Principal's News

From Mr Phillips

In recent weeks, our year 10 to 12 students have been completing practice exams and on Wednesday last week over 400 students undertook the VCAA external GAT. The past month has also witnessed strong participation by many students in the winter round-robin sport with many advancing to zone level competitions.

Congratulations and well done to the RSC Symphony Orchestra for their outstanding performance at the Victorian Schools Music Festival for Strings on Wednesday June 7th. They were awarded Platinum, the highest award possible. Other ensembles in their section were Caulfield Grammar and St Leonards.

Our largest ever Year 11 Central Australian trip departed this week, with nearly 140 excited students. It is a great opportunity to continue to build social cohesion and provide students with a uniquely Australian experience. The Year 10 cohort is undertaking work experience in the last week of term and is another opportunity for our young people to develop more focus and engagement around their future studies.

Recently, I was particularly delighted to launch our Respectful Relationships initiative to staff with our team of staff, parents and students. The work in this important area that seeks to address significant issues around family violence, will be headed by Ms Julia Nordlinger. At Ringwood Secondary College we believe that a good education is about more than simply getting good marks. It is also about becoming a member of society and succeeding in life and knowing how to build respectful relationships.

Semester Reports

Semester one summative reports will be available next week through the compass portal for all students and parents across Years 7-12.   The purpose of these reports is to summarise your child’s achievement and performance so far this year. Regular feedback on progress and opportunities for improvement have been provided throughout the semester via Compass and this information is still available for you to consider when determining further actions for improvement in semester 2. Please discuss them with your children, our teaching staff are always available if you have any concerns or questions.

Staff Changes for Term 3

There are a number of new appointments for term 3 and 4. Mr Joe Pollock is retiring from his role as Centre Manager at Ringwood Training and Mr Shayne van de Heide commenced on Monday as his replacement. Shayne has a wealth of experience working in both the TAFE and private RTO sectors. Ms Anna Urbano and Ms Natalie Kosnar will be on leave for the remainder of 2017. Their teaching loads will be filled by Mr Dale Ingleton (PE and Health) and Ms Renee Douglas (Art and Visual Communication) respectively. Replacement senior school House Coordinators for the remainder of 2017 will be Ms Emma Lim and Mrs Sarah Catton

NEVR Leadership Conference

The conference was held over two days in Melbourne earlier this week. The theme of the conference was “Inspired Teaching and Learning: Creating the Education State” – a reminder of the significance of our work in creating and sustaining effective classroom practice. It featured five outstanding keynote speakers and a series of workshops.

Professor David Woods, Chair of the London Leadership Strategy, articulated how the school education system in London was transformed from the lowest performing region in the country to the best. The critical lessons learned about school leadership and student outcomes, including identifying what works and why were highlighted.

Mary Jean Gallagher, formerly Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Student Achievement Officer at the Ministry of Education of Ontario provided significant insights into how sustainable systemic transformation can be embedded into Education State reforms– an interesting perspective on where leadership needs to be in this changing world.

Dr Therese A Dozier, the Director of the Centre for Teacher Leadership (CTL) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Education provided an interactive session on the role of teacher leadership in enhancing student learning outcomes and improving government schools' system policies and curriculum. 

Dr Lyn Sharratt, from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, discussed structures that support leading in purposeful Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) unpacking three big ideas: Leadership, Collaboration skills and impactful Collective Efficacy for all: students, teachers, leaders and community.

Rev Tim Costello, as Chief Executive of World Vision Australia inspired us in our community role as educational leaders, to create a civil, socially just, equitable society and to make a difference to the quality of teaching and learning in our schools.

There was significant opportunity to share our thinking and practice with other Principals, Assistant Principals and Senior Education Leaders from the Department at the conference and plan for further action.

Building Program  

It is an exciting phase for our project as the learning spaces within the new building are taking shape. Lots of external works are now underway too and during the holidays there will be lots of site works to improve storm water and drainage. I look forward to sharing a short video clip in our next newsletter, that will give you some great insights into our new learning environment.   

Production for 2017- Chicago

A reminder that opening night for this musical is on Friday August 11 with additional performances on August 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19 (sold out). Tickets are selling fast with only 250 seats left for the entire season. Tickets are available at www.rscproduction.com.au

End of Term

The last day of term is Friday June 30 and classes conclude at 2.30pm. Term 3 resumes on Monday July 17 2017.

I trust that everyone utilises the mid-year winter break to recharge the batteries for what will be a productive term 3.

Michael Phillips

Principal