This week students that are competing at Wagin Woolorama have been undergoing training in Merino, British breed, wool and cattle judging. I popped up to the shearing shed on Thursday afternoon to find the students engaged in what was a hot and humid work environment. This is the sort of situation that develops work ethic and resilience and prepares our students for when they enter the workforce. Good luck to those students who are competing on Saturday.

2024 Year 12 Destinations

I have finished contacting all of our Year 12 families of the 2024 Year 12s to find out what they are doing since leaving school. I do this every year and typically find all graduates gainfully employed, in training or university. I take this as one of our indicators of success.

This year was no exception and the summary results are shown in the following table. Of note are the large number of apprenticeships and the relatively high number of students at university. Unusual pathways include, US summer camps, Airforce gap year, Procurement Traineeship and Quality Assurance Officer.

	Employment		Apprenticeship / traineeship		Full time training	University		No job- Looking for work	Total graduates
	Ag	Non-ag	Ag	Non-ag		Ag	Non-ag
Trades oriented	1	3	3	15	0	0	0	0	22
Farm oriented	11	6	3	4	2	6	2	0	34
Total	12	9	6	19	2	6	2	0	56

New parent survey

My thanks to those who took the time to complete our new parent survey. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive which is always pleasing to see but there were also some areas for improvement identified which will assist in our continuous improvement.

Respondents were positive about;

Our communication processes, timelines and clarity.
Our positive, friendly and welcoming manner.
Our quick and helpful responses to questions.
The Transition Program as a way of new students becoming familiar with the College.

Respondents thought we could improve by;

Being clear about who to approach for information or questions.
Ensuring that we have mixture of old and new students in class groups, dorms, dining tables etc.

Please feel free to contact me at any time to share your views about issues you feel need improving or that you feel we need to know about.

Tom’s Law

Parents of young drivers would be aware that a new law came into effect as at the 1st December 2024 called 'Tom’s Law' as a result of the death of two young passengers in a vehicle crash with a young driver.

Under the new law, red P-plate drivers are restricted to only one passenger at all times, unless the additional passenger or passengers are experienced drivers who have held a licence for at least four years, are immediate family members or the driving is work related. Parents of red P-plate drivers will need to keep this in mind when arranging leave for their children.

The College has always maintained the practice of limiting the number of passengers in vehicles driven by young drivers, given their propensity to be distracted whilst still learning.

At present, these laws do not impact on our procedures for student drivers around Farm as students are always driving under supervision and the driving occurs off gazetted roads.

College Board Representative

Thank you to Garry Kilrain, who has nominated to be the Year 10 parent representative on the College Board. Garry will join Jane Kowald and Nichole Smith our Year 11 and 12 parent representatives and immediate past parent representative Jason Stowe, as one of the four parent representatives on the Board.

In addition, there are two staff positions on the Board plus the Manager Corporate Services and Principal, two community representatives and representatives from the Student Council.

Garry’s biography

After my schooling in Manjimup, I completed a Carpentry and Joinery apprenticeship then began working for myself in Manjimup followed by a stint in Paraburdoo .

I returned to help on the family farm raising beef cattle and growing sweet corn and cauliflowers with my Uncle Pat Kilrain.

I also spent several years as a Territory Sales Manager with Elders Manjimup helping clients market their cattle.

I then returned full time to the family farm which this year celebrates its 100-year Anniversary since my grandparents first arrived as group settlers in 1925.

I have served on the Manjimup Primary School Board as a parent representative previously and I’m excited to contribute to the ongoing success of Harvey Ag in any way I can.

Have a great weekend.

Steve

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