Deputy Principal's Report

Attendance

For students to learn most effectively and achieve their potential in Year 11 and 12 they need to attend classes. Attendance is monitored at each lesson to ensure that students meet the minimum attendance as required by the College and the VCAA. As outlined in the College Attendance, Achievement and Promotion Policy, students must not have more than FOUR classes of Unapproved Absence per semester in any subject. Students who exceed this limit will receive an N (Not Satisfactory) result in that unit or units of study. An absence can be approved for a number of reasons. For an absence to be approved due to illness a Medical Certificate should be provided. However, a Statutory Declaration made by parents will also be accepted for an absence on a single day if it is made on the day of the absence and provided to the College within three days of the absence occurring. A range of school approved activities will also be automatically approved absences, including camps and excursions. Meetings with a College Counselor will also be approved. If a student is experiencing difficulty at home, this should be communicated to the relevant Cluster Coordinator who may also approve certain absences.

It should be noted that VCE and VCAL students are also required to actually be in attendance for a minimum of 70% of classes within a semester to eligible to receive an S result for that unit. This means that student’s absences, even approved absences, must not exceed 30% for a student to remain eligible to pass the unit.

Parents are advised to delay any extended holidays or travel during the final years of secondary education. If the absence is significant students may need to consider deferring their study, extending their VCE over three years, or enrolling in Distance Education. If an extended absence/ holiday is being considered parents are required to notify the College Principal in writing. In order for both VCE and VCAL students to be promoted to the next year level, the student must receive a Satisfactory (S) overall result in at least 75% of VCE, VCAL or VET units undertaken in a calendar year. Students who do not achieve this may risk their ability to graduate or be promoted to Year 12.

The full policy is available on the College website under the Current Students tab – student policies. These expectations exist to enable students to achieve to their full potential within their studies. Parents are encouraged to contact the College if they require clarification about this policy and the accompanying procedures.

Student Absences

An absence from any class is considered to be an “unapproved absence”, except for the following circumstances that will allow for an “approved absence”:

A medical certificate that complies with the guidelines of the Australian Medical Association regarding the period of illness accompanied by a note or phone call from a parent/guardian is provided;
A statutory declaration made by parents/guardians is provided. This may be used only to approve an absence due to illness for a single day and only if it is provided to the College on the school day following the absence. A statutory declaration will not be accepted to approve absences for classes where a School Assessed Coursework task (SAC) is scheduled. Only statutory declarations filled in and sworn by PARENTS will be accepted by the College. Statutory declarations filled in by students will NOT BE accepted.
Any Medical Certificates found to be fraudulent will result in the student and their parent/guardian being required to meet with the Principal to discuss their future enrolment.

To report a student absence, please call directly to the absence line on Ph: 9361-0000 and follow the prompts on the recorded message (dial 2).

Unearthing kids’s strengths by Professor Lea Waters (PhD)

Personality strengths – our character – play a big role in helping us build our talents. Think about anyone who has built a talent and imagine if it could have been done without character. Imagine Einstein without curiosity, The Beatles without creativity, Mother Teresa without compassion or Neil Armstrong without bravery.

Yet for decades, scientists were blind to character strength. We focused on talent, often on physical strength and skills. In fact, when I first ask young children what they think a strength is, they almost always point to their biceps or talk about being able to lift something heavy.

Once you get familiar with the language of strengths and a framework for seeing them, you’ll see character strengths easily in your child. In fact, you may find your child calls on their character strengths more often than on talent to meet life’s challenges.

Three key elements of a strength

You’ve probably seen a child joylessly perform at a piano recital. They may hit all the right keys, but there’s no energy or enthusiasm. It’s as if they don’t want to be there. On the flip side, we’ve seen the child onstage who’s clearly motivated and energised and who fearlessly flails through every mistake – of which there are many.

It turns out that three elements come together to form a strength. For purposes of strength-based parenting, we need to keep our eye on all three:

1. Performance (being good at something).

Watch for when your child shows above-age levels of achievement, rapid learning, and a repeated pattern of success.

2. Energy (feeling good doing it)

Strengths are self-reinforcing. The more we use them, the more we get from them. They fill us with vigour. You’ll notice your child has abundant energy when using a strength.

3. High use (choosing to do it)

Finally, look for what your child chooses to do in their spare time, how often they engage in a particular activity, and how they speak about that activity.

For true strengths, these three elements form a beautiful feedback loop: great performance provides the child with a shot of high energy, so the child naturally chooses to do more. In turn, high use – also known as effort or practice – improves performance levels. So, for example, if you notice that your child is energised when they play the piano, and you provide enjoyable opportunities for them to play, if they’re mining a true strength they will likely practise more, which improves their performance, which then energises them … and so the loop continues.

Keeping this triad in mind will help you avoid pushing your child into an area that seems like a strength just because your child is good at it. It will also help you differentiate between whether your child is bingeing on an activity in an escapist way or expressing a true strength.

For example, when a parent asks me, ‘My son is great at computer games and wants to play all the time. Is that a sign of a strength?’ I reply, ‘Observe his energy levels at the end. Is he drained and cranky? Or energised and full of life? Are you seeing the full triad?’ Computer games can tap into a child’s strategic and problem-solving skills or stimulate creativity (in some games, you invent whole new worlds). Or they might just be about filling time.

So look for all three signs. When you see your child do something well, with energy, and repeatedly, you’ll know you’ve unearthed a strength.

Michael Flaherty

Deputy Principal