Across the Principal's Desk

We acknowledge the Wadawurrung people as the traditional owners of the land, waters and Culture.

We pay our respect to their Ancestors and Elders past, present and emerging.

We have made a terrific start to our year with our students quickly settling back into the routine of school. That might not be the way they feel at home – they’re probably very tired and still finding it challenging to get up and get ready each day… but they are doing a great job when they are here! Our student numbers are strong and we have a number of new staff on board this year who are enjoying working with our students and seem to really appreciate our positive school culture. Narelle Sumner is our new Numeracy Teaching and Learning Specialist, Sam McClure did pre-service teacher training at our school and now we have him working in the areas of Maths and Science, Evan Green is teaching in the areas of Maths and Humanities, Anthony Tatchell is teaching in the areas of Physical Education and Health, and Anne Henry comes to us with a great deal of experience and is teaching mainly in VCAL. We have a new Mental Health Practitioner in Kat Patten – adding to our strong Wellbeing Team. We have also employed Ian Trigg to work as a Transitions and Pathways Coordinator to support our students in developing strong options for life beyond school. We are really pleased to have them all at our school and they have already proven to be terrific additions to Beaufort Secondary College. 

Mr Phil Crouch and Mr Greg Walton both retired at the end of last year. We wish them all the very best for what comes their way in the next chapter of their lives. Our Assistant Principal, Kate McGinty, has taken a year of leave to spend time with family and is currently living in the Northern Territory. We have re-structured to cater for this with Simon de Zoete-Spiero taking on an Assistant Principal role in the area of Student Management and Daily Organisation and Jackie Kerr will also be in an Assistant Principal role in the area of Wellbeing and day-to-day matters. 

Completing Year 12 has always been challenging but our students last year had to do this under extraordinary circumstances. Our VCE students received their results over the school break and we are pleased that they have done very well in either securing placements for further education at a tertiary level or pursuing work and other interests. It has been difficult with COVID disruptions and the timing of the release of results to celebrate and acknowledge in the way we have in the past and this has been most unfortunate. We have not been able to formally acknowledge all of our Year 12 award winners in person at this point in time, so we will wait until the next newsletter to announce them in this format. However, it was very satisfying that despite the difficulties of last year, our students have been able to place themselves well for the future with meaningful pathways to take them into the next important stage of their lives – we wish them all the very best!

Queen’s Scout Awards

Congratulations to former students, Jessica Harris and Vicky Homan, who both achieved the highest standard of proficiency in Scouts and received the Queen’s Scout Award. I attended their ceremony at the Beaufort Scout Hall on Saturday the 6th of February with a good crowd in attendance. It was terrific to hear from a range of speakers who emphasised the significance of this achievement – no easy feat! The girls worked really hard and it required a very high level of commitment and perseverance; very few people ever get to this level in the Scouting movement. Both Jessica and Vicky spoke really well with engaging speeches which described their experiences along the way. Chris Harris and Rune Ferwerda lead the ceremony. It was impressive to see these young men (former students) in the spotlight performing their respective roles. The Queen’s Scout Award is an outstanding achievement – Well done, Jessica and Vicky!

School Council Election

This week’s newsletter contains information about the School Council Election process and a nomination form. School Councils play an important role in setting the directions of the school within central guidelines. However, Beaufort Secondary College Council meetings are traditionally informal, positive and informative. 

I encourage parents to seriously consider standing for School Council. An information sheet for parents is provided, along with a Schedule 5A form to be used if you wish to nominate yourself, whilst the Schedule 5B form is used to nominate another parent (with his or her agreement). If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me at school.