Principal's Report
Principal Report
A Great Honour
I would like to offer everyone a warm welcome back to Term 2. The start of term brings with it much excitement for me personally. After leading our school throughout Term 1 as Acting Principal, the first day of Term 2 marked the commencement of my role as substantive Principal of East Doncaster Secondary College.
Having held numerous leadership positions at our College over the past 15 years, with the last 10 years as Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning, it is an incredible honour to be appointed to this role and it is certainly one that I approach with great pride, enthusiasm and gratitude. It is an absolute privilege to work with the students, families and staff of East Doncaster Secondary College. It is by continuing to work together that we achieve excellence in all aspects of school life. I'm excited to embrace the challenges that come with the role of Principal and look forward to making the most of every opportunity it presents.
It will come as no surprise that as an educator, I have a deep passion for teaching and learning and I am dedicated to fostering student growth in every possible way. Excellent schools work to ensure that students are supported to become the best versions of themselves. With this in mind, I am committed to ensuring that our College does fulfil its purpose of developing passionate lifelong learners who are creative and critical thinkers with the confidence and resilience to thrive in the global community.
I shared with students of all year levels during Wednesday’s assemblies that I have high expectations of myself, of all teachers and of all students. To students I articulated the following:
"I have high expectations that your effort will always be your best, that your respect for each other and your teachers will always be high, that your support for each other will always be strong and unconditional and your behaviours day in and day out will be guided by our school values.
In return, you as students at EDSC, have every right to have high expectations of each other, of your teachers, of our entire community and yes, of your Principal. We all have a responsibility to ensure that our school is the best that it can be and to ensure that your experiences set you on the path to successful futures; both in terms of academic success but also in terms of your social and emotional development. To be the best versions of yourself."
I look forward to working with students, staff and families to ensure that EDSC remains an excellent school and a place that we are all proud to belong.
Student Achievement – ANZAC Day commemorations
It was an honour to accompany a group of student leaders to the Rotary Club of Templestowe Schools Anzac Day Service on Tuesday at the Templestowe Memorial Reserve. College Captains Shaun and Mia, alongside College Vice Captains Abhishek and Vrinda, laid a floral wreath at the memorial on behalf of all students and staff to honour all our fallen soldiers in a very moving ceremony.
Middle School Captains Ethan and Siena and Middle School Vice Captains Aiden and Elana were also proudly in attendance to represent our College.
As has become a tradition, our first assemblies for Term 2 were conducted on Wednesday to coincide with our ANZAC Day commemoration. I am very proud that these assemblies are led and largely organised by our students.
I would like to make particular mention of the efforts made by our Middle School and Senior School Captains, supported Tim Bourke (Leading Teaching for Student Voice & Community Engagement), who collaborated with residents at the Roseville Retirement Village recently to document reflections on the importance of Anzac Day. Our Year 12 Media students (Supported by Brett Lamb) assisted with the filming and documentation of the residents’ reflections. The final product of this collaboration was played at each of our assemblies and was certainly a moving segment of each assembly; the footage ending with a beautiful recital of ‘In Flanders Field’.
We thank Gill, Flo, Estelle and Jean for their time and willingness to share their stories and Giverny for her organisation and support. We were delighted to have these wonderful members of our wider community in attendance for our Year 11 and 12 assembly; it was heart-warming to see them so enthusiastically welcomed by our students. We certainly look forward to future collaborations with Roseville Retirement Village.
Across all three assemblies held to commemorate ANZAC Day, I was enormously impressed by the efforts of our student leaders and by all students in attendance who responded respectfully throughout.
Outstanding results at the State Swimming Finals
Following on from some great successes at the Regional Swimming Championships late last term, our EDSC Swimming team achieved its best result in school history, finishing 3rd at the 2024 SSV State Swimming Championship held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre last week. This is an outstanding result and we are so proud of all students involved.
All members of the EDSC team performed particularly well on the day but a special mention is afforded to Ishaaq, Leona and Courtney for gaining medals in individual events and to our relay teams who performed impressively. Our Girls 17-20 Medley Relay and our Girls 17 Freestyle Relay teams both achieved new SSV Records. First place was awarded to our Boys 12-14 Medley relay team and second place awarded to our Girls 12-13 Freestyle Relay team and our Boys 12-13 Relay team.
We could not be prouder of our very talented students. Congratulations to them all!
For a more detailed summary and photos, can I refer you to the report on the Sports News page from our Coordinator of Sporting Carnivals, Michael James.
EDSC success at the 2024 Whitehorse Division Cross Country!
I would also like to congratulate the EDSC Cross Country team who participated in the Whitehorse Division Cross Country on Friday April 19 at Ruffey Lake Park.
With a strong presence in each age group on the day, our students represented the College in outstanding fashion. Michael James, Coordinator of Sporting Carnivals, has provided a detailed report of the major highlights later in this newsletter on the Sports News page. Our students will go on to represent our College at the Eastern Metropolitan Region Cross Country in June. We wish them every success.
Student Achievements
2024 Australian Age Nationals Gold Coast
I am so pleased to share with our College community that Leona in Year 8 participated in her first Swimming Nationals held in the Gold Coast from 6-14 April.
I would like to congratulate her on her impressive performance in a very competitive field. In the 13 year old age group she achieved the following:
3rd in Australia for Club Medley 50 m relay
4th in for 50 m breast stroke
6th in 100 m breast stroke
8th in 200 m breast stroke
EDSC students recognised with a Victorian School Sport Award
Congratulations to Kryshant Jiwa Mohan and Shih-Yuan Lim who both received a Victorian School Sport Award recognising their outstanding sporting achievements in 2023. During 2023 Kryshant was selected to play in the Under 13 Victorian State Hockey Team and Shih-Yuan was selected in the Victorian State Badminton Team. In addition to these honours both boys accumulated a host achievements at SSV level across multiple sports and events capping off an outstanding year.
The Victorian State Schools Spectacular
Congratulations also go to Chloe S in Year 7, who has been selected for a role in this year’s Spectacular core performing company. This is an exciting opportunity for Chloe. We wish her all the very best during the rehearsal period and look forward to seeing the final show in September.
School Zones - See our school zone online
A reminder to our school community, with the primary school transition period about to unfold, that the Department of Education has an easy to navigate website that helps parents identify their local public school online.
The Findmyschool.vic.gov.au website was launched with the aim of displaying every Government school zone across the state. The website highlights the choice of public schools available to the Victorian community.
If any parent or student wants to know more about the public secondary school options in our area, or you know someone who is interested in enrolling at our school, try https://www.findmyschool.vic.gov.au today.
Compass Parent Portal and College Newsletter
Please be reminded that it is essential for parents to log in to Compass at least twice a week to check Newsfeeds and for any events/activities that are requiring consent/ payments.
Parents are also reminded to access the College Newsletter each fortnight to check College information and important dates.
Karen Boyle
Principal
Photographing, Filming and Recording students at East Doncaster Secondary College - Annual Consent Form and Collection Notice 2024
During the school year, there are typically many occasions and events where school staff may photograph or film students participating in school activities and events. These images are used for a variety of purposes including the school newsletters, (for example, of classroom activities or camps and excursions and events), Compass News Feeds, student identification, College magazine and display in school classrooms. We also arrange for official school photographs to be taken at the start of each year, including a class composite photo which is available for parents to order.
We ask that all parents please refer to the attached Annual Consent Form and Collection Notice.
Parents or carers can withdraw consent for their child to be photographed or filmed by completing the form on the Annual Consent Form and Collection Notice and returning it to Reception or via email east.doncaster.sc@education.vic.gov.au