Need to know

A big welcome back to all.

We have had a smooth start to the school year, and I congratulate all students for being on time, in uniform, and embracing the start to the new academic year.    

This Bulletin, sent out fortnightly, is our key form of communication to the community.   You will find historical issues on our website www.sthelena.vic.edu.au

For your convenience, content is divided into Need to Know and Nice to Know information.  Please take the time each fortnight to read the Need to Know.

Communication

Please see the tab "2024 Key Staff Contacts" for a list of the Year Level Managers and other key staff, along with their email addresses.  If you are unsure who you need to speak to, or would like to speak directly with someone from the Principal Team, please email AskLeadership@sthelena.vic.edu.au

St Helena has a 2 business day response policy.  This means our staff are expected to acknowledge your email or phone message within two business days.   Some times this may not occur because they are off site on an excursion or camp, or away ill.  If you do not receive a timely response, please email AskLeadership@sthelena.vic.edu.au and I will personally follow up for you.  Obviously if your issue is urgent, contact the General Office directly and they will assist you to speak to someone who can assist.    

Our key form of communication is Compass.  You will find individual teachers will contact you this way.   To try and avoid clogging up your in-box, the Leadership team will endeavour to avoid Compass Newsfeeds unless the topic is time bound.  We rely on you reading this fortnightly Bulletin to be up to date with information.  

Drop off in the morning

Parents are urged to NOT use the front driveway.   There is a combination of buses, pedestrians, bicycles and some staff cars during a very busy time of day, and when parents use the driveway for drop off the risk of an accident occurring is heightened.

Unless parents need to use the Disabled Parking spaces, please enter the school via the first driveway, use the drop off zone, circle the roundabout and exit via the same driveway.  I accept there is a lot of traffic, and if you can't find the time to navigate the queue, consider dropping  your child some small way from school and allow them to walk the last few minutes.  

Student Attendance 

There has been a concerning trend of increasing student absenteeism over the past three years.   While it is important that students stay away from school if they are unwell, regular attendance is vital for learning and connection to peers.   Teaching is sequential, and students who miss lessons will find it increasingly difficult to keep up with the content.

Learning can be severely disrupted when crucial learning points are missed and when students are participating in group work, a group member who is absent makes life difficult for the whole group.  

Just one day a fortnight missed adds up to 4 weeks across the year, and if you extrapolate that across 13 years of schooling, that equals almost a full year of school.   School attendance in Victoria is compulsory, and Monday to Friday are school days, not just days where students may go to school.  

Any absence needs to be recorded on Compass, with a reason for the absence.  VCE students are required to demonstrate 90% attendance (unless medical certification is provided) across the two years of VCE, in order to satisfactorily meet the requirements of the VCE.  

If your child has a medical issue that means they may miss a significant period of school, please contact the mini school so that an Absence Learning Plan can be developed, and work sent home where the child is able to do it.   For shorter absences (one or two days) students should ask teachers for the work that they missed.  

When parents find it difficult to get their child to school (what is commonly known as "school refusal") we are able to assist.    We have a designated Outreach Coordinator whose role is to support students unable to attend due to anxiety or other social issues.   Please email AskLeadership@sthelena.vic.edu.au if you would like this support.  

Students Out of Class

When students constantly miss chunks of classes to retrieve forgotten laptops and books from their locker, to get a drink, to go to the toilet, because they are late ... learning is disrupted.

The teacher and class are also disrupted by students constantly coming and going.

Our teachers will permit students to use the toilet (we understand there are not sufficient toilets for all students to access them in the breaks) but will not allow students out to get a drink.  Students are expected to bring their drink bottles (water only) to class.

In rare circumstances, students may be permitted to retrieve something from their locker, but this should be avoided.

Students will only be allowed out of class one at a time.  

Please support your child and the college by ensuring they are at school well before the 8.30 am start time in order to get organised for their school day and be at Period 1 on time.  

Mobile Phone and Air Pod Policy 

In accordance with the Department’s Mobile Phones — Student Use Policy issued by the Minister for Education, personal mobile phones must not be used at St Helena Secondary College during school hours, including lunchtime and recess, unless an exception has been granted. Where a student has been granted an exception, the student must use their mobile phone for the purpose for which the exception was granted, and in a safe, ethical and responsible manner.

St. Helena Secondary College understands that students may bring a personal mobile phone to school, particularly if they are travelling independently to and from school.

• Students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored during school hours. 

• Exceptions to this policy may be applied if certain conditions are met (see below for further information) 

• When emergencies occur, parents or carers should reach their child by calling the school’s office. 

Secure storage 

Mobile phones and other personal mobile devices owned by students 

are considered valuable items and are brought to school at the owner’s (student’s or parent/carer’s) risk. 

Please note that St Helena Secondary College does not have accident insurance for accidental property damage or theft. Students and their parents/carers are encouraged to obtain appropriate insurance for valuable items. 

Where students bring a mobile phone to school, St Helena Secondary College will provide secure storage by means of the student locker.  Students are required to store their phones inside a locker and use a secure padlock on their lockers at all times.

Enforcement 

Students who use their personal mobile phones inappropriately  may be issued with consequences consistent with our school’s existing student engagement polices [St Helena Code of Conduct available on school website]. 

In the case where the device is sighted or it becomes apparent a student has a device on their person,  the staff member will instruct the student to hand over the item(s) and if the student refuses to hand over the items, implement the relevant disciplinary provision within the student code of conduct.

At St Helena Secondary College inappropriate use of mobile phones is any use during school hours, unless an exception has been granted, and particularly use of a mobile phone: 

• in any way that disrupts the learning of others 

• to send inappropriate, harassing or threatening messages or phone calls 

• to engage in inappropriate social media use including cyber bullying 

• to capture video or images of people, including students, teachers and members of the school community without their permission 

• to capture video or images in the school toilets, changing rooms, swimming pools and gyms 

• during exams and assessments 

Exceptions to the policy: 

• may be applied during school hours if certain conditions are met, specifically, 

o Health and wellbeing-related exceptions; and 

o Exceptions related to managing risk when students are offsite. 

Exceptions can only be granted by the Principal.  

The three categories of exceptions allowed under the Department’s Mobile Phones — Student Use Policy are: 

 Where an exception is granted, the student can only use the mobile phone for the purpose for which it was granted, and needs to carry their exemption card with them.  

Exclusions 

This policy does not apply to 

• Out-of-school-hours events 

• Travelling to and from school

Airpods or similar may only be used in classes (NOT in the yard) with explicit teacher permission for a specific educational purpose.   The only exception to this is Senior School study periods.  Airpods will be confiscated if students have them outside of this context.  

Uniform Clarification

A number of students and parents appear to be a bit confused about our shoe policy.

The policy, as well as a visual flyer showing the types of shoes that are suitable, is on our website:  https://sthelena.vic.edu.au/policies/

For clarification: 

Students may mix and match any items from the uniform range on any given day provided that:

1. Active wear including runners is worn for PE/sport.  Students MUST wear proper running shoes that provide adequate foot support during physical activity.  

2. Leather shoes are worn with the academic range and in practical subjects

Students must wear black leather lace up school shoes or black leather lace-up runners with clothes from the Academic range (not sports shoes). Buckled shoes are not permitted for OHS reasons. 

All shoes must have a sole less than 2 cm and a heel less than 4 cm.

For PE/Sport students MUST wear proper running shoes that provide sufficient foot support during physical activity. These shoes must be predominantly black, white or grey with black or white laces. 

Running shoes cannot be worn for practical subjects such as Design and Technology.

Skate shoes/Vans/Converse/basketball or canvas shoes are NEVER acceptable.

The most practical solution is to purchase black, lace up, leather runners that can then be worn with the academic uniform, in technology, and in PE and at all other times.  

Example:  

Staff Merits

Has a St Helena staff member (teaching or non teaching) gone above and beyond for you or your child?  Recognise them with a merit by clicking here:  https://forms.office.com/r/m3D6a06TMN

It will make their day! 

Excursion policy

A lot of time and effort goes into organising school excursions, camps and internal activities.  There are many legal accountabilities for the staff organising, including ensuring no child leaves the college without consent, we have current contact details for students, we have personalised first aid needs met with our kits, venues have the correct numbers and correct payment has been made, sufficient buses have been booked etc etc.

For this reason, once a Compass consent/payment deadline has passed, THE EVENT  WILL NOT BE RE-OPENED FOR PAYMENT OR CONSENT unless there are exceptional compassionate circumstances, or the College is in error.  The closing date is made in order to give the organiser time to ensure they have met all their responsibilities.  

Year 7 & 8 Literacy & Numeracy Programs

For many years, our junior English and Maths classes have operated using the Cluster model. This involved moving students into different class-based groupings, using the results of their pre-tests. Whilst we have achieved some great results with this model, we are looking for ways to improve our targeted instruction and intervention even further.

From the start of 2024, we are changing the nature of the clusters and introducing some new programs which will necessitate some structural changes in the year 7 and 8 English and Maths space. English and Math classes will revert back to student’s core classes (e.g. 7G).

Two new semester-long subjects called ‘Literacy’ and ‘Numeracy’ will be added to students’ timetables, and this will retain the ‘feel’ of the cluster program:

• Two or three classes will be scheduled at the same time in adjoining rooms with an extra staff member scheduled to support the classes.
• Students will receive small-group instruction targeted at their level of support, with extension for those who require it, and intervention for those who need it.
• In Literacy, students will receive instruction in grammar, word building, reading comprehension and reading fluency.
• In Numeracy, students will focus on multiplicative thinking and mathematical reasoning.
• Depending on their timetable, students will either complete 1 x semester of Maths, followed by 1 x semester of Literacy, or vice versa.

In addition, 2024 will see the addition of a subject called ‘Digi Skills’ for Year 7 only. This subject will introduce our Year 7 students to the many different ways that we use technology here at St Helena Secondary College. This subject is designed to initially introduce students to the main platforms we use such as Microsoft Teams, emails and Compass, as well as covering the basics like saving files in the cloud and being a responsible user of technology, both at school and in the wider community. This subject will run for the entire year and ensure that all our students start their educational journey with a solid understanding of how to use a laptop effectively, along with all the important software and programs.