Assistant Principals' Report

Reflection on the last two weeks                             

The past two weeks have seen us involved in training to set up the College staff for our future Professional Learning Communities.  This approach will encourage robust inquiry for continual improvement in student outcomes, keeping our children’s learning in the centre of everything we do.

All College teaching staff and many of our Education Support staff are now level 1, 2 or 3 trained through Diabetes in Schools to ensure the safety and inclusion of all our students, giving us greater confidence in providing the care required to students who manage their lives with this condition every single day.

The circuit-breaker lockdown caused our community to jump into action in response and we thank the entire community for their swift response and success at remote teaching and learning.  We know we can do it and it is incredible how agile our community can be to ensure the continuance of learning.

Year 7’s are heading off to Camp Week away for their Orientation camp and are sure to return having forged new friendships and confidence.  Thanks to the staff who work so hard to make this camp happen and to those who attend for giving up time with their own families to ensure your children are cared for and have a blast.

Gina Carroll

Assistant Principal 

Important Information about Parking during Pick Up and Drop Off

As a community, it is each of our responsibility to keep our students safe and role model road safety that saves life and limb. 

Following on from concerns expressed about the illegal parking and double parking at the front of the school, we would like to remind parents that they will need to: 

• arrange to pick your child up at an alternative location or further down Church Road if you are unable to access the Drop Off/Pick Up Zone.
• do not park for an extended time in the Drop Off/ Pick Up Zone.
• once you have dropped off/picked up your child please move carefully into the traffic so that another parent can use this space.

Please see attached a compilation of Victorian Road Safety Rules for reference.

Belinda McGee

Assistant Principal

​Happy, Active & Healthy Kids

With the State Government’s focus on the Happy, Active and Healthy Kids priority, alongside Learning Catch Up and Extension and Connected Communities, Doncaster Secondary College is focusing on implementing an explicit classroom approach to social and emotional learning through the Victorian Curriculum Personal and Social Capabilities. 

Social and emotional learning encourages learners to develop self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Thus, the Personal and Social capabilities are essential in enabling students to understand themselves and others, and manage their relationships, lives, work and learning more effectively.

​This aspect of the Victorian Curriculum involves students learning to recognise and regulate emotions, develop empathy for others and understand relationships, establish and build a framework for positive relationships, work effectively in teams and develop leadership skills, and handle challenging situations constructively. Students who develop these capabilities are equipped with the skills they need to succeed in a variety of subjects and learning experiences, and to become lifelong learners who can navigate the challenges that the modern world presents to them. 

In some ways, teachers have always taught these skills: through collaborative learning, co-designing learning goals and through high expectations for learning that encourage students to demonstrate our school values of responsibility, respect, resilience and teamwork. Over time, what we’re learning is that these skill sets are the foundation for learning success and that prioritising them promotes experiences of success in learning for all of our students. 

Families can support their children to embrace these skills in a number of ways. Modelling open, healthy communication and relating behaviours is pivotal. Making time to talk over dinner or at some routine part of the day is one way to achieve this. Our school produces a regular Conversation Menu about topics relating to physical, social, emotional and mental health that can guide families to engage in this communication. Checking in with your children about their learning, including time management, learning goals and learning challenges is another way to encourage self-discipline and accountability while also building trust and support. It’s usually not about providing answers: often, what’s more, helpful is to ask questions which help students think through their challenges and generate a solution with you. 

Learning happens best when what’s happening at school is reinforced by what’s happening at home, and we appreciate the way our families support children to embrace educational opportunities. You can learn more about the Victorian Curriculum Personal and Social Capabilities here. 

Elisha Sadikay

Assistant Principal