Principal's Report

Year 12s finish at CHS

It was wonderful to see our Year 12 students with their final days celebrations and complete their exams. The behaviour of our students in their final days was exceptional and is a credit to them, their families and the 2023 Captains, Merched, Luna, Zoe and Mia. 

A big thanks to Gary, Giulia, Dave, Eve and Belinda for all of their work with the Year 12s, particularly with our first formal graduation at the San Remo Ballroom, which was a wonderful celebration. 

Masterplan & Facilities

We have had some major progress on our Masterplan since my last update. Following on from staff and student input into the Asset Management Plan 1 in the first half of the year, we have held two consultation sessions with parents, student, staff, School Council and members of the Buildings and Environment Sub-Committee to shape the Asset Management Plan 2 - the Masterplan. This Masterplan has now been signed off by the School Council and once it has been signed off by the Victorian School Building Authority I will share it in a future update.

Some key elements of the Masterplan include:

• a new, two-storey Technology building, incorporating Food and Design Technologies, to be located to the west of Building A. This will allow for an expansion of hands-on and vocational learning here at CHS. Combined with the enclosing of the footbridge between Buildings A and B, this forms Stage 1 of the Masterplan. 
• a new Stadium and associated classrooms to be located to the north of Building A, in place of our current relocatables EG.01-EG.08 and close to the internal road (Stage 2). The school entitlement is to a two court Stadium and we are hopeful for additional funds so that this could be a four court facility to be used by the Coburg community outside of school hours. Earlier this year the Merri-Bek Council unanimously committed $3m towards this project in the 2024/25 year.
• Refurbishments to our existing Building A (additional Science labs & new staff lounge), Building B (opening up of the Theatrette for alternate use, expansion of Visual Arts) and conversion of the Gym to a Performing Arts Centre. This is Stage 3. As part of this, the current basketball court would form the shell of a 300+ theatre. In looking to re-use this space rather than knocking down and rebuilding this building, this is a sustainable outcome. As with Stage 2, the school is not entitled under the VSBA rules to the theatre as part of this stage, but we are hopeful of working with other local stakeholders to achieve an outcome which would create spaces which would add to performing arts facilities available for community benefit, as well as for the performing arts and for whole year level events.

During October, the Labor candidate for Pascoe Vale, Anthony Cianflone, and the government announced that if re-elected, they would fund Stage 1 of the Masterplan, a very significant $17.8m announcement which I communicated this in a newsfeed at that time.

I'm pleased to let you know that the Liberal candidate for Pascoe Vale, Tom Wright and the opposition has matched this commitment.

We have had a number of visits across this year from other local candidates including Angelica Panopoulos, Greens candidate for Pascoe Vale, Fiona Patten, MP for the Northern Metropolitan Region for the Reason Party and Sue Bolton, Socialist Alliance candidate for Pascoe Vale. We know that all of these candidates are all very supportive of improved facilities for our school.

Merri-bek North Education Plan

On the day of the announcement of the facilities funding for our school, the government also announced that Coburg High, along with John Fawkner College, Glenroy College and Pascoe Vale Girls' College will be part of the Merri-bek North Education Plan. Claude Sgroi, Area Executive Director for Hume Merri-bek presented last week to School Council members and to staff this week about the implications for our school community, but the focus on this stage is about increased collaboration between staff within the four schools, building networks with tertiary and vocational institutions and increasing opportunities for students. There will be further information, including how the consultation stage of the plan will occur over the next six months, in future newsletters and newsfeeds. You can read more about Education Plans that have been undertaken across Victoria, here.

Performing and Visual Arts events

Throughout Terms 3 and 4 we have been fortunate to have a wonderful program of performing arts and visual arts events to celebrate student success and allow families to see their children's performances and artworks. Our events have included the VCE Music Night, Year 9/10 Music Night, Burgfest, VCE Showcase and Year 7-11 Arts Showcase. Well done to our students for their wonderful achievements and performances, thanks to our families in sharing in them and a big thanks to our staff for putting these events together.

Student Safety - Bell Street Bridge & Elizabeth Street crossing

If you haven't seen it already, please check out our students who have been advocating for an improved Bell Street Bridge. 

You can see and share on Facebook a better quality version of the video here and the petition is here. Please take the time to let local representatives know we need a plan to solve this danger zone ASAP.

Also please sign this petition for a pedestrian crossing for the also dangerous Elizabeth Street as well.

Coburg on the Green

CHS, the Instrumental Music Program and the Parents' Association are proud to present the return of Coburg On the Green on Friday 2 December 5:30pm - 8:00pm. The event will be held on the deck/ in front of the Cafe with the option to spread out onto the lawns, relax and enjoy the entertainment. 

There will be a Parent Association volunteer run bar (serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks) and a gourmet BBQ with all profits going back to the school's music learning area. 

Want to help run the bar/bbq or help out at this big event? We need volunteers to make this a great night for everyone. Click here to volunteer.

Tickets available here, just $10 for adults, $0 (but gold donation encouraged) for under 18s.  

Questions about this event? Please email: info@coburg.vic.edu.au

2023 announcements

The decision was made back in Term 3, but it hasn't been officially communicated to the wider school community - I would like to congratulate Melanie Buscema-Moore, who will be joining the Prin team in 2023. Mel has been one of the longest serving CHS staff members, beginning her time at Coburg in 2015 and in that time she has performed a number of significant roles including Timetabler and Sub School Leader. Next year Mel will take on roles involving oversight of school operations, inclusion support and intervention programs.

Congrats also to our 2023 School Captains Tabby B & Josh R and Vice Captains Ezzat G and Monique C. I have already met with the Captains and Vice Captains a couple of times to progress their initiatives for 2023 and look forward to working with them throughout the year.

School Council Update

 Major recent business of School Council has been around the Masterplan, facilities and Education Plan outlined above. The Uniform sub-committee is developing criteria for the assessment of uniform items for a review that will involve parent, student and staff feedback in the first half of 2023. The newly renamed Walking and Riding sub-committee is progressing initiatives in relation to student safety and active travel.

In this space, we recently welcomed Grade 6 students from Moreland Primary for a pre-orientation session where our students helped their younger peers learn about bike safety, photos below. A big thanks to Maria and Costa from Moreland PS, Hannah, Chris and Kat from CHS and Zoe from Merri-bek Council for piloting this exciting new intiative with our two schools.

Brent Houghton

Principal