Assistant Principals Reports

Steph Pearce

Assistant Principal

Mark Favre

Assistant Principal / Senior School Direct

William Donaldson

Assistant Principal - International Student Program

We would like to thank all our staff, students, parents and carers for their contributions to what has been a smooth and productive beginning of the year at Elwood College.

The school community has been working together to implement our new READY framework aimed at setting consistent expectations and language across the school regarding positive behaviours and habits that will help us all to make the most of our time at school. Teachers and students have been discussing what being Respectful, Arriving on time, Equipped for learning, Device free and Your best self looks like in the different school settings. We have conducted some end of term surveys and focus groups involving students from all year levels and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with students and staff appreciating the consistent language and school-wide focus. We will continue to use the READY framework to give both positive and constructive feedback to students throughout the year.

To help further support student wellbeing, we have also engaged the services of two external mental health support workers to help our outstanding wellbeing team of Caitlin Ridgway and Amy Dyer and to ensure we are supporting as many students in this essential area as we possibly can.

Another key strategic focus of ours for 2025 is improving our use of explicit teaching. In Term 2, our staff will be engaging in professional workshops to better understand and implement key explicit teaching techniques related to Cognitive Load Theory. Other staff meetings during Term 2 will be focused on creating neurodivsity-affirming classrooms and how best to use student data to inform best teaching practice.

There has been much to celebrate in Term 1 from the excitement of the Swimming Carnival to a productive and successful Year 7 Camp, which plays an essential role in the transition from Primary School to Secondary School for our youngest students. We have many exciting events to look forward to in Term 2 as well, starting with our ANZAC assembly in Week 1, Open Evening in Week 2 and several Junior School and Middle School camps as well as the Senior School Formal - we’re looking forward to seeing our students make the most of these opportunities after a well-deserved break.

Thank you once more to our whole community for your ongoing support of our school - enjoy the time away with loved ones and we’ll see you all again soon!

Regards,

Steph Pearce, William Donaldson and Marc Favre