Principal's Message

Term 3 has again been an active and productive one, both in and out of our classrooms. Our final weeks have included two Outdoor Education camps, the Year 9 Galileo Camp, the School Production and the Mid-Year Music Concert, among other events. We’ve had lively lunchtimes celebrating Science Week and Book Week which both featured multiple events and engaging competitions for students and staff alike. Some highlights were the Virtual Reality incursion and GTAC’s Dark Matter ‘escape room’ for Science Week; a lunchtime talent quest and Wear it Purple Day; and a lively fashion parade and thought-provoking presentation by Tyson Yunkaporta, author of Sand Talk during Book Week. Tyson is a senior research fellow and founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University. As well as presenting to our Year 10 and 11 students on indigenous knowledge and culture, he challenged them to think and question critically in a ‘post-truth’ media landscape.  As we confront increasingly challenging times and public debates, it's great to see how engaged, thoughtful and articulate our young people are in the issues that matter to our world.

Reflecting on your child's learning

We again had excellent attendance at the recent Parent Student Teacher Conferences, with bookings taken up within minutes of the system opening. Over the two days there were a total of 5,608 conferences run, many supported by interpreters for a range of languages. Teachers and parents alike reported positive, reflective and productive conversations.

This term our new Attitude and Effort Progress reports have been in action. The new format of a rubric rather than a single percentage point is designed to give students and families more detail and insight into the specific learning and relational behaviours that we know support growth, progress and acheivement, and to give clear feedback on areas of strength and areas for improvement. I encourage you to have open and curious conversations with your child about these reports, working with them to set goals for Term 4. The Attitude and Effort report is complemented by the end of term Acheivement Progress report. This gives you and your child an indication of their progress towards the learning outcomes in their subjects so far, using evidence from their classwork, formative (in-progress) and summative (end of topic) assessments. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress, please reach out to their sub-school coordinator. 

Performing Arts shine

The 2023 School Production – Little Shop of Horrors – ran for three successful performances and was a slick, lively and highly enjoyable show. The individual and group performances were outstanding, as was the band, and the vibrant costumes and sets really brought the show to life. It was, as always, the result of many months of planning, rehearsals and hard work by the cast, crew and staff, and a wonderful learning and student leadership experience. Well done to all involved. See the article further in this newsletter for more details.

We also had students perform at the recent Victorian State Schools Spectacular. There were two students - Rhiannon La and Tadala Nkhoma - selected in the Orchestra. We also had, for the first time, a team of puppeteers who kept the audience entertained with a giant puppet display. This team was: Bailey Brown, Riley Dexter, Anais Fernando, Deirdre Fleming, Lucy Fogarty, Lin Guan, Caminha Luu, Siddarth Mhlagi, James Rawlings, Sree Senthill, Chloe Snazell, Molly Omahony, Akshat Doshi. Congratulations to all these students - it was a terrifically entertaining event.

Building and facilities works

During the Term 3 holidays, two major pieces of facilities works will come to an end. We expect our rebuilt South Building Level 2 classrooms, Science Labs and staffroom to be opened at the start of Term 4, along with 10 new gender-inclusive and accessible toilets on the ground floor of that building, replacing a former locker bay. We can't wait to be back in to this level, which has been out of action since it was destroyed by fire in January 2021.

The works to replace a heritage-listed chimney on the Main Building will also conclude, with the removal of scaffolding and the return of the table tennis area. This will be much appreciated by students and staff alike! 

New school values

Thank you for your engagement in developing our new school values over the past two years. It's truly been a whole-of-school process and your ongoing feedback has allowed us to refine what is most important to us in an iterative process. I'm delighted to confirm that the new University High School values are:

As we reflect on Term 3, we can already see plenty of examples of these values in action. Next term, we will be working on embedding them further in our school processes and practices with students, staff, and families.

End of Year 12 arrangements

Our Year 12s are now in the final weeks of their regular classes, and busy with their last in-school assessments and wrapping up Unit 4. From the start of Term 4 they will undertake Practice Exams on a rolling schedule and from Week 3 will move in to Exam Preparation Seminars. The main exam period commences on October 24. 

The Year 12s will have a final in-school assembly before the exams, but the Graduation and Valedictory ceremony will be held once they have finished, on Thursday 16 November.

Teacher award - Geography

Congratulations to Paul Rogers (Leading Teacher – Head of Johnstone sub-school) who has won the Geography Teachers’ Association of Victoria 2023 Alex Lyne Fieldwork Award for his Year 12 Geography unit on Fitzroy Gasworks. The award recognises excellence in the development of fieldwork in Geography and reflects best practice in Geography teaching.

Key dates for Term 4

Cup Eve – Monday 6 November

As this is traditionally either a student-free or low-attendance day, we will be running an alternative program on this day. It will be a study and catch-up assessment day for our Year 10-12 students, with no formal classes. Opt-in activities, which must be pre-booked for planning purposes, will run for our Year 7-9s. We understand that many families will take the opportunity to enjoy a four-day weekend. 

Curriculum and Reporting Day Term 4

The final of our four student-free days for 2023 will be the Assessment and Reporting Day on Monday 20 November. This timing puts the day at the end of the Year 10 and 11 exam period, and provides a break between the exams and the VCE Orientation classes and exam feedback which run that week. 

Final classes

Year 10 and 11 students finish their VCE Orientation classes on Friday 24 November, with Year 10s then undertaking Work Experience in the following week. 

The last day of regular Year 7-9 classes is Wednesday 13 December, with End of Year Program activities running from Thursday 14 December – Tuesday 19 December.

Ciar Foster - Principal