Principal's Report

Vale Katherine Hawken

Our school community was saddened this term with the untimely passing of one of our Dance/Drama teachers, Ms Katherine Hawken. Katherine was a dedicated and committed educator, mother and friend.

Katherine started here at Patterson River Secondary in 2004. She was quickly nicknamed ‘Beats’ or ‘Beat It’ by staff in recognition of both her maiden surname, Beatty, and her love for dance & music.

She was one of the first ever Dance teachers at the College, with classes at the time run out of a general purpose portable classroom next to the gym (now the Performing Arts Centre). She quickly established Dance as a popular subject, resulting in it running at the VCE level.

After a few years, Katherine left the College and over the next 10 years she travelled, started a family and worked as a teacher for Distance Education Victoria.

In 2017, she returned to the College and was able to see the results of the foundation for which she had set; dance classes from Years 7-12 and an impressive Performing Arts Centre. Upon her return, she quickly set her sights on building drama up through the senior years to run alongside dance. She also re-established an aerobics team.

In 2018, the aerobics team that she assembled and coached, won the Victorian State Title followed by a bronze medal at the nationals in Brisbane.

Over the last month, I have heard from countless students, parents and teachers, who have spoken about the impact that Katherine and her infectious personality had on them.

Although her time was cut short, her impact was not. It will be felt for years to come.

Vale Katherine Hawken

Master Planning Begins

The College recently selected Taylor Oppenheim Architects to complete our Master Plan. Taylor Oppenheim were involved in the design and construction of the Senior School and Performing Arts Centres. Over the last month, we have consulted with students, staff and school council regarding the future needs of the College. Issues & ideas raised included:

Improved flow of students through the central courtyard
Create better connections to the oval
Keep the focus on year level hubs and homerooms
Create a better connection between emerging STEM subjects
Create areas for students in Year 8 and 10
Include a mix of learning spaces to allow for better collaboration, class presentations and mixed media
Create increased wet/dry areas in general purpose classrooms for projects.

Next term we will be releasing some concept plans to the school community for feedback, following which the architects will finalise a formal master plan with a view for the school to receive capital works funding as planned in the 2020 state budget to begin capital works.

School Performance

Over the last month, the College has received a number of performance data sets from the Department of Education & Training. Once again we have achieved strong results across the student, parent and staff opinion surveys. NAPLAN results include improvements in Numeracy & Writing, however we unfortunately experienced a decline in our Reading growth from Year 7-9 despite this being an area of focus over the last couple of years. We are in the process of trying understand the potential reasons for the slight decline so that we can go back to achieving our continual improvements in all areas.

New Uniform

Following the feedback from the school community, our school council has endorsed new uniform changes which will begin to be implemented for next year. The new uniform will be compulsory for all 2020 Year 7 students. Current students have two years to implement the new uniform. The changes include:

White shirt
New jacket with maroon stripe
Retain current designs for summer dress and winter skirt
New PE top with ‘Eel’ mascot
Navy cap with ‘Eel’ mascot
New PE Tracksuit pants with school name

EXCEL Sport: State Champions

Our EXCEL Sport students recently brought home a bag of medals from the recent state Lacrosse & Handball championships. The strong results cement our program as a standout for providing students with the interdisciplinary skill development, teamwork and mindset to be able to adapt to a range of sports. Unlike many schools that run an academy program in select sports, our program aims to assist students with their teamwork, leadership and coaching skills that they can then apply to their sports of choice outside of school. Our classes now have a strong record of being able to complete and win against specialised academy teams which is a credit to the program and the leadership of Ms Ando Allan.

International Students from Kyushyu, Japan

During late August and early September the college proudly hosted 35 students from Japan. The students were able to learn a lot about Australia and our daily lives. Our guests especially enjoyed trying different food, studying a variety of subjects, playing sport, seeing our native wildlife and of improving their English.

Our students learnt about Japanese culture through activities such as traditional dancing, origami, calligraphy and games. The Japan versus Australia basketball match was also very memorable.

These cultural experiences wouldn’t be possible without host families and buddies who welcomed the students into their homes and classes. A big thank you to all involved for your support.

Thank you also to Mr Northey for organising the program.

Music Performances

I was once again amazed at the musical talents of our students at the 29th Annual Musical Soiree and Spring Concert. Of particular note was the immense number of junior students performing in bands. Outstanding.

Our stage band will be playing at the upcoming Bonbeach Farmers Market and our Year 8 Band has been asked to play at the Dunkley Annual Senior's Morning Tea in November.

It is great to see our numerous bands and ensembles being asked to play at community events.

Art Show

Our second annual Art Show will be held in the Performing Arts Centre during week two of next term. The event will showcase student work across from Years 7-12.

Lisa Cavey – Acting Principal

I will be filling a short-term role during October for the Department of Education & Training as the Northern Peninsula Senior Education Improvement Leader. Lisa Cavey will be filling the role as acting principal during this time. Ms Pennie Marinucci will fill in for Lisa as Acting Assistant Principal (School Operations) during this time.

Mr Daniel Dew

College Principal