From our Principal

Welcome to 2023

Welcome to the return of our Glenroy College newsletter! I hope that you enjoy our new format; the digital interactivity of this platform adds a great new dimension to how we can celebrate the achievements of our community.

I would like to thank the wonderful Nikki Protyniak in the Library for pulling this newsletter together, as well as our many other contributors. If you have any comments or suggestions please do not hesitate to reach out.

Meet the Principal

I am humbled to join the Glenroy community as the new Executive Principal, and am committed to continuing the amazing work completed in 2022 by the College Council, staff, students and families. I would also like to take a moment to recognise the contribution of former Principal Graham Stevenson over the past 18 months; the College has shown some amazing growth during his time here, so a huge thank you from a grateful community.

Now a little background about me. I come to Glenroy College after 14 years at Gladstone Park Secondary College and five years at Melbourne Girls' College. During this time I oversaw a number of curriculum and operational innovations and a number of building projects, including the recent completion of a $4.5m theatre renovation. In 2021 I was lucky to be appointed acting Principal of MGC and in 2022 I was seconded to the role of Acting Principal at Macleod College.

I am a proud father of two and husband to a fellow music teacher, as well as a dog lover, technology and sci-fi aficionado and a part time sessional musician. My key philosophies are around equity, supporting diverse needs and building the capacity of others. I feel truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to work with the Glenroy community over the coming years.

We have some exciting ideas for where Glenroy College heads next, and listening to the wishes and needs of our students and families is of paramount importance to us. Please like our Facebook and Instagram pages, and keep an eye out for opportunities to share your thoughts as we build a vision of how the next 10 years will look at Glenroy College.

Back to school

Last week saw our welcome to the new families joining Glenroy College. It was wonderful to be out meeting the new Year 7s and their families and to see the transition program in full flight for the cohort of 2028 . I managed to meet a number of parents and students and the feedback is that students are settling in well and feeling welcomed.

2023 Goals and Focus

The Glenroy College leadership team continue to refine the 2023 Annual Implementation Plan, including a refocus of efforts on a set of common and core priorities: the most important things our school must deliver in 2023. Schools across the state will continue to focus on student wellbeing and increasingly focus their efforts on numeracy to support student learning.

The two priority areas for 2023 at Glenroy College are:

Learning – Support both those who need scaffolding and those who have thrived to continue to extend their learning, especially in numeracy.
Wellbeing – Effectively mobilise available resources to support students' wellbeing and mental health, especially the most vulnerable.

Our Annual Implementation Plan discussions to date are focussing on:

building student capacity to show positive learning behaviours, including the 'ready to learn' behaviours and routines that are so important in every day life.
continuing the work on School-Wide positive behaviours, ensuring a safe and orderly learning environment for every student.
differentiation and increasing capacity of staff use of data to assist with this.
embedding the new College values into our every action and every word.

More broadly we are also discussing:

increased extra-curricular opportunities, including more opportunities for student leadership,
further physical improvements around the school, including more outdoor seating and spaces for student to engage at lunchtime,
increased opportunities to engage in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) and inquiry based activities, including developing a relationship with the Science Gallery at Melbourne University,
engaging deeply with our feeder primary schools to ensure a smooth transition for future Glenroy College students.

It promises to be an exciting year at Glenroy. There is a sense of energy and hope from staff and students as we build upon the work of 2022 to make Glenroy College the secondary school of choice in our area.

Thanks again for reading!

Andrew Arney

Executive Principal