ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS’ REPORT

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS

Ryan Mills   Bradley Headlam   Sarah Bridges

International Student Program - Recruitment Tour

During Week 8/9 North Geelong Secondary College participated in a Department of Education led recruitment tour to China. The purpose of the trip was to promote Education in Victoria to International Students but also to promote North Geelong as a school destination for prospective students.

The week-long trip was filled with student agent meetings, meetings with parents and students of future International Students, virtual information sessions and Pre-departure meetings.  Our college representative was Assistant Principal - Ryan Mills who was able to make many new connections and establish relationships made in previous years. We hope to grow our Chinese student participation in the program as well as students from many other backgrounds and cultures. 

Be Bold Be Heard and Growing the program

 - Brad Headlam 

The next forum will be held on Friday 17th May. It will be a great opportunity to hear from some fantastic speakers but also launch into their proposed actions. We are now looking forward to the upcoming development of the boys' program. 

Over the holidays, I was fortunate enough to be awarded (by the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals and Bank First) a trip to Alberta Canada to attend a conference and visit some leading schools. The conference was at the Fairmont Springs in Banff, set amongst the mountains and occasionally covered in snow; A stunning place, the conference delivered some fantastic learning opportunities from educational leaders from around the world. Many of the speakers highlighted how progressive we are as a College, and it was quite reaffirming. As always, there are great take-away messages, and I will look to embed these in my practice or where applicable hereafter. 

I was also fortunate to be chauffeured around by a District Leader in the city of Calgary. At breakfast with the District Leaders, we shared stories of our successes and ate crispy bacon with non-stop hash browns. They had just introduced a fantastic wellbeing program across the region, whilst I shared the impacts our BBBH girls have had on our school and community. 

Following this, I visited two other schools, one of which had a very similar story to ours and had become quite successful with similar initiatives. The second school, Bishop Carroll, Years 10 to 12, was self-directed.  The students were coached on how to learn and then permitted to do this independently (of teachers) and at their own pace. It also meant that students who were invested in other extra-curricular activities could take responsibility for their time, keep up with their work and attend a day of training instead of school. 

It was quite remarkable how the students stuck to their learning goals and avoided the temptations of their own devices. When discussing student voices, we talked about the changes the students had made to their expectations with what students wear…they have no uniform. However, students were starting to expect others to wear more appropriate clothing for their school. 

Curriculum Day -16/5/2024

There will not be any classes on this day for students. Staff will be working on strategies to engage reluctant learners in the focussed area of Literacy.

New outdoor spaces for students

Recently we have added two new spaces for students. One is an Outdoor Education space. This is for students to investigate things that camping might provide, such as camp cooking. The second space is at the front of the school and includes indigenous sculptures and will be our own NGSC Yarning circle.

Progress Reports → Semester Reports

At the end of each semester, we provide parents and students with semester reports. These are different to our Progress Reports in that they provide results from Learning Tasks and feedback on how well students are meeting the curriculum standards. This term you will receive a set of Progress Reports (Wednesday 8th May) and a set of Semester Reports. Not only will these reports provide valuable feedback to parents and students, but they will also be used by teachers and student managers to identify the next steps in the learning pathways and journey. 

Semester One ends on June 14th and Semester Two commences on June 17th. Students are working towards completing the work and assessment tasks required to complete Unit 1, Unit 3 and other semester units. This can be a busy and demanding time for students, so we encourage them to be accessing teachers for support. 

ANZAC Day Assembly

On Friday 26 April, the college held an ANZAC memorial assembly. We welcomed John Moug, John Delia and Russell Cameron as guest representatives from the Geelong Legacy Club. John Moug spoke to the students about his experience in the Defence Force, what ANZAC Day means to him and other retired servicemen and the role of the Legacy Club in Geelong.

 Along with our guest speaker, we had student members of a local cadet group perform a demonstration march in full uniform. We thank Alastor Cuttriss, Gabriel Brown, Shesh Priyan Selvakumar, Jack Mifsud and Ibrahim Asfar for the display and creating awareness for their cadet group. If any student is interested in joining the cadets, please contact one of the students listed above. 

School Photos

School photos have now been completed.  The photographers gave us very positive feedback regarding the attitude and behaviour of our students. Thanks to all our families and students for presenting so smartly in our uniform and smiling! The photos can be ordered through Compass. Please see the Compass notification.