Principal's Report 

REMINDER - DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (DE) ANNUAL PARENT OPINION SURVEY 2024

In summary - 

• An email was sent to all VSC families by ORIMA Research on Monday 29 July.  It may hit your spam/junk mail, so please check
• The survey opened on Monday 29 July and closes on Friday 30 August
• The survey was sent to all VSC families, one response per family is requested
• The Survey is available in 39 languages other than English
• Do not share your unique login details, as each family has its own personal login

Vermont Secondary College is conducting the annual Parent Opinion Survey to gauge what parents / caregivers / guardians think of our college. The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education (DE) that is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage all families to participate. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct, future school planning and improvement strategies. The school only receives anonymous, collated results which we then use in our future planning.

All families were invited to participate in the survey sent out via COMPASS on Monday 29th of July. The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open from Monday 29th of July to Friday the 30th of August 2024.

The survey is conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the survey period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

In 2024 the college has its four yearly major review in Terms 2 and 3. The results from this survey, plus the annual staff and student opinion survey will help form a large percentage of the review and future planning, plus the writing of the new 4-year Strategic Plan.

As the completion of the survey is anonymous, apologies to families if you receive a reminder and have already completed the survey. 

As of Wednesday 7 August 2024, we have had 99 survey responses, which is a response rate of 8% of 1,234 families.

Thank you if you have already completed the 

UPCOMING VSC PRODUCTION – ‘Head Over Heels' STARTING 16TH AUGUST!

A reminder that the annual Vermont production is not far away, and performance dates are listed below. The production team have been busy preparing this fantastic annual event and tickets are selling fast.

Production dates are:

Friday August 16 at 7.30pm 

Saturday August 17 at 7.30pm 

Sunday August 18 at 2.00pm (Afternoon Matinee)

Thursday August 22 at 7.30pm

Friday August 23 at 7.30pm

Saturday August 24 at 7.30pm (Final Performance)

For Bookings go to https://www.trybooking.com/506206

ANNUAL YEAR 11 SKI TRIP

Firstly, a huge thank you to Harry Amos for organising last week’s Year 11 ski trip to Mount Buller and also a big thank you for attending, running and overseeing the 4-day trip. The snow conditions were very good, while the weather was outstanding with clear blue skies over all four days. These conditions were ideal for the many beginners on the trip and by the second day the majority of students were up and about on the snow. 

The annual ski trip is often mentioned by ex-students as one of the highlights of their six years at Vermont and I would like to thank the Year 11 students for their great behaviour over the week. With many of the students being beginners or intermediates in their skiing and snowboarding ability, staff are always kept very busy. 

I would also like to thank the other staff involved in last week’s camp – Seamus Billings, Lorraine Moore, Minhtu Nguyen and Alysha Eccles for attending, supporting and supervising all the students participating. Well done to all on a tiring, but great week!

YEAR 8 CAMP CONGRATULATIONS

Over the last three weeks all Year 8 students have been involved in the three-day City Discovery Camp. With so many regional shopping centres close to Vermont it is surprising how many students have little knowledge of the City of Melbourne, the use of public transport in the city and knowing their way around Melbourne.

It is amazing to see how much was packed into this three-day program, including various theme-based city tours, sightseeing through the heart of the city including many alleyways, lots of public transport use, the Queen Victoria Market tour, rock climbing, lawn bowls and swimming at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC).

Thank you to the Year 8 students for their behaviour while representing the college and thanks also for the way you actively involved yourselves in the program. Thanks also to all teaching & Education Support staff, Heads of House, Student Managers and Principal class who gave up their time to share this wonderful experience with their students.

A huge thanks go to Jacqueline Wilson and Ben Loh who, in their role as the school Program Managers planned, organised and oversaw the logistics of this fantastic program. A large amount of time, effort and attention to detail by Jacqui and Ben, supported by all other leaders and staff, was required to make the city experience for students and staff so successful. Well done to all involved!

YEAR 12 SEPTEMBER PRACTICE EXAMS 

A formal practice examination period will run from Monday 23rd September to Friday 27th September 2024.  This falls in the first week of the Term 3 holidays.  All scored-VCE students are expected to attend the practice exams for the subjects that they are completing. 

This involves all students completing a Unit 3 / 4 subject and they will be required to attend. These exams give students valuable experience testing their key knowledge and skills under timed exam conditions and the opportunity to receive valuable feedback from their teachers. If you have any questions, please see/contact Ms Gerbing however all details were in a Compass post recently sent, including a timetable.

VSC PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY – FRIDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER

The college will be holding a Professional Development Day for all staff on Friday 6th September and students will not be required at school. This is a day set aside for teachers to have a common planning day working on, and further developing, curriculum.