Tarneit Senior College

Principal's Report

Dear college community,

 

As we come to the end of the 2023 school year I would like to thank all members of our College Community for their support through a year where the school has had some significant challenges. These challenges have seen our community come together to support each other and it is that ability to show empathy and care for one another that will drive our College forward in the future. 

 

 

VCE Results and Dux 2023

Congratulations to all our Year 12 students who received their results on Monday. I am pleased to report that Tarneit Senior College students in 2023 have achieved some great results and a high success rate in completing their VCE studies.

Some of the highlights include:

  • 12 students achieving an ATAR above 80 
  • 8 study scores of 40+ including a 47 for a student in Biology
  • 28 study scores of 37+

As a school we are very proud of the work of our Year 12 cohort who have worked hard over the past 3 years at Tarneit Senior College to achieve, not only this year but over the course of the educational journey for these students, including the years affected by COVID.

 

In addition, congratulations to all our Year 12 VCAL students for completing all course requirements and receiving offers to complete diplomas, traineeships and apprenticeships. I also want to acknowledge our graduates for the Victorian Pathways Certificate who had a 100% completion rate!

 

Congratulations to our DUX for 2023 - Jishnu Shaju achieving an ATAR of 88.9

 

 

Stage 3 Building Update: 

The Chirnside Extension is now a clear and established addition to the landscape of Tarneit Senior College. The building has now completed a lot of the external works and work continues preparing the inside spaces to be ready for our Semester 2 launch in 2024. Please enjoy some snapshots of the building as it looks at our current stage.

 

The Technology space is ready to be launched with our Woodwork classes in 2024 and we have begun working to get all of the OH&S requirements in place. It will be exciting to have students use this space at the start of 2024.

The Science Rooms official works began on November 20th and we have already seen a range of changes in those spaces as they prepare all of the gas and water fittings. We will soon have all of the benches and other furniture installed.

Graduation and Year 10/11 Awards

Our Graduation was held at Costa Hall on Tuesday 21st November. The evening was a fantastic celebration of our 2023 Year 12 cohort and was great to see so many families there to celebrate their achievements. The venue was a spectacular space that reflected the level of celebration for all of our students and as a school we wish our graduating class of 2023 all the best with their varied pathways in 2024.

 

The school also celebrated the achievements of our Year 10 and 11 cohorts. An Awards Evening was held at the school Auditorium on Monday 27th November. The evening allowed students to receive awards for outstanding improvement and achievement in all of the subjects offered at those year levels as well as those students who demonstrated excellent values within their House. 

 

Staffing 2024

As we prepare for the new school year there will be quite a bit of change happening in staffing for 2024 as reflected in trends across all of Victoria..  We have several staff moving on to either a position much closer to their home, new leadership opportunities, relocating interstate or are looking at career opportunities outside of education for 2024. We still have more staff to employ and we are currently working through the selection process for these final positions. This level of staff movement is happening across most schools and is especially prolific in the area of Wyndham and across Western Melbourne.

 

This has resulted in our school having to make some decisions to best utilise our staff and try to have as many classes with teachers, and not replacement staff, in front of them for as many classes as we can. To help support having more classes with more teachers we have had to make decisions with our timetable to reduce the number of class offerings and as such some classes may not run in all of our domains and across year levels. This will result in students across each year level having 5 subjects on their timetable and a support study session to allow them time to catch up on work, prepare for assessments and get help with any work. The timing of support study sessions will be outlined to parents and students at the beginning of 2024. There has also been a decision to remove our Pastoral Care class from the timetable to help support more staff time in subject classes and this has resulted in a slightly earlier finish for students on some days. Our timetable will see students begin at 9.00am and finish at 3.10pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Our Wednesdays will run the same timetable as previous years with a student finish at 1.50pm. There will not be an Assessment & Assembly block in 2024 to, once again, support staff being in as many classes as possible. Assessments will return into the normal timetabled classes and students will have their assessments outlined to them when they resume classes in 2024.

 

These decisions have not been made lightly and have allowed our school to maximise our staffing profile despite a significant staff turnover at the end of 2023. Some elements of these changes will only be for 2024 with a plan to return to a more familiar timetable structure for 2025 as the staffing crisis across Victoria lessens and our student numbers enable us to provide a broader range of curriculum.

 

As this will be our last newsletter for the year, I would like to recognise our committed and dedicated teaching and education support staff at the College and thank them sincerely for all their hard work throughout the year on behalf of the students. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the parents, students and staff on our College Council and all members of the College Leadership Team for their leadership and commitment to the ongoing improvement of the College and support of each and every student.

 

Lastly, I would like to thank all members of the College community for their ongoing support of our college. I wish everyone a safe and restful festive season and holiday break with family and friends, and I look forward to seeing you all in 2024, for another great year at Tarneit Senior College. 

 

Shane Cole-Hayhow

College Principal