Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Welcome to the 2025 school year and a very warm welcome to all our new Year 10 students and any new students at Year 11 & 12 joining us this year for the first time. I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday break with family and friends and I look forward to a positive and successful year ahead.

We look forward to all students across Years 10-12 taking a positive attitude into 2025, staying focused on achieving their aspirational goals and always striving to improve their learning and achievement. In speaking with each of our Year Levels in assembly the first week back I challenged our students to take the opportunities presented in front of them. The year is about growth and taking ownership of their learning. Finding the opportunity for the next step of learning and celebrating success.

Our Year 12 students have their last year ahead and I wish them all the best for the final year of study. I spoke to them about finding their resilience and drive, to keep enduring throughout the year and make sure when they look back on 2025 they can say they gave it their best to get the outcome they wanted. They have been building to this year since 2013 and I asked them to reflect on the journey to get here. Keep in mind all of the support, people and hard work from those years and don’t let it go to waste in these last months.

To support the success of every student and staff member we have vision for 2025 in with three simple statements:

Every staff and student can have success and show growth

Success is different for everyone and should be celebrated

Consolidate our school improvement with a focus on individual growth through collaboration

As we begin a new year, I remind all students to make the most of the opportunities and challenges that are presented to them.

Congratulations to the Class of 2024

Tarneit Senior College students in 2024 have achieved some great results and a high success rate in completing their VCE studies. We have also had a great outcome for a lot of students in their pathways. Some of the highlights include:

We had a total of 352 students complete Year 12
There were 231 students who applied for further education including TAFE and University with 209 of those students receiving an offer (90%).
We had 193 students receive an offer in December with the remaining students receiving offers in January and some students receiving an updated offer.
In December 50% of our students received an offer that was either their first or second preference

Traffic Congestion - Student Pick Up and Drop Off:

Please be aware that parking within school grounds by car at the end of the school day is very limited. As most families would be aware, the roads surrounding us here at Tarneit Senior College, as well as Tarneit P-9 College, can get very congested – particularly before and after school. To ensure the safety of all, we encourage families to:

Utilise the service lane on Leakes Road for drop off and pick up
Please do not stop in the middle of the road to allow your student to enter/exit the vehicle
We encourage families to turn left at the end of Crossway Avenue
Consider picking up you students at a pre-arranged location in the surrounding streets where it may be quieter.

Introducing the College Leadership Teams

We are very lucky to have our Principal Team and Leadership Teams resuming with us in 2025. We are very excited to welcome back Stephen Baker to our College Executive and have a full compliment of Principal Team members for the start of 2025.

Our College Leadership Team

Our College Teaching & Learning Team:

Our Careers and Pathways Team:

Introducing our House Leadership Teams:

Introducing our Wellbeing Team:

Introducing our Inclusion Team

Introducing our Learning Specialist Team

Uniform

Our uniform is a very important part of the image we project of our college community and therefore we expect all students to wear their uniform correctly and with pride to, from and at school. It is also imperative to ensure the safety of our school community to easily identify if there is anyone attending our College who is not a student. I would like to congratulate the vast majority of students who have started off the year in a positive way in the wearing of the correct College uniform and I thank all parents for your support with this. A reminder that all students should be wearing fully black school shoes.

Students are not permitted to wear Hoodies or any other non-uniform items.
Headwear should be aligned with the school colours – black, white or navy blue

College Council Elections

College Council elections are approaching. Further information is available via our website and Compass. Nomination forms are available from the General Office. We currently have 2 positions vacant for Parent Representatives (both for a two year term). Nominations close on the 19th February. Please give some thought to contributing to the College by participating in College Council – council meets once per month, and it can be very rewarding. The College Council plays an important role in contributing to the policies and direction the College takes and is therefore an important part of the College community.

School Policies and Child Safe Standards

Our school is committed to ensuring we maintain the highest level of standards when it comes to Child Safety. The College regularly reviews all of its Child Safe and other policies in line with Department requirements.

At any time we welcome parents to view our Child Safe Policies via the school website here - https://www.tarneitsc.vic.edu.au/our-school/child-safety-policies.

We also regularly review all our other policies in line with Department of Education requirements. Our most up to date policies can always be found here - https://www.tarneitsc.vic.edu.au/our-school/documentation-policies. We often seek feedback from our community and any policies currently being reviewed will be highlighted on our website.

If you ever have feedback or concerns around any of our Policies, Procedures or general management of Child Safety please contact the school on 9749 0246, via email as tarneit.sc@education.vic.gov.au or in person at our Front Office.

School Review – Term 1, 2025

Our school will be participating in the department’s new Intensive School Support (ISS) initiative over the next two years. As part of this, our school will receive prioritised support from the area and region, and priority access to department-led programs and professional learning.

As part of the program, in 2025 we will have the support of an ISS Senior Leader (an experienced principal based in the region), complemented by advice from an independent school improvement specialist who will undertake an alignment review between our school’s Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) and the supports provided by the region and the department.

This alignment review will include fieldwork at the school this term, including focus groups with staff and students, meetings with the school council president, and classroom observations.

Kind Regards,

-Shane Cole-Hayhow

College Principal

Stage School Australia