The Year Comes to a Close

2018 has been a year of significant change and improvements at Patterson River Secondary. Following an extensive review and restructure, we began the year with 15 new staff and a number of new initiatives. These included:

New Year 12 VCE subject “T@SK” for all students (focusing on study skills, time management, exam preparation)
New house system and leadership roles
New College values and awards system
Hands on Learning Program (focusing on disengaged students 7-10)
New student feedback surveys
New Leading Teaching positions, including; Student Learning Leader & Student Voice & Engagement Leader

These changes, along with other recent initiatives that have resulted in the College achieving its best ever results in nearly all performance measures. These include:

NAPLAN Year 9 (growth and mean scale scores)
Student Attitudes to School Surveys (all measures above state mean)
Staff Opinion Surveys (80% of measures in the top quartile for all schools)
Parent Opinion Surveys (improvements in all areas).

Once again, I have been amazed by the dedication of our school community to provide a diverse range of activities for our students. One of the highlights of the year was the production of Beauty & the Beast. Following months of practice, nearly 200 students performed an outstanding show over three nights, including a number of matinee performances. I was blown away by the high calibre performance and thank Ms Witteveen, Mr Mitchelmore, Ms Molloy along with a host of other staff for putting the performance together.

Our EXCEL Sports program continued to go from strength to strength, which is now in its third year. EXCEL Sports teams made it to seven different state finals with our Year 8 group claiming the state titles for Lacrosse and Touch Rugby.

The end of year is often a time that we say farewell to some retiring and departing staff members. This year is sad but special year as we farewell Assistant Principal, Mr Mark Slater after 39 years at the College. Mr Slater has been an integral member of staff for many years and will be greatly missed next year. I wish him all the very best for his well earned retirement. In addition to Mr Slater, I would like to thank and say goodbye to Mr Butler, Ms Witteveen and Ms Perpina who have been successful in securing opportunities at other schools. I wish them the very best for their future endeavours.

This week, the 2018 VCE results were released. Our College DUX was Matthew Williams who achieved an ATAR of 86.70. Once again, we had a large number of subjects with mean study scores above 30. I wish the graduates good luck in gaining entrance to their chosen fields.

I would like to thank our school captains, Kirsty Boyle, Brent Chalmers, Hattie McFadden and Lucas Blom who did a tremendous job this year of assisting with a range of activities during a busy year and I look forward to working with our newly elected captains, Aaryan Kulkarni, Tegan Miller, Nilam Azemi and Chantel Grady.

Last week, we held our annual awards night, which included for the first time the Principal’s Commendation Awards. These were awarded to a select number of students per year who had been recognised for their efforts in areas that relate to our College values of Persistence, Excellence, Community & Respect.

Year Level DUX

Year 7 Dux - Zach Spero

Year 8 Dux - Max Weinmann

Year 9 Dux - Jane Butcher

Year 10 Dux - Jenna Howe

Year 11 Dux - Jessika Du

Year 11 VCAL Dux - Tegan Miller

Year 12 VCAL Dux - Lachlan McMartin

Year 12 DUX Award - Matthew Williams

Year 12 DUX Award - Jeremy Cardoz

Inaugural Principal's Commendation Awards

Aaryan Kulkarni

Abby Ryan

Abraham Ling

Alex Mason

Alex O’Shannessy

Amelia Godino

Amy Defina

Avril Cabaleiro

Bill Morgan

Bronte Martine

Cameron White

Chantel Grady

Emily Terlicher

Gold Jegede

Hannah Visser

Haydn Skinner

Hayley Johnstone

Holly Stephens

Indiah Perkins

Jack Clayton

Jane Butcher

Janeal Meertens

Jaylesa Kalogerinis

Jessica Brown

Jet Di Santo

Jowen Louis-Smith

Jye Fulton

Kathleen Mulholland

Kattie Zhong

Kayla Borg

Laura Haymes

Maja Tomic

Matt Cook

Mattia Ioviero

Max Weinmann

Maxx Sass

Millie Smith

Mitchell White

Nikita Hilbert

Nilam Azemi

Nirav Nand

Peter Stones

Sage Kirby

Shkyiah Upson

Soraya Lucas

Community Awards

Tom Henderson Scholarship - Tegan Miller

Sue Morriss Achievement Award - Oska McGuiness

Dunkley Shield Award - Lana Ngati

Seaford / Carrum Rotary Scholarship - Katie Edgar

Patterson River Fire Brigade Award - Alicia Grady

Caltex Best All Rounder - Brody Kirkpatrick

Seaford RSL Citizens Award - Kirsty Boyle

Chelsea Rotary Award - Gopi Jagadeesh Babu

Atticus Health Scholarship Yr 12 - Linda McMullan

Atticus Health Scholarship Yr 10 - Thomas Such

Carrum Electorate Community Leadership Award - Bronte Martine

Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program -

Jenna Howe

Australian Defence Force 'Long Tan' Leadership Award - Alex O'Shannessy and Brent Chalmers

Performing Arts Award - Tegan Miller and Charlotte Baker

Sportsman Award - Aiden McKenna

Sportswoman Award - Rhys McKenna

Ian Cranage Award / Excel Sport - Rhys McKenna

Sports Injury Clinic Michelle Blake Sports Award -

Joshua Bowman and Shkyiah Upson

Sport Team of the Year :

Charlotte Barnes
Amy Defina
Isobel Gallichio
Ruby Griffith Hayes
Calais Kuka
Piper Isles
Olivia Love
Rhys McKenna
Talzyn Roberts
Samantha Scheffer
Mikayla Sinclair
Kasey Smith
Shekinah Upkett
Tasmin Weston

Finally, I would like to wish all staff, students, parents and carers an enjoyable and safe break surrounded by family and friends.

Mr Daniel Dew

College Principal

Compass