Principal's Report
Welcome
What a term! I have been impressed with the way that our entire school has settled into the year.
The school finished on a high at the end of the year with the best VCE results since 2018 and across almost all data measures released by the Department of Education, Patterson River outperformed both statistically similar schools at state.
I have been particularly impressed with the enthusiasm with which our Year 7 students have come into the start of their secondary years, with the most ever students electing to do a musical instrument and audition for production.
It has been particularly enjoyable seeing students making the most of extra curricula activities and classes in new centres such as STEM and Food centre.
Patterson River is once again positioned as a school achieving excellent results in a range of areas. This includes consistently outperforming statistically similar schools in key data measures and outstanding performances on the sporting field.
Parent Engagement
This year, we are planning to introduce a number of initiatives to improve parent engagement and support parents to be active participants in student learning.
We have developed a handbook for parents which includes important information across a range of topics. It also includes staff key contacts. You can access this via the above link and as it is a live document, I encourage you to save it to your browser toolbar or as a bookmark for future reference. We will be adding in new topics and editing the document based on feedback. The link can also be accessed via our College website. Please email any suggested changes or additions to patterson.river.sc@education.vic.gov.au.
Parent Information Sessions
We will be running a series of parents information sessions throughout the year and would like your input on the sorts of topics that you would like covered. To have your say, please complete this short survey:
https://forms.office.com/r/cVLdSXva6K
Student Goal Setting
In the coming weeks, we are launching a new approach to student goal setting, including a focus not only on their learning outcomes but other important elements such as SWPBS, Wellbeing and Pathways.
Each student's Goal Setting file will be accessible by parents and we are planning on incorporating into partnership meetings and parent teacher interviews.
You can see the draft document here:
New Staff
The Victorian Government introduced a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement for 2023 which involves an additional half an hour of planning for teachers each week, through a reduction in their time in the classroom. This resulted in a number of new teaching positions at the College. Despite significant teacher shortages across the state, I am pleased that we have been able to recruit some wonderful staff to our College and have all of our classes covered with teachers across the school.
- Andrea Studen (Maths/Science)
- Michelle Van Wees (Science)
- Stephan Tillett (Maths)
- Corey McCormack (PE)
- Melissa Stokes (VCE VM)
- Daniel Kelly (Maths/Science)
- Ashlee Griemink (Maths/Science)
- Narelle McNeill (English)
- Haje Halabi (VCE VM)
Learning Support and Intervention Staff
Reforms to Wellbeing, Disability and Inclusion have resulted in our team expanding to provide support to studnets both in and out of the classroom and I would like to welcome the following support staff to the College:
- Zac Procaro (Learning Support)
- Prosha Veresov (Tutor)
- Beth Quinn (Learning Support)
- Trish Williams (Learning Support)
- Alex Masterson (Learning Support
- Jenna Jansen Van Rensburg (Tutor)
- Beth Hagg (Wellbeing)
- Hannah Littler (Mental Health Practitioner)
- June Wheel (Secondary School Nurse)
- Mietta Nord (Learning Support)
- Kayla Borg (Learning Support)
School Council Elections
I would like to congratulate and welcome the following new members to our School Council:
Parents
Karen Armfield
Sabine Desrondaux
Cathie Douthie
Rik Price (re-elected)
Sheila Savage (Community)
Staff
Maree Foster
Haje Halabi
Students
We had a number of nominations from students and will be conducting a ballot early next term.
Annual Report to the School Community
One of the first tasks of our new school council was to review and endorse our Annual Report to the School Community. While the commentary that we have provided needs to go through quality assurance, the data sets provided by the Department to go with the report provide a wonderful endorsement of the students learning and community engagement here at the College. You can view the
Review our School
Our school has a 5 star rating on Facebook, however has a lower rating on in Google due to fake accounts. We would love our Google rating to be reflective of how our community truly feels about us as we have over 1000 searches for our school per month.
You can leave a star rating or written review via this link.
Presentation Night Awards
Late last year, we held our annual Presentation Night where we celebrate student achievement over the course of the year. These included recognition for the following significant achievements:
Year Level Dux
Year 7
Grimaldo D
Lucille M
Linkin T
Year 8
Navya A
Year 9
Ella D
Ke V
Franklin W
Year 10
Benjamin W
Year 11 VCE VM
Lilani O
Year 11 VCE
Martin L
Principal Commendation Awards
Year 7
Chloe C
Raquel F
Louella F
Lucy M
Lucinda M
Giaan P
Zachary T
Year 8
Cooper F
Ryder K-S
Max M
Rhett M
Nathan P
Aleena R
Dave S-H
Shelby T
Nina V
Year 9
Isabella B-W
Rosie C
Zadie G
Willem K
Tessa L
Sarah L
Xavier M
Year 10
Iniya A
Taz B
Miley C-H
Abbie C
Lachlan Fulton
Peter Lawrie
Keely Mc
Tom M
Sienna S
Alanah S
Year 11
Jasmine B
Emma B
Charlotte E
Clover G
Leonard H
Martin L
Luke M
Isaac S
Clavea S-P
Ruby W
Cadel W
School Council Elections
I would like to congratulate and welcome the following new members to our School Council:
Parents
Karen Armfield
Sabine Desrondaux
Cathie Douthie
Rik Price (re-elected)
Sheila Savage (Community)
Staff
Maree Foster
Haje Halabi
Students
We had a number of nominations from students and will be conducting a ballot early next term.
Family Voluntary Contributions - Thank You!
Once again, we have received generous parent donations towards some upcoming projects, with a record $28,000 donated so far this year.
Some of the funds received at the end of 2023 were utilised over the summer break with significant upgrades to music and drama, which, together with other donations, meant that in the last 12 months that we have been able to purchase:
- black box theatre
- theatre curtains
- science water baths
- programmable drones
- microbit accessories
- computers in Art and Design Tech
Upcoming projects:
Other funds will be used towards the following projects which looks set to receive the required amounts this year:
- screen printing equipment
- midi keyboards
- electronic balances
- CPR dummies
- Moveable soccer goals
- dance studio barre
Frankston Tech School
I was recently involved in the launch for the soon to be built Frankston Tech School. This is an exciting project that will cater for secondary school students from schools in the Frankston City Council area.
The Tech School will be built over the next 12-18 months and will deliver access to cutting edge technology to build students' critical, creative and problem solving skills. I was on the panel that appointed the new Director and will sit on the advisory committee due to our College's modern approach to STEM related equipment and activities.
Our students will be able to get free access to excursions, including transportation which is covered by the Victorian Government. You can find out more about tech schools via this link: https://www.vic.gov.au/tech-schools
St Kilda Next Gen 2024
After a successful program last year, we are seeking expressions of interest from students and their families who would like to be involved in our St Kilda NextGen Academy program starting in Term 4. This is open to all students currently in Years 7-9. To find out more, check out this quick video that St Kilda put together about our school's involvement:
Further details can be found here:
STK School Football Academy Program Expression of Interest 2024
Traffic Management
With an increase in our student population over the last few years, there has been a noticeable increase in the traffic before and after school.
If you are driving to school to drop off or collect students it would be appreciated if you could:
- Use roundabout or carpark to turn around, avoiding the use of neighbours driveways.
- Consider picking up students in Whatley Street (over the bridge) or Milroy Crescent (back of school).
- Encourage your child to walk or ride to school
- Avoid parking in front of the gate for Driveway 2 so that this can be used for kiss and go.
Other Tips
- Park in bus lane if you are visiting between 9am - 2.30pm
- Avoid parking in front of the gate for Driveway 2 so that this can be used for kiss and go.
Private Property & Accidents at School
The Department of Education requires parents/guardians to be reminded each year that:
- they are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance/transport and any other transport costs; and
- parents/guardians can purchase insurance policies from commercial insurers
- the Department of Education does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools and it has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property.
Mr Daniel Dew
College Principal