Principal's Report 

WELCOME BACK

Welcome back to all students! We hope you are ready for Term Two, which runs for 10 weeks and concludes on Friday the 25th of June. Term 3, also 10 weeks in duration, will commence on Monday the 12th of July. I commend the students on how well they have settled into this school year and Term 2, particularly after the significantly disrupted school year in 2020. I look forward to the continued positive contribution you are making to the college, both within the classroom and in the broader co-curricular program.

In some exciting news, planning for the new college gymnasium is well underway in consultation with our appointed architects. A building firm will be selected later in the year and buildings works will commence early in 2022 with a 12 month completion date envisaged.

STATE DIVING AND SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS 

Congratulations to our State Diving Champions - Piper B. and Ben W. - who both won the 1 metre and 3 metre diving events for their age group. Well done to the seven students that made it through to the State Swimming Championships last Thursday 22/4/21 at MSAC. To get to the State titles in any school sporting event is an outstanding accomplishment. Well done to all involved and for a full report of their outstanding effort in the State Diving and Swimming Championships go to the Sports Update in this newsletter.

VSC MARCHING BAND AND VSC ANZAC ASSEMBLY

Congratulations to Vermont Secondary College music students who were involved, for the first time, in the annual ANZAC Day Parade in Ringwood on the 18th of April. The band was ably led by Ben Muddyman and further supported by Jeremy Shannon. 

The event was held by Ringwood RSL and we thank them for allowing us to participate in their ceremony. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, our talented marching band were not able to play at the annual ANZAC parade in the city, this year or in 2020, a parade we have been a part of for many, many years. Thank you also to Sally Barkla for supporting the students on the day and to Khristian Mizzi for organising the event on behalf of the College.

Vermont Secondary College also commemorated ANZAC Day on Friday 23rd of April at our Junior and Senior College Assemblies. I thank the students for their formal participation in this annual event and I again thank the college band, led by Ben Muddyman, for their excellent musical accompaniment of the official ceremony. Special thanks to Felicity Siegenthaler and Caleb Wong for playing The Last Post and The Rouse, an incredible effort in front of your peers. Thanks also to Jim McGuffie, for coaching and supporting the two students.

Under the ‘adopt an ex-service organisation’ program, Vermont Secondary College formed a partnership with the 10th Australian (AIF) Field Ambulance Association in 2014. We have their Honour Roll in the college and a range of memorabilia on display. This year at our assemblies, we were again privileged to have Ted Young, veteran and President of the Tenth Field Ambulance Association. Ted was able to speak to both assemblies with a heartfelt and poignant message about the role of the 10th Australian (AIF) Field Ambulance Association in World War 2.

As part of this association, following the 2015 ANZAC Day assemblies, we planted a descendant of the ‘Lone Pine’ on the front lawn near the flagpoles, with Wendy Ward representing the 10th Australian (AIF) Field Ambulance Association. Despite the very exposed position the pine is planted in, the descendant of the ‘Lone Pine’ has well and truly taken off.

The relationship with the 10th Australian (AIF) Field Ambulance Association is one we are committed to and look forward to continuing.

Ted Young, President and WW2 veteran, representing the Tenth Field Ambulance Association with our school captains – Ellie Ryan and Jin Liang (Mike) Yong.

UPCOMING AUTUMN CONCERT

The Autumn Concert will be held on Thursday 13th May in the Fallon Centre Auditorium with a starting time of 6:30pm. Tickets can be obtained online via the college website:

• 6:30pm start until 9pm
• Tickets are $6 while students are free

Any questions, please contact Khristian Mizzi at the school.

COLLEGE COUNCIL - COMMUNITY REPORTING MEETING

The VSC annual Community Reporting Meeting was held on Tuesday 20th April, 2021 at 6.30pm. At this meeting, the VSC 2020 Annual Report was presented and ratified by College Council.

The 2020 Annual Report will be available soon on the college website and it is a snapshot of the 2020 school year including a wide range of data sets. To read the report go to the College website and click on ‘About Us’, then ‘School Accountability and Improvement Framework', then ‘Vermont SC 2020 Annual Report’.

This report will, in time, also appear on the Victorian Registrations & Qualifications Authority (VRQA) website at: https://www.vrqa.vic.gov.au/StateRegister/Search.aspx/Search

Once there click on ‘State Register’ and enter ‘Vermont Secondary College’.

2021 STUDENT ATTITUDES TO SCHOOL SURVEY 

We value student voice as a means to improve student wellbeing, engagement and achievement through quality instruction.  The Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS) is an annual student survey offered by DET to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Our school will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve your child's schooling experience. Students from our school in Years 7 to 12 will participate in the survey.

Juniors (Years 7 to 9) will complete this survey online, while the Seniors (Years 10 to 12) will complete the paper version. Juniors will complete the survey online during school hours using a purpose built secure online survey tool.  It is important to note that we are not in any way “testing” your child.

Juniors will be provided with a unique login to complete the survey. The student login is an assigned identifier that may be used by the Department to combine data for research purposes only. Your child’s privacy and the confidentiality of your child’s survey responses will be protected at all times. No identifiable personal data is included in the survey response file. 

The survey results will be reported back to the school in Term 3. No student can be identified in the results reported to schools or in any other report of the data. These results will be communicated to parents through College Council and via the Annual Report. In previous years we used the survey results, compiled over several years, to assist us in writing our Strategic Plan (2017 – 2020). Last year’s results were used to write the 2019 Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) and are also highlighted in the 2018 Annual Report.

This year the Attitudes to School survey will be conducted at our school between the dates of May 24 to June 11 approximately. The survey only takes 20-30 minutes to complete and occurs during your child's class time. Please visit the Department of Education and Training (DET) website if you would like more information:

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/data-collection-surveys/policy?Redirect=1