Principal's Report
New College Vision Statement
During term three this year, staff and parents have been asked to contribute to the development of a new Vision Statement. The statement reads:
A flourishing community of learners, achieving high levels of academic growth and bright futures for every student.
The purpose of the statement is to provide a clear summary of what our College stands for and what we are striving to achieve as we look to the future.
Each part of the statement contains a key part of the commitment our College provides to every child and family.
The phrase, A flourishing community of learners indicates our commitment to ensure students develop the personal skills and life knowledge to form positive relationships, strong and healthy mind and body and meaningful endeavor in their lives.
The middle phrase, achieving high levels of academic growth expresses our commitment to ensuring that every year, every student develops increasing confidence and skill in the foundation skills of literacy and numeracy.
The final part of the statement, bright futures for every student reflects our commitment to ensuring that every student attains high quality results in one or more senior certificate courses (VCE, VCAL or VET) as this will provide them with the best chances of success in the world of work.
At its next meeting, School Council will move to endorse the new Vision Statement as part of the 2017-2020 Strategic Plan. If you would like further information about the Vision Statement or Strategic Plan please feel free to contact me via email reynolds.david.m@edumail.vic.gov.au, or School Council President, Chris Papas at papas.chris.c@edumail.vic.gov.au
MSC Positive Behaviour Support
Achieving our vision starts with making sure that our College is a supportive and positive experience every day for every member of our community. Feedback from students, staff and parents indicates that this is the highest priority for the entire community. Our school must be a place where everyone feels safe, included, valued and respected.
As part of our School Review the College has formed a team including several staff, two student leaders, a School Council parent member and myself to develop a plan to strengthen positive behaviours in our College.
Our first step is to explain to all members of our community what our College Values mean and what they look like in action. This can be seen in the Values Statement and Expectations Matrix (attached)
The Expectations Matrix will be presented to students at the start of Term Four. If we can all commit to learn and demonstrate our values and these behaviours, we will continue to grow as a community and our students will flourish and succeed.
Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews
The College provides many different ways that parents can communicate with teachers, but Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews are one of the most effective because it is face-to-face and allows greater sharing and understanding. Parents can also keep track of their child's progress via Compass and email.
Parent Opinion Survey
Results from the recent Parent Opinion Survey have just been received. All government schools are required to conduct the survey. This year 400 parents were invited to participate and 114 responses were received. The key messages from the results are that while parents believe that there is a high level of expectation that students can succeed, there needs to be greater support for positive behaviors, student motivation and parent involvement. The School Council will look at the Parent Opinion Survey results in detail at its next round of meetings and welcomes further input from parents.
School Council Update
Membership for our School Council has been increased this term and we welcome Kate Barta as a parent member and Councillor Sophie Ramsey as a community member. Sophie and Kate bring great skill and knowledge to Council and with the support of all members of our community, we are all looking forward to making significant progress in achieving our College Vision.
D. Reynolds
Principal