Principal's message

Welcome to new staff

Recently, we have been fortunate in having several new staff members join our school community. I would like to welcome Brigitte Williams, who has been employed as an Executive Assistant and will be sitting in the Admin Officer role at Richmond. I also would like to Izzy Rapson, who has been employed as a fixed term replacement for Jack Kong (who is currently on leave). Izzy will be supporting teachers across both Richmond and Coburg. Finally, Megan Rickel has been employed as a fixed term as our Coburg VET Furniture Making teacher while Lou is on leave this term.

Attendance and enrolment

We continue to process incoming enrolment enquiries and will be welcoming several new students in coming weeks. Levels of attendance have fallen away somewhat as winter approaches and illness related absences increase. We continue to encourage attendance through the work of our Home Group triads and Wellbeing Team. For the beginning of Term 3, we are discussing potential changes to our middle groups and programs to better meet the needs of our cohort.

WILD Program

Throughout this term there have been weekly activities including stand up paddle boarding, caving and rock-climbing. I would like to thanks all the staff who have participated to make this program an outstanding success. In particularly, I would like to thank our Student Wellbeing Team leader, Noah Nischler, who has worked tirelessly to ensure the program is well-organised and resourced. Thank you also to our ES staff members George and Eva who have regularly prepared all the necessary lunches for the WILD excursions. 

The WILD program will culminate in a camp June 5th - 9th. We are advised Lake Eildon has been affected by blue-green algae and therefore will not be a suitable venue. We now intend to set up base camp at Coopers Creek Campsite for two days of rafting and a one day visit to Walhalla, including a train ride and gold mine tour.

IDAHOBIT Day

As a school that strives to create safe spaces for all students, it was important to recognise IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia) on Wednesday 17th May. We celebrated this day at LHCS with a number of events including dressing to show our support, morning tea and student badge making.

School Council Subcommittees

Our finance subcommittee had its first meeting this week. Thanks to Tim Delaney (convenor), Steve Vaughan and Annette Patinyot who have given their time to this.

The Buildings and Grounds subcommittee will be comprised of Alana Smith (convenor), Ben Forbes, Sharyn Attard, Kettle Norman, Edward Potter and myself. The first order of business will be to form a Campus Names Working Group (Naming Rules for Places in Victoria 2022).

Ministerial Visit

The Honourable Enver Erdogan, Member for Northern Metropolitan Region and Minister for Corrections, Youth Justice and Victim Support, visited LHCS Richmond on Tuesday 23rd May. Staff and students me with Minister Erdogan on the school's basketball/netball courts and discussed the school's and community's infrastructure needs. We were excited for him to announce funding of $1,000,000 would be included in the Victorian State budget.

2022 Annual Report

I recently had the privilege of presenting the school's 2022 Annual Report to school council members and guests at the school's AGM, hosted by our Coburg campus. I am proud of the work that our school does and the commitment of its staff and students. The 2022 Annual Report is available on our school website and here.