Principal's Message-

Laura Spence

Dear students, parents and carers,

I hope your term is progressing well. We have had many lovely sunny days and although Term 3 can be the hardest for illness, lack of public holidays, and lots of assessments (especially at VCE), we are tracking along very well and have had many successes and exciting events to keep us busy. 

Today’s COG edition has information and photos on some of those exciting events so far, such as Snow Camps, Book Week with its parade, Staff versus Student debate, and many other activities, our brilliant Year 9/10 physics and maths teams who have competed in a 3D printed car competition, VM Shark Tank presentations, our visit from sister school Kariya Kita High School, and many more. You will also see the information for Shrek Jnr which has tickets on sale now. Our students and staff have been working on the production since November last year and are beyond excited for their coming performances. 

Thank-you parents from Years 8 to 11 who participated in Course Counselling this term, we were booked solid and engagement was outstanding with students making well informed decisions about their pathways. I had lots of feedback from parents about their child’s course counselling experiences this year who were thankful for all the information and support, and talked about how excited their children were for their selections. Exciting times ahead for students as we prepare for HeadStart.

Our super talented IT teacher Taryn Richardson has been keeping herself busy with our Quantum Victoria PrintACar Challenge | Quantum Victoria student teams. She is leading two teams of exceptionally talented Year 10s, AeroForge (Daniel, Jacynta, Harrison, and Josh) and QuantumForge (Alex, Arif, and Anthony) with the input of David Thompson. Students have sent off their portfolios which were 60+ slides long detailing their design processes. Their actual 3D printed cars were couriered to Quantum, and on August 21st the teams raced their cars for the Semi Finals. Our student teams were successful at the Semis and are now off to finals later in the year. Congratulations students on your work so far. Our future is bright with young leaders like you!

Earlier in the term we had the Concert Band Mid Year Performance led by Eric Budd and Sam Chilver and our instrumental teachers. We have had some beautiful feedback from parents, highlighting how valuable performance is for our students to develop and showcase their talents. Thank-you parents for investing in your children’s music programs, and especially for taking the time to share the appreciation.  Congratulations to all of our performers, many of whom will be performing in Shrek too.  

A couple of weeks ago we opened one of our Food Technology rooms after a refurbish. For those parents who themselves attended either Ballam Tech or Karingal Park, the old Home Eco rooms you remember have not had a facelift in all those years. The photos attached are of our wonderful Year 9/10 elective class cooking their “Healthy Breakfast” GAT after developing their own plans, they were one of the first classes to cook in the new facility. Our second room will start work over the end of year break. I hope all of our Year 7 to 12 Food students are repeating their skills at home for their families! 

We are heading in to Week 6 of a 9 week term, where our VCE and VM students are beginning the end of their schooling journey. Wishing them all the best in their preparations for final SACs and assessments, and preparing for their biggest transition yet. 

Have a lovely weekend.