Principals Report

As Term 2 is ending, we look back at a very busy and productive term and semester, with so many opportunities for our students to excel at Thornbury High School. For our students in Years 10 and 11, the mid-year exams have given them a chance to demonstrate how much they have learned so far this year, and the feedback our teachers provide to them will help them grow further. Our focus as a teaching team has very much been on the implementation of effective teaching practice throughout this semester, and this will continue for the rest of the year and beyond. Our vision as a school is that every student will be actively engaged in their learning, challenged to grow and learn, and achieving success at THS. We have high expectations for all of our students as we know that they are all capable of learning and achieving great results.

Speaking of success, congratulations to Otis (Year 11) on winning this year’s THS Whole-school Chess Tournament! Otis and Daniel played a terrific game in the final, and both students are to be commended on their excellent efforts in chess, and for setting a high standard for other students. In the future, our THS Chess team members will have opportunities to play against teams from other schools as we take part in inter-school tournaments in chess. Thank you to Mr Sean Broadby for running our Chess Club and the Chess Tournament. 

In Performing Arts, we have seen our students excelling in a range of different events this term, including the Shakespeare Festival and the Year 12 Theatre Studies production of Oscar Wilde’s comedy ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ at the Little Yarra Creperie in Thornbury. The Mid-Year Concert showcased brilliant performances from all students involved. Thank you to the Performing Arts team for their brilliant efforts in supporting our students to shine on stage!

As you may know, one of my own passions is reading and promoting reading with young people, and this term it has been pleasing to see so many of our students immersing themselves in a book through our Wide Reading Program in English. I have been very impressed with the work of our 32 Library Leaders - students from Years 7-10 who volunteer their time to work with our Library team and promote reading in the school. Thank you to our librarians Lucy, Prue and Blaga for their work in celebrating books at THS, and for running both the THS staff book club and the THS student book club! For anyone interested in a good read this winter, I highly recommend Emily Wilson’s new translation of Homer’s The Iliad, which was released earlier this year. It’s a powerful, entertaining translation of a brilliant classic from Ancient Greece.

I wish you all a wonderful and relaxing break from school over the next two weeks, and I look forward to seeing everyone back at school for the start of Term 3 on Monday, 21st of July (for staff) and on Tuesday, 22nd of July (for students).

Lars Andersson

Principal