Principal's Report

Full Steam Ahead

During the month of March, students across the College participated in a total of 85 different excursions or activities, which doesn't include ongoing extra curricula activities and production rehearsals. Over the last few years there has been a big increase in the number of activities that our staff are offering students outside of normal classes and it has been great to see students taking these up with much enthusiasm. 

Some of the activities that have taken place in March include events such as the Leadership Induction Ceremony, Mornington Triathalon, our band playing at the Chelsea Heights PS Easter Fair and the Northern Peninsula Swimming Carnival. 

Production rehearsals are now in full swing and it was great to get a sneak peak at Open Night when some of the cast performed one of the songs from Beauty and the Beast - it brought the house down!

Once again, I was proud to hear feedback from community members regarding the excellent behaviour and attitude of our students when representing the College in external events. 

School Council 

I would like to congratulate Debra Ramsey who has been elected as our new school council president along with Sheila Savage who has been voted in as our vice president. 

I would also like to take the time on behalf of the school community to thank Dr Terry Coates for his work as our school council president over many years. During this time Patterson River has seen a significant improvement in student learning data along with several building projects which include the Performing Arts & Senior School Centres. 

Open Night

On Thursday 15th March we hosted our largest ever attended Open Night. Despite planning for larger numbers following last year's well attended event we were once again impressed by the large growth in numbers. 

In addition to filling the Performing Arts Centre, we filled an additional three rooms via video link and were then required to begin tours early as we had nowhere for anyone to see the presentation from. It's fair to say that we will need to rethink our approach for Open Night for next year. 

I would like to thank all of the staff and students who gave up the night to showcase our wonderful school.

China

Over the course of the last week, I have been in China as part of a Victorian Government Schools recruitment trip. Whilst I have travelled widely before to many parts of the globe, it was an eye opening experience to visit 4 cities that I had seldom heard of before (Chengdu, Chongqing, Jingzhou & Wuhan) that have a combined population of 72 million people! I also had the opportunity to visit Cheng Feng middle school in Jingzhou to speak to parents and students about a potential visit to Patterson River later in the year for a study tour.

Cheng Feng is a boarding school housing over 3000 students. Observing classes was an interesting experience, with all classes conducted in a lecture type format. The typical school day runs as follows (6 days per week):

7.30am Breakfast

8am - 12.00pm Morning lessons

12pm-2pm Lunch Break

2pm-5pm Afternoon lessons

5-5.30pm Free time

5.30-7pm Showers & Dinner

7pm-9pm* Self learning (homework)

10pm Bed time

*Year 12s complete self learning to 10pm. Year 12 students pick 6 subjects from a pool of 9 options. 

One of the more impressive sights was watching 3000 students complete the 6.30am Monday morning assembly and flag raising ceremony. Despite the school being set on impressive grounds and highly ranked in China, the Principal is attempting to make changes to their curriculum so that students are able to better develop a range of skills for the workplace and not just focus on 'textbook' work. Interestingly he said that the problem with school in China is that "there is only one right answer" and that they are interested in the Victorian Education system as it seeks to develop a wide range of skills for the workplace.  

We are now looking for families who might be interested in hosting a visiting Chinese student for two weeks in July. If you would like to find out more or express an interest then please contact our International Student (parents are paid for hosting families) Coordiantor Mr Blaise Northey via nor@prsc.vic.edu.au 

Leadership Induction Ceremony 

On Monday 19th of March, an induction ceremony was held for all students who have gained a leadership opportunity at the College for 2018. Whilst I was unfortunately unable to make it due to my trip to China, I have heard some great feedback from teachers and parents about the ceremony. 

Not only do leadership opportunities enable students to make a positive contribution to our school and local community, they also provide students with an opportunity to develop a range of skills including teamwork, problem solving, public speaking and presentation skills.

I have already been highly impressed with our various College leaders for 2018 and look forward to working with them throughout the course of the year. 

Farewell Mr McLaren

Mr Matthew McLaren (Curriculum Leader / English Teacher) has been appointed as Assistant Principal (Senior School Leader) at Western Port Secondary College and will be beginning there at the start of next term. During his time here at Patterson River, Mr Mclaren has overseen a number of key initiatives in areas such as Reading Comprehension, Common Assessment Tasks and Curriculum Documentation. I am sure that he will do great things in his new school and we wish him well in his new endeavours. 

Happy Easter

I would like to thank all members of our College community for working so well together to improve student outcomes. We have set some challenging goals this year to further improve our strong base in areas such as attendance, student voice and academic outcomes. We are already starting to see some early gains in these areas and I look forward to seeing what we can achieve by year's end. 

I would also like to wish everyone a Happy Easter, safe travels and an enjoyable break. 

See you next term. 

Mr Daniel Dew

College Principal