PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

It is straight back into the full swing of school. 2021 sees us in a new world with the health issues of COVID-19 still hanging around. We continue to follow all health guidelines in the school. The great news is, we can have families back in our school. The welcome night for our families was well received. It was wonderful for Year 7 to show off their classrooms and introduce their teachers. We look forward to our 6-year journey with you and your children. 

Our new senior area is OPEN and the students are really enjoying the quiet space to study and prepare for their HSC. Remember, the study centred is fully staffed and open before and after school for ANY student who might need a quiet place to study and get a little extra hep to succeed. 

In extra exciting news we have been nominated and accepted for a new project to totally repurpose the old school hall into a new Creative and Performing Arts Centre of Excellence. It is a 3 million dollar joint funded project. The team here are super excited about the next step, which is to work with EJE architects in the design phase. We will keep you updated. 

We have also been accepted as one of only two NSW state high schools into a project called “new Metrics’ with the University of Melbourne to deep dive into new ways of measuring learning in contemporary schooling. This is a very exciting venture and will involve all our Deputy Principals and some other executive staff. I will send more information on this in a separate email for any families who are interested in the academics of this work. 

We have a new school plan that we are putting the finishing touches on. The new school planning process involves setting targets and meeting those targets across the school. The full school plan will be available on the website in term 2. The plan spans 4 years. Please see the images for our three directions.

Our key target areas are around:

• Improving all students to 90% attendance at school- this means no days off unless they are really sick.
• Moving more students into completing their HSC, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
• Moving more students into the top two bands in NAPLAN and the HSC.

To do these things, we need your family support on ensuring students understand that school is a place of learning. We set high expectations in the classrooms so that learning can happen. Students understand that they must follow a teacher’s fair and reasonable instructions. We have some students arriving at school with no bag and no equipment. This means that they are already not presenting as ready to learn. If students turn up with nothing, expect a phone call to bring up their things. If you are struggling with getting things together, we have student assistance to help. I have also sent out a separate letter on uniform. 

As always, our school is a place of exceptional learning, with great staff and wonderful students. We love helping your children to become the best version of themselves. 

Have a wonderful Easter Break.