From the 

Principal's Desk.....

Welcome to our first Newsline of 2026

What a busy term it has been. As they say, time flies for busy people and that is exactly what the term has been for our Students and Staff. In this edition, we will catch up on some news from the end of 2025 as well as the first term of 2026.

Welcome to the Community

I welcome all our new Parent/Carers and Students who have joined our Community in 2026 in Year 7 as well as other year levels.

Welcome to the College our new and returning staff

Joining the College this year are the following new or returning staff:

College Theme 2026

Consistency is the Key to Success is our theme for 2026. We strive to be consistent in everything we do both inside and outside the classroom. This theme is for Staff and Students. All great sporting teams strive for this and education is no different.

2025 VCE Results:

Our VCE students performed incredibly well in the 2025 VCE results. Our top ATAR score was an incredible 96.6 and a total of six students scored in the 90's. Our average ATAR was 63.7 which allows most students to be able to access Univerity of TAFE. Our English results were phenomenal with a median study score of 29. Of our students who wanted to go on to University or TAFE, 87% of those students got into their first or second preferenced course. This clearly shows the dedication of our Careers Pathways Team of Mr Jason De Araugo and Ms Clarissa Leach.

Overall 2025 Success:

 In December 2025, we were once again informed by the Department of Education that our College was judged to be a High Performing Government Seconday College based upon our Learning results (VCE and NAPLAN) and Wellbeing indicators. This shows the dedication of the teaching staff at teh College to make a difference in young people's lives.

Welcome Year 7 and a new tradition:

This year, we started what will now become a tradition in our school, with the Year 12 Students forming a Guard of Honour welcoming our incoming Year 7 Cohort. This is what the school will do at the end of the year for our Year 12 final assembly. A nice way to complete the circle of incoming and outgoing.

Entry and Exit Routines:

In 2025, we re-introduced Entrance Routines for Students in entering the classroom abnd be ready for learning. This year, we have added to that with an Exit Routine - see below:

How We Teach at Hoppers - Playbook

During 2025, we worked alongside educationalist Bronwyn Ryrie-Jones to look at Teaching and Learning strategies and develop a playbook for our teachers that suited the students at Hoppers Crossing Secondary College. At the start of this year, we launched the playbook with our staff of teaching strategies to use in the classoom to engage students but also check for their understanding of the content being delivered. So far this year, we have asked teachers to concentrate on using 2 main strategies:

• Mini Whiteboard responses in class to check for understanding, and

• Turn and Talk where students turn to their partner to discuss the content.

Recently we have looked at the next two strategies around Explicit Teaching - Modelling and Guided Practice. We are seeing much more engaged students and as a teacher, I know with more certaintly that students are getting the content being delivered. I congratulate our teachers for their desire to teach better and be challenged.

Instagram

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Our beginning of the post 40 minutes into day one - Ready and Learning!

NAPLAN

Congratulations to Ms Bentia Eyegenraam for successfully leading and implementing our Naplan Testing for 2026. Thank you to all the staff who ran or supported Naplan sessions. It is not easy task organising over 2000 tests to be completed. Congratulations to the Year 7 and 9 Students who showed great determiniation to complete the testing online. We look forward to sharing results later in the year.

PIVOT Survey Results

Twice a year, we survey our students about their teachers and the way they teach. I am very pleased with the feedback our students have given. 

The top 3 results:

Students understand the behavioural expectations in class.

Teachers ensure all cultures are welcome in the class.

Teachers respect Students for who they are.

School Council 2026-2028

I am very pleased to announce the composition and office bearers for our School Council for 2026-2028:

School Council President: Mr Willie Joe Robinson Jnr

Vice President: Mr Jason Price

Treasurer: Mr Abi Bellamkonda

●Parent Representatives: 

Mr Aziz Rahman

Mr Abi Bellamkonda

Ms Catriona Macleod

Mr Nick Saleski

Ms Jacinta Dean

Ms Donna Richmond.

●Student Representatives:

Mr Jack Clarke

Ms Mouna El Haouli

●Staff Representatives: 

Mrs Claire Bennett

Ms Pauline Magege

Ms Kate Blandford

Mrs Christine Tipping

Fire Update

Most fo you will be aware that we had an electrical fire in our Food Preparation room February in our newly refurbished Food Studies rooms in E-block. We are looking forward for early in Term 2, that the Food Rooms and Dining room will be handed back to use for use. the Food Preparation room will still need further work during Term 2.

Hoppers Crossing Secondary College Official Alumni Community

In December 2025, we launched our official Hoppers Crossing Secondary College Alumni Community. If you would like to be part of the community, use the QR code below:

A facebook presence will be set up soon for you all to join and be part of celebrating 42 years of success.

Student Spotlight: Zeinab Abdo

Zeinab Abdo in Year 12 just spent three days in Canberra at the 31st National Schools Constitutional Convention. Zeinab was one of 113 stduenst from across Australia who was selected to attend the Convention. The topic at this years convention was - "Should Section 53 of the Constitution be amended to prevent the Senate from blocking supply (rejecting money bills)?

My understanding is that the Bill was rejected by the student representatives:

Student Spotlight: Bon Martin

Bon Martin (Year11) will run at the Australian School Athletics Championships in Queesnland on April 15th in 3000m, Under 18 event representing Victoria. Best of Luck Bon.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ privacy policy and the Schools’ privacy collection notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students policy, describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn. 

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education] safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education], please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in eleven community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese

Homework Club

Homework Club operates from the College Library each Wednesday, 3:15-4:30pm, and is designed to assist students in all subject areas, as needed. Our senior students have access to the senior study centre in E3, everyday afterschool across the school week. 

Attendance

A reminder to all, that daily school attendance is vital for students to achieve success. Schooling is compulsory for children and young people aged from 6 to 17 years unless an exemption from attendance or enrolment has been granted. Daily attendance is important for all students to succeed in education and to ensure they do not fall behind both socially and developmentally. Children and young people who regularly attend school and complete VCE or an equivalent qualification have better health outcomes, better employment outcomes, and higher incomes across their lives. It is important that children develop habits of regular attendance at an early age. School participation is important as it maximises life opportunities for children and young people by providing them with 

education and support networks. School helps people to develop important skills, knowledge and values which set them up for further learning and meaningful participation in their community. Our teachers work incredibly hard to ensure students are engaged in their classrooms with just the right amount of challenge and rigor. If you feel you need support with increasing engagement and attendance, please contact the relevant sub-school for support.

College Policy Updates

At Hoppers Crossing Secondary College, we are guided by a set of local polices endorsed by School Council and a set of policies endorsed by the Department of Education. Each 

edition of Newsline, we will indicate any new policies endorsed by Council so you can be aware of them, but also provide feedback.

The College Polices are located on our website – click here for a direct link.

The direct address for our Policies is: https://hopcross.vic.edu.au/our-school/policies/ 

Student Promotions Policy:

Hoppers Crossing Secondary College’s Promotion Policy recognises that students must demonstrate a strong academic foundation, in order to successfully manage their progression to the next year level. As a result, the policy aims to ensure all students reach their maximum academic ability in every subject, in order to be automatically promoted.

Parents and students need to be aware that students in Years 7 to 10 will need to reach above a 50% Assessment Task Average for each subject. Students who do not obtain above the Assessment Task Average for at least 60% of their Semester subjects, may not be promoted to the next year level. 

Given the context of our School Improvement Policy that has been covered in this Newsletter, we believe students at our College have every opportunity to achieve this standard.

In order to be promoted from Yr. 11 into Yr. 12, the College encourages all students to 

focus their academic results on ‘quality not quantity’. For this reason students in Year 11 must achieve above a 50% School Assessed Coursework (SAC) Average and satisfactorily complete 9 of the 12 Units attempted over the year, to automatically proceed to Year 12.  Families need to be aware that students in Years 11 and 12 are enrolled through their VCE or VCAL certificates with the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA) and as a result there are specific requirements that they mandate for successful completion of these Certificates. 

Student Supervision

Student safety at our College is our highest priority and the safe and appropriate supervision of students is an important element of our duty of care to students. Part of this duty is ensuring parents and students are aware of our student supervision arrangements before and after school. 

Before school: School grounds are supervised from 8.40am each morning. 

After school: School grounds are supervised until 3.26pm.

Students on school grounds outside these times will not be supervised (unless they are attending a supervised extracurricular activity). 

Parents/Carers are requested to ensure that students do not attend school outside of these supervised times unless they are attending a pre-arranged supervised activity (i.e. sports practice). 

Families are encouraged to contact one of the Assistant Principals for more information about our student supervision arrangements.

For a copy of our school’s Yard Duty and Supervision Policy please consult the Policy section of the school’s website or on COMPASS or contact the school office.

Holidays

I wish all the Students and Staff a restful and safe Term 1 holiday time. I look forward to seeing you all back on Monday 20th April.

Rod Kendall

Proud Principal of Hoppers Crossing Secondary College!