From the Principal

Welcome to Term 2

We welcome the return of Mr Wei Ma from long service leave and thank Miss Claire Marshall who taught Wei’s classes in his absence. We would also like to welcome two new teacher aides, Natalie Wilkinson and Nina Campbell to the staff whilst Miss Elke Hayen has been employed to take over the classes of our colleague Mr Michael Holloway who will be greatly missed.

Parent Teacher Night

On Tuesday 19th April we held our first Parent Teacher interviews of the year.  Running  across the day and night over an 8 hour period made for greater teacher access and less parent stress in trying to move from one interview to the next. There is no doubt that the parent body have embraced the Compass appointment system which saw parents making over 800 interviews in the first two hours of the appointment booking system opening. Parents who could not attend this event are encouraged to make contact with their child’s classroom teachers via phone or email as per Compass details. Parents who are unsure how to use the Compass system for booking Parent Teacher Interviews or any other aspect of this system are asked to contact our IT Coordinator Miss Jenny Oliver. Jenny is only too happy to give instructions and support to students and parents.

Education in China

During the last week of Term 1 I was very fortunate to be part of a Department of Education study tour to China. We visited 5 major cities across 12 days promoting Victorian government secondary schools. It was very encouraging to see the interest in Australia from overseas parents and students. In particular, they were extremely interested in our VCE programs and valued the outstanding educational system in Victoria. Sadly for the tour group there was very little time for sightseeing however the most exciting part of the trip for me were the visits to the No 8 Senior School in Wenzhou and the Chan Pak Sha in Hong Kong.  It is not uncommon for state schools to be built with boarding facilities on site. Students share a room with 5 others and there are no televisions to be seen. Teaching staff are often required to stay overnight at the schools in order to supervise the students as classes and study hall run late into the evening. Despite being a Sunday and a local public holiday the Chan Pak Sha staff and students came into the school to give us a tour of the facilities and learn more about Australian schools. It was a fabulous experience and Fairhills High School continues to grow in popularity as a preferred destination of study for international students.

Kathryn Middleton

Associate Principal