A Principal with Principles

Dear Families,

It was pleasing to welcome quite a few family members to our first Assembly for term two. Thank you so much for joining us.

At Assembly we were – yet again – reminded of the energy, passion, and ability of our young people to communicate their positive messages to their community, and to engage us all with professional creative performances. I also thank the many staff members who work closely with our students to provide support and encouragement for events such as this.

Students across our college are to be warmly congratulated for their attention and determined celebration of the efforts of their peers. This respectful sense of ceremony is enormously admirable, as are the efforts of those on the stage. To say we are proud of you all is an understatement. We look forward to our next time together as a whole school at the end of term.

I reminded students that I was coming up to my first anniversary as their Principal. This exciting milestone provided an opportunity to reflect upon a year so fulfilling for me, and so joyous….made so by our students, their families, and my wonderful colleagues. To serve our learning community in this way is an enormous privilege and I believe it to be the best job in the world. Never without its challenges, but we all know that nothing really worthwhile comes without hard work and a shared vision. Every one of us in our learning community seeks a sense of connection, ability to connect and contribute, to feel valued and to belong. This jamb-packed edition of our Newsletter is testament to our shared Imagination, Belief and Courage in our work together to achieve this. 

We are in transition mode at present – 6 to 7, 10 to 11, and of course we are also focussed on the efforts of our senior students to put their collective best feet forward. At this time of the year, I look forward to visiting many grade students who will join us in 2024, to personally thank them for choosing us, and to begin their planning to flourish with us. I am excited that so many of our new scholarships have been embraced, and I thank the many families that continue to support their students in transition to secondary school This should be a time of excitement, wonder and opportunity. Our numbers are increasing substantially in our junior school for 2024/5, and we stand ready to strive to truly be an environment ‘Nurturing our students to lead their communities…’.

Where Would We Be Without Harry? 

I want to pay special tribute to our Facilities Manager, Harry Dehghani. Harry came to us late last last year from a long and distinguished career in hospitality and facilities maintenance. And every day, Harry’s care for others, commitment to service, and unparalleled expertise in maintaining and beautifying built environments, is clear for all to see. We are so fortunate to have him…and yes he continues to make a mean long-macchiato, and Melbourne’s Best vanilla slice. You will see in this edition the many ways that Harry has worked tirelessly to encourage our buildings grounds to ‘sing’ so that they become one of the most beautiful campuses in Melbourne. Harry is one of a dozen new staff members that has joined team Lalor North recently….they are all going brilliantly and we are grateful to them for joining us.