Message from the Principal

Dear families and community members,

Thank you to our parents and carers for attending our Parent/ Student/ Teacher Interviews on Thursday 3 March and Friday 4 March.  It was marvellous to see our students and families working with our staff, discussing how the students have settled into their new classes, how they are progressing with their learning and plans for rest of this first semester. 

A positive start

Attendance for our students during the first half of Term 1 has been very positive. Here is a breakdown of our attendance at each year level:

The number of students at each year level who have attended at least 95 % of the time are as follows:

You can check attendance for your child/ren on Compass.  The percentage shown in the far-right column (School Percentage) is what all schools used to monitor attendance.  We want our students attending at least 80 % of the time.  The higher the attendance, the greater the consistency with learning progress. 

If you are unsure of how to review attendance on Compass, please contact the college.  If you have any absences that you need to notify the college, please contact the college.

Connections

Our Connections teachers are continuing to build rapport with their students each day. Here is a reminder of what occurs in our morning Check-ins (8:50 am – 9:00 am) and Connections (2:00 pm – 2:15 pm) later in the day. 

The purpose of Check-ins:

• Allows for a routine and predictable start to the day.

• Up to date information can be shared via the bulletin.

• Enables the teacher to inform students of any updates to their daily schedule including rooms, teachers, subjects. 

• Enables the teacher to check student uniform and ask for notes from parents/ carers which can be recorded on Compass.

• Gives students the opportunity to bring in notes for absences.  Students that have been away can speak with their teacher and support can be offered when needed.

• For students that need support with equipment can ask for support.  (If a student needs support with getting the correct equipment, liaise with the Year Level Coordinator and contact the parents/ carers.)

• Remind students that they are to have all equipment for periods 1 and 2 at their check-in session. 

• Speak with students about being ‘ready to learn’, making the most of opportunities presented each day.

The purpose of Connections:

This is where we will further enable students to build relationships with each other and with staff.  We are delivering our School-Wide Positive Behaviours Support framework sessions:

• The teaching of our college values and systems

• Working through each expectation listed on our behaviour matrix

• Constant reminders of desired behaviours and acknowledging students when they demonstrate these expectations

Camps 2026

Our camps program for this year has commenced very well, seeing Year 7 students attend their camp at The Summit in Trafalgar, and our Unit 1 Outdoor and Environmental Studies class went to Torquay for their surf camp. 

We have a comprehensive camp program that shows progress from the early years with a stay-late afternoon onsite through to subject specific camps at the senior years.  To review the camps relating to your child/ren’s year levels, please access this one-page overview.

Still to come

It is extraordinary to already comment that we are already past the halfway mark for this term.  To assist with planning ahead, we have the following events and activities:

• Various interschool sports across the year levels for students to participate including Badminton, Lawn Bowls, Regional Swimming, and Tennis, just to name a few.

• NAPLAN testing will be between Wednesday 11 March to Monday 23 March with many of the tests taking place in the first half of this testing window.  Our Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students will participate.  A schedule to complete each NAPLAN test has been created and will be shared with families via Compass. 

• Our Photos Days are locked in with Years 7-12 photos happening on Friday 13 March and Years P-6 on Monday 23 March.  Further information regarding photos will be provided closer to the date.

• Given Good Friday is at the end of this term, we are scheduled to have our last day of term on Thursday 3 April. On this day, we will finish early at 2:15 pm.  Our buses will depart by 2:30 pm on this day so that our students can get home in a timely manner. 

The Deb

We will be running our Deb this year during Term 2.  Students in Year 10 and 11 will be participating in the Deb.  We currently don’t have a coordinator for the event.  We are seeking support from parents/ carers to help with preparing for the big night. If you are parent or carer of one of our debutants, please contact the college to let us know you are willing and able to help. 

Keeping safety at front of mind

We are continuing to work on strategies for effective and safe drop off and pick up of students at the front of our college.  Thank you to those that have provided feedback so far.  We ask families using the drop-off zone to please continue to: 

• Be vigilant with students walking around the area.

• Move forward with the car when it is possible and safe so that can cars behind can move into the space.

• Keep to the low-speed limit as indicated.

If the drop-off zone is full or if there is a hold up on the road nearby, please be patient.  We want to avoid seeing vehicles move erratically to the opposite side of the road. Please do a lap of the block instead. 

We ask students needing to cross the road to move to the allocated crossing which is staffed until 4:00 pm.  Would parents and carers please support us and remind their students of this requirement so that we can keep everyone safe.

For our bus travellers, we remind parents and carers to please call our College Office (5851 2100) prior to 2:30 pm if any changes to travel are required. 

College Council

We will be holding our ‘first council meeting’ for this year on Wednesday 19 March. By now, everyone will have submitted their nominations to become a member of Council.  This will be shared in our next issue of Channels.  Thank you in advance to those that submitted their nominations.  I’m sure it will be a positive experience for all involved this year.