IMPORTANT INFORMATION

School Saving Bonus

In Term 4, 2024, families with a child enrolled in a government school from Prep to Year 12 in 2025 will receive the one-off $400 School Saving Bonus.

The $400 School Saving Bonus provides families with support for education-related costs, such as school activities and/or school uniforms and textbooks.

The School Saving Bonus is not available for full-fee international students, home schooled students, TAFE students and students attending kindergarten in 2025.

Actions for parents and carers

Before 18 October 2024, the Department of Education is asking parents and carers to:

Complete enrolment: If your child, or children are changing government school for Term 1 2025, or starting Prep or Year 7 in 2025. For more information, read about Enrolling in School.
Check your contact information: Ensure your email address and phone number is up to date with us. You can check this information by contacting us directly.

We need to ensure your contact information is up to date as the Department of Education will email you twice:

in October, to verify your email address
in November, with your $400 School Saving Bonus and access to an online system.

Please check your junk mail regularly to make sure you do not miss an important email.

To learn more about the School Saving Bonus, visit vic.gov.au/school-saving-bonus or through the attachment below.

School Saving Bonus Information for parents & carers.pdf

Important Dates: 2025 Year 7 Transition

Student Lost Property

During winter, we have had an influx of lost property that has been located throughout the school. To assist staff with returning items that may have been left behind in class, we strongly advise families to ensure the student name has been written on the tag so we may return lost items to the rightful owner. Any items that are found without a name will be kept for 2 weeks and if unclaimed, will then be donated.

Student Bus Travel Update

Please see below information from the Department of Transport and Planning regarding changes to the public bus network, which may affect student travel.

From 2 June 2024, changes will be introduced to the Geelong, Charlemont, Armstrong Creek, Torquay and Jan Juc bus network that will better match the travel demands of the community. Armstrong Creek, Charlemont, and Torquay residents will benefit from more frequent, fast, and reliable bus services, improving access to jobs, education, shops, and health facilities.

The community and visitors will be able to choose from an extra 500 weekly bus services, including around four buses an hour along the Surf Coast Highway in each direction. The changes include:

Existing routes 50 and 51 will be retired. The three new routes, 52, 53 and 54 are replacing these routes.
Route 45 Armstrong Creek – Waurn Ponds SC via Waurn Ponds Station will be extended along Central Boulevard to service Oberon High School and nearby housing estates.
New Route 52 Jan Juc (Torquay) – Marshall Station will provide a local service between Jan Juc, Torquay, Torquay West, Armstrong Creek, Charlemont and Marshall Station via the Surf Coast Highway and Boundary Road.
New Route 53 Torquay (Bell Street) – Geelong Station will provide a fast and direct service between Torquay, Torquay North, Armstrong Creek, Belmont, Geelong CBD and Geelong Station via the Surf Coast Highway and High Street.
New Route 54 Torquay (Bell Street) – Marshall Station will provide a local service between Bell St Torquay, Horseshoe Bend Road, Torquay, Armstrong Creek’s growing areas, Charlemont to Marshall Station via Surf Coast Highway and Burvilles Road.
There will minor timetable changes for passengers on routes 45, 55 and 60.
We’re trialing a late Friday night V/Line service between Torquay and Lorne via Anglesea.

In 2022 and 2023, we asked the community what bus network changes were needed. We listened, and now we’re making changes to deliver a more frequent and direct bus network, offering better coverage in fast-growing areas.

New timetables and routes information are available at ptv.vic.gov.au, the PTV app or by calling 1800 800 007.

Camps, Sports and Excursions Payments

Did you know there are a variety of ways to provide ease of payment for students extra curricular activities?

As we advise families of upcoming events e.g. camps, sports and excursions via Compass, our preferred payment method is via the Compass event, as this enables families to make a payment and provide consent for your child to attend at the same time.

For events with fees of over $200.00 and all camps, we are introducing the ‘recurring contribution’ feature in Compass events, where families can make instalment payments on the specified dates using a debit or credit card saved to your Compass Pay account. If you have any queries regarding this feature, or if you would like to request a custom payment plan, please email events@scsc.vic.edu.au.

Alternatively, you may make a payment, as follows:

Direct Deposit

To make a payment by direct deposit please use the following bank details:

Account Name: Surf Coast Secondary College Council Official

BSB: 033-608

Account Number: 246907

Please be sure to put your child’s name in the reference and payment type, then notify the college of the payment by emailing us at accounts@scsc.vic.edu.au