Principal's Report

The Legacy - School Production

In this newsletter you will find a report on the 2022 Coburg High School Production, "The Legacy" and I encourage you to have a read. Well done to our outstanding students who wrote and performed the songs for the Kool Skools Recording and Songwriting Project earlier this year. These songs then formed the basis of the production, with staff and students collaborating on the development of a script and also accompanying dance. As you can imagine, this is no small endeavour! The final product, performed over four nights (as well as dress rehearsals and performances for local primary school students) was a spectacular success. I received a lovely message from some audience members which I thought I should share with you:

"We thoroughly enjoyed Friday night’s production of ‘Legacy’. The music, the singing, the dancing, the acting, were a credit to the talent and hard work of students and staff. We were also glad to be there for the Q&A. So many valuable points were made. With our very best wishes for the remainder of this year, hopefully the last where Covid makes life extra stressful for school communities."

I too would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Production Co-ordinators Hannah Glennie and Caitlyn Barclay, ably supported by the Performing Arts team of Madison Desiato, Jenna Carracher, Anna Berlingeri, April Gallo and Olivia Stray.

Upcoming State School Spectacular

Two of our very talented students with a passion for the performing arts, Daniel H and Shae S, are currently rehearsing for the Victorian State Schools Spectacular.

This year there will be two performances at John Cain Arena on Saturday 10 September followed by a 90-minute broadcast of the show on Channel 7. This year's production will showcase over 3,000 Victorian government school students in a performance of music, song, dance and circus arts. Well done Daniel and Shae, we look forward to seeing you perform!

Masterplan

Recently Bryant Alsop were appointed the architects for the school's Masterplan process. We're currently in the preliminary stages, determining our entitlements as per our predicted enrolment number of 1475 students in 2027. When we have more details about consultation with the school community - students, parents and staff - I'll provide details in a Compass newsfeed update.

Local road safety

We know that 50% of our students use active travel (mainly walking or bike riding) to get to and from school. Earlier this week we asked students to complete a survey around their experiences on the Bell Street Bridge over the Merri Creek. This bridge has been identified as needing improvement by the Moreland Council. In their recent Advocacy Plan, Council is seeking state government funding for:

"a feasibility study and designs for safe and accessible active travel options over Coburg's Bell Street bridge at the Nicholson Street intersection to address pedestrian and cyclist safety issues, particularly for Coburg High School students."

We had a very good response rate for our survey and some of the findings were:

79% of our students have travelled over the Bell Street bridge by walking, riding, scooting or wheeling.
The most common reason for students to use the bridge is to access shops (e.g. 7-11). Next most common were to travel to/from home and to visit friends/family or go to extracurricular activities.
36% of students have observed an accident or a near miss on the bridge.

Here are just a sample of the student experiences:

"Seen cars go up on the curb/footpath narrowly avoiding hitting pedestrians. I've narrowly avoided being rear ended while driving multiple times while stopped on the bridge. I know the car behind nearly hit me because I hear its tyres screeching along the road."

"3 times on 3 seperate occasions, 3 individuals were almost collected by cars turning into Nicholson Street and were coming down the cemetery end"

"A car went through a red light while we were crossing and almost hit a year 8."

Students also identified other local roads which need improvement, including Elizabeth Street, Murray Road, Bell Street and Sydney Road.

What can you do?

If you haven't signed it already, I encourage you to sign a petition from a local CHS parent group called 'Safer Access Over the Bell Street Bridge for Everyone' calling on the state government to fund an expert review of the bridge and associated precinct.
Another petition has been set up around a set of pedestrian lights at Elizabeth Street which would make crossing this road safer for our students. Moreland Council recently voted to plan the Strategic Cycling Corridor connecting O’Hea Path running south of Coburg High to Merri Creek Trail and beyond to Elizabeth St, so these lights would fill in this link, making travel between Coburg and Preston much safer for pedestrians and bike riders. I haven't shared this one before so please take a minute to sign and put pressure on decision-makers to make Elizabeth Street safer for our students.
Report vehicle crashes in Moreland via this online form. This crash reporting process allows Council to gather more information on crash and accident hot spots in Moreland. If Council doesn't know about it, it can't make improvements to local roads or advocate for the state government to do the same.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Rylee of Year 8, recently selected for the the Essendon District Football League's youth girls training camp.

Brent Houghton

Principal