Principal's Report

Every opportunity taken...

Phew, it’s been a shocker of a year.

As we head into the last few weeks of school, I wanted to share with you some thoughts.  Last week I went kayaking with year 8 PE. As we walked back from Thompson’s beach, I noticed the beauty everywhere.  The day was perfect, the kids had fun, laughing and smiling.  Life doesn’t get any better than this.  When I think of what the year took from us, it didn’t take our beautiful surrounds & the river that we enjoy, right on our doorstep.  Less than 10 minutes walk and we’re at the river!  Our PE staff have worked hard to secure opportunities for our students to experience a range of sports – kayaking included! 

Our students have had the opportunity to attend the year 7 camp at Howmans Gap again, experiencing the beauty of our natural environment and outdoor activities such as canoeing and high ropes.  I spent two days with Advance student's who undertook their trek from Tocumwal to Cobram, camping each night. I was impressed by our students resourcefulness, resilience, and good humour.  I’m thrilled to see our year 9/10 students heading to the Mornington Peninsula to have a go at surfing & snorkelling with Seals! Our staff felt the kids have missed so much during the year and have worked hard to run camps to celebrate the end of a tough year/term.  I realise the timelines for our camps were tight, but our students have opportunities to learn new skills and make lasting memories.

Our last camp of the year will be the Leadership Masterclass, run in partnership with the Mandala Project.  The 2021 student leadership team – school captains and vice captains and house captains will attend, along with their leadership team.

In a year where we feel so much has been lost, we’ve worked hard to maintain a sense of stability and continuity.  I am pleased the year 12’s were able to celebrate their finish of school in style.  Our students in year 12 (both VCE and VCAL) worked hard all year and maintained a positive attitude throughout and deserve all the successes coming their way. I have never been prouder of a group of student than I was on their last day and was devastated that parents were unable to attend.   I’m looking forward to celebrating the milestone of finishing school with parents at Valedictory Dinner.

Covid didn’t stop our school -  we’re undergoing a transformation.  Our school looks nothing like it did at the start of 2020 and that’s something to celebrate. 

We did a complete renovation to the year 7&8 Centre, we have a new year 12, home eco, canteen and admin building, and we’re in the process of completing our outdoor area and renovating W-Wing.  We are building a school our community can be proud of. Our school facilities will finally match the quality of the education within!

Finally, it’s been wonderful to finally welcome new parents to the school and allow school tours for incoming students.  I’ve been excited to meet our lovely new students and parents and show off our new-look school.  We’re excited to commence transition visits and will be holding orientation day this year.