From Bluff Road

Only last week, I saw a funny quote outside a café in the CBD. It said, “if you would like to know what it feels like to be in Hospitality during and post the pandemic, remember the scene in the movie Titanic when the ship was sinking and the band continues to play? Well, we are the band!”

Whilst the honesty of this humour brings a smile to our faces, much can also be said of us all in schools. Throughout all the times of lockdown and now the slow recovery to a new sense of normality, our students, teachers, leaders and support staff continue to try our very best to continue to provide the best possible learning and wellbeing support under very difficult circumstances. As we emerge from the perceived safety of our pandemic bubble, 2022 has brought new challenges with the return of the common cold virus, flu symptoms and continued pockets of Covid-19. Can we please ask that all families continue to consider and discuss the importance of diligent hygiene practices, such as using hand sanitisers, covering faces when coughing & sneezing, optional use of face masks and especially not sending students to school when they are unwell. We are just now entering the Winter Season and continuity of learning, practicing positive behaviour and renewing a sense of community is a priority to us to “fill the gaps” that the last 2.5 years have created. The choices we make today will help determine our success in building a less interrupted pathway to a safe, inclusive and more resilient tomorrow. 

Open Day 

Thursday April 28th was Open Day at our College, where more than 1200 people came through over two sessions to see our wonderful school in action. A special thank you to our students who supported and participated in this event through student led tours, classroom activities, performances, speeches and presentations. It was a wonderful sense of community and these students represented their college with pride. 

ANZAC Day

Due to the school and public holidays, our ANZAC Day assembly was held a week after ANZAC Day on Monday May 2nd. This was led by our Campus Captains Liv Brostek, Will Ramsden and Georgie Harris who did an amazing job in sharing with the campus community the importance of remembering those who have given their lives in our defence forces over the years to make this a safe environment for us to live. Our assemblies are also once again filled with student led information regarding Sport achievements, Performing and Visual Arts events, Environmental concerns and reports from year levels. It is great to see our young leaders once again being able to communicate directly with their cohort and be the Student Voice for their peers.

NAPLAN

Year 7 & 9 have now completed their NAPLAN testing, which occurred from May 10th to 20th at Sandringham College. NAPLAN is an annual assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 which tests the types of skills that are essential for every student to progress through school and life. The tests cover skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. NAPLAN helps governments, education authorities and schools to see whether our young people are reaching important literacy and numeracy goals. It provides information about how education programs are working, areas for improvement, and which schools need support in the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy. For year 7, it helps us set educational goals and further identify any gaps and learning needs. For year 9, it is another tool to assists us and the student with subject and pathway selections, as they move forward to their senior years.

Students should be congratulated for their attitude to this assessment, which was completely online across the State, for the very first time. This process faced many challenges, with some students having devices with issues, preventing them accessing  the tests, sound and other technical challenges. Thanks to our fantastic NAPLAN team of Michael McGowan and Cody Gunn, supported by the amazing technical support team of Dave and Marcel, all issues were resolved as quickly and smoothly as possible,  allowing our students the opportunity to be accurately assessed. There were quite a few students who missed at least one test due to illness and every attempt has been made to catch these students up wherever possible, with a particular focus on ensuring at least Reading and Numeracy tests were completed by more than 90% of the cohort. Although these tests are now online, the results will not be available until term three. These will be posted home to all families of year 7 and 9 students and we will notify parents and carers via Compass when to expect these results as soon as this information becomes available to us.

Year 7 Captains

The final interviews for student leaders have now been completed with the Year 7 Student Representatives now being selected. Congratulations to the following students:

Year 7 Captains

• Roeline Keikemp 
• Dorothy Paterson

SRC members

• Ava Dew
• Elodie Schwarzinger 
• Noah Evans 
• Grace Lord 

Thank you to Head of Student Leadership Leah Biondo and student leaders Georgie Harris and Pip Asome for their work in sifting through and interviewing so many wonderful candidates for these positions. 

Year 9 

Year 9 students have already commenced thinking about their transition into senior curriculum, having completed their Morrissby Report and interviews. This was followed by attending the G10 Summit at senior campus where students had the opportunity to explore subject options  for year 10 and VCE with senior campus teachers at a Subject Expo. This was followed by a presentation on understanding the structure and expectations of VCE. This was very informative for our year 9 students and an opportunity to continue their thought process about future pathways. These important discussions will continue with course counselling for 2023 appointments soon to be held in June. More information will be communicated to students and their families through Compass over the next few weeks. 

IDAHOBIT

Tuesday May 17th was IDAHOBIT Day. This day of recognition aims to coordinate international events that raise awareness of LGBT rights violations and stimulate interest in these rights work worldwide. At junior campus, this was an amazing team effort to bring our community together in recognition of this day and celebrate inclusivity. Our fabulous Student Leadership Team, headed by Leah Biondo and supported by our Wellbeing Team Pat Pekin and Caitlin Elliot held a bake sale, face painting and coordinated games and activities in which all could participate. Luke Devenish arranged a wonderful program of musical entertainment, highlighting the amazing talents of many of our music students from year 7 to 11. It was certainly the hive of activity during lunch time and fun time was had by all. 

Uniform

Just a reminder that full Winter Uniform is required by the end of this month. Our second hand uniform shop is open every Thursday morning at 8.15am until 9.00am at the Bluff Rd junior campus and they have many items available, including College Blazers in excellent condition. With the cool weather now upon us, it is also advisable to secure a school jumper to wear with the blazer for extra warmth, as non-school clothing items are not permitted, including hoodies. Students who choose to wear the school winter skirt may also need to check their hem length, as our young people do grow from the end of one winter season to the beginning of the next and hem lengths may need to be adjusted to meet uniform policy guidelines.

Vivienne McElwee

Campus Principal