NGSC Newsletter

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS’ REPORT

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS

Paul Dawson and Bradley Headlam

Brad Smallman and Sarah Bridges

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferences provided a great opportunity for parents to meet with their child’s teacher to celebrate their child’s progress and to discuss any concerns they had. It was a fantastic turn out and thank you to those parents who made it in during their own busy schedules.  

S.E.A.L and Scholarships

On Saturday 23 July we conducted our S.E.A.L. testing at the school. The students participated in an online comprehension, numeracy and general ability test, along with a written creative thinking and extending writing task.  We have finalised the members of the 2023 S.E.A.L. class and all applicants have been notified.  

The scholarship interviews are currently taking place and students will be notified next week. Visits to the primary schools will be made to present the scholarships.

Attendance

Obviously, with an attempt to return to school in 2022 whilst managing COVID infections, colds and flu appropriately, there has been a significant rise in absences through medical reasons. In the event there is difficulty in getting your child back to school please contact the Sub School or the Student Wellbeing Team to support your child’s re-engagement. We have an extensive range of options available to parents for supporting this process so please give us a call.

Rock and Water

This is a new addition to our Health and PE curriculum being trialled this term. This came from discussions around the ‘Be Bold Be Heard’ initiative. The College sourced some options and noted that the Rock and Water Program provides applied learning strategies that encourage students to reflect on such behaviours in an appropriate way. Three staff members completed training earlier in the year and we hope to have more training in October. The trained individuals have started embedding activities into the health curriculum and we hope to also pursue cohort based activities through the Sub School or during camps. Staff who attended the professional learning stated it was the best they had done in a long time.

Course counselling

Students in Years 8, 9, 10 and 11 have selected subjects for next year, guided by the Careers Team. Year 10 students have participated in Careers Week that has involved visiting Tertiary Institutions and exploring courses, hearing from past students and their experiences in the workplace and looking at their own skills and interests to select a course for Year 11.

Year 12 students attended the Tertiary Information Session to learn about options for 2023. They were able to visit stalls from many different TAFEs and Universities and ask questions about courses and life in the tertiary world.

This has been really positive and a real discussion about capabilities, potential challenges and a strong decision was made by students in pursuit of their potential career pathway. In addition to this the students were directed to further pathways advice as required and may involve parents down the track. 

Some students who were flagged as having difficulty with their current program go through our ‘At Risk’ processes that will include discussions with careers and the Sub School to provide support, more educational opportunities or motivation to raise the work habits to get back on track.

Below are examples of what kind of things the students discussed with their counsellor:

  • What do you like doing?
  • What are you good at?
    What did the Morrisbey survey say about you and your strengths?
  • Do you have a pathway or occupation in mind for your future career?
  • Do you know how to get there?
  • Have you considered University, TAFE?
    Will you be considering VCE or VM?
  • If you are an applied learner have you explored opportunities to experience different workplaces? Would you like to?
  • What are your teachings suggesting for you?

This starts to shape the plan, then the counsellor will observe results, teacher recommendations and suggest/discuss particular subjects that are appropriate for the student, their ability and their pathway. It then gets final approval from our more experienced counsellors and is put into the system.

Once in the system, the timetable is then to be shaped and the tallies of choices will be reviewed and shared with key stakeholders. In the event very few selections have been made for a particular subject then a decision will be made through consultation with the Principal to  approve or cancel a subject. Following this, re-counselling is provided and further advice given to students as required. Overall we aim to provide curriculum breadth where possible.

VCAL Recycling initiative

Some of our VCAL classes have been busy with all kinds of projects in the school and out in the community. The students below have instigated a change to our Recycling processes. The first step…. Changing some of the bin lids to the recyclables yellow lids. 

SWPBS Gratitude

The SWPBS group have organised Gratitude cards to be given to each student. The Gratitude cards (see below) are so that students can learn how to express their gratitude for others. On the back of the card the student can then complete a templated thank you note. This one says “Thanks for reading the Newsletter!”