From the Principal's desk 

Hello to all our community members.

My page header this week captures the Graduation Dinner for the

CLASS OF 2020 and the framed permanent reminder of the Year 2020 Top.

Well here we are at the last week of what has been an extraordinary year. Generally at the end of any school year we reflect on the huge amount of work we have completed to be successful in our studies and our work, we celebrate the achievements and the implementation of new and exciting programs that have furthered the learning experiences for our students and we reflect on the positive relationships we have developed with our peers, our colleagues, our teachers and our students.

However in 2020 not only have we achieved all of this but we have also conquered 2020, a year that will be remembered for the rest of our lives. The way we remember this year can influence the our future – remember it as the year from hell and the year where everything went wrong and I think we miss an opportunity. Alternatively we can remember it as the year we showed that we can do anything, that we can learn new skills on the run and that we are resilient beyond our wildest dreams. Remember it this way and 2020 could actually be empowering.

The college will continue to grow and change in 2021. Growth and change is good as it allows us to continually revisit what is important to us and to demonstrate our ability to be inclusive to all. I am excited at what 2021 holds for Northern Bay. I see a year where we will continue to drive for college wide consistency in all of our programs, look to further engage and include our students in their own learning and continue to deliver outstanding outcomes for all students – and hopefully avoid any Pandemic setbacks and lockdowns.

I wish all families and friends of Northern Bay College a happy and restful holiday period and look forward to seeing you all refreshed in 2021.

There was a college card made to thank some of the wonderful community contributors to the college and I share with you all this terrific photo.

Best wishes,

Scott Diamond

Book Sales Day

All families were given a pack of information at the end of November giving details of Book Sales Day on 22 January at Goldsworthy Campus. Here is a reminder and the wonderful news of supplying all year 3 - 10 with a personal  device to assist their learning.

Northern Bay College is looking forward to another great year of teaching and learning and we take this opportunity to advise you of Northern Bay College’s Parent Payment Arrangements for 2021. In addition to this, we are advising that the College is introducing our new Student 1:1 Device Program in 2021.  This means that all Year 3 to Year 10 students will be receiving a new Lenovo 300e Chromebook 2nd Gen, which will be collected with the Student Book Pack on Friday 22 January.  Excitedly, these $400 devices, which also come with a carry bag, will be at no cost to families.  

Information on safe use and student expectations will be shared at Book Collection Day and at the beginning of the 2021 school year.

Book Collection & Parent Payment Day

Friday 22 January 2021, from 8am to 5pm

Goldsworthy Campus GYM

a copy of the information pack with all parent payment charges for the different year levels will be on the website

December Business

Student Leaders @ Northern Bay College 

One of the exciting aspects of work being completed over the past couple of weeks has been the selection of school and campus leaders for 2021. Students at all Campuses have had the opportunity to give a presentation to peers and staff for those coveted positions and have shone brightly in articulating their own vision for their school. It has been inspiring to see our students so passionately talking of the environment they wish our college to be and the work they will put into achieving this in their time as leaders. 

Campus Leaders will be announced next year but College and Goldsworthy Leaders have been appointed.

College Captains

  College Vice Captains

Year 12 Graduation

The first of our 2020 student ceremonies took place on the night of 9 December at The Pier in Geelong with the 2020 Year 12 Graduation Dinner. After much toing and froing and the work of an extremely dedicated staff organising committee, our Graduating Class for 2020 were able to celebrate the huge achievement of completing their high school studies in the presence of their peers and the staff who have supported them so much. It was a wonderful evening and the students demonstrated so gracefully the wonderful young adults they are. They were humble, polite, inclusive and optimistic of both the future and of the experiences they have in 2020 and through their journey at Northern Bay. The families who supported these wonderful young adults and the staff who have worked with these students through their journey should be so proud of the great adults they have become A special mention to 2020 School Captains Mitchell Simpson and Katie Lam who both spoke so well on behalf of the Graduating Class. 

On the Year 10 to 12 Update page (and below) please look at many of these wonderful students in uniform for the last time at Northern Bay College - we wish every one of them great success in life.

Year 8 Celebrations

This week I will have the pleasure of attending the Year 8 Celebrations and Year 9-12 Awards on each Campus. Many students began their education as Preps at Northern Bay and it will be wonderful to share their memories and recognize their achievements. To date I have attended the Tallis, Hendy and Peacock  event and enjoyed their student leaders presentation, their collaborative appreciation of each other and optimism for the future. I wish to thank a number of local organisations who assist the college in providing monetary awards for our students and in particular the generosity of service clubs such as Rotary (Kardinia and Corio Bay, Geelong Kiwanis and Lions of Geelong Corio Bay) 

Each ceremony has a message from The Hon Richard Marles MP our local member for Corio who provides a leadership award, and we thank him also.

Welcome Prep 2021

As we say goodbye to Year 8 and Year 12 from our campuses we must remember that we are saying hello to the Prep students of 2021.

Have a look at what they did when they came to transition classes!

Goldsworthy Building Project

The second stage of the rebuild for Goldsworthy Campus occurred this week with the selection process for the architect who will lead this work taking place. We were extremely fortunate to have 3 excellent candidates pitch for the work at our school and we should all feel very confident that the firm appointed will be most active in gathering and acting on stakeholder feedback for this project. This appointment should be made before the end of the school year.

College Leadership Structure 2021

The 2021 leadership structure at the college will look a little different to this year. As has been shared throughout the year, the college has been refined and subsequently added to our leadership are some high quality and enthusiastic new staff.

The Principal Class structure is in place and this attachment is the Principal Class structure in place:

2021 Annual Improvement Plan (AIP)

One of the major tasks of Term 4 at all schools is the development the AIP. This document outlines the key work that will take place in for that year. In reviewing our 2020 work it was clear that elements such as developing the quality and level of distributed leadership and shared responsibility; maintaining a tight focus on minimal number of high impact initiatives; furthering our work to increase students agency and voice and building on the positive collaborative practices and structures in place are items that should be referenced heavily in the 2021 edition of our AIP. 

The finishing touches will be put on this piece of work before the end of the year and we then look forward to sharing this with the college community when the 2021 school year is launched.

Student Reports

P-8 Student Reports go live on Wednesday 16 December and can be accessed via Compass. Students who have learning support plans will bring these home on Wednesday. 

Students will also bring home confirmation of their 2021 home group and teacher on Wednesday.

College 7-9 Art Design Technology Showcase.

A late entry into the previous newsletter was the outstanding achievement of having an Art Design and Technology Showcase delivered in Virtual 3D. If you missed it then have a look now!

Uniform Shop at Goldsworthy - January Hours

Finally 

Summer is here and it was terrific to see some of the happy students out playing again on playground equipment which remained out of bounds for many months.

I also commend a number of the newsletter pages to you. There are great videos and excellent pieces of students' work that should give you an hour or so of good reading and watching during the summer.

Until 2021

Regards 

Scott