Assistant Principals' Report

Term 1.2 Article  

Term 1 has been a vibrant and rewarding start to the year, offering our students a rich range of learning experiences beyond the classroom. Throughout the term, students have engaged in career education, cultural celebrations, interschool sport, Harmony Week and a variety of year‑level programs. Highlights included the Year 7 & 8 Alternate Program Day, Year 9 Cluster Day, Year 10 Revive Day and Senior Student Alternative Program Days. These experiences play an important role in supporting students to build positive relationships, develop their Personal and Social Capabilities, strengthen connections within our school community and explore pathways into the world of work. 

A particular highlight for Term 1 was the Year 7 Camp, marking our newest students’ first camp experience at Doncaster Secondary College. Staff valued the opportunity to further connect with students, made even more enjoyable by the beautiful weather. Students participated in a range of engaging and challenging activities designed to support confidence, resilience and personal growth. The camp experience helps establish strong early connections and contributes to a positive school community where students feel known, valued and supported.  

As part of Harmony Week, our Year 7 and 8 students took part in a specialised learning program exploring key themes such as cultural diversity, stereotypes, valuing different cultural perspectives, celebrating diversity within our school community, and identifying actions that promote inclusion. Through these learning experiences, students strengthened their self-awareness and social awareness by considering a range of perspectives. The program complements the Rights, Resilience and Respectful Relationships curriculum, supporting the development of students’ personal and social capabilities while reinforcing the importance of inclusion and respect within our school community. 

The Middle School Team this term has been focused on two areas of improvement, with a focus on how we support students with through the wellbeing multi-tiered approach. The wellbeing team have been consulting around the various engagement programs we deliver, and the key outcomes are how we monitor student participation and gain their feedback to ensure we are continuing meeting students evolving needs. The feedback from students demonstrated a need for continued forum-based consultation rather than surveys.  

The second area of focus was around students maintaining or having growth in their attendance and Progress reports. We have seen a 10% improvement for our Year 9s in their attendance compared to this time last year, this is significant growth and something we are very proud of and have been celebrating with the year level. Our Year 10s have been collaborating with the Middle School Teachers and the staff support team on demonstrating those positive learning behaviours associated with their Progress Reports and we are really pleased to see the number of students who have achieved Excelling across each of their subjects. The Middle School really values the learning partnership with students and parents, and this has been effective in enabling the improvement in this space. We have concluded the term by wishing Ms. Ramya Annavarapu all the best as she begins her maternity leave, we are very fortunate to Ms. Lauren Vayro take over from Ramya. Ms. Anneka Carroll Bertles will be the point of contact for students in Year 9 and and Mr. Jeff Lucas will be the contact for year 10 students and families.  

Year 10 students have been engaging in Career Interviews as they prepare for Work Experience and VCE or VCE-VM. It’s an exciting time for our students as they have an opportunity to consider their strengths and interests and how that might translate into a career path. We encourage students and families to reach out to our Careers Team if they would like further information and support with this. We have held one Parent Evening this term, but more opportunities for students and families to learn and discuss their pathways will come in term 2 and 3, including the Careers Expo. 

In the Senior School this term we have been focused on building positive learning behaviours to support students to maximise their results. This means high expectations around attendance and work completion. Our Senior School staff have been working tirelessly to support students to build these strong work ethics which should translate to better outcomes and pathway options for our senior students, as it has in previous years. 

Attendance remains a focus of the whole school, but ramifications for low attendance in Senior School can be serious, so we encourage families to be mindful of the Department’s and the College’s expectations around this. These policies exist to support student development, not only academically but also socially and emotionally. Students are healthier and happier when they have the routine of school. Our Wellbeing Team is extensive and here to support students and families that need it to keep attendance percentages positive. 

Our 2026 Year 12 students have made a positive start to the year and should be praised for their efforts and commitments to improve and achieve their best. VCE rewards effort and if students are working to the best of their ability, they’re creating more opportunities for themselves in higher education and employment, so we encourage them to continue striving to do their best! Additionally, we have employed several Academic Advisors to work with our year 12 students to support them to maximise their results this year. We currently have six students from 2024 and 2025, who received 40+ study scores, working with our 2026 high achievers and in classrooms, to support them to achieve their goals. 

Term 2 Victorian High-Ability Program 

In Term 2 we will have 21 students from the Junior School participating in the Victorian High-Ability program. Doncaster Secondary College is very proud of the students that have been selected in this Student Excellence Program. Congratulations. 

The students have been selected by the Department of Education through a centrally managing process based on student academic performance. It uses a selection algorithm that is based on student achievement data to assess student ability and readiness to participate in the program. A combination of high NAPLAN scores and being one or more years ahead of their peers (based on teacher judgement data) indicates high ability. 

The Victorian High-Ability Program is an extension course that runs for one school term, where students meet with like-minded peers at neighbouring Victorian government schools through weekly virtual lessons studying either English or Mathematics.  The weekly virtual lessons occur during the school day and will be taught by expert Virtual School Victoria educators. Participation in the Victorian High-Ability Program is free and is funded by the Victorian Government's new Student Excellence Program. You can read more about this initiative here: Supporting High-Ability Students: Policy | education.vic.gov.au  

Child Safety and Wellbeing at Doncaster Secondary College 

Doncaster Secondary College is committed to ensuring a child safe environment for all students. This term, teachers and School Council members have completed Child Safety training to ensure they are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe.” (Child Safe Standard 8). We have also continued to find ways to empower young people and take them seriously (Child Safe Standard 3) when they have concerns through surveys about their experience, such as the Learning Culture survey completed in all year levels, and through a Compass form introduced for 2026 which enables young people to report concerns to the subschool more easily.  

Our comprehensive child safety framework outlines our school’s strategies to support student safety and wellbeing. The framework includes policies, codes, and procedures, including our School’s Privacy Policy, which is in line with government standards for the protection of personal information. Our policies, codes and procedures can be found here on our school website.  

Our students and their families are important partners in keeping our students safe. We value feedback and ideas on how we can continuously strengthen our child safety framework. We welcome any feedback or queries in relation to any child safety related matters, policies and procedures. Please contact the Assistant Principal – Wellbeing at school on (03) 9848 4677 or at doncaster.sc@education.vic.gov.au. 

We wish you a happy Easter and term break and hope our students enjoy this opportunity to rest, ready for term 2! 

Belinda, Kristin, Wes and Elisha