Principal's Update

This week we had the AGM for School Council which was an opportunity to reflect on 2023. Here is the report I presented to School Council:

It was with absolute joy that I started last year at Mirboo North Secondary College. On starting at school, some of my early observations were around student behaviour in and around the toilets, the condition of the school grounds and facilities, and an exhausted yet optimistic staff.

Through surveying the bathrooms, we were able to make a number of changes to supervision and the use of the toilets. Although better, the bathrooms still are a challenging part of the school. - Not very old but already out of date in terms of what would be the building standard today.

In the school grounds, we have made a number of improvements:

• Employment of a grounds person
• Clearing under the trees (fire and student safety)
• New signs
• Water blasting of all concrete
• Fixing of numerous things
• Painting in rooms (ongoing)
• Mould and lichen removal off of the buildings
• Pruning of the roses which then flourished!

We also employed a Middle School Assistant (Keith Kerstjens) to improve the organisation and functioning of a number of school activities and to ensure there was daily support for students, staff and parents.

Keith oversees the newsletter (new/back in 2023), attendance, supports students with IT and photocopying, supports the Middle School AP and Coordinators, yard duty students, and a myriad of other things. We have also upped our social media profile on Facebook and added an Instagram account in 2023.

Our Staff Survey showed excellent improvement in the results in Term 3 which was positive moving forward. 

School Staff Survey 2023

The result of our Four Yearly School Review led to the Leadership Team and staff implementing the following changes:

• XSEL program across the school
• Tutoring support using data to facilitate this
• Like Ability groupings in Year 7
• Additional programs in Year 8 and 9 (Trades class)
• Addition in staffing in Leadership – Leading Teacher Senior School
• Quality assurance in the VCE
• Harvard Data Wise
• Employment of a second Assistant Principal
• Increase in nursing time
• Improvements around the school to make this an accessible and inclusive school (ramps, electric doors etc)

The end of the year ended on a high note with an amazing awards/presentation night which saw a very broad range of students represented. Of exciting note was the number of Koorie students who received awards.

I would like to acknowledge and thank David Poland (School Council President) for his support and acknowledge the wonderful work of the teachers who have really pushed themselves to achieve miraculous things in my time here.

Principal’s report Term 1, 2024

It is very pleasing to see that suspensions are down on this time last year (33 in term 1 2023, to 16 this term in 2024). Our focus on respectful behaviours (and avoiding offensive language between students and towards teachers is showing improvement).

Despite the storm we have had a number of fantastic events and opportunities for students which have been well publicised on FB.

The Trade class is going well and is proving to be a very engaging program for those students who want to work in a hands-on capacity and who may be looking to leave school early.

We have managed to fully staff the school which includes a Woodwork Teacher. This is not the case in many of the schools around us.

This year we are implementing School Wide Positive Behaviours – a system for teaching and rewarding positive behaviour. We are currently in the data collection phase and based on feedback from students and staff we have focused on the following areas:

• Offensive language from students to students
• Offensive language from students to staff
• Hands off policy

Due to the storm we are awaiting repairs to the roof of the Learning Centre which are scheduled to happen in the school holidays. I wish everyone a happy Easter and a restful break.

Vaya Dauphin, College Principal