Welcome to all returning and new students and families to the College and what will no doubt be another positive and productive year.

I have returned to the Principal role having spent the last five school terms in a different role in the Department as well as a period of long service leave. I am really pleased to be back in this fantastic College community and look forward to catching up with students and families over time. I spent some time travelling overseas and was reminded again just how lucky we are to live in Western Australia.

For those that don’t know me, I have been involved in Agricultural Education for some 36 years and worked at the Morawa, Narrogin and Cunderdin Ag Colleges. I am passionate about our style of schooling and the opportunities it offers students and proud to be the Principal of Harvey and part of our College community.

The things that are important to me include;

Everyone being able to live, learn and work at the College without negative impact from anyone.
Physical and psychological safety of everyone.
Reputation and culture of the College which benefits students when they seek employment.
Maximizing opportunities for students to develop skills, knowledge and attitudes that will assist them making the transition from school to employment or further training.

2025- a new year

While students were enjoying their final week of holiday, staff have been busy preparing for the start of the year. This has included professional learning on improved systems to manage excursions and medications and systems to assist students with needs.

My thanks to our Farm staff who worked through the school holiday period to keep the farm operation going. We have staff at work 365 days of the year and are blessed to have such a terrific crew across all areas.

A special welcome to all of our new students and families. We understand that shifting to a new school and boarding can be a challenge at times and our staff are alert to students who are not coping well. That said, we welcome parents notifying us to any issues that their child might be having so we can resolve them as early as possible. We know that sometimes it is the parents that find it hardest when their child enters boarding, so please feel free to make contact with us at any time if you have concerns. Our collective role is to have all students settle into the College as easily and quickly as possible so that they can capitalise on their time with us.

Communication

We aim to keep families informed with what is going on around the College. Look out for the daily lunch notices (HAC Chat) that is emailed to families via Compass and also on each student table at lunchtime. Also look out for this Weekly Wrap newsletter. also available on Compass.

Compass login details and information were emailed to all new parents at the end of last year. Please contact the College if you need your login details resent or reset. Parents of returning students, your login is the same as last year.

Aside from these weekly communications, the College Handbook is an excellent source of information on how we operate and our “go to source of truth”.

If your child is involved with anything outside the school such as events, competitions and awards we’d love to hear about it so we can highlight success. Similarly, if there is an issue at home that will impact on your child, please let us know so we can provide appropriate support or at the very least keep a closer eye on them.

In the next few weeks, I will be canvassing interest from parents of Year 10’s to select a representative on the College Board. More on this later.

I will also get a survey out in the next couple of weeks to collect new parents' opinion on our recruitment, selection and induction process. Your views are important for us to fine tune our systems and practices.

New staff in Student Services

We have a number of new staff across all areas, and they will be introduced by our faculty leaders over time.

One critical staff change is that Patrick Swallow has taken on the role of the Student Services Coordinator for Term 1. Patrick is already making a difference in developing formalised plans to assist students with various additional needs.

We also have a new school Psychologist this year, Yonty Hodgetts and a new school Nurse, Shelly Paterson who have joined our Student Services team. Emma Curulli, our Chaplain, continues to provide valuable support to our students.

Student Horses

Traditionally we do not accept student horses onsite until after the closed weekend in Term 1. This allows students to settle into the College without the added responsibility of caring for a horse, plus attending the Busselton Camp. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances where a horse may return earlier. Typically, this relates to transport issues, not preference.

At this stage we do not have a staff member with equine experience to coordinate students and their horses, but we have been working on that this week.

Welcome once again, my very best wishes for a smooth start and to a productive year. I welcome feedback from parents, so please feel free to make contact with me if you have concerns or wish to share a view.

HARVEY AG WEEKLY WRAP-UP

"Excellence and Innovation in Agricultural Education"

Issue 1 · 07 Feb 2025

In this issue