PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents/Carers, Families and College Community

Farm Skills

This week has been very busy. We had three teams of students attend the Farm Skills competition at the Perth Royal Show yesterday . The students have spent several weeks in training under the expertise of various staff, but particularly Ian Millichamp, Chris Dunlop and Bob McGee and I thank those staff for their efforts.  

College Visit

Yesterday we hosted the Deputy Director General of the Department of Education and all of the Directors of Education and the Assistant Directors of Education from across all of the education regions in the state. The purpose of the visit was to showcase the Agricultural College system so they have a better understanding of our benefits, challenges and points of difference. 

This was the first time such a high powered group have met at a College and I was pleased to showcase our College, students and staff. One session involved allocating visitors to Farm and Trades activities so they could see what our students get up to on a daily basis. Needless to say, our visitors were impressed with the facilities, programs and the calibre of our students. My thanks to the staff and students who hosted the visitors and represented the College so well.

Year 12 Students

Our Year 12s have been working to finish their course and training so that they can finish with the highest level qualifications possible. There was an opportunity to finish up today, but only on the proviso that all aspects of their course were completed. The first two weeks of Term 4 are still open to the Year 12s, plus a further two weeks by application and invitation. Staff have mapped where each student is placed and have communicated with parents this week about their eligibility to leave early. Year 12 ATAR students are assumed to be back next term.

After School Running

I made an offer a couple of weeks ago to take students off-road running after school.  This week we had our first group of hardy runners cover five kilometres from the high school to the Harvey Dam and back through the lovely flowering bush. Congratulations to Cooper, Jack, Felix, Erin and Alyssa. The idea is that we go to a different location each week and enjoy the great outdoors and a bit of exercise at the same time.

Perth Royal Show

Over the first week of the holidays we have a group of students involved in showing our stud Merino ewes under the care of Steve Adams. Steve and the crew have been preparing the ewes for many weeks and we wish them the best of luck. In addition, we have students involved in various judging competitions at the show as a consequence of their success in regional competitions. 

College Finance

Families may not be aware that we retain 60% of our Farm revenue and contribute 40% to the Machinery Trust Fund, which is a central fund to supply various items to assist in Farm operations across all schools delivering an agricultural program. Through the Machinery Trust Fund, smaller schools receive benefit from the good fortune and agricultural enterprise of the five Agricultural Colleges and Esperance Farm Training Centre (the six contributing schools). 

Earlier this term we received confirmation that we would receive funding for the following submissions; 

• Part 2 of the Dairy upgrade $120,000 (in addition to another $200,000 from last year).
• 12m section control boom spray - $32,000.
• Replace table grape netting- $32,000.
• 6m Tedder- $20,000.

My thanks to all for a positive and productive term. I wish everyone a pleasant break if you are lucky enough to have one.