LEADERSHIP TEAM

I had the pleasure of attending the ABC Take Over Mildura. We had five year ten students represent our college: Cham, Kayde, Owen, Hannah & Jareece. I would encourage all of you to take the time to look at all the finalists and their stories, these young people showed a lot of courage in sharing their stories.

https://www.abc.net.au/takeover/programs/takeover-mildura/2023-winners/102302854

I had a visit from Angela Singh, the Department of Education’s Regional Director for the North Western Victorian Region. We had a really good conversation about Red Cliffs Secondary College and education in Sunraysia and how we can maximise opportunities for the young people in the region. She also was very impressed with our Takeover Mildura finalists, as we all had lunch together and they where able to share their stories with her.

In my role as Principal I fully recognise that understanding the context and the local community is crucial when leading positive outcomes for those who are associated directly and indirectly with a school. It doesn’t matter where your school is located, schools have a crucial role in helping to shape the basic fabric of a community and society, a school's influence continuing long after a student leaves an educational setting. As a school leader, knowing your community and having them be a part of a shared vision is vital. I recognise that for our children to succeed, schools and the families we serve need to work in partnership. As Helen Keller said, “Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much”. I welcome feedback from our community to help us improve our school.

I’m looking forward to next term when we have our course confirmation day and interviews, as we invite all year 9 & year 10 students into the school with their guardians to discuss their pathways and how we can work together to ensure all our students choose the right combination of subjects so they can achieve their educational goals and access their future pathways with our support and guidance.

It has been extremely busy over the last month as staff are working towards the end of first semester. Staff have been working through course content, planning their assessments tasks, preparing senior students for end of semester exams and the GAT which will be held on 15/6/2023.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all our students who participated in the attitudes to school survey, I look forward to seeing the results and taking on board the valuable feedback that this provides for all our teaching staff.

It was great to see that the year 7 students had the opportunity to attend the school camp this week in Halls Gap. This couldn’t have occurred without the commitment of staff who attended the camp. Thank you to Jen Chatfield, James O’Toole, Lauren O’Rourke and Darren Le Gassick.

If you get the chance, take the opportunity to go and visit ‘Arts Mildura’ at 39 Langtree Avenue, Mildura.  Holly-Elise, one of our very talented Red Cliffs FLO connect students, is having her first solo art exhibition. She is an amazing young artist who has done a mountain of work to put together her first exhibition and we are all very proud of what she has achieved.

Finally, I want to thank our staff for all their hard work and commitment to state education.

Enjoy the long weekend.

Kind regards,

Justin Matt

Executive Principal.