Delahey Campus Principal Message 

Campus Principal’s Report 

Hello (again) to all members of our Delahey community. One thing we can be certain of is the fact that time flies and that the summer holidays are but a distant memory. The Delahey campus is well and truly in full operational mode; although unlike the previous two years, we can now walk around without looking at unsightly scaffold, be distracted by the noise of construction or walk to our classroom as we perfect the art of navigating through a maze. Yay!!

As the learning and teaching continues every day in classrooms, the campus also supports student learning with a variety of routines and events;

RYAS Survey 

Over the last couple of days, all students here at Delahey undertook the Resilient Youth Australia Survey. The survey collects, analyses and reports the resilience of youths at a cohort level in terms of their strengths, life satisfaction, hopefulness, anxiety and depression, coping style, and risk and protective behaviours. Results will be used by a variety of stakeholders across the college, with our umbrella Social and Emotional Wellbeing Strategic Planning Team directing how we use the data to improve the lives of our students.

Senior Meet & Greet  

On Wednesday March 2, the campus hosted a parent information evening for both VCE and VCAL families. There was certainly lots of information to digest but the most important part of the evening was that familiarity and those connections that teachers, student management leaders and the campus principals made with the families, particularly during the smaller Team sessions. We had quite a few parents telling us how lovely the landscaped grounds were now and that it was obvious that the Study Centre looked like a more inviting place.

Redemption Week 

During Week 6, (March 7-10), we trialled a proactive intervention initiative where students who are at risk of not meeting VCE or VCAL requirements were given an opportunity to work after school in a supervised setting with clearly articulated gaps in their achievement with a view to resolving it prior to our mid-semester report and ultimately, our end-of-semester report period. As this was the first time we’d trialled it, the success rate we achieved with student attendance was moderate. The campus leadership team all felt it was an incredibly worthwhile initiative to keep embedding into our culture of high expectations. We’ll continue to tweak it.

Interim Reports due March 28

Our teaching staff are finalising these reports. They are a good opportunity to stop for a moment and reflect on your child’s progress. For some parents, it may be affirmation of their child’s commitment to their learning and conversely, for some students, it may be a wakeup call about where the gaps are and what needs to be done to ensure outcomes are met at the end of semester 1.

Family-Student-Teacher Interviews  April 5 As an adjunct to the paragraph above, there’s an invaluable opportunity for you to discuss your child’s progress face to face with their teacher. Please make the bookings through Compass

Last day of term April 8 

 As is the case every term, school will finish at 2:30 on Friday April 8

A few other things…

Covid disruptions – While the significant disruptions of the previous two years may be behind us, the virus is still impacting and testing our organisational resolve. There are processes and protocols around isolation (as a confirmed case or as a household contact) for teachers, students and their families that we need to adhere to and together we’ll navigate through the roadblocks. Please keep the school always communicated.

Year 12 jackets 

This is the first year we trialled an online purchasing system for the Year 12 commemorative jacket. Students ordered and paid for the jackets late last year. The response has been phenomenal!! Most years, approximately 160 jackets are purchases. This year, we have 214 Year 12 students already wearing their jackets…a much earlier arrival than the usual May-June timeline. The feedback from the students regarding the process and the actual jackets has been extremely positive.

ABCN Focus Program 

Our partnership with ABCN continues with 12 female students engaging in the ABCN Focus Program. Students spent 3 sessions with a designated mentor online discussing career pathways, goals, the journey of their mentor, challenges, successes, reflections etc. Having supervised 2 of the 3 sessions, I saw first-hand the level of engagement and inquiry from the students. Thank you to ABCN!

VCAL PDS projects 

Year 12 VCAL projects are in full swing at the moment. As you all know, we have a brilliant VCAL program here at Copperfield College and we are sometimes victims of our own success. Our projects are getting bigger and better. A selection of three of the projects that I want to mention include:

• An upgrade of the decking area behind the staffroom including ornate half-wall screens, decking maintenance / varnishing and a pizza oven for all to use
• Seating underneath our shade sails so that we can create an outdoor teaching area (so relevant in this post-covid world we live in
• Benches for spectators in the basketball court area

To all our VCAL students…well done and keep it up!

Have a safe, happy and healthy break. See you all in Term 2

Mr Renato Carinci and  Mr Dan Sullivan

Campus Principals