College Principal Message 

September 2023 Principal’s Report

Hello Everyone,

It is getting towards the sharp end of the year for all students but for none more so than our Year 12 students.  After the holidays there will only be two weeks of classes before the VCE exams start and the VM students will have completed their units.

Staffing is still at the top of everyone’s priority list. The DoE is attempting to help in a range of ways, providing more ways for applicants to apply for jobs and more recently, we had news of paid scholarships to study to become a teacher in a government school.  This may be relevant to some of our exiting Year 12 students! 

On a positive note, we have recently appointed two Music teachers and two PE/Health teachers for Sydenham next term, an Art / Tech teacher at Kings Park who has started recently, and we are now fully staffed in those departments. 

We are in the process of filling leadership positions for 2024 which need to be in place prior to seeking other staff members.  Our Disability Inclusion Learning Specialist role is new to the college, and it will be very exciting to have teachers available to coach others in how best to make adjustments and interventions for students with additional learning needs. Congratulations to the following staff members who have been appointed to substantive leadership roles for 2024 and beyond: Faryal Niazi Learning Specialist Building Practice Excellence, Ercan Hasip, and Miranda Orford as Campus Leaders.

We are introducing a social and emotional well-being subject that we have called Connect next year while continuing to work on creating an aspirational learning environment based on our values of Collaboration, Inclusiveness, and Growth.  These two foci are totally aligned, and to complement them we have applied to be included in a renewal of School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS).  This has been prompted by a range of factors including having more staff who are new to the profession and an increase in the number of students identified with additional learning needs and sometimes challenging behaviours.  The premise behind SWPBS is that schools proactively teach students pro-social behaviour that is aligned with the school’s values and not wait until things go wrong.   Expect to be invited to participate in that work next year.

Speaking of our aspirational learning environment: 

• This year we had four applicants for the Centre of Higher Education Studies, next year we have fifteen!  This is an absolutely wonderful opportunity for our students to get a taste of university study while they are doing Year 12, and the fact that it is free means it is even more of a bonus.
• We recently held our Student Led Presentations and Year 12 Vocational Major Pathways Presentations where students spoke about their learning, growth and goals.  These events are a unique feature of Copperfield and are heartwarming celebrations of students’ learning journeys. 

We celebrated Wear It Purple Day in an even bigger way than last year on August 25, knowing that it means a great deal to our LGBQTAI+ students and staff.

Kings Park upgrade: We are on track to go to tender in October.

At our recent College Council meeting we welcomed a new student representative from Year 11, Audrey Moody.  Thank you, Audrey, for showing your commitment to the college and participating in this aspect of its functions.

Thanks too to the teachers and students who have been visiting local primary schools to run music, dance and sporting sessions.  We have received very positive feedback from those schools, and we are very proud of our students acting role models to younger ones. 

I have recently made the decision to retire at the end of this year.  I have communicated this to staff and college council previously and I am now sharing this information with the whole school community.  It has been a privilege and an honour to be principal of this amazing school even though the last four years have been incredibly challenging.  The pandemic brought with it many difficulties in the short term and the long term.  The current staffing shortage is yet another challenge school leaders have not had to contend with before.  I could not think of a better staff or school community to have endured these times with. The process to replace me will commence at the start of Term 4.

Until then I hope everyone stays safe and that students rest up and study up for a dynamic and successful last term of 2023. 

Ms Pip Griffiths

College Principal