Horsham College – The Age’s 2023 Best Government School in Regional Victoria

In this week’s The Age newspaper Horsham College was announced as the Best Regional Government School in Victoria for our overall school results and school improvement. This is an independently assessed award and uses a range of College data sets over 10 years. It is a significant award as it highlights both improvement and sustainable high achievement.

The award is something that everyone in our school community and in particular our students, staff and families should take great pride in, as it truly has been a team effort to achieve this and provide the high level of education, opportunities and pathways to university, further education and training and employment.

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge our school Leadership team, and past and present students, staff and families who have been on our journey. I can only say thank you and I hope you have taken pride in the success of the school and your part in this.

Horsham and the Wimmera has great schools in all areas of education, from primary, P-12 and specialist schools, and across both government and non-government sectors. They provide opportunities and a level of support and care we can all feel great pride in, and part of our success has been based upon our ability to work with and alongside these schools and learn from that collaboration.

Subject Selection Days

Subject selection days for 2024 have now been held for all students. We had approximately 92% of families attend the two days and this is an amazing outcome for our college and highlights how successful this process has become. This is one of my favourite events on the school calendar as it provides the opportunity for positive conversations between students, families, and staff. The day provides students and families with the information needed to determine which subjects will assist student engagement and support their pathway, and showcases the large range of opportunities the College provides.

Year 10 students going into Year 11 in 2024 were able to attend an information evening with their families and a specific day was held to provide the best advice possible as they make decisions between VCE and VCE Vocational Major, VET subjects, acceleration, and School Based Apprenticeships.

If you have not yet completed your subject selections for 2024 please make sure to speak to your year level teams as soon as possible.

2024 Timetable and student choice

Following our subject selection days our College Leadership Team has begun the process of developing blocks for 2024. We have been very generous in running a number of subjects with quite low student numbers and we plan to tighten this up next year. This means students, families, and staff will need to understand that not all subjects will run and that students may be required to use their first and/or second back up choices.

College staff will be working hard to support students and families through this process.

VCE Common Room and Investment in College Infrastructure

Our new VCE Common Room has recently arrived and will hopefully be in use by the start of Term 4. This building has been purchased by the College Council and will be outside of our entitlement. We hope to have the building certified for use by the start of Term 4 so our current Year 12s can be the first students to use it.

This is a significant and decisive investment by the College Council in our future. College Council Members and staff can be proud of the investments we have made in our own facilities which are now in the vicinity of over $3M in school infrastructure since 2017, using locally raised funds and resources from within our annual school budget. We have not received state or federal grants for this investment, and we have where possible used local businesses and trades for the overwhelming majority of this work.

Our strategic use of College finances and funding is considered by the Department to be one of the best examples of using funding to positively impact student learning in the current year. It is a credit to the stewardship of Hayley Janetzki and the Finance Committee for their work in this space.

Child Safe Standards and Department E-Learning Modules

There will be a renewed push by the College Leadership Team to ensure the Child Safe Standards and Department expectations around these requirements are met and widely known.

We have this week attached a copy of the Department statewide Standards. If you have any feedback or queries regarding this, please contact any of the Assistant Principals or me for follow up. Your feedback will, as always, be welcome.

College Production – Cinderella

I would like to say ‘break a leg’ to the cast, crew, and production team as we prepare for opening night of the College Production of Cinderella tonight. I would like to congratulate the students and staff involved in the huge task of preparing this event, and I am sure it will be a great showcase of the talent that exists at the College in the performing arts.

2024 Staff

Horsham College will have a number of positions available for 2024. If you know of anyone who may be interested in a discussion about positions please ask them to contact me via our school administration. I would also encourage any members of the community who may be interested in retraining to contact me. We are discussing with universities the possibility of offering a retraining program locally in Horsham which would cater for people around the Wimmera to be able to attend classes locally and still be able to continue with their current employment. Once again if you are interested, or know someone who is, I would be happy to discuss options.

Goolum Goolum Try-a-Trade Day