From the Principal Class Team
Dear Parents and Guardians
Staff have been busy writing End of Semester Reports over the last few days and they will, for the first time in the school’s history, be posted on the school’s Parent Portal. Parents will be able to view electronic copies of their child’s semester report. Reports will be available at the end of term 2.
Ms Dowsley on leave
Principal Ms Kerrie Dowsley will be on leave for the last 2 weeks of this term and the first 2 weeks of Term 3. In her absence Mr Ian Crocker will be Acting Principal and Mr Louis Turner will be Acting Assistant Principal. Mr Turner has previously been a Leading Teacher in Teaching & Learning at the school and he is warmly welcomed to the PCO Team.
We wish Ms Dowsley a well-earned break and a safe trip.
Farewells
Three members of our staff are reluctantly moving on and we wish them all the best and thank them for their contributions to our school, the students and the wider community.
Ailie McArthur was appointed to the position of our Individual Needs Coordinator at the start of 2015 after filling the role of the visiting speech pathologist in previous years. Ailie is a very motivated person and her attention to detail and proactive management of the area has contributed significantly to the high quality support students, and the parents of those students, involved in this program receive. Her positive manner and commitment to our students are just two of her outstanding characteristics that will be sadly missed. We wish her the best for her future endeavours and thank her for the great work she has done for our school.
Ms Ailie McArthur
Mr Seijiro Nishioka
Seijiro Nishioka has had a number of roles at the school in replacing staff on leave. He has an amazing capacity to change roles and continue to provide our students with high quality teaching and development opportunities.
Seijiro has been a strong participant in the development of plans to redesign the school’s art rooms in 2015/16 and his Japanese lessons are always innovative and exciting. Students and staff will miss him and I join them in wishing him every success in his education career.
Andrew Pitman is an instrumental teacher who has been working with our students whilst our regular instrumental guitar teacher has been on leave. Andrew’s position will transfer back to Mr Sam Agostino when he returns next term. On behalf of the staff, students and broader school community I would like to thank Andrew for the support, encouragement and expertise he has brought to this important area of the school’s music program. We wish him well for his future.
Work Experience 15 - 26 June
Year 10 students are out on Work Experience for the last 2 weeks of Term 2 and this is an excellent opportunity for students to engage in a real life experience, develop an understanding of work and appreciate what it takes to become a valued and productive member of the workforce. It is also an ideal opportunity for students to try a particular field of work to see if it is something they would be interested in pursuing as a career.
Many thanks to our Middle Coordination Team, MIPS/Careers staff and teaching staff for their contributions to making Work Experience the valuable program it is.
Year 10 Work Experience Students
Left to right - Timoci, Mario & Taani with Mr Tony Gavrilovski
Nepal Earthquake Fundraiser
The devastating earthquakes near Nepal's capital city of Kathmandu claimed more than 8,000 lives, caused thousands of injuries, and destroyed homes, ancient sites and infrastructure. The people of Nepal are still in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
Our excellent and compassionate team of VCAL students, in partnership with OXFAM, led a huge fundraising drive at the school by organising a variety of activities this term. These included an out of uniform day, a staff lunch and a table tennis competition.
The school has raised more than $1000 in support of the Nepal Earthquake relief fund. The funds will help provide more lifesaving emergency aid like clean water, sanitation, medical care and shelter.
Thank you to all staff and students for their generous donations and support of this very worthy cause.