Principal's Report
Evan MILLER
Principal
Welcome Back to Highvale Secondary College!
Welcome back to another exciting year at Highvale Secondary College. It has been wonderful to see our students return with energy, positivity and a strong sense of belonging, and to feel the vibrant atmosphere that comes with the beginning of a new school year.
There is something special about the first few weeks of Term 1 — it marks a fresh start, a chance to reconnect, reset and look ahead with optimism and purpose. We are delighted to say the year has already begun in a very positive way, and we are proud of the calm, focused and enthusiastic start our students and staff have made.
A Strong Start: Curriculum Days and Staff Professional Learning
Before students returned, our staff participated in two highly successful Curriculum Days, ensuring we were fully prepared for a fantastic start to the year.
On Curriculum Day 1, staff came together to celebrate the many successes of 2025 and to reflect on the outstanding achievements of our students and community. We revisited our school-wide goals and priorities, ensuring a shared understanding of our focus for the year ahead. A key part of the day included the launch of our new classroom routines, designed to provide consistency for all students and support calm, orderly and focused learning environments across the school.
Staff also prepared for the launch of our redeveloped student wellbeing and engagement program, Connect. Formerly known as Focus Group, Connect has been designed around three key branches of our school tree logo:
Connecting with Self
Connecting with our Community
Connecting with the Future
This program will play an important role in developing the skills, dispositions and competencies we want to see in every Highvale student as they grow through their secondary schooling.
On Curriculum Day 2, we were thrilled to welcome back Vania Tiatto, who worked with staff to deliver professional learning in the sciences of learning and how students learn best. Aligned with the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0, the day focused on key elements of learning including focus, attention, working memory and long-term memory. In the afternoon, staff collaborated within their learning areas to apply their learning and plan how they will embed these strategies into their teaching throughout the year.
This important work will continue through Term 1 as we prepare to launch our new Teaching and Learning Model in Term 2.
Welcoming New Staff to Highvale
We are also pleased to welcome several new staff members who have joined Highvale Secondary College this year. Each brings expertise, passion and a strong commitment to student learning and wellbeing. We warmly welcome:
Ms Clark-Howard – Humanities
Ms Heine – French
Ms Ji – Maths
Ms Jiang – Maths
Ms Kuen – Food Technology
Ms Latarget-Duhamel – French
Ms Li – Accounting, Business Management and Humanities
Mr Lyu – Humanities
Ms Naganivatu – English and EAL
Ms Tay – Biology and Science
Ms Whannell – English
Ms Zhang – Maths and Science
We also warmly welcomed back Mr Baumgartner, who has returned to Highvale this year. We are excited about the positive impact all of our staff will have on our students and school culture.
A Proud Moment: Welcoming Our Year 7 Students
One of the highlights of the first weeks of the year was our first whole-school assembly, where we officially welcomed our new Year 7 students to the Highvale community.
It was a powerful reflection of the positive culture we are so proud of at Highvale. As our Year 7s entered the Community Centre for their very first assembly, they were met with an incredible round of applause from the entire student body — a genuine and heartwarming display of the welcoming and supportive environment that defines our school.
Starting secondary school is a significant milestone, and we are thrilled to have our Year 7 students begin their journey with us.
Our New Vision and Mission
At our first assembly, we also shared an exciting milestone for the school — the launch of our new Vision and Mission, developed with valuable input from students, staff and families.
This work was guided by our community’s shared understanding of what we want the Highvale Graduate to represent — the skills, dispositions and competencies we want every student to develop during their time with us. Feedback from across the school community helped shape a clear and inspiring direction for Highvale.
Our new Vision is:
“We embrace the learning we do every day, growing as a connected community to lead a better tomorrow.”
This vision reminds us that learning is something we embrace daily, and that we grow together as a connected community to prepare for the future.
Our Mission outlines how we will bring this vision to life through our commitment to learning today, growing together and leading tomorrow. It is a promise about the kind of school we are committed to being — one that supports every student to learn, thrive and succeed.
Living Our Values Every Day
Our Vision and Mission are deeply connected to our school values:
Respect, Responsibility, Resilience, Integrity and Excellence.
These values guide the way we treat one another, the way we approach learning and the way we contribute to our school community. We are proud of how strongly our students continue to demonstrate these values every day.
Celebrating Success
We also took time to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of our students from last year, including:
Highvale again being one of the leading schools in NAPLAN results at both Year 7 and Year 9
Our strongest VCE results in a number of years, with our median study score increasing to 31
These results reflect the dedication and hard work of our students, the expertise of our staff, and the strong partnership we share with families. They are a reminder of what is possible when we aim high and support one another.
Looking Ahead
The year ahead is full of opportunity, and we are excited about the initiatives we will continue to implement across the school. These include our strengthened focus on effective teaching and learning, the rollout of our Connect program, and increased opportunities for student voice through the introduction of the Principal’s Advisory Group, which will provide students with a direct avenue to provide feedback on school initiatives.
A Fantastic Start to 2026
The first few weeks of the year have been a true reflection of the strength of the Highvale Secondary College community. We are proud of how positively students have returned, how smoothly routines have been established, and the way our staff have worked tirelessly to ensure every student is supported and ready to learn.
As we begin this year together, we encourage all students to embrace learning, support one another, live our values and take every opportunity to grow.
We look forward to a successful, fulfilling and positive year ahead.
Welcome back to Highvale Secondary College!