Principal's Report

Dear Parents, Carers, Families and Students,

Thank you for your ongoing support of our work together. The latter part of Term 1 and the beginning of Term 2 has again been a busy time at the College for students and staff. Please see below some key messages from me regarding both recent and upcoming areas of focus for our school.

National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)

Our students are reaching the end of the NAPLAN period and I am pleased to report that despite the ongoing challenges that COVID presents, our participation rates are over 90%. The results from NAPLAN will be available later in the year and provide one of many units of measurement of school performance. Our aim is to continue to build on the growth measures in NAPLAN that show student progression between Years 7 and 9.

Attitudes to School Survey

The Department of Education and Training (DET) Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS) is now underway and it has been a pleasure to be delivering this in classes. The survey is an opportunity for students to share views on their experiences at school. The DET survey is administered to all schools and similar to NAPLAN provides various units of measurement on school performance. The survey is anonymous, and the data collected is used to inform the College of areas of success as well as improvement.

The survey also includes some questions of a sensitive nature relating to mental health and overall student wellbeing. It has been reiterated to students that as the survey is anonymous it is not possible for the College to follow up with students who have indicated that they may need support. While administering the survey College leadership have reiterated the processes at school for students who have mental health and wellbeing concerns. These include the ability for students to self-refer to the Student Wellbeing Team. I would encourage parents to engage in these conversations at home also and to contact the College should they need further information.

Uniform and arriving on time

Thank you to parents for your ongoing support in ensuring students arrive in full school uniform and on time for classes. I would again like to remind parents that supports are available if you are unable to source the required uniform and equipment for learning. There has been a noticeable shift in the standard of our students meeting our dress code requirements and punctuality in the morning. Maintaining and continuing to improve this is something that will be supported by myself and College staff into the future.

Senior Certificate changes

As parents may have seen in the media there are some significant changes occurring to senior certificates for 2023. The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) will no longer be available. The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) will now include 2 options for students. The current VCE remains unchanged and the VCE Vocational Major (VCE VM) will be available for students as of 2023. The VCE VM will mirror the credit arrangements of the VCE and is a two-year program. We will be working with our Year 10 students to understand these changes as they begin to consider subject selection for next year.

On a final note, it has been wonderful to host some recent events at the College and re-open our doors to the community. In early April the student ‘Show-up’ performance evening was an excellent way to finish Term 1. More recently the Eid festival was a beautiful celebration for our school community featuring dance, music, singing a poetry. Hosting our parents and students in the community theatre is a reminder of how special it is for us to be able to come together in person.

Many thanks

David Caughey