From the Principal's Desk
Principal's Report
I warmly welcome back current staff, students, families and members of our Wyndham Central College Community and I extend an especially warm welcome to our new students and families from years 7 -12 who have joined the College for the first time this year – 2024. It has been a pleasure to meet and welcome our new Year 7 cohort and their families. The students have settled in very well and are feeling very comfortable in their new school and in their new tutor groups, and we look forward to working with the students and families during their next six years at the college. During our welcome back assemblies, it was also great to see all our returning students and to hear how well they started the year during the ‘getting ready for success’ days.
Ready to learn
Our uniform policy is available via Compass policies and is in the student planner. The expectation for 2024 is that all students will be at school in full uniform every day. This includes our school blazer, tie, and correct footwear, and each student should be wearing their uniform with pride in line with our schoolwide positive behaviour matrix. Please refer to the policy to ensure you and your children are aware of the expectations and appropriate combinations of items. Parents/carers will be informed when uniforms do not meet the expected standard via our student management systems, tutor teachers and year level leaders.
Student AVID binders, laptops and e-books or textbooks are a daily school requirement. Please ensure your children are at school on time with their equipment and ready to learn. This will help all students achieve their very best. Our tutor teachers, year level leaders, attendance officer and student services support centre and services are available to families if you require assistance with any of these important items.
New Staff
Once again, the college student population has grown as we are a school of choice by many in the Wyndham community. We welcome back our existing staff, and we welcome our talented new teachers and educational support staff into our school.
We welcome:
English Faculty; Chris Lennon
Humanities Faculty; Rebecca Zarafa
Science Faculty; Parul Jingu, James Delos Santos, Riady Perdana and Sonam Lata
Mathematics Faculty; Aakriti Aakriti, Guangze Huang
Arts Faculty; Menxi Li
HAPE Faulty: Connor McKenzie, Mia Bruce, George Anton and Dillion Croce
Leading Teacher Inclusion; Katina Dukellis
School nurse; Marnie Aguis
First nations cultural coordinator; Cooper Decker
Faculty education support; Elena Micevska Vajdevska
During this first term the school will be continuing to hire within the English, Mathematics, Humanities, Information technology and Textiles and hope to be fully staffed by the end of February.
School Captains
Congratulations to our 2024 School Captains, Year 12 students, Riya Saini, Morrisham Teariki and our Vice Captains Ashley Schellhorn and Kyaw Hai Hser. Our student leader Assistant Principal, Ashley Rowe and I, are excited to be working closely with our various leadership groups including our Captains, and our Student Representative Council (SRC), House leaders and Class Captains.
2024 School Priorities
2024 is the final year of our current Strategic Plan. I am delighted to say we are well on track to meet our vision/mission and goals/targets set for the four-year period, recovering from the interruption caused by the global pandemic.
As this is now our last year of our current plan the college will be undergoing a review period. During semester one the college community will be analysing our current position and in term 4 we will be planning our next four-year plan 2025-2028. Staff, students, and families will be invited to have input as to the future direction of Wyndham central College. More information will be provided to the community during the year.
As we complete our current plan the college will continue to focus on the learning and wellbeing of every student, we will continue to grow student voice and agency to increase engagement in learning and connections to school and we will continue to provide opportunities to build student capability to thrive in a contemporary world. This will continue with the AVID strategies, our programs; enrichment, STEM academy, Football academy, and the Spanish Immersion program. In 2024 we will be announcing new programs that will continue to develop offerings further.
We will continue to ensure a safe environment for everyone with a major 2024 schoolwide focus on ‘inclusion’. We are continuing to expand on student opportunities with break time clubs and student action groups, as well as expanding on our existing Community Hub – Link Centre projects with our families and industry.
We look forward to sharing with our community our success via the school newsletters and bulletins.
Compass
Parents/carers are encouraged to be an active partner with the College and to take up many opportunities over the coming year that are designed to support your children with their learning, health, and engagement. A reminder that our Compass system will provide updates regularly.
To support our joint communication could all parents/carer ensure that all addresses, telephone, and email details are always correct. This can be done directly into Compass or via our administration staff in the front office. Any change in January should be updated asap to ensure the safety of all children.
Compass also holds important information – bulletins and school policies, that staff, students, and families are expected to implement, support and follow.
School Council membership
Parents have the opportunity to contribute to the school via the school council and council sub-committees. Our current school Council comprises of the following members;
President Mr Anthony Monaghan
Vice President Mr Darren Clifford
Treasurer Mr Matthew Rasmussen
Secretary Ms Michelle Guse
Elected WCC staff representatives:
Leanne Gagatsis
Bryan Woollard
Ashley Rowe
Connie Faranda
John Lister
Elected student representatives:
Morrisham Teraiki
Elected parent representatives:
Prem Swaroop Sadineedi, Jasmin Allem Jade Gonzalez
Veerappan Veerasekaran, Charlotte Hughes
The school council plays a key role in the governance of the school and supports the principal to provide the best possible educational outcomes for students. Our parent representatives are available at school functions and via email if at any time you would like to discuss or share your ideas for the school, or for a chat about what the council is currently focusing on.
During this term families will be receiving information for the upcoming 2024 school council elections. If you would like to take this opportunity to nominate to join our council, please make contact with Michelle Guse our business manager and complete the process that will be advertised shortly. The council looks forward to representation and sharing with families throughout the year.
50 Years celebration
It is with immense pleasure that I announce a truly momentous occasion in the history of our school. In 2024 the college is excited to be celebrating fifty remarkable years of excellence, growth, and achievement.
Half a century ago, a vision was born, a vision to nurture young minds, foster academic excellence, and instil values that would shape future generations. That vision became a reality with the founding of Werribee Technical School in 1974, and since then, Galvin Park Secondary College and now as Wyndham Central College, which continues to be a beacon of knowledge, opportunity and progress in our community.
During the school year we will be reflecting on this journey with a sense of pride and accomplishment as we celebrate the past five decades, and we pay tribute to all of those who have contributed to the success of the school – our previous Principals and leaders, dedicated educators, supportive staff, and of course the thousands of students both past and present.
Families and the school community will be invited to many events planned this year. I ask families to be connected weekly via our school bulletin and Compass posts not to miss any of these exciting events.
I am looking forward to leading the Wyndham Central College community in 2024. We continue to value your input, feedback and suggestions as we continue to work together to create a great school community for all students as they continue on their educational journey.
Leanne Gagatsis - Principal
Creating a Community of High Expectations
Respect, Cooperation and Excellence