Principal's Report

2025 School Review

The main work has now been done for the Review with the second day being finalised this week. After looking at school data and hearing about what we have been working on over the last 4 years on Tuesday, the panel spent some time in classrooms, getting a feel for the school and how it runs. A small group of parents participated in the family forum on Tuesday night. 

Wednesday saw the panel spend the day observing classes and talking to our students and staff. This took up the majority of the day and was designed to collect more information to either support or refute the panel’s hunches. I'm sure some great suggestions will come about as a result of all the forums and observations.

This coming Monday is the last day of the Review, where all the collected information will come together, to help guide the panel to determine the work of the school for the next 4 years. By the end of Monday, the new Key Improvement Strategies which support the goals of the Strategic Plan will have been determined and we will be close to having our new Strategic Plan. If you have contributed to the Review in any way, including completing the school community survey back in Term 3, I’d like to thank you for helping to shape our school and work for the next 4 years, as we continue on our improvement journey.

A number of our reviewers commented on how impressed they were with our students, which is something that we hear regularly from visitors to our school. The politeness, manners and respect of our students is always observed and noted.

Graduating Class of 2025

Wednesday saw the end of the external VCAA exams for our students and the Graduation Dinner for the Class of 2025. Cathy Gunn, Chief Exam Supervisor, was extremely impressed with the students conduct over the exam period. She acknowledged that they were organised, well prepared, arrived on time/early, used their time well during the exams and always had their manners at the ready.

Not unexpected from this group of students; they have always been a kind, caring group, looking out for and supporting each other.

The Graduation Dinner was a lovely evening spent with family, friends and staff to celebrate the Class of 2025, and it was a great way to send these students off into the wide world. They are certainly ready for this next step in their lives and will give it their best go! We will miss them, as we miss all our students when they leave.

Here's a few photos to get you started, and we'll share more in a future newsletter.

2026 School Student Leaders

It is my great pleasure to announce our 2026 student leaders. All students who applied completed a written application and sat a formal interview. They all presented themselves very well, but as always, there are a limited number of spots available. It was certainly a difficult decision, and the panel spent a lot of time deliberating the decision.

Congratulations to our 2 School Captains, Evelyn Niedzwiedzki and Lucy McCluskey and to our 2 Vice Captains, Cooper Beverley-Kendall and Eoghan French.

Racism Policy

Earlier this year, the Department updated their Racism policy, due to increasing incidents of intolerance against other students. Being a Department policy, schools do not need to implement their own version, but use the one provided, in order to strengthen their culture and practice to prevent and address racism, religious intolerance and racial and religious vilification.

Our students constantly show respect, however teenagers do make mistakes at times, so it is important to ensure that everyone is aware of the importance of being an inclusive and respectful environment. Racism and intolerance impacts on mental health, learning and engagement, and contributes to disadvantage and isolation of young people.

If you would like to read more about this topic, you can refer to the vic.gov.au website at https://www.vic.gov.au/report-racism-or-religious-discrimination-schools