Assistant Principals' Report

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2025, we are so impressed with the way students have started, particularly with how they are approaching their studies, students who are representatives on the Mini School Improvement Teams have shared that many students value learning growth and have been working collaboratively with teachers to understand what the next steps are in their learning journey.  

The department of education has introduced a new teaching and learning model in 2025 and over the next three years we will begin to introduce these updated practices across all our classrooms. This term our teaching teams are focusing on student attention, their focus on the learning and self-regulation through each stage of the learning. Whilst we are working on improving teacher practice through these three lenses. We would like to encourage students and families to provide us feedback about anything they have noticed around this focus that their child may have discussed, please feel free to email doncaster.sc@education.vic.gov.au with your feedback. 

If you would like to read more about the new Teaching and Learning Model, please find the Department of Education’s parent information page and resources. 

Victorian Teaching & Learning Model  

We value the learning partnership with our families and there have been an information evening presented by each mini school at the beginning of the year and the first of several camps have occurred, which has developed the personal and social capabilities of our learners. Thank you to those families who have engaged in these events, we really value your ongoing commitment to the college and the outcomes for your child.  

Attendance 

Attendance supports our students at DSC to achieve the best outcome for their learning journey. Each of the mini schools works collaboratively with students to ensure that students are developing the skills across the Junior and Middle School in readiness to progress. The Senior School this year is focusing on students aiming for strong learning growth through consistent attendance practice, this includes maximising the opportunity to study at school. Our 2024 high achievers each maintained high attendance, and this was a significant factor in their success, this is reflected by Christian Varrasso’s attendance of 94% and Zoe Smith’s attendance of 99%. Christian and Zoe received ATARs of 99.85 and 99.55 respectively. Our data indicates there is a direct link between students with high ATARs and attendance percentages over 90.  

90 students in 2024 were able to maintain high attendance with only 10 days or less absence. Of these 90 students, 43 of them received an ATAR over 80. 83 students accrued more significant absences of 11 or more days absent, and of those students, only 18 were able to attain an ATAR over 80. We encourage our families to consider this when making decisions that may impact attendance.  

Reporting an Absence 

To report a student absence please phone 9848 4677 and select 1 for Senior School, 2 for Middle School or 3 for Junior school.  

Students are expected to be at school at 8.40am. Period 1 commences at 9:00am.  If you are aware your child will be late to school, parental approval should be submitted in the Compass portal, or by notifying the relevant Mini-School. 

Students arriving late must sign in at their relevant Mini-school and take their late pass straight to their timetabled class where the classroom teacher will update the roll and mark them as late. Where a parent approval hasn’t been submitted on Compass prior, the absence will be shown as an unexplained absence until an approval is submitted. Should a written note from a parent be provided with the student when they arrive, it should be brought to the General Office at recess or lunchtime and it will be entered in Compass. 

Throughout the school day, again, to maximise learning time and promote the importance of being punctual, students arriving late to any class will be recorded as late. Parents are asked to have a conversation with their child about the importance of being on time to class, and then acknowledge/clear the unexplained late arrivals in Compass by using the ‘Parent Choice’ reason, assuming no other reason is suitable. 

Early Departure from School 

If a student has an appointment and needs to leave early, parents should enter an approval in Compass and select the appropriate reason from the list of options stipulated by DET. The approval appears on the class roll to alert the classroom teacher, and the student will be excused from class when they ask to leave at the designated time. Students should then attend the appropriate mini school to sign out.  

If a parent provides a written note on the day or a note in their students diary, this should be taken to the mini-school before school or at recess, and it will be entered into Compass. Students will not be permitted to leave class without an approval entered in Compass. 

If you need to collect your child unexpectedly, please contact the General Office. 

Child Safety and Wellbeing at Doncaster Secondary College 

Doncaster Secondary College is committed to providing an environment where students are safe and feel safe. 

Our child safety framework explains how we support and maintain child safety and wellbeing at Doncaster Secondary College. It includes our: 

• Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy 
• Child Safety Reporting and Responding Obligations Procedures, and 
• Child Safety Code of Conduct, which outlines acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for all staff and volunteers at our school. 

You can access these documents on our school website.  

Our students and families are important partners in providing a child safe environment. These regular newsletter reminders are one of the ways we ensure our school community is aware of: 

• our commitment to child safety, and  
• how to provide feedback or raise child safety concerns. 

If you have any concerns about child safety at any time, please contact a member of the principal team on (03) 9848 4677. Any child safety complaints or concerns are treated seriously. For more information about our school’s complaints process, see our Complaints Policy.  

We also welcome your ideas on ways we can improve our approach to child safety and wellbeing. If you have any suggestions or comments please contact Elisha Sadikay, Assistant Principal for Wellbeing and Inclusion on (03) 9848 4677 or via Compass email.  

Emergency Management Practice 

Each year we review our emergency evacuation and lock down practices to ensure that staff and students understand their role in the process, particularly in the unfortunate event that requires us to activate these processes.  

During term one we will run a whole school evacuation to the oval, each term we select one of our emergency processes to test. Part of this process may also involve communicating directly with families via email or SMS. We would encourage you to ensure your contact and emergency contact information for your child has been updated, you can do this be requesting the Family contact information form from the General Office. 

Annual Privacy Reminder for our School Community 

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice. 

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy, describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.  

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Microsoft 365 safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Microsoft 365 please contact the school. 

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages: 

• Amharic 
• Arabic 
• Chinese 
• Dari 
• Gujarati 
• Mandarin 
• Somali 
• Sudanese 
• Turkish 
• Urdu 
• Vietnamese