Principal's Report

Full Steam Ahead

After a few quiet weeks during February, March was busy with camps, excursions, sporting events and other various activities. Over the course of the month, I have been pleased to see our new Year 7 cohort settle into the school and get used to the rhythm of secondary school life and making the most of the various opportunities that arise.

I have also been pleased to see the active role that our students have played in helping to shape the future of the College. The Student Representative Council were instrumental in securing funding from our school council to complete a number of upgrades around the school, including new (bird proof) bins, drink taps with bottle fillers & toilet upgrades. Our hands-on learning group has already demolished the old drink stations. A number of groups were also involved in organising Diversity Week activities, which included Harmony Day and World’s Greatest Shave. There was a fantastic atmosphere on the oval when these last two events were held during lunch on Friday 15 March. The event not only to promote inclusiveness, respect and belonging but also raised a significant amount of money for the Leukaemia Foundation. Year 7 student Jack Kennedy had the honor of being the shaving Mr Cashmore’s hair after he raised the most money for World’s Greatest Shave. Jack was also guest presenter on a Behind the News report for fundraising event.

In addition to our funds for SRC initiatives, our newly elected College Council also released funds for a number of other projects including:

$170,000 for Landscaping (Performing Arts Centre)
$25,000 Library Upgrade (new reading area and books)
$25,000 Furniture & Classroom upgrades

Open Night

Thank you to the members of our College community who assisted with Open Night on the 14 March. Once again, the event was well attended with approximately 700 people in attendance. In particular, it was great to see so many of our students volunteering on the night to show prospective families around the school and share their insights and knowledge of our College.

Transition (Key Dates)

Next term, Grade 6 families will be provided with enrolment forms from their primary schools. While the dates are yet to be set by the Department of Education & Training, bookings are open for our key testing days for EXCEL, along with scholarship applications and out of zone applications.

EXCEL Academic Testing

Expressions of interest close: Friday 30 April

Testing Wednesday 5 May 9am-2.30pm

www.surveymonkey.com/r/excelacademic

EXCEL Sport Testing

Expressions of interest close: Friday 7 May

Testing Thursday 13 May 9am-2.30pm

www.surveymonkey.com/r/excelsport

EXCEL Academic Testing

Expressions of interest close: Friday 3 May

Testing Thursday 9 May 9am-2.30pm

www.surveymonkey.com/r/excelacademic

EXCEL Sport Testing

Expressions of interest close: Friday 10 May

Testing Thursday 16 May 9am-2.30pm

www.surveymonkey.com/r/excelsport

New Website

Over the course of first term, we have been working on the development of a new website to better serve our school community. In addition to overall design changes, we want to provide the school community with greater access to key documents such as key contacts, policies, guidelines, curriculum handbooks and common links. It would be great to hear if you have any suggestions for particular features or information on the website that is not currently available. Please do this by emailing: patterson.river.sc@edumail.vic.gov.au

Annual Report to the School Community

I recently tabled the College’s draft Annual Report the School Community which will be available to the public early next term. Pleasingly, the results and other data supplied by the Department of Education & Training demonstrates that Patterson River outperformed expected levels in most areas in 2018. In addition, the College remains in a strong financial position and was able to embark upon a range of initiatives and projects in 2018 without jeopardising service delivery. I look forward to sharing the final report.

Staff Professional Learning

This term, we introduced a new initiative into our staff professional learning time, termed ‘Form Focus Groups’. This has involved teachers getting together each Monday to focus on particular forms. Activities have included:

Reviewing key information from previous teachers (including primary school)
Reviewing prior achievement (NAPLAN/Teacher Judgements/PAT tests) and plotting against on quadrants (e.g. High Growth v Achievement)
Comparing 2018 attendance v 2019 attendance
Discussing observations and goals for each student
Completing Individual Learning Plans

Next term, teachers will spend Monday afternoons focusing on one of the following teaching strategy areas:

Questioning Techniques
Metacognitive Strategies
Problem Solving (Year 7 Numeracy)
Collaborative Learning

On Wednesdays, teachers will be learning about and developing content for our whole school reading comprehension and vocabulary framework.

Staffing Update

Lisa Cavey (Assistant Principal) has been appointed as the Acting Principal at Monterey Secondary College for Term 2 this year and as result will be on leave from the College for next term. As a result Ms Allira Lang will be the Acting Assistant Principal (School Operations) for Term 2.

Uniform Update

At the last council meeting, a selection panel was assembled to run a tender for a revised uniform under a new contract (which is currently earmarked for 2020). We expect that this process will be concluded in May. I understand that families are currently experiencing delays with our suppliers, in particular for some sizes and the school jackets. Bounty Shop has exhausted some supplies in the jackets so please contact Knowledge Time and allow plenty of time if you require a new jacket. Knowledge Time has a new website with online ordering. Go to

In order to assist with supplies, we are seeking donations or uniform that families would like to sell through our second hand uniform shop at the school. You can drop this uniform off anytime at the general office.

Happy Easter

It has been a pleasure to work with the College community this term and I am excited about the year ahead. I hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable Easter.

Mr Dan Dew

College Principal