Principal Team Editorial

Another term comes to a close again, and like most before it, this term has packed a lot into the 10-week period! With Assistant Principal Carrie Wallis currently at Cheltenham SC as Acting Principal for the remainder of the year, Mark Oudshoorn has ably stepped into the role of Assistant Principal for Senior School. Mark has also been successfully appointed to the role of substantive Assistant Principal at Glen Eira College beginning next year.  This is great news for Mark and we will wish him well, however he will be a big loss for our school, particularly for our Maths team. 

Mark’s appointment reinforces that our Leaders are not only of exceptional quality, but also their development is positively influenced by our school direction and the capability of our entire Leadership team. Mark will be the fifth leader in recent years to gain a position as an Assistant Principal, further evidence that we not only attract the best leaders but we also develop them. As Sir Richard Branson said, 'Train them well enough that they leave. Treat them well enough that they don’t want to.' I can’t speak for all five who have gone on to be Assistant Principals, but I know whilst they relish the promotion they would have been happy to do the same role here, unfortunately there are only so many AP positions to go around!! 

I have commented in recent editorials about the system leadership role that we continue to play, again because of the outstanding capability of our teachers, ES staff and Leaders. Assistant Principal Carrie Wallis and Assistant Principal Natalie Manser presented at the recent Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals (VASSP) conference, on our Developmental Assessment approach to learning, in conjunction with the Monash University Q Project and their focus on evidence-based practice. We were the only school invited to present. This has resulted in further schools making contact  to meet with us and discuss how we have used Developmental Assessment and other evidence based strategies to significantly improve outcomes for students.  As a result, last week, the Leadership team from Mornington SC visited us to further discuss the recent presentation and to better understand the lessons that we had learned in recent years. 

Kylie Rackham, the Leader of Disability Inclusion, is also seen as a system leader across Victoria for her work building one of the best Inclusion teams in the state, which continues to advocate and gain further supports for students with disabilities, improving their school experience every day! Kylie Rackham recently led a Disability Inclusion forum with representatives from schools across Melbourne and again this week with staff from Kew HS and Cheltenham SC. 

I am excited to announce that we have recently appointed a new Leader of Wellbeing, Ashleigh Bibby. Ashleigh starts with us next term and has most recently been working for the Department of Education in the regional office and at Emerald SC one day a week. Ashleigh comes to us with strong references, particularly from local Principals that she has worked with in her recent role. I’m sure you will get to know Ashleigh over the next few terms.

Finally, on Tuesday night this week we held our annual Gala Concert at Bunjil Place Theatre in Narre Warren. The Gala Concert is one of the highlights of the year and again our Performing Arts students and teachers shined.  The night was filled with quality performances and an appreciative audience. 

It also provided us with an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the contribution of one of our beloved music teachers, Andrew Jacobs, who tragically passed away last month. In honour of Andrew’s contribution, we have established a new Award, the Andrew Jacobs Memorial Award which will be presented at every annual Gala Concert to the student most dedicated and passionate in the pursuit of Music education. It was with great pleasure that our Leader of Performing Arts, Danny van Bergen, presented the inaugural scholarship award to William Spiroch. Congratulations Will!

I hope families who are taking some time to have a holiday in the next couple of weeks, enjoy their break!

Kevin Murphy

Principal