From the Principal

Welcome back

Welcome back to Term 4. We are looking forward to the various significant milestones of the last term – shepherding our Unit 3 & 4 students through their final exams, welcoming our new Year 7s and their families through the ongoing orientation program, recruiting new staff, completing the School Self Evaluation, and refining our plans for 2019, just to name a few.

We welcome back the following staff who have returned from leave, hopefully refreshed:

• Kiera Hermansson – returns from family leave at 0.6
• Barry Drinan
• Angela Odorisio
• Carolyn Hutchens
• Danny Leondidis
• Jerome Rush
• Andrew Kyprianou

We welcome two new members of staff to the team:

• Lisa Mulcahy – Enrolments and Transitions in the front office
• Katherine Brissett – Student Wellbeing Counsellor and Student Support (replacing Kirby MacKrill)

Milestones to Celebrate: Northcote in China

VCE Offshore

In the last week of term, Nick Murphy, Effie Sgardelis, Zhen Wang and Paul Giddy went to China to visit our VCE Offshore partners, to provide professional learning and finalise the preparation of the Hengshui students for the upcoming Unit 3/4 exams. The trip was very successful. 

Sister School Sport Tour

On Thursday 20 September, Sarah Blanchard, Meredith Gollan, Ciar Foster, Ben Orphin and Yongzhong Zhu took off to Huaibei No. 1 High School with 28 of our students on the Sport Tour. They had a fabulous time, and it was a very successful trip. We are delighted that they all arrived home safely on the of the second week of the holidays. We extend our thanks to the dedicated staff who supported the trip and made it possible.

Sister School 60th Birthday Celebrations

Jocelyn Hill and Lixia Wang are currently in China to celebrate the 60th birthday of Huaibei No. 1 and conduct our annual reporting trip with the families of our International Students. The celebration was enormous, and the significance of our relationship was a key part of the celebration.

Graduation

On the last day of Term 3 we celebrated the Year 12s at their Graduation, held at the Grand Hyatt. The Senior Team, under the direction of Sarah Green and Jocelyn Hill, and the administration team, including Kate Challis and Xanthe Gunner did a fabulous job of organising the night so that the milestone was marked with the warmth and formality it deserves. I was truly impressed by my first graduation.

Comedy Night – Events and Fundraising Team

The Comedy Night held on the second last Thursday of Term 3 was another huge success. All of the acts were very entertaining, and I, like all of the audience around me, thoroughly enjoyed it. The library cause was well advanced and promoted. On behalf of the school, I extend my sincere thanks and congratulations to the small, but dedicated, team of volunteers and staff who organised the event – Katie Archibald, Kate Challis, Julie Anderson, Sandra Morris, James Thyer, and of course, Caitlyn Crowley for her comedic contacts and Josh McDonald for his support in the Green Room. Thank you also to Martin Hughes for his assistance to the team on the night, seeking pledges from families. Well done to the Events and Fundraising team.

Would you like to be a part of the team who organise future events for families and fundraising activities? The team have streamlined their processes and are able to do much of the work online. If you are interested in being involved please contact Katie Archibald archibald.katie.k@edumail.vic.gov.au

Student Mentoring graduation

On the Friday of the last week of term, our Year 8 students involved in the Raise Mentoring program graduated. Thank you to Kirby MacKrill for her organisation of this program. Both the students and the mentors have remarked to me (unsolicited, I might add) how worthwhile and successful our program has been. It was a truly moving experience to witness the impact the relationship had on both the mentor and the mentee – it brought me to tears on multiple occasions.

Visit from AITSL

In the last week of term, we had a visit from a representative from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). AITSL is the organisation that sets the standards for teaching and school leadership and provides professional learning and resources about what achieving those standards looks like. Christian Meyer observed classes, toured the school and joined us for the staff workshop in the afternoon. Christian remarked on how intense and unrelenting the work of teachers is, and said it was the most valuable professional learning he has done to date.

Buildings and Grounds update

Library Fundraiser

Since launching our Library Fundraiser with an emailed letter to families on 21 August we have raised $11, 000 (approximately 10% of the funds required) to renovate the library. Thank you to all of those families who have so generously donated.

Performing Arts Building

The builders are making progress at a rapid pace, and have revised the estimated finish time as just prior to the Christmas shut down period (although there will be delays with the retractable seating and partition doors), as opposed to the previous April estimation. If this is achieved there will be significant advantages for us in being about to move in over the holiday period and commence the year in there.

Netball Courts

I was informed that the surface coating to the courts would be completed during the holidays. Unfortunately, the weather was not warm enough for the sealing process to work, so it started on the first day of term.