advice from Victoria’s Chief Medical Officer. The most important action that we can take as a school to reduce the risk of transmission, is to ensure that any unwell students and staff remain at home and get tested, even with the mildest of symptoms.
Stay home if unwell
We ask that if your son or daughter is unwell that you do not send them to school and take them for a test.
Practising good hand hygiene
Your son or daughter should undertake regular hand hygiene and ensure that they use hand sanitiser before and after using any shared equipment, devices, sporting equipment and musical instruments. The College has hand sanitiser located throughout the school for student and staff use, including in every classroom and shared space. Students should not share food.
Density limits and physical distancing
Students should practise physical distancing where possible. Maintaining a physical distance of 1.5 metres will not always be practical in the school environment. A face mask provides protection when physical distance cannot be maintained.
Face masks in schools
As per the directions of the Victorian Chief Health Officer, the following actions are mandatory:
• Face masks to be worn by individuals over the age of 12 when on public transport and school buses – unless they have a lawful exemption.
• Individuals over the age of 12 must carry a face mask at all times.
• The same exemptions to the wearing of face masks apply in schools as when people are out in the community. This includes students who are over the age of 12 and are unable to wear a face mask due to the nature of their disability. This also includes students or staff who have a medical condition, such as problems with their breathing, a serious skin condition on the face, a disability or a mental health condition.
• Take mask breaks throughout the day when outdoors and physical distancing is possible.
The Department of Education advice states that face masks are recommended for use by staff and students when physical distancing of 1.5m cannot be maintained.
As such, students will be required to wear a face mask in classrooms, when lining up for the canteen, when in congested locker areas and at any other time when they cannot apply physical distancing.
The College will update the community with any change to this advice as soon as we receive it from DET.
Visitors to school premises All visitors to the College will be required to comply with distancing and face mask recommendations as outlined above, and practise good hand hygiene. While there is no requirement to limit the number or type of visitors to school premises, the density limit of 1 person per 2 square metres should be applied to any spaces and activities being attended by parents and other visitors. To support contact-tracing, the College will keep a record of all staff, students and visitors who attend on-site for more than 15 minutes. Please note that these guidelines are subject to change depending upon directions from the Victorian Chief Health Officer. We will keep you informed of any such changes
CELEBRATING OUR 2020 YEAR 12 COHORT
Whilst 2020 was an incredibly challenging year, our whole school community pulled together to ensure that our students were cared for and continued to learn. Our Year 12 students faced last year with COVID19 with resilience and adaptability and our school achieved some very impressive results. It is very pleasing to see that many of our students received their first preferences for tertiary entry and our former College Captain and Dux, Andrew Leap, was also awarded a number of scholarships, which highlights not only his results but his resilience at a time of unprecedented challenges. We also welcome back our Andrew to SOC, who will continue to work with our Student Leadership Team which continues to grow each year as the level of interest in Student Voice and Agency continues to grow. We now look forward to working with our Class of 2021 to continue the work and raise the bar for all students to produce the best possible outcomes.
Accountability Responsibility Teamwork
Last Year we had a strong focus on Resilience & Teamwork. The nature of the year, with COVID and Remote and Flexible Learning, clearly highlighted these values and we seized the opportunity to reinforce these values to our community. Our resilience, and working together as a team of family and school, allowed us to work for the best possible outcomes for our students.
This year all of our work will be aligned to, and reflected through, the DET value of Accountability and our own values of Responsibility and once again Teamwork. This was presentenced in our welcoming assemblies and students will be encouraged through Mentor and assemblies to set, monitor and evaluate personal goals for the year incorporating these powerful values.
Introducing Our New and Returning Staff
I would also like to welcome back all our staff and thank the many staff (including Education Support staff and the Leadership Team) who have worked over the two weeks prior to school commencing to ensure we had a smooth start of the year.
We welcome back Ms Noor Jenkins, Ms Alison Jones and Ms Louise O’Neill, following their periods of leave and work away from South Oakleigh College.
We also welcome a number of new staff to our school. This year, we have appointed a significant number of new teaching staff as our school population continues to grow:
Della Butler, Visual Arts; Kelvin Cheuk, Mathematics; Zane Fernandes, Science, Mathematics and PE; Bridget Halloran, Chemistry and Science; Ruby McMillan, Visual Arts; Steven McRae, Humanities; Larissa Sutherland, Humaniites; Bell Karisserichal, Mathematics; Gobitha Gowrishan, Lab Technician; Ben Gough, Integration Aide; Hanna Bridgers, Integration Aide; Susan Petousis, Tutoring Program; Frank DeLaRambelya, Tutoring Program.
And returning staff: Louise O’Neil, PE/Health; Noor Jenkins, PE/Health; and Alison Jones, Maths.
The arrival of new staff– both experienced and new graduate teachers – is always invigorating as they provide us with fresh faces and new ideas and perspectives. I am confident that all of our new staff members will bring great positivity, enthusiasm and commitment to their roles and our students.
Student Leadership
It was very encouraging to see the role that our extended Student Leadership team played in the assemblies, Year 7 Inducton and activities during our first weeks of school. Yet again, our Student Leadership program has grown in 2021 and this year will be ably managed by our College Captains, Tamika Cantlon, Nistha Patel and Billy Waterson, our SRC President, Esther Walker, and Ms Stav Kantzas. I will include more information about the full team of student leaders in future newsletter articles but I felt it important to acknowledge the effort of our School Captains. These are leaders who, once again, are setting the benchmark. I am very excited by the opportunity to work closely with our student leaders and will watch with pride as they exert their considerable positive sphere of influence on our school community.
College Swimming Carnival
It was great to see our students supporting the first major whole-school event on our College calendar - our annual Swimming and Diving Carnival. The tone of the day was impressively set by our senior students who arrived in various forms of imaginative free dress and in visible support with their house colours proudly on display. From this stage on, the carnival was a colourful, engaging, participative event for all of our students and was matched by the competitive nature of the events within the pool.
Congratulation to Grevillea, the winning House team of the Carnival - yet again - this year, in a very competitive final leaderboard.
Jason Knee, our Sports Coordinator, has published a report of the Carnival in this Newsletter. Finally, I acknowledge the superb organisational effort of Jason and his team of staff helpers for their considerable work both before and during the day and I pay a special tribute to our extended student leadership team for their efforts, enthusiasm and teamwork that made the day all the more rewarding.
I look forward to working with all members of our community in 2021 as we continue into the next phase of our South Oakleigh College journey.
Quote for reflection: ‘Your attitude determines your direction.’
‘You have brains in your head
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself in
any direction you choose!’
Dr Seuss
Helen Koziaris
College Principal
