It has been another busy month with lots of things to celebrate and recognise. The planning for stage 2 of our building program is well underway and I have met with the architects (Patrick Architects) to discuss options for this next build. They are now developing some plans to present to the college for feedback and review, which is very exciting.

Stage 1 is now (almost) fully completed with the stadium being handed over a little over a week ago for use by students and classes. The students who have had the opportunity to have their PE classes in this new facility have been very enthusiastic as have the staff. We still have a few bits and pieces to sort out before it is completely done including the AV / Sound system and seating options and we have engaged contractors for all of these. Early in term 2, we should be able to get the AV / sound system installed and the seating is something that we are continuing to investigate.

Pictured above: Opening Ceremony with Acting Premier and Minister for Education, the Hon. James Merlino, Member for Bayswater Jackson Taylor, Principal Mrs. Sandford and our College Captains

The Musical Production for 2021 has just recently been annouced. Planning and audition preparation for CHICAGO: High School Edition is now underway. It is exciting to know that we will be running a production this year and I wish everyone auditioning the best of luck.

Thank you to all parents who attended (virtually) our parent teacher interviews. We are asking for feedback on how these went or, for those parents who were unable to attend, what would work better. I encourage you to complete our very quick survey regarding the interviews here so that we can use this to design our approach to these for next semester.

School tours have been occurring and we have had many families through the college to view the facilities and to ask questions about our programs. We are receiving strong interest in our open nights with one of the three sessions almost at capacity. It is great to see such high levels of interest in our school for the local community.

Over the break, we are looking to rearrange the locker bays to provide more space for students. Our maintenance manager will be working over the break to remove some of the lockers from the bays and relocate them to areas in the school. It will be the junior students, mostly, coming out of the bays and this is in response to student feedback and suggestions. Students will need to empty their lockers out for the term but they will be provided with a new locker number for the first day of next term so provided they bring their lockers on that day, they will be able to immediately start using them.

Our business manager, Andrea Philipsen will be leaving the college at the end of this term. She has been the business manager here for three years and has done an amazing job. We will miss her but wish her the best with her new, more challenging role at Hampton Park Secondary College.

As we are coming to the end of the term, energy levels have started drop a little which usually happens at this time, but this year is even more apparent. It has been a long one and the impacts of last year are still being felt. I encourage all students, staff, and families to take a break over the holiday period and take the time to reconnect and reinvigorate. I wish everyone a safe and happy Easter and holiday break and look forward to seeing everyone back here for Term 2 on the 19 April.

Heathmont Gazette

Issue 3 · 01 Apr 2021

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