Principal's Report
Beginning Of Term 3:
Principal's Report
Preparing for the School Review
On Monday 11 August - pupil free day – all members of staff participated in a reflection and assessment of progress on our Strategic Plan over the last 4 years. The process on the day was to recognise our achievements, identify areas for growth and work towards our shared goals that align with the evolving needs of our students.
Our Review will occur at the beginning of Term 4 - where we will work with all areas of our community to review progress over the past four years and work to what our next four year plan will look like.
Ensuring a Child Safe Environment
We are a school which is committed to ensuring a safe environment for all students. To build upon our existing practices, we have recently reviewed and updated the following policies and procedures available on the school website:
- Child Safety Policy
- Child Safety Reporting and Responding Obligations Procedure
- Child Safety Code of Conduct
- Complaints Policy
- Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy
- Bullying Prevention Policy
- Volunteers Policy
- Visitors Policy
Digital Learning Policy
We have also recently reviewed a number of our school’s child safety practices and have adopted and planned the following additional practices:
- All staff continue to receive child safety training at the beginning of each semester and any new staff member (including Casual Relief Teachers or former students supporting sporting events and working as tutors) receive this training as part of their induction when they start with us at the school.
- Updated communication protocols as part of the recently reviewed Child Safety Code of Conduct to make it clear that the Code applies to all physical and online environments during or outside of school hours as well as developing a Communication with School Staff Policy available on the school’s website.
- Implemented a Private Vehicle Use protocol (please refer to our Private Vehicle Use Policy available on the school’s website) to cater for any circumstances where students are may need to be transported by members of staff as part of their official duties
- By the end of Term 3 we will be holding focus groups with small groups of students to:
- seek feedback on their classroom experiences from both a learning and wellbeing perspective
- unpack Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS) results
- discuss any areas of the school or activities that make them feel less safe, and their ideas on how to improve.
- Strengthening our delivery of Respectful Relationships across all year levels.
- Acceptable Use Agreements have been developed and will be shared with students and families once they have been finalised.
We welcome any feedback or queries in relation to any child safety related matters, policies, and procedures. Please contact the office on 03 95792322 or south.oakleigh.co@education.vic.gov.au if you wish to discuss further.
Parent/Guardian/Caregiver Survey
The Parent/Guardian/Caregiver Survey will open on Monday August 18 for parents to respond to. Gathering Parent opinions is important to us as it provides valuable insights for shaping the future management of the school. Further communication on how to access the survey will be shared via Compass. We thank all parents in advance for their contribution.
Flourishing Leadership
Once again, I would like to welcome Louise O’Neill and George Tzimourtas to the Principal Team. These appointments not only reflect the evolving priorities of our school, but also the extraordinary talent within our staff. Both Louise and George have demonstrated exceptional leadership in Teaching and Learning, Assessment & Reporting and the area of Student Services, Daily Operations and of course Transition, respectively.
We believe that these leaders have exemplified the caliber, integrity and dedication to South Oakleigh College as Middle Leaders and look forward to seeing their impact as part of our Leadership Team through their commitment to our students, staff and community.
Helen Koziaris
College Principal