From the Principal's Desk

 Term 3 Update

Despite the cold weather, it has been a very smooth start to Term 3 with classes very quickly settling into the business of teaching and learning. It has been fantastic to see students setting new goals in response to their semester 1 reports, reflecting on their current practices and looking at how they can improve moving forward. 

It was again brilliant to have 311 packed out last week at our mid-year honours evening, where we celebrated 299 (I think we can get to 300 next year) students outstanding academic achievements across the first semester of the school. We always enjoy celebrating student success and are incredibly pleased with the attendance, highlighting the emphasis that families also place on academic rigour and continuous improvement. 

In further celebrations the recently released NAPLAN 2025 results have delivered terrific news for our community, with students achieving great outcomes in not only their level of proficiency but also their growth, that is their level of improvement from year 7 to year 9 or year 5 to year 7. The numeracy results have been a particular highlight with incredibly strong growth from our year 9 students from when they were in year 7. Importantly our students level of proficiency and growth have continued to improve for the third consecutive year in reading, writing, numeracy and grammar and punctuation.   

NAPLAN’s purpose extends beyond celebration. For students and parents/carers, it provides clear feedback and a snapshot of where students are in their learning journey. The individual student report places each child on a proficiency scale, showing how they compare to national and middle-band averages. This empowers families to see both strengths and areas for growth. For teachers and school leaders at the College, NAPLAN is an essential tool. The Student and School Summary Reports enable College staff to analyse performance at the cohort and classroom levels, tracking progress and pinpointing targeted support needs. These data-driven insights underpin improved teaching strategies, curriculum adjustments and personalised help that ensures every student’s learning needs are met. While NAPLAN is not the sole measure of a child’s education, it complements ongoing assessments to strengthen curriculum delivery, which helps teachers meet students where they are and support them to reach their full potential. As the College celebrate this year’s results, we thank our dedicated teachers for their skill and commitment, and congratulate our hardworking students.

We have also had significant growth in all areas of the student attitudes to school survey. While we have only received the preliminary results for the survey, which students complete annually and is a reflection of students experience at the school, we are very pleased to see students experiences and perceptions of school improving. This years results have the highest percentage of student positive endorsement in our schools history, a wonderful achievement.

Lastly on the celebration front, it was terrific to celebrate student success at our recent term 2 celebration assembly. The assembly again highlighted students achievements both personally and collaboratively and was a timely reminder of what our college is offering students, both in the classroom and in our large selection of co-curricular activities. 

Our senior years information evening was again well attended with year 9, 10 and 11 students having now made their course and subject selections for 2026. The information evening and individual course counselling for current year 10 students, helps ensure that students and their families are making informed choices about their course selection and future pathways. Any students and/or families requiring assistance with course/pathways selection are encouraged to arrange a meeting time with Mr Hauser or Mrs Foster ASAP. 

This Tuesday August 12, we will have a student free day for staff professional learning. While students not being at school for the day is never ideal it is an important opportunity for all of our college staff to engage in Berry Street training, that they will be completing across four days this year and in the beginning of next year. The professional learning will provide further learning for staff about how we can best support our young people in and out of the classroom. 

 Lastly a big thank you to all of our parents for supporting our young people to arrive at school in full uniform and with the correct learning materials. Being ‘ready to learn’ is the first step in setting our students up for success and we have been pleased to see the vast majority of our students coming ready each and every day. 

Student Collection and Car Park Access  

Thank you to families who have been communicating with us about student absences. We greatly appreciate this and have been working hard to ensure that students are at school as much as possible. Research confirms that there is a strong correlation between students attendance and their social and academic outcomes. All students should be aiming for a minimum of 95% throughout. 

Finally, I would like to again remind families of when they are picking students up during the school day that to minimise disruptions to learning, we kindly ask that student pick-ups be scheduled during our break times to allow continuity of learning. Wherever possible it is best if students know what time they will be picked up. If you do need to collect your child during class time we will not make unnecessary calls to classrooms, as we do not want to disrupt the learning of all students. 

Please see our break times below:

Recess: 10:14-10:35am

Changeover between session 2 & 3: 11:49-11:55am

Lunch: 1:09- 1:50pm

I would also like to give a friendly reminder to please drop off students to school outside of the school gates, the carpark next to the school can be an excellent spot for this. We have experienced issues of congestion in our staff carpark.

 Thank you for your assistance with this. 

Luke Skewes 

Principal