ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS’ REPORT

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS

Ryan Mills Bradley Headlam Sarah Bridges

Important Dates

Friday 14th June Assessment and Reporting Day -student free.
Year 7-10 exams 3 -7 June
Year 11 exams 11-13 June
Semester 2 starts Monday 17 June
Semester Reports Published to parents in the last week of term 2

EXAMS

Year 7-9 students

These students will do core subject exams during the day in between normal timetabled classes. The objective of these exams is to reinforce the retention of information over the course of the semester. By doing a shorter exam program, students are gradually (45-90 minutes) subjected to the challenges that exams provide. This is to help them develop study skills, revision strategies and organisation to prepare for exams and eventually develop them to the level required for senior studies. Students will be notified of their exam timetables by their sub school in the lead up to the exams.

Year 10 students

Students in Year 10 will have an exam for every subject they are studying in the Semester. These will be for 90 minutes duration (English a little longer) and will be held at different times during the week. Students will be issued with an exam timetable and be expected to stay on site whilst their exams are being conducted (if they have a break during period 3 and 4 they can study in the Library). In the event students do not have an exam at the start or at the end of the day, students may arrive before or leave after their exam. We ask that students use this time for revision at home rather than congregating at nearby shops. All students must sign in and out as usual if they are late to school or leaving early.

ATSS - Attitudes to School Survey

The Attitudes to School Survey was conducted this week. This is a survey to gain feedback from the students on their learning and environment. This data is observed by all staff and the wider community and areas of focus are addressed throughout the school by a range of key stakeholders. Some of this information is also used to consider at the regional level to find approaches to improve as a larger community.

Apprenticeships

We have a range of ‘work ready’ students who are keen to get into the workforce in a range of different contexts. If you know of any workplace that is looking for potential apprentices, please contact our Careers team ASAP. Caroline Makin, Visnja Perin and Roger Conron will set up the paperwork and get the ball rolling for these enthusiastic young people.

Progress Reports - Semester Reports

At the end of each semester, we provide parents and students with semester reports. These are different to our Progress Reports in that they provide results from Learning Tasks and feedback on how well students are meeting the curriculum standards. This term you will receive a set of Progress Reports (Wednesday 8th May) and a set of Semester Reports. Not only will these reports provide valuable feedback to parents and students, but they will also be used by teachers and student managers to identify the next steps in the learning pathways and journey.

Semester One ends on June 14th and Semester Two commences on June 17th. Students are working towards completing the work and assessment tasks required to complete Unit 1, Unit 3 and other work requirements. This can be a busy and demanding time for students, so we encourage them to be accessing teachers for support.

Home Group Change

In a recent review of our College practices, our students identified that there was a need for them to gain more support to their general wellbeing. It was felt that Home Group in the morning was too short to explore this further and so we have started to explore alternative options. Most of our wellbeing occurs in Years 7-9 Health. Students explore identity, relationships and wellbeing. We have tried to provide incursions that target the particular needs of cohorts, but students have spoken, and they need more. So, we are acting on it. The plan going forward is to observe best practices in schools, gather opinions of students through the SRC and then identify a structure that suits our school and responsibilities, then check the plan with relevant key stakeholders in the school to meet department agreements. Once we have an outline and a name for the program, we will start to organise a curriculum and learning sequence for 2025.

Be Bold Be Heard (BBBH) Forum 2

The second Be Bold, Be Heard Forum was held at Belmont High. This provided other students with an opportunity to lead and organise components of the day and it was a fantastic success. In the morning the students from 15 different schools were split up into two groups. One group went to Biolab and the other to do a yoga lesson in the gym. Whilst at Biolab the students tested various skills and fitness including vertical jump, flexibility, reaction time and soccer ball kicking power.

Biolab

Students: "Can you jump Ms?" - Ms Solly "How High?"

Yoga

Following the exercise sessions the students were treated to an array of food platters and then began some work led by Respectful Relationships’ Raelene Newton continuing with the ‘quick wins'.

Guest panel

Left to right: Yvonne, Amy, Alcy, Sarah and Sonya

Yvonne Van Der Ploeg

Knows herself and likes to gain understanding through using Maths and Science. Yvonne has challenged herself and been met with challenges such as taking on marathon running and being impacted by cancer. Her response to the challenge: “be comfortable with the many versions of self, and that the next one is the most exciting”.

Amy Rashid

Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals Executive Officer, talked about an upbringing that included shifting houses 26 times including some public housing. Due to her cultural background Amy found herself facing a lot of racism. At 18 she moved out to pursue creativity and more importantly a moral purpose: TEACHING.

Amy is a great advocate for education and left us with her mantra to overcome negative self-talk such as “I don’t deserve it” to say, “you deserve it, you work hard, and it is ok to make mistakes”.

Alcy Meehan

Went to Ballarat High, was one of 8 siblings. Found her way into Psychology, but quickly discovered mental health treatments were becoming repetitive and wanted more growth and found that she was in need of a role change.

Alcy shared with the students that she seeks out experiences other than setting goals.

Some words of advice for the BBBH girls was to“be free to speak when invited into a space and remember that you have value regardless of titles”. Finally, “do not compare yourself to someone else’s pathway, so that you can stay on yours at your own pace.”

Dr Sarah Mansfield

State member for Greens in West Victoria. Sarah lived in Sydney as a child and moved a lot, and eventually moved to Canberra. Here she was bullied a lot for being dedicated. She was appreciative of incredible teachers and was unsure of the future, however, she had developed a strong like of social justice. Sarah got into Medicine, and moved to Melbourne at 18. She loved being a GP but quickly realised that she was looking for a bigger and broader impact to elicit system change. Eventually was asked to be a candidate and became the 1st Greens Counsellor in Geelong. Her messages:

“Perfectionism can hold you back, let go, be gentler on yourself.”

“Be proud of your efforts and not the outcome”. Important to be a good role model for kids and enable enjoyment.

Sonya Roguljic

A leading firefighter was bullied at school but determined to pave her own way. Her affiliation with strong role modelling has shaped her work ethic which has enabled her to achieve success in the workplace. In the fire department she has fulfilled a variety of roles and knows that it is important to be a great role model. In the dept there is a small cohort of women, so being a role model in this space is important and she says that it is important (for aspirational women firefighters) for her because “you cannot be, what you cannot see”.

Afternoon session

After a fantastic lunch the students launched into their work in action planning for the goals they have set for themselves and their own context.

Collaborative activity

Students were then engaged with a bead bracelet making activity whilst discussing their BBBH actions.

Student actions

The objective of the program is for students to identify goals for action for the year. Here are some of the goals students from all the schools have identified for 2024:

Education around the female body including nutrition, menstrual cycle.
To improve school communication for our school community.
To improve student uniform.
Find out more about female student safety at school, large difference compared to boys.
To create stronger community links.
Development of physical confidence.
To collect student voice and improve the school uniform for our female students.
Changing policy around shoes.
Implement new sport shorts for girls.