ACTING PRINCIPAL REPORT
While Richard Minack is on leave, I have been stepping in as Acting Principal and Nathan Hutchins has stepped into the Acting Assistant Principal role of Junior School.
I would like to welcome our Language Centre students who recently arrived from a variety of different countries, just in time for the start of Term 3. I had the wonderful privilege to meet our new students, and I encourage everyone in our school community to take the time to welcome our students, by saying hello and introduce yourself.
We have had many celebrations and achievements, that I would like to highlight.
I would like to congratulate all students who participated in the Kingston round robin competitions in Term 2, and acknowledge the fantastic effort of the following students who competed in the Southern Metropolitan Cross Country in the final week of Term 2: Jenson Cremasco, Tanishka Dash, Mia Davies, Millie Hewlett, Elara Quin, Fred Shaw and David Valavi.
Well done to the following teams who are competed in the Southern Metropolitan events this week: Senior Boys Soccer, coached by Mr Chalk, Senior, Intermediate Boys Badminton, coached by Mr McMurray, and I wish our Intermediate Boys Soccer team who are competing later in the term, coached by Mr Chalk, the best of luck.
To our amazing Senior Girls Soccer, coached by Mr Varney who played yesterday, have made it through to the Soccer State Final.
The whole school will be wishing the team (Mia BECKMAN-ATZIL, Olivia BRAAKHUIS, Katie COLLINS, Ursula CREMASCO, Megan ELLIOTT, Remi HARRIS, Emilie KEPPENSMegan MEDLAND, Frances O’DRISCOLL, Matilda OVERHILL and Bethany VERMAAK) the very best of luck when they play on Monday August 28.
A special mention to Jenson Yokota-HO who has been selected by Tennis Australia to participate in their 13s European Tour to Germany, and to Madi Stewart who competed at the 2023 Oceania Presidents Cup for taekwondo over the school holidays, receiving a bronze medallion.
I would like to congratulate Nathan Stanford who won the Senior Bayspeak Public Speaking Competition. He wrote and presented an amazing speech. Thank you to Ms Paula Harris who attended the night of the competition to support Nathan.
Last term a small group of Year 7 students participated in the Victorian Young Leaders program hosted by Melbourne Uni’s Asia Education Foundation. Well done to Lula Barrington, Jessica Woff, Zoe Shanks, Grace Garland, and Thomas Nguyen who connected with students from Australia, China, and Indonesia over 3 days to develop leadership skills and consider how to contribute to the BSC community. Our students designed a school-based project focused on helping Year 7s to feel connected to their peers. Thank you to our Humanities Key Learning Area Leader, Ms Ashlee Horyniak, for organising this opportunity for our students.
It’s been wonderful to see so many of our students and our dedicated staff (Ms Tracey Campion, Ms Jess Giffin and Ms Tania Vairamuttu, Mr Harley Mottram, Voice Coach Megan Bernard and Mr Paul Varney) involved in the school production during lunchtimes and after school rehearsals. I would like to give a shout out to our Year 10 student students Ruby Krug and Thaya Kovaleva for writing this year’s production, I am looking forward to booking my tickets to see the show next month!
This term will be busy with our Year 9s going on The Summit camp in Trafalgar, and we are so pleased we were able to get the camp up and running. We know how important camps are for students to further develop friendships, disconnect with technology, improve their independence and have long lasting memories.
Congratulations to our students who applied to attend the Year 9 School for Student Leadership for all of Term 3, who are heading off this Sunday. We know they will have a wonderful experience and I’m sure their families will look forward, as we will, to hear about their time away when they return.
Our Year 10 students, along with the support of their families and our Careers team, have organised Work Experience that is coming up in the next couple of weeks. This experience provides students with the valuable opportunity to develop employability skills, explore possible career options and increase their self-understanding, maturity, independence and self-confidence. Our Year 10 teachers visit all of our students at their placement to check in and see how they are going.
Over the school holidays, a group of our Year 11 students and staff attended the Central Australia camp, I would like to acknowledge the positive feedback that I received about our students and it was lovely for our students to hear about their experiences from Grace Bonanno and Abigail McCarroll at our whole school assembly.
Ms Zoe Brinkley and Mr Harley Mottram are taking our Year 11 students who are completing the Year 12 Outdoor and Environmental Studies class are preparing to head off to Rubicon Outdoor School camp, Nayook campus. This camp has strong curriculum focus including information sessions, field work, cross country skiing/snow shoeing, caving, canopy quest.
Our Year 12s are beginning to look at applying for courses with the support of our Careers team and their Year 12 PEP teachers, and we know that this time can sometimes be stressful for families and their children. Please reach out to us if you need any help or guidance. A whole school focus for all of our students in PEP classes each week is students’ careers and future pathways. We encourage you to talk to your child/ren about your career journey and the pathway that you took, as this will strengthen their understanding from the classroom and home.
There is an emphasis this term with two of our school values of Respect and Empathy. Please always treat each other well. Every single one of us is responsible for having a safe and happy school community. I ask and encourage our students continue to be Upstanders.
I want to reaffirm that Brighton Secondary College maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards bullying, harassment and violence. We firmly believe that every student deserves to learn and grow in an environment that is free from fear, harassment, vilification and intimidation. Our commitment to fostering a positive and respectful atmosphere extends to all members of our school community.
Leisa Higgins
Acting Principal