From the Principal

2021 School Review

I would like to thank all of our community members who took the time to speak to our reviewer,  Mr Graham Broadbent, and the review panel.  From the parents that gave an hour of their time to inform him of their thoughts on the school, the students who spoke with respect and candour of their experiences to the staff who did the same, you have assisted in providing a valuable picture of where our school sits currently and where you would like it to be.  

Whilst it is often an arduous process, it is also an opportunity to perform compliance checks and take stock of how far we have come and the work required to reach our 4 year goals created from the data collected in the review, which is presented in the Strategic Plan (SP).

The Strategic Plan is further broken down into yearly targets, called the Annual Implementation Plan (AIP), of which all of our Professional Development and practice is tethered to. 

Our review panel has set goals that, when achieved over the next 4 years, will bring growth to be proud of. 

Can you spare some time to help? 

Our canteen is heavily reliant on parent helpers.

If you could spare a few hours once a month to help we want to hear from you.  You can come in and have a look at how the canteen operates without having to make a commitment, you can give us an hour in the morning to help Aidie prep the food, or do a full shift.  We will be grateful for anything time can give.

We do not want to be forced to look at closing days and closure of the canteen will also mean lunches will need to be taken to school. 

If you can help, please contact Aidie on 55 722 788 as soon as possible.

Surveys in 2021

As part of the Strategic Plan we will be sending out more surveys to gauge parent opinion. 

This regular information gathering will come via sms survey monkeys in short questionnaires that will directly impact the way we work with you - the most recent being the Parent Student Teacher Interview survey, this took on average 1 minute and 49 seconds to complete yet has provided insight that a large percentage of those who responded prefer face to face meetings where possible and that the content discussed was relevant and helpful. 

 Every year the DET issues the Parent Opinion Survey to a randomly selected number of parents, we urge all parents selected to provide us with this valuable feedback as it drives our practice and directly impacts the AIP & SP. 

House & GD Athletics

Well done to Fraser House in your successful year in sports and thank you to everyone who participated in the Athletics Carnival.  Miss Boxall has provided a report in this issue on this and the Glenelg District Athletics Carnival for you to discover further results, so I will say well done to those who went on to the GD Aths and excelled, as well as those who participated in general, just turning up makes a big difference.

Year 7 2022 Principal Tour & Information Evening

This year I toured a group of interested parents who were taking the initiative to make an informed decision about the education of their children alongside our School Captain Hilary Slocombe and Laver House Captain Miranda McIntyre.  I would also like to thank Hilary for her outstanding effort in the information evening  held later  that week, she modelled what an exemplary student at Baimbridge College is and spoke to the attendees with a real sense of Pride in her school.  Well done Hilary, and thank you to Mrs Cook for all of the work that she has done in the organisation and communication with parents in this area. 

Mrs Adams spoke to prospective parents at the information evening and her passion for making the transition from Primary to Secondary school was fully evident, with some parents basing their choices on her words and genuine care factor.    

2021 Year 7 meet the teachers evening.

What a great night! All year 7 teachers were in the library for an informal 'drop in' session where Year 7 parents could come in any time between 5 and 7 to meet their children's teachers, chat to the Principal class staff, the office staff and catch up on that paperwork that often goes awry.  

Families were issued with passports that showed photographs of each student's teachers for easy identification and a list of any outstanding items to be addressed, like copying birth certificates etc.

During the debrief after the staff spoke of the positive vibe of the night and the relaxed, yet very productive feel of it and how the feedback from parents who attended included words like "worthwhile", "useful", "pressure free" and more.  

We will be investigating the possibility of more of these kids of nights in the future.

The 2021 investiture

Our investiture was held last month and was a successful ceremony where the school's senior members in the Year 12 Students and the leaders within other year levels were acknowledged for their leadership roles.

We heard from Mayor Bruach Colliton, son of the late and beloved past teacher Mr Fenton Colliton, who spoke of leadership and the work that comes with the responsibility.

I would like to thank Mr Hill and Kira for their efforts in organising the event, and all staff who assisted. 

Presentation Ball

The experience of being an audience member in arguably the best seat in the house allowed me to witness the incredible spectacle that is the Presentation Ball.

The result of the training and pushing students outside of their comfort zone resulted in wonderful teamwork, camaraderie, students overcoming obstacles and learning the importance of organisation and communication and the final product was a testimony to them.  What a polished performance.  Even when faced with a hiccup they reacted so well that nobody noticed.  

Homework & Study

Last week I posted on Compass about homework and study.  We have noticed that many students are 'shocked' at the expectations of time commitment required to gain a strong Study Score in VCE.   

I have spoken to many senior students of late and the fear of failure is prevalent and we will be addressing this as a priority, but the culture of aim high and fail often will be instilled in all of our students, because you cannot learn if you do not fail and aiming high means that even if you do fail you will end up with more than having never tried.

I was also alarmed to hear of the hours worked at part-time jobs from our year 11 & 12 students whilst trying to undertake the VCE, some working between 20 - 30 hours per week.  A good study score simply cannot be achieved when working long hours.  

Here are the guidelines I posted on Compass, if you wish to achieve a high ATAR you will need to be in good practice in this space:

A guide to Study per night - 

Study is revising work completed or preparing for work to come.

Yr 7 1/2  hr

Yr 8  1 hr 

Yr 9  1.5 hr

Yr 10  2hr

Yr 11  2.5 hr

Yr 12  3hr

Homework is catching up on incomplete work and reading practice.

We will be working with students in educating them how to schedule free time into study schedules so that they achieve balance and guilt free down time. 

Behind the scenes

I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the work of our teaching staff in Term 1, they have been working diligently in the space of collaboration and data collection and, more importantly, the use of the data collected to drive the teaching and learning.  Our meetings are productive and the energy in the room is palpable. 

The other side of the coin is the operations and all aspects of the build.  In already heavy schedules our staff are making time to meet weekly, often twice weekly with the VSBA to ensure we get the best new facilities possible.  We were excited to learn last week that we are up to the stage of choosing colour schemes, this will be done in consultation with community representatives.

I would like to also thank Mrs Vincent for her time on School Council, and welcome in our new members Mrs Yvette Colquhoun and Lucinda Petersen.  We have a fantastic group of passionate people who will support the school this year.

School council consists of:

Parent Members: L Emsley, L Peterson, G Sevior, B Kelvy, T Symes, J Tooley 

DET Members: W Price, J Hill, J Tan, M Savage, J Robinson, Y Colquhoun 

Student Member: Ki Emsley

President: Lee Emsley 

Vice President: Lucinda Peterson 

Secretary: Catherine Egan 

Treasurer: Janelle Tooley 

Looking ahead

Term two looks to be full of opportunity, we start the term with our time honoured tradition of assisting the RSL & Legacy with badge selling, representative wreath laying around the district and holding our ANZAC assembly service.  

The senior students who wish to investigate educational life after Baimbridge have that opportunity on the Tertiary Orientation excursion over 4 days in Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong visiting various universities and TAFE's. 

NAPLAN is back for our Year 7's and 9's in the middle of the term and whole school exams, year 8 Bogong camp, year 10 work experience, year 9 Melbourne Experience, the GAT and year 9 Careers week all happening in the last three weeks will mean we will all be looking forward to another break!

Capital Works

As I type, the slab is being poured on our new Science and Technology building.  It is wonderful to see the buildings taking shape, it helps to visualise the new facilities.  There has been a lot of hours given by many to get us to here, and many more to come.   For all of this I am grateful.

Holidays

It is my hope that all families will get to spend some down time with each other, be that over the Easter break or weekends in between for working parents, the time we spend with our families is so valuable and recharges the batteries for a busy term 2 ahead.