Principal's Report

College Production

Last night I had the pleasure of attending Opening Night of our College Production of Grease: School Edition. Wow! What a performance!

It was incredible to see months of hard work come together on stage. Our students and staff have worked tirelessly rehearsing, designing, creating, organising and constructing the elements of this production. It truly takes a team to bring a show to life — what a team this is!

The laughter, cheering and joy heard throughout the audience was a true testament to the outstanding performance our cast and crew delivered.

I've included a few images below to give you a taste of the performance.

There are still three performances to go, so if you haven't already, I encourage you to grab one of the few remaining tickets and come along to experience Grease for yourself. You won't want to miss it!

Tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/DNMII

School Review Update

This month we undertook our School Review. We were fortunate to have an incredible Review Panel that consisted of our School Reviewer, our Senior Education Improvement Leader from the Department of Education, and three challenge partners with backgrounds as current or former school principals — from Koonung Secondary College, Frankston High School and McKinnon Secondary College. The panel reviewed our school data, visited classrooms, and spoke with students, staff and parents. It was a wonderful experience that allowed us to celebrate everything we have achieved as a school, while also planning our next steps in our strategic journey. I will be able to share our new Strategic Plan with our community in the coming weeks once it has been finalised. 

I would like to sincerely thank all our students from Years 7–12 who spoke with the review panel and shared their thoughtful insights. Thank you to the parents who came into the school and shared their perspectives on our school. Thank you to our staff for speaking with the reviewers about your experiences and insights, and to our teachers for welcoming the panel into your classrooms to see our teaching and learning in action.

New Facilities – Active Schools Grant

You may recall that we hosted a range of student focus groups to gather ideas on how we should use the funding received through the Active Schools Grant. I'm excited to share that, based on these focus groups, we have installed a new outdoor volleyball court and a 9 square volleyball court near our basketball courts!

Thank you to Ms Carly Clarke for her organisation of this project, and to all the students who contributed their ideas along the way.

Our new outdoor volleyball area and 9 Square court is a great addition to our growing range of active facilities, which this year has already included the installation of new outdoor basketball courts and a playground.

Working Together on Attendance

At Lilydale Heights College, we believe that staying informed is one of the best ways to support our students' success — and attendance is a great example of this in action.

During the term, families receive an overall attendance rate for their child, taking into account both explained and unexplained absences. We know that in most cases, families have a good sense of their child's attendance, but every so often, the overall picture across the year can be easy to lose track of. By sharing this data regularly, we can take a preventative approach together, so there are no surprises down the track.

You may have noticed our Administration staff and SELF teachers reaching out during periods of absence — this is simply another way we check in and offer support where it's needed.

Staying on top of attendance really matters, especially for students working towards their Year 10 Certificate, VCE or VCE VM, where 90% attendance is required for satisfactory completion. Students in Year 7 to 9 should also being aiming for 90% attendance. Daily school attendance is vital for young people to succeed in their education and to ensure they do not fall behind. 

When students, families and the College stay connected on attendance, we're better placed to support every student in reaching their learning goals. Thank you for partnering with us in this important work.