Principal's Report 

WELCOME TO NEW COLLEGE COUNCIL MEMBERS FOR 2026

I thank the members of College Council who are continuing in their role and those retiring. I also welcome new members and thank them for forwarding their nomination. VSC held its first Council meeting with the new representatives on Tuesday evening. Thank you to all who were able to attend and at this meeting the following office bearers were appointed.

Council President: Frank Drost

Council Vice-President: Patrick Jackson

Council Treasurer: Kate Norman

Congratulations on these important roles/appointments and we look forward to another productive year.

VSC Council comprises four groups:

Parents (6), Department of Education (DE) employees (5), students (2) and community members (co-opted up to 4). The term of office is two years, half the members must retire each year, and this creates vacancies for the annual school election.

Parents: In total there were three parent vacancies/representatives for the next two years, 2026 to early 2028. Congratulations to Sam Daly, Jacqueline Bastiani-Adams and Fiona Castle-Schmidt duly elected for the next 2 years (2026 to early 2028).

Patrick Johnson, Kate Norman and Aidan Schanssema have one year of their two-year term remaining.

Staff: Congratulations to Chris Paragreen and Mary Zervos duly elected for the next 2 years (2026 to early 2028). 

Cara Macfarlane and Kelly Stals have one year of their two-year appointment (2025 to early 2027) to complete.

Student Representatives – Congratulations to Yan Chi S (Year 9) duly elected for the next 2 years (2026 to early 2028) while Jeremy L (Year 8) has one-year of his 2-year term remaining.

Community Members (Co-Opted) - School Captains: Juliet O and James P

Parents – Frank Drost and Nikita Kochhar

Thank you to parent Craig Lawton and students Caitlin and Areeba for your time on College Council. Your support, input and participation have been greatly appreciated. 

COLLEGE COUNCIL REPORT TUESDAY 17TH MARCH 2026

 The newly formed council had its first meeting for 2026.  The council of 2026 boasts a lot of experience across its members. 

The council were informed about the Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) for 2026. The AIP lays out the plans and guidelines for many aspects of teaching and learning for the current year and is an integral part of the Strategic Plan for VSC for the period 2025-2028. One of the main tasks of the council is to make sure that decisions are made with the AIP in mind. 

Council members were informed about training courses available via the Department of Education to allow them to learn and improve their understanding about the role of council.

The council received reports from the various subcommittees and groups such as finance, health and safety, canteen, disability inclusion, Vermont Secondary College Community Association (VSCCA), the School Improvement Team (SIT) and student reports. All reports were approved by council. The Year 8 (city camp, Year 9 Phillip Island camp and Year 11 ski trip were all approved.

The next council meeting is on 21st of April. Just prior to that meeting, at 6.30pm, the Community Reporting Meeting will take place to which all parents are invited. In this meeting we will present an overview on how well VSC has performed in 2025.

This was the last council meeting that was guided and attended by our Principal Tony Jacobs. The council thanks Tony for all his work and inspiration over some 18+ years as principal and wishes Tony all the best with his future plans on his leave and retirement.

Frank Drost – College Council President

COLLEGE COUNCIL - COMMUNITY REPORTING MEETING – TUESDAY 21st APRIL 2026

The VSC annual Community Reporting Meeting will be held on Tuesday 21st April 2026 at 6.30pm. At this meeting the VSC 2025 Annual Report will be presented and once ratified by College Council and by the Department of Education (DE) it will be placed on our college website. Members of the college community are welcome to attend. Entrance is via the General Office where someone will be there to meet you.

Once ratified, the 2025 Annual Report will be available on the college website https://www.vermontsc.vic.edu.au/

To access college data, go to the ‘Home Page’, click on ‘9 dots’ top right corner, click on ‘About Our College’, click on ‘School Accountability & Improvement Framework’ and scroll down. Documents available here –

1. School Strategic Plan 2024 - 2028 

2. Annual Implementation Plan 2025

3. Annual Report 2024 

THE HESSEN EXCHANGE

21 students and 4 staff from Vermont Secondary College and Mullauna College are participating in the Hessen Exchange leaving on Thursday 26th of March and returning on Thursday 23rd of April. The Hessen exchange had run since 1996 until 2019 when the 2020 trip was cancelled due to COVID. This is the first time the trip has run since then and we hope to again make it an annual event.

Over the next 4 weeks 12 students from Vermont Secondary College and 9 students from Mullauna College will be accompanied by Tony Jacobs and Chelsea Paydon (Vermont) and Harry Ruff and Laura Durham (Mullauna).

Our students will be staying with their host buddies/families. We will be able to spend time sightseeing throughout Germany and beyond and attending school with the host students from the township of Kaufungen in Hessen, Germany. The students of Kaufungen visited our shores in Term Four last year. We look forward to the trip.

REMINDER – END OF TERM DATE & UPCOMING PUBLIC HOLIDAY

1. Term One concludes on Thursday 2nd of April with a 2:30pm dismissal time. Friday 3rd of April is a public holiday for Good Friday.

    

2. Students return in Term Two on Monday 20th of April. 

1. Cycle 1 Reports are released to families and Student Progress Conferences (SPC) bookings are opened at 3.00pm on Friday 27th of March.

    

2. Student Progress Conferences (SPC) are online starting at 12.00pm until 7.00pm on Wednesday 1st of April. Formal classes will not be running. All students are asked to attend interviews online with their parent/guardian.