NGSC Newsletter

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS’ REPORT

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS

Paul Dawson and Bradley Headlam

Brad Smallman and Sarah Bridges

 

As we approach the end of the term, it is great to reflect on the achievements of our students within our College community. Many students have enjoyed participating in a variety of sports, lunchtime activities and extended learning. The school play was a highlight, especially the finale where the principal class were invited to dance!! We are so proud of the amazing musical and dramatic talent of our students. 

The recent Progress Reports highlighted academic progress. Students and families are to be congratulated for their continued efforts to improve their skills and capabilities.  

Early finish 1:30 Friday 16 September

(Period 1 cancelled)

Please note that school finishes at 1:30 pm on the last day of term. This means that period 1 is cancelled and the remaining periods will be shortened. 

Performance

We all had the great privilege to observe the school production recently and what a wonderful thing it was to have after so long without one. It always astounds me the breadth of skills and abilities our students possess in the performing arts. For me it was the connections between students, who were not necessarily friends, acting as a superbly functional team. Songs written by students, acting that involved Principals, amazing voices and incredible dance moves (including the Principals). I also was super excited to take my 8 year old daughter to the show and from the moment we arrived she was connected to the performance and even was involved in the make up space to get sequences stuck to her hand. The sense of community is fantastic at NGSC and certainly was on show for the performance, all students and staff should be congratulated and especially the School Captains who were up front and centre for all the performances. Well done!

Mr Headlam

GPA

Progress reports were shared with parents last week. Student Managers have also been sorting through the data to identify high performers for end of year award nominations. They also look at the data for students underperforming and launch into processes to help students manage themselves with their learning. The end of this process is either a congratulations or a real conversation about the capacity to go up to the next year level with the subjects chosen. This is often in partnership with Student Wellbeing and Pathways so that we consider all avenues of support. It is important for parents to know that we have a fantastic Pathways Team who provide guidance to students in moving towards their preferred pathways, but also they can support students in their pursuit of a part time job. If your child is looking to do this, please let the Sub Schools know and they can refer them for a pathways interview.

Subjects and swaps

We recently completed the course counselling process and are now going through the creation of a school timetable for 2023. There are lots of pieces to this substantial puzzle and they are starting to fall in place. As we go through this process we will start to get an idea of all the subjects that we can run based on the students’ preferences. Early next term we hope to be able to confirm the subjects students have been given for 2023. Now, as usual, students' preferences can sometimes change and we welcome the opportunity for students to shape their subjects based on their pathways and hence, can make subject changes as needed. The information on how this process works will be shared once the subjects have been published. Changes are permitted up until the first week back to school in 2023, but as we draw closer there is less opportunity for change as the classes can fill up, so we encourage discussions to occur as soon as possible.

Green entries and Awards lunch

We had our third Awards lunch for 2022. This has been a fantastic initiative that provides lunch for students who have been performing positively in their Progress Reports. Well done to Sub School leaders for organising such a great event to celebrate the students who are applying themselves so well. We look forward to seeing their achievements at the end of the year. 

Be Bold Be Heard

The girls in the BBBH team are busily working on their actions in the College in preparation to present to all schools in November this year. Recently, the students presented their actions to the staff in a super-professional manner. Congratulations to Malenga Ally, Nya Tut, Olivia Barlow and Sunday Kiir who presented in the staff meeting after school.

There are 6 teams of girls working on the actions below. We meet regularly and expect some significant impacts by the end of the year:

  1. Speak up
  2. Empower
  3. Sports equality
  4. Gender respect
  5. Sports uniform 
  6. Stop racism

Some of their achievements include:

  • Self Defence Program in Year 9 curriculum
  • Rock and Water training for staff to develop curriculum to tackle confidence, relationship and behaviour issues
  • Presentations for staff on racial issues
  • Video for educating the community on different cultural backgrounds
  • Survey of students about the girls’s sports uniform
  • Supporting the implementation of the Excellence In Sport Volleyball Program to provide a more gender inclusive sport access to students

Camps

Recent Government initiatives have resulted in us having to review our Camps program for 2023 and beyond. The main change is a positive one in its intent and that is to give staff Time In Lieu (TIL) for going away on any overnight camp. We have gone through an extensive review of both the Outdoor Education and cohort camps. We are confident that we can continue to adhere to the extensive, challenging, thrilling and engaging program whilst ensuring staff can access TIL without impacting the continuity of student learning. The plan is to be shared with the School Council at the next meeting.

Final Weeks for the Year 12 VCE and VCAL students 

The VCE students are in the process of finishing their courses this term and will spend the first three weeks of term 4 revising their course work.  Their holidays will be taken up with exam classes during week one. The exams will be held under the VCAA end of year exam conditions with an external assessor conducting these exams.  It is compulsory for all VCE students to attend these exams. Whilst it is important that they do spend some time resting, it is also important that they prepare for the end of year exams as they are only a few weeks away. The VCAL students are finalising their coursework ensuring that they satisfy all of their outcomes.  They will then be interviewed on their years’ work by a panel of two members.  This is a formal process, but is also seen as an opportunity to celebrate this year and their previous 12 years of schooling.