Congratulations and Thank You

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of the College community for your ongoing support over the last 12 months. What a year it has been - once in a lifetime!

Over the last few weeks, one can certainly feel a sense of 'moving forward', and, with that, a feeling of relief as we leave some of the more challenging aspects of 2020 behind us, and look towards 2021.

Students and staff, alike, are well into planning for next year. The Year 10 and 11 VCE/VCAL students have just completed their Orientation Program for Year 11 and Year 12 and we just held our Year 6 into 7 Orientation Program. Although somewhat different to previous years, students were able to meet their new classmates in their homegroups and participate in a variety of lessons.

This year has caused us to see our lives and work through a very different lens, to pause and to reassess what matters, what is worth spending time on, and what makes a difference. As a school community, we are continuously reflecting on and analysing what we have learnt as a result of the challenges, and the often surprising successes, of online learning and working. This will inform and shape our focus areas, and aspects of the way we teach, work and connect with each other. We have learnt so much, and it is exciting to be part of many conversations about 2021.There have been so many highlights this year across the college both in and out of the classroom.

VCE students will receive their final results on December 30th and the College will be opened on December 30th & 31st 2020 and January 4th 2021 to support Year 12 students with any changes required to their tertiary preferences. Details have also been provided to students about availability of support at time of distribution of VTAC placements as students require this as well. I am confident we will see once again some outstanding results. A more detailed analysis of our VCE achievements will be published early next year. I am delighted at the number of students obtaining a study score of 40 or above across a broad range of subjects in the college. Our Year 12 students will have their Graduation Dinner on Wednesday February 2021. As a college along with student voice, we have decided to hold this event early next year to house a special and memorable evening, given the year students have had.

Due to current restrictions, our Presentation Evening will not be held on Wednesday December 16th 2020 as planned. Award winners will be presented with their certificates and prizes at the beginning of 2021 at their first student assembly. The End Of Year Program in 2020 for Year 7 - 9 students will only include school based activities from December 15th - 18th and students will be dismissed at 12:30pm on Friday December 18th 2020. End of Semester Reports will also be released by this day as well.

I would like to thank all staff for their work this year as well as acknowledge the teams of helpers from the Parents, Family and Friends Group who have supported Louisa Norwood and Julian Anfuso in organising and running the second hand book sales online.

Each year several of our Year 10 students are invited to apply for the Kwong Lee Dow Scholarship program based at the University of Melbourne. These scholarships provide the students with a range of benefits, especially in situations where the student ultimately goes on to study at the university. This year we have been fortunate to have Atara Gunasekara appointed. Atara’s scholarship will be presented with their certificates at the beginning of next year. Congratulations Atara!

We have a number of students who have been rewarded for their hard work. Last month, I was informed the school received another high number of Western Chances Scholarship offers in a given round. This is due to the hard work of the nominators. In addition to the below list, we also have a high number of students across the College who have their scholarships renewed each year. Below the entire list of students who have received new scholarships in 2021

Aaveen Ganesan
Alex Joannou
Christina Christou
Eirini Christou
Emily Farrugia
Emily Nheu
Erika Yang
Georgia Panayiotou
Gurpreet Kaur Bains
John Le
Kamich Kiir
Margaux Truong
Milena Knight
Nitya Leon
Seline Mehmet
Yasemin Ahmet

Congratulations to all the nominators who supported the above students gaining a scholarship. Thank you to all other nominators this year who helped renew scholarships for students who have received a scholarship in previous years. These scholarships will go a long way to supporting these students next year.

Facilities Upgrade

The College applied for the Minor Capital Works Funding Grant and this proposal was generated to the support the restoration and improvement of the school gymnasium. I am delighted to say that we have been successful in receiving $364,000 to fund this project. The notification came from the VSBA last week and now we will need to commence the planning for this project. This is the most significant funding we have received in minor capital works! We have also received funding from a second grant to install new ‘Shade Sails’ near the Inclusive Building and the Portable with rooms L4/L5.

Finally, I am delighted to confirm that from state budget a few weeks ago, we will be receiving funding to support the upgrade of our school. We will be receiving 1.82 million to upgrade of our oval.

Tutoring Program

You may have read about the Victorian Government’s funding of a state-wide tutoring program to support students to ‘catch-up’ in their learning following the impact of COVID. Our school will receive over $400,00 to find full time teachers as tutors for the first 6 months of next year.

We are currently considering options for the structure and implementation of this program. The focus will primarily be on literacy and numeracy; although there will also be a need for subject specific support for senior students.

Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) and Next Year

The Victorian Government established the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) to provide payments for eligible students to attend camps, sports days and excursions. To find out more about CESF go to www.education.vic.gov.au/csef.

In 2021 every Year 7 government school student who received CSEF is eligible to apply for a uniform pack that is provided through State Schools' Relief. CSEF forms for 2021 are available at the General Office for completion. Please note that you must have a valid parent / guardian Concession Card (as at 27th January 2021) to be eligible to apply. A Centrepay option is also available for 2021 for all eligible parents and further information can be obtained from the general office.

Please remember that different schools will have different start dates next year. Our start date for all students will be Thursday January 28th 2021 . The school office will open from Monday January 25th 2021. I plan to send out a letter electronically to all parents in the week before school commences reminding everyone of arrangements for 2021.

Finally, I wish all families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. To those of you able to take a holiday break at this time of the year, I wish you a relaxing and enjoyable holiday.

Danny Dedes

On behalf of the Principal Class

Theresa Burlak, Rick Hudson, Sasha Mildenhall and Louisa Norwood

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