Principal Report

Saying Goodbye to Staff

Tuesday the 26th of July saw us saying goodbye to our ES staff librarian Jennifer Austin. Jen is our current longest serving staff member and has given great service to staff and students over the many years she has been with us at Edenhope College. She has moved from the old school (which was on the same site), into the current school. Jen will take with her a wealth of knowledge and she will be missed, but she has been passing that knowledge onto our current crop of ES staff who will take over the running of the school library. We wish Jen all the best in her retirement to Horsham.

We wish another member of staff who left on Friday 22/7, Carine Bezuidenhout all the best with her new counselling career with the local Wellbeing Hub. Carine was our Primary Wellbeing Officer. Carine has advised with her new role she will still be available to help with school counselling needs which is fantastic. Carine also taught our F -1 class on Friday’s and this role has been taken on for the rest of the year by Sarah Burgess. Kim Thornton leads the F – 1 class Monday to Thursdays and Sarah will teach Friday’s.

Curriculum Development

Leadership, faculty leaders and staff are about to commence classroom observations in Term 3. This is an area where staff visit other staff members and then together reflect on the practice observed. Collaboration and reflection are areas as a whole staff we are building, with the aim of improving curriculum delivery and consistency for students. Students will also be involved in the observations so the effectiveness of how they learn can be improved. We will use our new instructional model to guide what we look at in the observations. In Term 3 we will look at the green section of the instructional model below. 

Staff Professional Development Day 15/8

On Monday August 15th Edenhope College is having another student free day. The Victorian government has acknowledged the pressure sickness/Covid has put on the Victorian schooling system and have put more staff PD days in place. We will look to have Term 3's PD day on the same day as St Mals staff PD day, for ease of split primary/secondary families and for our buses. Staff professional development and the focus for the day will continue to be related to our School Strategic Plan and strengthening curriculum within our learning environment.

Primary teachers working together on a previous staff PD day across the F – 6 Mathematics curriculum, in Term 1.

As a school we are also looking at visiting other like schools across the Wimmera (and beyond), in a Term 4 PD day, to gather best practice to help us continually reflect and improve our student’s outcomes.

Equestrian Elective

On Monday’s I have been attending the Equestrian elective run by our ES staff member Edwina Price. It is a fantastic opportunity for the students involved and they absolutely love it. Lesson 6 they go out to the pony club and Edwina schools students and their horses until 4.30pm. Down the track Edwina is looking to enter students into equestrian competitions within and outside the schooling system. Edwina has also flagged running courses for younger students (without the need for a horse), to cater for students who’d like to develop their interest further with horses and how to interact with them.

Biology Trip

Last Friday the 22/7 with Miss Craig away ill, I took the VCE Unit 2 – 4 students down to Melbourne for a day trip and practical experience in the Melbourne University’s Food Science wing. We looked at mutations in fruit flies and influenza antibodies. It was very informative and enjoyable to bring back my biology experience from 40 years ago. The students were spoilt with state of the art equipment and placed orders with me for Edenhope College’s equipment to be upgraded. The practical work they did in the laboratory will be used for their next school assessment. Students really enjoyed their Melbourne University excursion (so did the principal).

Edenhope/Balmoral/Goroke School Camps

Our cluster have some fantastic camp opportunities over Term 3 for students. This coming week 25/7, sees the Year 9/10 students going to Bogong Village and then skiing at Falls Creek. After that there is the opportunity for a free camp for Years 7 – 12 to Lorne for two nights and 3 days of activities. This camp was funded free of charge due to the struggles of students around the state, due to Covid. Edenhope College was invited to participate and we’ll do it with our cluster. Primary will see the 4/5/6's off to Sovereign Hill in August, which is the alternate venue to the Melbourne Urban Camp. Neither of these have been able to be run over the past two years. F – 3's will have their late night stay early in September, which is a real thrill for them. Yes it’s a busy term but full of opportunities that have been denied in recent years.

Building/Grounds

We have a fencing contractor ready to start the boundary fencing of the front oval and the primary school, - around 400m worth of fencing. It was needed for safety and will be put up hopefully by Term 3's end. We also hope to have a new ceiling in place in the stadium by the Term 3 break, a contractor has been sourced for that. Over the June/July school holidays, the ceiling in the Centre was finally fixed and the room is now back in action.

Trevor McClure