Principal's Report

Passing of colleague and friend - Carol Hale

Last week I informed the College community that Carol Hale, a long-serving staff member (IT tech support), passed away in the last week of Term 2 after experiencing a medical emergency at the school.  Carol received fantastic support from our staff, who administered first aid, and from local paramedics and the medical team at Grampians Wimmera Health.

The College, in consultation with the Department and following discussions within the College Leadership and Wellbeing Teams, ensured classes continued as normal on the day and for the remainder of the week. This decision was made as no students were directly involved in the emergency.  The overwhelming response of support, care, and normality across the school in the final week of last term was a credit to the students and the professionalism of staff at the College.

It is important to note that it can be difficult to come to terms with something like this when it happens. Everyone responds in different ways: some may only feel they need support once it has had time to sink in.

We have a fantastic Wellbeing team at the school, and they are available to offer support to your child as needed and if deemed appropriate.

Alternatively, support is available for this or any other issue through:

• Headspace Horsham: 03 5381 1543, and
• Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800 or kidshelpline.com.au

My door is always open and if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Uniform - Move to Lowes

Horsham College’s uniform supplier will move from Earles to Lowes in the Horsham Plaza during this month.

The College Council went through a Department tender process in making our decision and we would like to publicly thank all businesses that tendered.  We would like to thank Brian and the team at Earles for their support and guidance over the past three years and publicly acknowledge their high quality of service and willingness to work with the College.

We are looking forward to working with Lowes to implement the student led changes to our uniform and ensure the Horsham College uniform meets student, family and school needs and is comfortable, quality for money and represents our school in a positive way.

When the move to Lowes is finalised we will ensure this is communicated to students and families.

Year 10 Snow and Queensland Trips and Work Experience

Last week students in Year 10 attended the 2023 Snow Trip, Queensland Trip and or completed work experience.

The trips were a fantastic success and a big thank you to all staff who attended and for the leadership of Ms Amor, Ms O’Connor, Ms Scherger, and Ms King in coordinating and managing the trips.

The opportunity to complete work experience is something the College encourages all eligible students to undertake as it as a great lead in to understanding the workforce and what jobs really look like. I would like to publicly thank all of the businesses who support our students, it is truly appreciated.  Thank you also to Genni Smith for her commitment to following up paperwork and finding places for students to investigate their dreams.

Wimmera Southern Mallee Careers Expo

In the last week of term 2 students in Years 10-12 attended the Wimmera Southern Mallee Careers Expo.  It was a fantastic day, and it was great to see so many students engaging with the large variety of education, training, and career providers on show.

A huge thank you to the Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN for their leadership in this space and to Tim Shaw in particular who is retiring from his role as the CEO of the LLEN.  Tim has done an outstanding job as the LLEN CEO and has led our LLEN in being recognised as a leader in Victoria in bringing education, local government, and business together to support students and their pathways.

Thank you also to our Careers team - Dean Berger and Heath Schulz for their work and leadership in coordinating the day from the Horsham College perspective.

Staffing for 2024

The College will begin its recruiting for 2024 in the coming weeks.  If there are any persons in the community who may be interested in looking to retrain as a teacher I would encourage them to contact me to discuss what options and pathways are available.

The College is well known for supporting people to retrain and assisting the transition into education as a career.