Principal's Report

Welcome back to Term 2. 

I would like to extend a warm welcome to our entire community as we return for Term 2. I hope that everyone had a relaxing break and the chance to recharge their batteries.

In the past two weeks, I've had the pleasure of visiting classrooms, guiding tours for prospective parents, and hosting staff from other schools. What strikes me consistently is the sense of engagement among our students, teachers, and support staff as I tour our school. Our classrooms are calm and orderly and there is a sense of purpose, with students immersed in their learning. 

It's wonderful to hear feedback from our visitors who often remark on the positive atmosphere of our school and the active participation of our students in their education. These comments reinforce the thoughts that I have that we have an amazing school here at Lilydale Heights College that is focused on learning and growth.

I look forward to continuing to see the excellence, respect and responsibility that defines us as we continue into Term 2.  

Staffing updates

We have had a few updates to our staff for Term 2.

Louise Pastorcic left us at the beginning of term to join a school that is closer to her home. We would like to wish Louise all the best for her new role. 

I would like to welcome to the Lilydale Heights College community:

• Andrew Shahzadi who is joining us as a Maths/Science teacher
• Richard Leask who is joining us as a Tutor
• Ethan Colussi and Holly Brick who are with us for the term in music whilst Sue Haylock is on leave. 
• Maddison Cunningham who is our new Regional Bus Coordinator
• Aidan Krott who will be our new Art/Visual Communication teacher

We would also like to welcome back Danni Hensgen who is returning to us from leave. 

Staff Professional Development Day 

Our recent Whole Staff Professional Learning Day, held on Friday, April 26th, was focused on enhancing our collective ability to support the learning growth of all our students. The central purpose for the day revolved around continuing to develop our strategies to engage students at their learning point of need. Each faculty looked at their Curriculum Maps and planned learning pathways for students. Curriculum maps are documents that our staff have developed that map the entire Victorian Curriculum from Year 4 to 10+. These Curriculum Maps, structured around succinct "I can" statements, enable our staff to easily identify the essential skills required at each developmental stage. Staff spent the day using these maps to plan future learning pathways for students to meet them at their point of need, to track their learning progress, to provide feedback and to measure learning growth. It was an extremely productive day that continued to support our vision of Maximising learning growth to ensure all students can thrive.

Shane Kruger

Principal.