Principal's Message

Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, Staff and Community Members

It has been an extremely busy start to Term Two. As you are all by now aware, our college Principal Mr Keith Perry finished up his time with us at the end of Term One. On behalf of everyone from the Kambrya community, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Keith for his service as our principal over the last 6 years. We wish him all the best in his new position. I am positive he will have a major impact on all the schools he is supporting in the North Western Region of Victoria.

As Keith mentioned in his final newsletter, I have again been appointed to be the Acting Principal for Term Two. Many of you may recall that I also was privileged to lead the college in 2024 while Keith was on leave. During this term, the South Eastern Victoria Regional Office, in consultation with the Kambrya College School Council, will run a formal merit-based recruitment process to appoint a new substantive Principal who will lead the college into the future.

As previously mentioned, it has been a busy but fantastic start to Term Two. Again, we had the absolute privilege of starting the term off with our whole school assembly and special ANZAC ceremony. This year we had to split the assembly into junior and senior to cater for our student population, but nevertheless, it’s always a special time to be able to join together to celebrate and commemorate ANZAC Day. A huge thank you to all of our college captains for hosting the event.

This term has also seen us celebrate Harmony Day on Tuesday 6th May. This coincided with a free dress day. Harmony Day is one of my favourite days of the year. It is one that truly reflects the diverse and accepting culture and environment Kambrya College has created over the years. Watching the happiness of our students, who not only participated but also were there to cheer on and celebrate with their peers, was so heartfelt. The college value of respect for everyone was well and truly on display, making Kambrya College a school for everyone.

Our annual Student Attitudes to School surveys are almost complete for 2025. This survey is completed by all students in the school and provides us with valuable insight into student perceptions about many different aspects of the College. Upon receipt of the survey data, we will then be engaging our student leaders from across the College, as well as our staff and the parents on school council, to unpack the data further to plan for improvements, and to also celebrate improvements.

Term Two also means the start of our Year 7 transition and our 2026 enrolments. Over two evenings late in Term One, we had 500 families come on school tours and attend our information sessions. As per previous years, we had a number of staff involved, which helped showcase some of our incredible programs we have on offer.

Regarding our 2026 Year 7 enrolments, we once again face increasing student enrolments. Our College School Zone has changed now for our 2026 Year 7 and Year 8 enrolments. Please visit the Find My School website for updates on this. This will mean we will continue to be unable to accept students outside of the Kambrya College school zone unless they already have a sibling here. This includes students who are applying for any of our special programs, e.g. SEAL.

At the beginning of next week, all of our Year 8–12 students will be participating in their mid-year exams. They have been busy completing coursework and spending time on revision this week, so please touch base with your child(ren) to ensure that they are ready to go. We wish all students the best of luck. 

A reminder that Friday 30th May is a student-free day. Staff will be extremely busy with a range of tasks, including marking exams as quickly as possible for students and writing semester reports. After exams end, our Semester Two timetable will be commencing on Monday 2nd June. All students should ensure that they have fresh exercise books, etc., ready for their new classes.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with the newly elected School Council. Kambrya College has a long tradition of working with School Council openly and transparently to ensure good governance. I have no doubt that this tradition will continue. I warmly welcome newly elected parents: Kim Halford, Galina Romantstova, Ramji Subramanian and Karin Keylock, with Stephen Carle and Vivek Singh continuing on. David Wright and Catherine English have been co-opted in 2025 as community members. Catherine has again been elected as our Council President for 2025. I would like to thank Catherine for her continued dedication to Kambrya College.

As per concerns raised last year by our student leaders and our School Council regarding the vandalism and cleanliness of our toilet facilities, we have taken proactive steps to address these. In addition to our existing cleaning contract with the Department, the College continues the employment of its own additional cleaner. This aims to ensure that our toilets are maintained to the highest possible standards of hygiene throughout the day. This decision was made by the College to align with the Department in providing safe and sanitary facilities for our students.

To complete this task safely and to prevent damage that has been occurring, three of our toilet blocks—our Year 10 senior toilet block, Warin toilet block, and the Gymnasium toilets—will be locked before school and during class time. During this period, students have access to five alternative toilet blocks located throughout the school. These facilities remain open all day for students to access. These would only be temporarily closed if any damage occurs that needs to be immediately addressed.

Another increasing concern I must address is to kindly remind families that takeaway or fast food—such as (but not limited to) KFC, McDonald’s, Hungry Jack’s, etc.—should not be brought to school or delivered for students’ lunches. This includes food deliveries through services such as Uber Eats or DoorDash, as well as lunches dropped off at the school office during the day.

We understand that convenience is important, but we are finding that the increasing volume of delivered or dropped-off lunches is placing a significant strain on our administration team, who are working hard to support all students and staff across the school. Managing these frequent interruptions takes time away from their essential duties and affects the smooth operation of the school office.

We strongly encourage healthy eating habits and are proud of our fantastic canteen team, who offer a wide variety of nutritious, affordable, and delicious meals each day. Their food is a great option for students and supports their wellbeing and focus throughout the school day. Parents can use student Compass cards to upload money onto, which allows their child access to purchasing at the canteen. We are currently working on a how-to guide for parents and the community if you are unsure on how to complete this process.

If you have any questions or need support with lunchtime arrangements, please don’t hesitate to contact the school. We really appreciate your understanding and support in this matter.

A quick final statement in the continued support of Brentwood Park Primary School. Can I please request that no Kambrya students enter Brentwood Park Primary School until after their end-of-day bell. Any Kambrya College student who needs to wait for a sibling, can I please ask that you wait on the grounds of Kambrya College.

E-scooters and bikes are not permitted to be used on the grounds of Brentwood Park Primary School at any stage during or after school. This rule also applies for the grounds of Kambrya College. All bikes and e-scooters must be walked through the schools at all times.

Kind regards,

Martin McDonald

Acting Principal

Kambrya College