Principal's Report

As I write this, the last of the year 12 exams are concluding.  A long, hard earned summer now lies in front of our most senior students and for most of them, the first steps will be taken on their journey beyond the Warrnambool College school gates.  These first steps will be taken across the Lighthouse Theatre stage on Friday night as we acknowledge and celebrate all that our year 12 students have brought to Warrnambool College during their time with us.  I look forward to cheering them on as they collect their graduation certificates and receive congratulations from their house leaders.  If you’re a year 12 student reading this and I don’t get a chance to tell you in person, congratulations.  What you have achieved in secondary school will hold you in great stead for the brave new world beyond school – be that employment, apprenticeships, tertiary studies, gap years, travel or anything in-between.

For the rest of us at school, there is much to be done and much to be learnt before we too can enjoy the delights of a summer break.  Year 11 exams are in full swing and year 8-10 exams start next week.  Student Leadership camp is happening over two days next week and I can’t wait to spend some time with these students to hear what they’d like to achieve at Warrnambool College into 2019.  There’s still academy excursions and camps to come, house celebration events, orientation days for new students, exam feedback and final units of work to complete.  I know for many of our staff it feels like a wind up rather than a wind down as we head towards Christmas.  As students enter into this busy and potentially frantic time of the year where assessments are due one after the other and revision seems to be piling up, I encourage you to sit down with your child and offer to read over the assessment they’re working on, or go over their summary notes to lock the information into long-term memory.  Learning is a partnership between school and home – I’m sure all our students will benefit from the time you can spend with them to aid in their exam preparation and final CATs.

At some stage in the coming weeks the weather will turn and summer will be well and truly upon us.  When the warmth does finally get here and the beach and holidays are beckoning, please remind your child that the end of the 2018 school year will be here soon enough, but we’re not there yet.  Until then, there’s much to be learnt and produced at Warrnambool College.

Kind Regards,

Dave Clift

Principal