Principal Team Report

It has been a huge privilege to work as Acting Principal over the past 9 months. As a leadership team and an entire school staff, we have achieved many of our goals to improve our college, striving to be the best we can be. I have had many opportunities to connect with our amazing Diamond Valley College community and the wider Diamond Creek community, and I look forward to continuing this work with a new Principal in term 3. I want to acknowledge our amazing staff who work tirelessly to support the learning journey of our students and in particular our leadership team of Shona McEnaney and Bec Taylor as the smartest and hardest working team I have worked with anywhere. Thank you.

It has been a very exciting term with students participating in many community, academic and sporting events. We are so proud of our students and always get positive feedback about how they conduct themselves in public, and the respect they show others when out in the community. Our college facebook page has many recent events added and the newsletter also has reports and images from news across the school.

The new Rugby top is almost ready and although it was disappointing that it was delayed until this month, we can contact Academy Uniform to preorder either online or instore, ready for collect very soon. This will provide a warm layer option to wear under the college jacket. The Rugby top was extensively checked with students for design and colour, with more than 85% of students agreeing on the chosen design. We look forward to seeing it in circulation very soon.

We have worked very hard this term to ensure school attendance is a key priority and will have more information coming out to students and families to support positive attendance at school, and high level connection to learning. Students who attend regularly have better learning outcomes and better transition to further study or work. It’s important to discuss with your child and with school, any issues around attendance. The sooner we can understand any blockers to learning or attending, the sooner we can support students to engage in high quality learning.

Student Learning and Semester reports

At the end of term students will receive their Semester report. This is a summary of your students learning for the semester. Please take the time to read and discuss this with your child. Reports are a great opportunity to reflect on the learning behaviours and academic growth of the first semester and set new improvement goals for the next stage of learning in semester 2.

Subject Selection 2025 - Webinar Dates and Year 10 Transition Interviews 

During Term 3 students & families will be presented with information about student course selection for 2025. This is an important process for students and families to engage in as we prepare for the following academic year. Students in years 9 - 11 will participate in information sessions and we will be holding Webinars about the course selection process of an evening for students and families to attend. 

This is important to ensure that students can have choice through our elective program, have the opportunity to apply for Advanced placement subjects and choose subjects that meet University pre-requisites and are aligned with future pathway goals.

Our Year 10 students as part of the application process for VCE/VM for 2025 will participate in a transition interview with their parent/guardians on the 8th of August. Bookings will be open on compass in Term 3 and further information about these interviews will be provided at the webinar.  Year 10 students will only attend school on this day for their scheduled transition interview. Preparation for these interviews and course selection has commenced this term through the careers excursions, Year 10 PDL Aspire subject and year level assemblies. 

Please take note of the following advanced notice dates that are relevant to your child’s subject/course selection for 2025: 

Year 12 2025(VCE/VM) Webinar - Thursday 18 July 7.30pm 

Year 10 2025 Webinar - Tuesday 23 July 7.30pm 

Year 11 2025 (VCE/VM) 2025 Webinar - Wednesday 24 July 7.30pm

Year 10 (2024) Transition Interviews - Thursday 8 August (1.00pm-7.00pm)

Year 9 2025 Webinar – Wednesday 7 August 7.30pm 

Uniform and dress code

We would like to acknowledge all the students and their families who are consistently wearing our college uniform with pride. For those students who would like to purchase the new college rugby top or buy further uniform items, the school holidays present a great opportunity to be able to do this. 

We would like to see all students consistently wearing the correct uniform in Semester 2. Please see our college Uniform and Dress Code Policy – appendix A for the full list of uniform items available or the college website. As the weather becomes colder, we are beginning to see many non-uniform items being worn including grey and black tracksuit pants and hoodies which are not part of either our academic or sports uniform.

Students wearing items of the PE uniform on days they don’t have practical Physical Education class will have a compass chronical as being out of uniform. 

A reminder that our students can layer with the following items to keep warm. To keep warm in the colder months (allowable in the uniform policy)

• Use a white T shirt or long sleeve undershirt.
• Wear a school logo jumper.
• Alternately, wear a plain jumper under the school jacket (not a Hoodie)
• Wear black stockings under the school skirt or beige/ natural with the dress. 

As a college we have just invested in many new classroom split systems to also ensure the classroom environment is warm.

If for any reason your child is not able to be in uniform, please provide a note which needs to be handed to their homegroup teacher at the start of the day. Students who breach the college uniform policy on two occasions within the week and have not provided a note will receive sanctions as outlined in the college dress code policy.

Any student who cannot wear part of the uniform for medical reasons please refer to the uniform policy for example.

If there is any issue accessing uniform items, please let us know and we will support a plan to get uniform. We have high expectations of students to be at school, in uniform and ready to learn, every day. 

Mobile Phone Policy reminder

As you may be aware, the Mobile Phones – Student Use policy for Victorian government schools came into effect in Term 1 2020. This policy requires students to switch their phones off and securely store them in their locker during the school day.

The policy is designed to support teaching and learning, promoting learning environments that are free from unnecessary distractions. The policy also aims to increase physical activity and socialisation at recess and lunch times. A Review of the policy found that it has reduced the use of mobile phones during school hours, with a range of benefits noted by principals and teachers.

The Department of Education has also published a parent/carer support page on mobile phones in schools on its website. This website includes links to supports for parents/carers on safe and responsible technology use at home.

Our school has its own, local mobile phone policy, which implements the government’s mobile policy in line with our local context. A copy of our policy is available on our college website. I encourage all members of our school community to read our policy, as it outlines the school’s expectations of staff, parents/carers, and students regarding the use of mobile phones and other technological devices including air pods. 

For Duty of Care reasons, we also ask that if communication needs to occur between a parent and student during the school day that is done through the front office and not through texting as this encourages the student to have the phone on them which is a breach of Department and college rules.

Students who purchase food through the canteen must also ensure they have a keycard to make an EFT purchase. As per the mobile phone policy phones are not to be used to make purchases at the canteen. 

Any questions please contact the relevant Assistant Principal.