From the Principal's Desk

Welcome to Term 3 - a term that I am sure I am not alone in hoping would be a little more certain. It has been a difficult year from many of us. 

However despite constant news and uncertainty on a daily basis, it has been so inspiring to see and hear of the amazing work being completed across our campuses by motivated & positive minded students. So many of your children show great resilience and are at school with smiles and energy. 

An example of this positivity and focus on the task at hand involved our VCAL students presenting their Work Portfolios. This task required them to present to a panel of staff the work they have completed this year as well as reflections on what they have achieved and how they will apply their learning in the future. Congratulations to all of our students and keep up the great work.

In this newsletter there are many examples of the work your children do at the college. The interviews with students and videos they make are very engaging and show the confidence our students have for sharing their learning. I encourage you to look at the other stages of schooling, not only the areas where your children learn.  We really do have so much to celebrate as this is a very useful way to see the continuum of learning across a P-12 College and Family Learning Centre.

1:1 Devices @ NBC

Our college 1:1 Working party continues to forge ahead preparing for the implementation of 1:1 student learning devices for 2021. A second meeting for this group is planned with work to focus on the selection of appropriate devices for students at separate Stages of Learning as well as further developing our Digital Learning Model. Keeping our eye towards the future whilst maintaining our focus on such an unknown present is certainly a tall order so we do thank this team for their efforts towards this future goal for NBC. Student focus groups are also being formed to get feedback and input from students into this initiative.

Vale Julie McKenna – Northern Bay College School Nurse

Over the past few years, many of us learnt that one of our long-serving secondary school nurses who had supported the health and wellbeing of so many of our secondary school aged students was being challenged by her own health battle with cancer.  She put up an amazing fight but passed away peacefully on Friday 24 July.     

Julie’s school nurse role saw her work closely with a range of schools and her bubbly personality and warm smile was a trademark. Many of Northern Bay College’s staff and families have known Julie McKenna since our Flinders Peak SC and Norlane HS days and no one was surprised to see the way in which Julie approached her cancer situation.  Procedure after procedure, Julie showed an incredible level of courage and her positivity always outshone the adversity that she faced.  Julie’s ability to help others to understand how she was tackling her situation and to guide them on what would be helpful epitomised her skills as a nurse and educator and her qualities as a person.  

Our thoughts are with Julie’s family and her circle of close friends who so beautifully ensured that Julie’s days were filled with stories of the gratitude and laughter that they had shared together.    

The college's tribute in our local newspaper hopefully recognised a little of the sadness within our community and the strong memories we will retain. 

School Photos at P-8 Campuses

It was difficult to announce that we needed to cancel our second attempt to have school photos at our P-8 campuses. Your patience has been appreciated.

We know how important it is to record school years for many families and we have scheduled a final attempt to support you in this.

Dates have been booked for October and although later in the year than normal, families might appreciate that there could be an opportunity to use the photos as Christmas gifts for relatives..

The new proposed dates are:

Wexford - Monday 26 October

Peacock - Tuesday 27 October

Tallis - Wednesday 28 October

Hendy - Thursday 29 October

School Incursions

At this stage we are still looking forward to having some wonderful learning incursions for our students.

We believe that  it is very important to augment the curriculum by having incursions and excursions as part of the school program. We are still limited in going out of school but we can approve learning providers coming to single campuses. It is very exciting for year levels to have these great experiences as part of their learning program. Please look at the Save the Date page for a list of sessions.

Thank You

There is always a risk of identifying groups, individuals or organisations who are doing great things to help our communities. If we tried to list them, surely some would be forgotten, so could I please give a general thank you to all community members who provide support, services, donations and kindness to all of us in the Northern Bay Community. In difficult times communities rely upon each other, and we hear about and have personal experience of this on a daily basis at Northern Bay.

In conclusion may I remind you that these newsletters and the college website have translation facilities. If you or family members can read in a different language, please share it with them.

We will continue to share regularly through Compass and Facebook. 

Keep safe and best wishes.

Regards

Scott Diamond

College Principal