From the Principal 

It has been an incredibly exciting return to Term 4 for us all. With the GAT finally happening last week, and the return to onsite schooling today for our Year 7, 11 and 12 students it has been a busy but productive week. 

It has been pure joy to see and hear students and staff back in the building. The energy and vibrant hum has sadly been absent for way too long. I feel completely energised by it. 

I have managed to get around to most classes and to chat to quite a few students and they were, without exception, very positive about the return. 

Of course, we feel for and still miss dearly our Year 8, 9 and 10 students. We are looking forward another eight more school days until each of you are also back with us. Please hang in there and continue to give remote learning your best shot. There’s not long to go now.

We are all so proud the commitment, resilience, persistence, adaptability, connectedness, and learning progress our students and staff have shown through this very challenging time in remote learning. Not everyone has been able to show all of these traits all of the time, and we understand and accept that. Not even I have been able to sustain all of these behaviours throughout the whole time, but just like our students, I have used my supports and I have given it my best shot, and when I have felt a little low, my team and friends have given me the boost I needed. The priority for us for the rest of the year is to find out where each student is at and to ensure they are supported to transition back to school in a way that allows them to reconnect and thrive. That will look different for everyone. 

I am sure families have appraised themselves of the COVIDSafe plans for return to school in our A-Z Guide released on the Compass Newsfeed. The students are doing a great job of wearing masks responsibly, regularly sanitising and remaining physically distance (to the extent that it is possible). We will continue to support and remind students to do so. 

While we hope that we can avoid it, there is a risk that there may need to be a closure of the school due to a confirmed case of COVID-19. From previous experience this happens suddenly and usually overnight, with no opportunity for access to the school. For this reason, we encourage families to discuss with their children ways to ensure that they have access to their learning materials each evening. We do not want students having to carry all books and equipment home each day. At a minimum computers and chargers should always be taken home, and ensure each child has access to their electronic resource books. Senior students may wish to carefully consider what they take with them given the crucial time of the year. It may be that they leave most things at home, and only bring what they need for each day. 

The General Achievement Test

Wednesday 7 October was a momentous day with approximately 450 students sitting the 3 hour General Achievement Test (GAT). It was an incredible organisational feat, and the Senior Years team did a stellar job of bringing it all together. I have never seen students so happy to sit an exam!! As is always the case, we have external supervisors come in to invigilate VCAA exams. At the end of the day the Chief Supervisor made a point of calling in to my office to tell me how wonderful, polite, cooperative and committed our students were. It was no surprise to me! I was incredibly proud of how everyone approached it.

New Appointment to Assistant Principal

In 2021 our Executive Team will look slightly different. We will move from having four Assistant Principals to three. The restructure is about providing more time and resource to students, with a greater investment of both at each of the Junior, Middle and Senior Sub-schools, in Student Wellbeing and Careers and Pathways. 

The restructure was possible due fact that both Mr Hoole and Ms Hill, after many years of dedicated and quality work at the Assistant Principal level, finish their tenures as Assistant Principals at the end of this year. We sincerely thank them for their dedicated contributions to the leadership of the school. We are fortunate both Kevin and Jocelyn will continue at the school and will have teaching and other leadership positions, so we can continue to benefit from their expertise and institutional knowledge. 

We have run two highly competitive external recruitment processes for two assistant principal positions this year. I had the pleasure of announcing the return of Kerren Diamond to NHS as Assistant Principal at mid-year, when Ciar Foster left us for her promotion, and it is now my sincere pleasure to formally announce that Allira Scott is the successful appointment to the third position. 

Many of you would know of Allira’s outstanding work leading the Senior School over the past two years, and we are delighted that she will now take on a more whole-school leadership role. Allira will continue to fulfil her role as Head of Senior School for the remainder of the year and will gradually transition to her Assistant Principal position during December ready to commence in earnest next year. 

In 2021 the Executive Team will include: myself, Katie Archibald, Kerren Diamond, Allira Scott and Sarah Burns our Business Manager. Congratulations to Allira. 

Term 4 is going to extremely busy, but at the same time extremely energising. We have new things to do to support our students, and we must make Plans A, B and C to cope with all eventualities for each of the important end of year events. Some events wont be able to happen in ways that we want, or even in ways that we are truly satisfied with. We will however, continue to be guided by the advice of the Chief Health Officer, and the DET, and rest assured we will do the best we can, within the parameters set for us, to make things as meaningful as possible and to show how much we care. In all that we do, our decisions have students at the centre and our highest priority is for the health and wellbeing of our community. 

I look forward to a lot more of the energy and hum that makes working in a school so rewarding. 

Take care – Stay Safe

Best wishes until next time. 

Next time we will have all students back together on campus. What a celebration that will be!

Sue Harrap

Principal