Principal's Report

Smooth start to the new school year

The beginning of the school year has once again started productively even though we continue to receive challenges dealing with Covid-19 every so often. The RAT tests have been distributed by the college to students, families and staff and our school community have been following all necessary processes whenever a positive result comes to light. We have been impacted quite heavily with our staffing as a consequence of these positive results and this has been difficult at times to manage.

Our students have come prepared, with their books, equipment and uniforms, all ready to learn. Importantly they have been displaying a positive attitude towards their learning.  At our team assemblies we continue to stress the need for students to work with their teachers to achieve their best. Our school motto of ”Learn, Grow, Achieve Together” was emphasized as were our values of respect, achievement and responsibility.

The new whole school vertical School Team structure has enabled us to start well and it has been at the core of the smooth start to our year with coordinators and teachers doing an excellent job transitioning students very quickly to classes.

During our Year 12 Step Up program at the end of last year, we stressed to all Year 12 students that holiday homework must be completed before they were able to attend their VCE and VCAL classes. This to their credit was done exceptionally well at the beginning of this year. Over the last few years, we have sent a clear message that students need to be ready to do the next level of work when entering the classroom. The message also emphasizes the need to be focused as well as being clear of both expectation and task. Our Senior School Team improvement strategies will incorporate a series of workshops to better prepare our students in this area.

The Year 7 students have started well.  The enthusiasm they bring with them when they first join us never ceases to amaze me. We recently received an opportunity to run a Year 7 Orientation Camp and we have 50 students ready to attend camp next week and a further 50 students later in the year. It will give our staff an opportunity to learn more about our students. The Student Success program still continues to receive very positive feedback from students and families. 

Facility upgrade- Science and Food Refurbishment

The College’s Facility upgrade to its Science and Food rooms is proceeding reasonably well given all the challenges that the builder, Sinjen Pty Ltd, has had both with the impact of Covid to its contractors and work force, as well as the many issues with procurement of necessary building materials. At our recent site meeting, late last week, we have been told that all the science classrooms will be made available to the college for use by next week and all the food classrooms and relevant staff rooms will be finalised by the week after. We anticipate the project to come in well within cost. As you can imagine, taking all of these rooms out of the timetable have been quite challenging but credit to both staff and students for the patience and tolerance. It will be well worth it.

Swimming Carnival

The Annual Swimming Carnival was very successful. I was pleased to see many students participating and encouraging their teams to do well. It was also quite evident that both students and staff had a very good day supporting their team and getting into the spirit of the day.  I would like to acknowledge Mr Liam Green, who organised the event with the support of the HAPE team and all the staff who contributed to the organisation and supervision on the day.

Thank you to all our VCAL students, VCAL staff and Nicole Hardham whose effort on the day raised a substantial profit which they will allocate to a fund of their choice later on. Congratulations also goes to the Lang House team for their wonderful effort in winning the event.

New Compass App for parents

I have been informed by the Compass team that they have released an update to the Parent App. This update is part of an ongoing effort at Compass to enhance the overall user experience and improve usability. The new feature will be turned on for our school and available to parents this week. The new Parent Guide that outlines the finer details of this update is now available in this newsletter.

John Mitsinikos

College Principal