Principal's Report

I would like to start by extending a warm welcome to our families with whom we have had a long term association and to those who have joined our school community for the first time in 2020. The school year has commenced with a very positive vibe from both staff and students and the college is looking great after all of the work completed over the break. I would also like to welcome our new staff in 2020. The following staff have joined us and are a welcome addition to our school community.

Sarah Bouassi (Science), Celeste Bucknell (Eng/Hums), Matthew Bullen (PE), Alex Caniglia (PE/HHD/Maths), Daryl Croke (IT/Hums), Emma Dower (Eng), Sidd Gamakumara (Maths), Ahlem Hammoud (Hums), Thomas Hopwood (Eng/Hums), Amy Lord (PE/Sci) and Chris Spatharis (PE/Hums).
We also have two staff members returning from family leave – Carly Ryan and Diana Falleti.

The start to the school year school has had some disruption with our school uniform suppliers letting us down, and not all students have been able to access the school jumper. This should be rectified by Monday the 17th of February. Despite this set back the majority of our students are wearing our uniform with pride and are prepared for a big year. I ask that all families please check the resources required of their children’s classes and ensure they have the necessary equipment. Without the required equipment it is very difficult for any student to be successful in the classroom. IF you are having difficulty in meeting the needs of your child please contact the school and enquire on what assistance is available.

I had the pleasure of attending the Year 12 Study Skills conference last Friday the 31st of January to present to the group of students who attended information on how to succeed in Year 12. After 3 days of recreational activities and study skills information the group were actively engaged and listened intently to the information presented. This was quite an achievement considering it had been 39 degrees the day prior and was forecast to be 43 on that day. Despite that the students were upbeat and showed great resilience throughout the study skills conference. I would like to thank the group of teachers that attended over the duration of the conference, making the camp a success and especially Simon Hill, our Year 12 student manager who coordinated the experience for our students.

The school will again be undertaking a significant building project throughout 2020. The school is having all of its access points to various buildings upgraded to grant access to students, parents and potentially staff in wheelchairs. This work will take place during semester one throughout the school. It is my legal responsibility to inform all members of our community that the building areas are strictly off limits. The fenced off areas are constructions sites and staff, students and parents are not permitted to enter these sites at any time unless supervised by one of the foreman on site. This would mean reporting to the building site shed and making arrangements with the builder. I thank everyone in advance for your cooperation with this request.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

The Department of Education and Training (which includes all Victorian government schools, central and regional offices) values the privacy of every person and is committed to protecting information that schools collect. All staff including contractors, service providers and volunteers of the Department, and this Victorian government school (our school), must comply with Victorian privacy law and this policy. In Victorian government schools the management of ‘personal information’ and ‘health information’ is governed by the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) and Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) (collectively, Victorian privacy law). This policy explains how our school collects and manages personal and health information, consistent with Victorian privacy law. All members of our community can access this information via the link on our website.

CORONAVIRUS – the advice for all schools remains the same as communicated on the 1st of February, 2020. Please read below for more detail.

The Commonwealth’s Chief Medical Officer and Victoria’s Chief Health Officer have this afternoon recommended a stronger precautionary approach to managing coronavirus for travellers returned from mainland China (not including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) from today (1 February 2020). This recommendation is that parents/guardians/carers should ensure that any student returning from mainland China (not including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) who was in mainland China on or after 1 February 2020 is isolated at home and should not attend school until 14 days after they were last in mainland China. This recommendation does not apply retrospectively. It applies only to students who were in mainland China on or after 1 February 2020.

The existing advice remains that parents/guardians/carers of students should ensure that any student is isolated at home and should not attend school for 14 days:

following exposure to any confirmed novel coronavirus case; or
after leaving Hubei Province.

This same advice applies to any impacted staff. At this point we do not have any staff or students who are impacted by this advice.

School Council Elections

School council elections for DET representatives, parents and students commence today. Any interested member of our community who is considering nominating for a role on school council can now collect a nomination form the general office. Parents will also receive some information and a nomination form in the mail. All nominations must be received by Monday the 17th of February at 3pm.

If you have any questions about any of the formation listed above please contact me via the general office or on 9463 7300.

Best regards,

Corey Jewell

College Principal