PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we pass the half way point of Term 1, the college is in full swing for the 2024 school year with lots of great things happening.

Open Night

Last Monday we held our annual Open Night; an opportunity for current Grade 6 students and families to visit our college, meet our team and find out what Surf Coast Secondary College can offer them. The night included two information sessions presented by the Principal team, tours of the college, live music from our excellent bands, a BBQ and a range of interesting and fun activities that showcased the learning in all subject areas and co-curricular opportunities. Every Grade 6 student received an SCSC ‘show bag’ that included a range of information on our teaching and learning programs, co-curricular opportunities, camps, academies and the Strive program. There was also a few fun gifts for our young visitors including yo-yos, balloons, highlighters, stickers and magnets.

Our first information session was a complete sell out! We had twice as many people attend than we expected based on previous years. And the second information session was also very well attended. It’s fair to say it was likely the biggest crowd the college open night has seen. And the best part was the extremely high levels of positive feedback we received with lots of great discussion about the recent changes, updates and new directions the college is initiating this year.

The next steps in our transition program will be college tours for prospective families during the coming weeks and months. If you know of any families considering their secondary school options for 2025, please encourage them to come along and see our school in action during the school day.

Swimming Sports

Last week, on a particularly warm day, we held the annual college swimming carnival at Kardinia pool. We were a little nervous about the heat, but with consistent messaging around slip, slop, slap, seek and slide all who attended had a great day. And where better to be on a hot day than at the pool?!

It was a highly successful event with some awesome swimming on display. There was something for everyone with our competitive swimmers pushing for their best times, our recreational swimmers enjoying getting in the pool and earning points for their house and our occasional swimmers enjoying fun in the different pools and on the waterslide.

I’d like to thank all those students who attended, participated, dressed up in house colours, got involved and most of all had fun! 

We look forward to our upcoming athletics day in a couple of weeks.

NAPLAN

This year NAPLAN tests for Years 7 and 9 will be running any various times from Wednesday 13th of March through until Friday 22nd of March. 

The collective data from NAPLAN tests is important to the college as it forms one part of our ongoing annual assessment of the effectiveness of our teaching and learning programs. The information gathered from NAPLAN helps us identify areas of relative strength in literacy and numeracy teaching and also helps us identify areas of future focus.

For individual students NAPLAN results are one part of a broader series of learning assessments that can help your child’s teachers monitor learning growth and identify areas of support needed. 

Any parents or carers who have questions about this year’s NAPLAN test should contact the college.

School Photos

Last Monday was day one of our school photos. Friday 8th of March is ‘catch-up’ photo day for any student who missed out last week. Please encourage any of your children who are yet to have their 2024 college photo taken to make the time for this on Friday.

Thank you and take care,

Shane Elevato

Acting Principal