A wonderful year at Box Hill High School

I am very proud to be completing my first year as the Principal at Box Hill High School and continuing to be part of a great school community. I love being principal of such a high performing and supportive government school and intend to work hard to ensure we deliver an educational experience based on excellence and equity.

Farewell class of 2023:

Well done and farewell to our 226 Year 12 students who have finally finished 13 years of schooling – now for the next chapter of your lives! We celebrated this wonderful milestone with students, staff and families at San Remo in Carlton at the end of November. We wish you all the best and hope you find opportunities and pathways that allow you to achieve your potential. Please see details of our 2023 VCE results later in the newsletter.

2023 Achievements

Introduction of a new middle sub school for year 9 and year 10 students.
New and improved subject selections for year 9 and year 10 providing breadth to the curriculum choices for these students.
New student leadership structure and processes embedded.
Whole staff shared understanding of student agency and a developmental framework created.
Student and staff whole-school inclusion working party.
Numeracy improvement (see Assistant Principal Greg Breese’s item later for detail).
Improved communications with families
Re-introduction of the Year 9 City Experience
School facilities and environment improvement (all toilet blocks upgraded, new mural, soft indoor furnishing for students, classrooms painted and re-carpeted, and gardens improved)
Increase in engagement programs and curriculum-based excursion and student opportunities.
Our own local Box Hill Acknowledgement of Country developed by a student working party
Becoming a Resource Smart School

2024 Improvement goals

Strategic School Goals – Key Improvement Strategies

Whole-school writing improvement
Numeracy improvement – building problem-solving skills
Strengthening assessment practices through moderation of student learning progressions
Embedding a school-wide positive climate for learning and strengthening school belonging
Embedding a tiered system for student support in wellbeing and disability inclusion
Strengthening parent communication and engagement

Other key school initiatives based on student and parent feedback include:

Introduction of weekly home group sessions for Year 7-12 students.

We are very excited to introduce a regular 25-minute weekly home group session on Mondays from the start of next year.

The homegroups will be their current homegroup in year 7-9, and then in other groupings at year 10-12. The homegroup teacher for year 7-9 will also be one of teaching those students in another subject to facilitate stronger connections and support. Year level appropriate term themes are also being introduced to guide teachers with their focus.

Vision for home groups:

To strengthen students’ sense of school belonging and connectedness by prioritising time to build positive student-teacher and peer-to-peer relationships.  

Purpose of home groups:

Establishing a key teacher as a point of contact for students.
Team-building.
Verbal communication of key school information, including policies and processes that impact on them (eg. Child-safe policies).
Opportunity for student voice and feedback on school decisions.
Opportunities for student agency and leadership.
Increasing participation and engagement in whole-school events.
Strengthening school vision and values.
Time to check-in with students re study and organisation.
Strengthening inclusion – addressing racism & gender & other discriminatory stereotypes (strong focus on inducting students into the ‘Box Hill High School way of doing things eg. Yr 7 setting safe spaces).

Changes to student reports

In response to parent feedback this year, we will be making some changes to student reports in 2024.

1. Students will be assessed more clearly on their work habits and behaviours in class.

2. Students will receive an assessment grade on their achievement on Common Assessment Tasks (CATs) in each subject. Parents can refer to Learning Tasks on Compass for more descriptive information on areas of strength and areas for improvement.

School Homework Policy and student assessment schedules

To ensure that we continue to provide support for students and improve their study and organisational skills, we will be introducing a more consistent and transparent homework policy and provide students and families with assessment schedules for each term.

Thank you to our amazing staff at Box Hill High School

Much care and effort goes into student learning and wellbeing at Box Hill High School, and as a staff team we work collaboratively together to support all our students achieve great outcomes.

Thank you to my Assistant Principals this year –Shareen Bottrell, Greg Breese, Nathaniel Smith (Acting Assistant Principal for 2023) and also to Nic Barca and Erin Gleeson (Acting Assistant Principals for one term) for their hard work and care for the school. A big thank you to my very talented and enthusiastic School Improvement Leadership Team. Thank you to the supportive Student Wellbeing Team, the dedicated subschool teams, the proactive Careers team, the high performing Domain Leaders and other program leaders for all the many ways they make school better for students.

Also thank you to Kylie Pearson and her amazing library program for students, the friendly IT team, Mel (Business Manger) and Noelene (Assistant Busine Manager), Darren Jones (Facilities Manager), Darren Yap (International Student Program Coordinator), and especially to all our dedicated teachers who go above and beyond, and the many Educational Support staff for their great work supporting the school this year.

Thank you to the student leadership teams especially to the 2023 Prefect Team and SRC.

Finally, a big thank you to all the students and families who contributed to making this school a lovely place to work and learn by being a positive and respectful member of the school community, and by expressing gratitude.

Thank-you School Council

A sincere thank you to the School Council members for their time, positive support and contributions to improving the school in 2023 – especially to our School Council President Kajaal Fox and Vice-President Andrew Cameron. Thank you also to Muhammad Ali (Finance Parent Representative), Kim Huett, Tony Bui, Ashley Schwartz, Shweta Pradhan, Elizabeth Tischler, Chloe Steele (DET representative), and student members Taj O’Donnell and Lihan Guo.

Goodbye to staff

I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank the four staff who are retiring from public education at the end of this year. These teachers have each been at Box Hill High School for 30 years each on average – what amazing careers and history of contributing to the success of Box Hill High School! School Council also would like to officially thank these four staff for their contribution to the success of the school, and recognize their achievement in their long teaching careers.

Diana Willshire
Deb Schubach
Helen Tesoriero
Kerry Richards

We also say goodbye and thank-you to some other classroom teachers who are pursuing different pathways next year:

Shamaine Ng
Urho Redcliffe
Aaron Fong
Jessica Goodwin
Dini Herath
Andy Ma
Jana Kuhn

Staff on Family Leave for 2024 include:

Erica Sporri (returns Semester 2 2024)
Stef Bear (returns Term 4)
Michelle Tran
Anna Muston (returns Term 4)
Grace DeBlasio
Sophie Ionnidis

We welcome back some previous Box Hill HS teachers who rejoin us in 2024:

Toby Wilkins
Gemma Anderson
Kim Evans
Deanna Chesterton

Wishing all our families a safe and happy summer holiday with loved ones, and looking forward to continuing our partnership in raising good humans next year 😊

By Kellie Ind

Principal