From the Principal's Desk

As we approach the end of the 2024 school year, it brings me immense joy to reflect on the incredible journey we've experienced together here at Wyndham Central College. It's been a year filled with growth, accomplishments, and cherished memories for our entire school community as we celebrated our 50 years of educating this community. As we wrap up another incredible year, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt thanks to all members of our community. Your kindness, support, and sense of togetherness have made this school the great school it is and a community we can all be proud of.

In 2024 we reimagined our school as part of our school review and renewed our focus on creating our Community of High Expectations with the unwavering support and collaboration of our staff, parents/cares and students who have been integral in this process and to this year’s success. We have two new goals for 2025 and beyond where we intend to maximise the learning, wellbeing and engagement of every student. Together, we've witnessed our students embrace challenges, demonstrate resilience, and achieve remarkable milestones in their academic, personal, and social development as they strived for excellence. 

Throughout this year, our dedicated staff have passionately guided and inspired our students, nurturing their curiosity, fostering creativity, and instilling a love for learning that extends beyond the classroom. Our collective efforts in creating a nurturing environment have allowed our students to flourish and reach new heights in 2024 which we celebrated at our Awards Afternoon on the 17th December, conducted our farewell assemblies, enjoyed our graduation dinner and shared many other milestones and events in December. This newsletter outlines some of these and I ask that you celebrate along with us as you read the reports prepared by our leaders, staff and students. 

Beyond the classroom, our school community has celebrated numerous other achievements. This year I am excited to announce that we as a college have achieved the accolade of the Victorian Premieres Award for Community Harmony    Multicultural Awards for Excellence  for the work taking place in our school community hub. We thank the Victorian Multicultural Commission. The Honorable Jacinta Allan MP handpicked our school and our work, and we were presented with the trophy at Government House by the Premier and Governor of Victoria, Professor the Honorable Margaret Gardner AC. 

To say we are proud is an understatement.  This could not have been done without our team of family and student support staff who work under the outstanding leadership of Ms Kristy Gray our Community Engagement Leader.  We thank all of the staff that interact, engage and work with our team for supporting improved family connections between school and the home. Our school and student accomplishments are a testament to the dedication and commitment of our students, teachers, staff, and families working together in fostering the well-rounded educational experience we provide. I look forward to working in 2025 to continue to build and plan ensuring that we continue to improve and achieve the best for all members of our community. 

 Year 6 into 7 Transitions

On Tuesday 10th December, our new 2025 year 7 students came to visit us for the day. It was fabulous to be able to welcome them in person and to meet so many of their parents/carers during our partnership presentation on the 3rd December. I thank and applaud Mr. Rowe, Ms Webster and Ms. Fracalossi and the Year 7 team for their tremendous efforts to welcome our students. 

I thank the Tutor teachers who really worked very hard to help the students feel supported and not be overwhelmed and worked closely with our new parents/carers at our goal setting interviews this Monday and Tuesday – 16th/17th December. If any of our new parents/carers haven’t had an opportunity to meet with their child’s tutor teacher, please contact the College to make time for this important meeting in February 2025. 

Stepping up into 2025 classes

I have been very impressed at how our students have applied themselves during the step-up classes as they moved into their 2025 tutor groups, subjects, programs, and electives all within our new six session a day timetable. Feedback from staff and students has been very positive about how the learning has been vibrant and focused and that the new structure has allowed for more engagement and relationship building with a dual focus on wellbeing and life skills. It was also pleasing to see many of our parents/carers attending the goal setting meetings with their child’s new 2025-year 8-12 tutor teacher. These meetings are crucial as we form strong partnerships to ensure we can prepare all children for their learning and support their wellbeing. I also thank parents for their payments of the financial contributions towards their children’s education and the purchases of their textbooks and managed laptops program or our new BYOD laptop program.  Your contribution means that we can continue to offer the full school programs, both curricula and co-curricular in 2025. A reminder to families that our student services team and our business managers are available if any form of support is required to start the new school year which includes navigating the school savings bonus information.

School Captains

The selection of the School Captains for 2025 has been completed and I am pleased to announce that we have two School Captains - Tala Clarete and Alice Di, and two Vice Captains -  Nicole Sarmiento and Liam Power.  This newly established leadership team did a wonderful job leading the school community in their first event as the Masters of Ceremony at our Awards afternoon on Tuesday 17th December. Student voice and leadership is an important aspect of our school culture, and our year 8-11 class captain and student representative council member processes are underway, and we look forward to announcing and presenting our leaders to the whole school community at our first assemblies in 2025. Leadership roles for our 2025-year 7 cohort will begin in term one. 

Awards afternoon

On Tuesday 17th December, we were able to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of our students at the Annual Awards event.  Students were awarded Year level DUX, academic and general excellence, AVID, music, sport and various other individual prestigious awards.  We also celebrated our student achievements with our faculty awards, STEM academy and Spanish Immersion awards, English as a second language award and awarded our student with the highest ATAR score in year 12.   We congratulate each well deserving award recipient. You will find in this newsletter the names of our students who have been celebrated at the Awards afternoon and at our year 12 Valedictory dinner.  The college would also like to thank our guest Alumni speaker Ms. Ravneet Kaur (class of 2022) who is currently studying a Bachelor of Science at Melbourne University for her inspiring speech about her time at the school and the message to take every opportunity and to strive for excellence along with focusing on personal wellbeing. 

I would also like to congratulate our Year 12 students on the excellent results they achieved in 2024. Our student results were very high, and the school has continued to build on the median study score due to many students achieving significant ATAR scores and scores above 37 for individual subjects.  This year we celebrated a top score of 94 with other students in the 90’s, 80’s and high 70’s. This was despite completing their senior years after two years of lockdown and a disrupted year 11. We could not be prouder of them, and their achievements, and we wish them the best of luck as they await their University and TAFE placement offers, or for others who have already started apprenticeships and moved into full time employment.  A reminder to families that our Transitions and Pathways leader Ms. Pina Siragusano is available via phone and email for all students to support their pathways planning. 

I take this final opportunity in 2024 to thank all members of the school community for the kindness and care that has been shown.  Thank you to our parents/carers/families and students for sharing how deeply grateful you are for our sustained commitment to your children. On behalf of our school community I would like to make a special mention of our School Council and we thank our representatives for community, staff, parent, and students that ensure that the Wyndham Central College community has a voice that is heard, for holding each student at the heart of all policy development and decision making.

As the holiday season is before us, I wish you and your families a peaceful and rejuvenating break. May this time be filled with laughter, joy, and precious moments spent together. Looking ahead to the upcoming year, I am excited about the opportunities and possibilities that await us with our new 4 year strategic plan, reimaged school process and new curriculum. Together, let us continue to inspire and empower our students to reach for the stars and achieve their full potential.

Stay safe, take care, and enjoy the well-deserved break and we look forward to you being a part of our vibrant community in 2025.

Leanne Gagatsis -  Principal

Creating a Community of High Expectations 

Respect, Cooperation and Excellence