From the Principal Class

Dear Viewbank community,

We have had a very positive start to the new term, with students quickly re-establishing routines in their learning.

Pathway planning:

A big focus has been on the subject selection process and planning for 2024. It was wonderful to see so many parents and guardians engaging with their students in course counselling conversations. I cannot stress enough the importance of the partnership between parents, students, and the College to ensure the future success of our students. It is great to see so many parents and students considering the Vocational Major as a valid pathway that can lead to employment, further training, TAFE and entry to university. Students may find the vocational focus and applied learning a more suitable and relevant course of study for them. Thanks to all the staff who worked with students on the two days of counselling.

Time has been spent in both Launch and Overlay classes preparing students- providing opportunity for planning, investigating, and asking questions about their futures. What is becoming more evident is that a qualification post-secondary school (TAFE, University, Apprenticeship) is critical. The jobs of the future will continue to evolve, with the potential of Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies to make some current jobs redundant. Parents and students need to think carefully about this and seek support from our wonderful careers team.

Launch is an important program in helping to develop the so called ‘soft skills’ in preparation for post-secondary careers. The skills such as communication, teamwork, creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and a growth mindset – are all a key learning focus of Launch. These skills are highly in-demand and recruiters are now communicating to us that they now hire the person (with the personal qualities) rather than the skills. Organisations now believe they can teach the skills, but these other innate qualities are more valued.

Please do not excuse your student from Launch – this is where we are preparing them for future pathways and success in life.

Other events:

A lot of teams have ventured out on interschool sports. We are now seeing many teams progress to Zone and State finals. Please see the Sport pages for updates.

The College Production ‘Legally Blonde’ is in full swing and the feedback from audiences is resoundingly positive. So much hard work goes into staging a production and I want to thank the staff and students who put so much energy and hard work into the show each year. It is a highlight of the College calendar and a credit to the talent at this College.

Special thanks to FOPAVA (and Assistant Principal, Emma Ford) for their support with the raffle and catering on the night. Huge thanks to Pas Bartalotta, Katrina Wellins, Ben Mogford, Steve Varley, Jess Chong, Caitlin Brown, Deanne Ioannidis and Andrew Van Gemert. Andrew gets special mention for his 17 years supporting the production, conducting the band and performing all sorts of extra duties!

Upcoming:

Keep an eye out for Languages theatre on Monday August 14th. Aways a fun time!

Our languages domain has been in full planning and are very excited about the prospect of our first Language tours (to Germany and Japan) since Covid lockdowns. An initial parent and student information session will be held in the PAC on Tuesday, August 15 at 6.30pm. Any students studying these languages and will be in Years 9-11 in 2024 may be interested in attending. We will be looking for initial interest.

FOPAVA Production Fundraising Raffle - tickets on sale now!

Our amazing FOPAVA (Friends of Production and Visual Arts) team have worked hard and put together an amazing raffle for this year's production.Raffle tickets are now on sale!

Tickets are: