Principal 

Welcome back to the new term, I hope that all College families had a restful and enjoyable winter break. I extend a particular welcome to the five new families who started with us at the beginning of this term, and warmly welcome these students and their parents to the College community.  

NAPLAN results

In the coming week, families with children in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 will receive summary reports of their child’s NAPLAN results. I encourage you to read these for what they are – a useful, point-in-time summary of your child’s performance in key skill areas. We will also be subjected in the coming weeks to the annual cycle of media commentary about NAPLAN: the hand-wringing about falling standards, and the chest-beating about how damaging NAPLAN is to young people. My view is somewhere in the middle: as standardised national tests NAPLAN gives us the best source of cohort-level data we have. While I agree that there are concerns about some of the questions – that in Years 7 and 9 only 8 out of 48 Maths questions had to be completed without a calculator, for example – and about the timeliness of results, NAPLAN is best large-scale standarised test we have and it does provide very useful student-level information to teachers. 

I think it is a media fiction that NAPLAN puts too much pressure on young people. NAPLAN is just a test; it can only be as threatening as the language we use to talk about it. Our children are not so enfeebled that they can’t sit a series of tests every two years without falling apart. So when your child’s results arrive, please do read them with interest and know that we will use them at College to inform teaching interventions, but then quietly put them in a drawer. 

Year 12 2025 and 2026 Parents’ Function

I am looking forward to sharing Friday night’s function with parents of Year 12s in 2025 and this year. If you haven’t yet RSVP’d, but would like to come, you can still register via this link: https://events.humanitix.com/class-of-2025-26pmyd 

College Foundation Update

And finally, it is my pleasure to share the letter linked below, from Penny Adamson, President of the College Foundation. The work and support of the Foundation makes a real difference to the experiences of and opportunities available to our students. I thank them here for their energetic support of the College, and commend Penny’s letter to you.