Principal’s Report

Hello again to all members of the Copperfield College community; in particular those associated with the Delahey campus. We hope you are all well and have been able to ride the physical, mental and emotional toll of another lockdown. I really am hopeful that the tide is turning in our favour even though many of us thought that tide had already turned at the end of last year. At this stage, we can do nothing more than follow health advice, remain positive and check in on friends and family whose circumstances are worse than ours…that’s what a community does. Since I last wrote to you all, lockdown has unfortunately played a significant role in the day-day organisation of activities, events and routines here at the Delahey campus. Having said that, our staff and students have remained resilient, flexible, positive and solution-focused in making necessary adjustments. Year 11 exams an Activities

Lockdown was announced on the eve of our Year 11 exam period. The decision that was made was that teachers could run the exams in a flexible manner, be it a shortened exam online, some extra preparation online during the subject’s allocated exam, the rebadging of the exam as an assessment task or running the exam after lockdown in a truncated format during a class. As we were unsure whether lockdown would be extended, the risk to postpone the exam and create more disruption when we returned was too great a risk to take.

Events Postponed

The GAT, RMIT excursion, Year 10 Experience Day and Year 11 Activities – The annual GAT (General Achievement Test) which is used as a measure to check on the VCE assessments has been postpones. We are awaiting advice from VCAA as to its re-scheduled date.

As a result, the Year 10 Experience Day, a day so important for our Year 10s to familiarise themselves with the Delahey campus has also been postponed. For those who are unsure, we schedule this day on the day of the GAT as our Year 12 and Year 11 students (completing a Unit 3/4 subject) have no official classes. This helps us to staff the Year 10 Experience Day.

Both the RMIT excursion for our Year 12 students and the Year 11 Activities Day were both cancelled VCAL/VET disruptions – Disruptions have also occurred in the facilitation of VCAL PDS (Personal Development Skills) projects and the access to structured workplace learning as part of VET component of VCAL. Having said that, our VCAL students are naturally flexible and selfstarters and any losses made will soon be made up.

Year 11 VCAL Projects

Our Year 11 VCAL students have started working with their mentors from CHASE (Community Health Advancement and Student Engagement) as they develop and work on their health-related projects

Year 12 Exams

Thankfully, we were able to run our Year 12 mid-year exam program without any real interruption. Of course, these exams are trial exams but nevertheless, they serve a critical purpose with practice, familiarisation and most importantly with teacher feedback and opportunities to strengthen learning as a result of that feedback Transition between semester 1 and semester 2 – Students are now working as though it is Semester 2 in both VCE and VCAL. Some students have reflected on their semester 1 achievements and engagement and made some tweaks to their courses. This has been overseen by our Campus Leaders and Pathways team.

Reports

Of course, end of semester reports are close to complete. It’s incredibly important that both students and parents don’t see these reports as an end point; rather a starting point with reflection, goal setting and conversations with teachers about either building on the successes of semester 1 or using it as a motivation for an improved performance in semester 2.

ABCN Focus Women’s Leadership Program – Approximately 8 of our Year 11 female students, along with their Year 10 peers were involved in this exciting program. It provides young women with the essential leadership skills they need to engage in a successful and meaningful career. The initiative addresses the underrepresentation of women in senior roles in Australia. It is designed to support young women to develop their leadership skills, aspire to senior roles in business and the community, and foster a sense of self-belief that will encourage them to aspire. Our students work in small groups with female executives who act as role models and mentors. Mentors share their own career journeys and challenges, which can make an enormous impact as students consider their options for the future. The program involved three fully facilitated, structured sessions which included an introduction to leadership styles, realising strengths and creating a leadership picture. Thanks to Ms Dermody for facilitating the requirements of the program here at the Delahey campus.

Capital Work update

The canteen refurbishment is now complete. It’s certainly a modern and refreshing upgrade on what we previously had . The Study Centre, student toilets, classrooms M10/M11, Pathways and Campus Leaders area is nearing completion. We did have some delays due to the structural requirement of steel beams rather than timber beams. They will be returned back to the school at the end of the first week back next term . If you drive past the Delahey campus, you can see the distinct difference in the roof profiles of the section of building almost complete and that which is about to begin . Decanting out and in will commence on Friday July 16 and continue throughout the weekend so that the very last phase of our capital works program can commence during week 2 . The new Study Centre will need to be partitioned so that it can accommodate a smaller library and a smaller Study Centre during Term 3. All other impacted classroom will be relocated into the portables . New landscaped areas in the courtyard are set to commence during next term.

Car parking and campus access restrictions…I’ve bolded and underlined this because it will be annoying. We have worked with the architect and the builder to provide us the best balance between school access points, carparking spots, construction site requirements, access to cranes, OHS compliances etc. There isn’t much we can do about the fact that staff and visitors will need to use other carparks and off-site parking. I will be placing a Compass notification to parents and students this week. The carpark restrictions will commence from day 1 next term Ok…that’s enough from me.

Please stay safe and healthy. Looking forward to seeing this capital works program complete so that we can enjoy the benefits that it will bring us without all the construction work and dislocation

Take care

Mr Renato Carinci Mr Dan Sullivan

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