Principal's Message

Dear students, parents, staff and community members.

Our examination week was a great success, and I would like to congratulate all our students from Year 8-12 for their outstanding effort and behaviour during the exam period. A big thanks as always goes to all of our teachers for putting in the extra hard yards this week and next week as they mark exams and finalise the end of semester reports. I would ask that all students take on board their teachers’ feedback, and not to just look at the examination papers as a piece of assessment. The best learning task that students can now do is to take the feedback and reattempt the questions that they found challenging. Please discuss this with your child and consider unpacking their exam papers and feedback with them, once they receive them back.

This week has now seen students commence their Semester Two units of study, subjects and topics. A reminder to please check and engage with Compass for your child’s ongoing live reporting and assessment, and to engage directly with your child’s teacher if there are any queries or concerns regarding this.

Our annual Student Attitudes to School surveys are currently underway and almost complete for 2023. These surveys are completed by all students in the school and provide 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.

As we move closer to the end of Term Two the College sees a huge amount of extra work going on behind the scenes to prepare for next year. To support us with this, I kindly ask all parents and students to support us by adhering to deadlines for information nights and course selection forms that will be happening shortly. It is imperative that we have as much information locked in for 2024 as possible, as we are beginning our planning for classes, program and facility needs. Of particular note, as predicted, our College will continue to grow in 2024, and I am anticipating in excess of 2000 students. I rest easy with the confidence that our amazing teachers and administration support have been doing a lot of work over the last 12-18 months to cater for this growth, and we have also been very busy improving our infrastructure and resources to facilitate this volume. In 2024 it appears that I am again going to have to strictly enforce our school zone and say no to over 100 prospective Year 7 students due to our lack of capacity; it is a great thing that our College is well regarded and sought after, but unfortunately, we can’t cater for everyone! Fortunately, there are plenty of other great state schools in our area.

With the onset of the cold weather, can I ask all parents again to please check your child’s uniform, and ensure that they have all the correct gear. Non-prescribed uniform is not to be worn to school. I have also unfortunately had to attach a letter below in regard to the increase of positive Covid cases on the rise. Please take the time to read through this. I will also be emailing the letter out to families.

Another reminder for all parents to please ensure that you do not double park on Bemersyde Drive. It is exceptionally dangerous and is jeopardising the safety of our students, as well as increasing congestion. I encourage all parents to please consider pick/drop off in other streets around the school instead; a short walk to school is not a bad thing! Students do not need to be dropped off or picked up at the front gate.  Thank you for your consideration.

Regards,

Martin McDonald

Acting Principal