Get Informed....

Spotlight on CSC Uniform + Extended Uniform Shop Opening Hours

To assist our families with uniform purchasing decisions, we now have most items up on display.  Pinned to a 7.2m long display board adjacent to the main Administration offices, this display provides an excellent opportunity to check out the current and new uniform items and prices.

In response to feedback from families regarding the pricing of CSC uniform items, CSC uniform supplier Beleza conducted research with a summary of findings available in the “Price Comparison with Schools in Close Proximity Report”.  A copy of this report is available on www.csc.vic.edu.au or you can access it here:

From next term the CSC Uniform Store will be extending opening hours to Tuesday to Friday, 3pm-5pm  or online purchasing is also available at http://store.beleza.com.au/category.php?id_category=24

Payment for Camps and Excursions required 3 DAYS prior to departure

In order for staff organising camps and excursions to finalise the documentation required for the safe management of these activities, it is vital that CSC receives full payment for your child/children at least 3 days prior to the excursion or camp departure date.

Please also note that per the Department of Education Parent Payment Policy, any optional activities you would like your child/children to participate in is on a user-pays basis.

If you intend for your child/children to participate in optional activities but are experiencing financial difficulties, please contact Family Finance Manager Karen Burton on 5479 1111 or email burton.karen.k@edumail.vic.gov.au.  Karen is very happy to arrange payment plans for optional activities in advance of the camp or excursion.

CSEF Yr 7 Uniform Package Opens

State School Relief's Camps Sports and Excursion Fund has just opened for application for 2018 for Year 7 students uniform package.

Sick child?  Call the CSC Absence Line

It has been a severe flu session this year and we have seen a notable increase in absences with students and staff.  For example, on August 8 104 students, or 1/6 of the student population was absent.

If your child is too ill to attend school, please advise us by calling the Absence Line on 5479 1150.  Your call enables administrative staff to notify teachers responsible for your child’s wellbeing, their Mentor teacher, ensures you will not receive an SMS from CSC checking on unexplained student absences, and for senior students in particular, ensures that unexplained absences do not affect your child’s assessment for the year. 

Attendance in VCE classes of less than 80% equates to risk of not receiving a ‘satisfactory’ completion.  If you have concerns relating to your child’s extended absence, please contact their Mentor teacher as soon as possible.

Thank you for taking a moment to save the Absence Line number in your phone: 5479 1150.

Moved house, changed phone numbers?….Please update your details

If any of your contact details have changed since January this year, please call us on 5479 1111 or email castlemaine.sc@vic.edu.au

Elissa O'Connor

Business Manager

Family discussion around Safer Student Pathways at CSC

With the addition of our year 10 to 12 students to the Blakeley Road campus, vehicle and pedestrian traffic has increased both on and around the campus.

Ensuring the safety of our students is of paramount importance at Castlemaine Secondary College. 

Bus Turnaround

The bus turnaround is for buses only during school hours.  This enables safe pick up and drop off of CSC students by Castlemaine Bus Lines.  Students are not permitted to step onto the tarmac from the curbside until all the buses are parked and the bus door is open to admit students.

In a whole school assembly last week, students were reminded of this safety requirement due to concerns raised by both CSC staff members and Castlemaine Bus Lines.

Safer Student Walking Zones

In order to prevent accidents, students are required to walk around the car park using the cement walkways (pathways in green) rather than walk through the car park (pathways in red).  To reduce the number of cars in the car park, we also request that parents and carers do not use this car park to drop off or collect students. 

The diagram below shows the safer location on Lawson Parade available to drop off and collect students.

Please take the time to talk about this important safety measures with your child or children. 

Thank you for your help in ensuring the safety of your children and our students.

Assistant Principal

Term 3 has been a huge term, with the start of our substantive principal, Mr Paul Frye the highlight. Some of the other highlights, in our CSC calendar, include; many camps and excursions, our SRC participating in amazing experiences such as QandA on ABC TV, many professional music events from our students in the CSC music program, led b

y Kristen Borema, and the school production of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ with Darren Lowe as director and Kirsten as music director.

Currently, CSC has two international school exchange programs running; Yr10 and Yr11 French students in France, and another group of CSC students in Japan. Visit our CSC Instagram site (castlemaine.sc) for highlights!

Next term, seven Yr 9 students have won a placement with the very highly sort after Alpine School. For nine weeks, our CSC students will live and work with other Yr 9 students from around Victoria at the Snowy River Campus. They will participate in a comprehensive leadership program that will support them in developing a community project to share with Castlemaine on their return. For further details about Alpine School please check out this link; http://www.alpineschool.vic.edu.au

Currently, all Yr10 students have been invited to apply for the Melbourne University scholarship. The scholarship is known as the Kwong Lee Dow and has been won by past CSC students in Yr10. Please visit this website for further information and the application forms; https://futurestudents.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/2470420/KLD.pdf

Focus on..

I would also like to take this opportunity to update families on CSC processes, procedures and high expectation we have for our great students. This term we’ve started to focus on ‘Out of Class’ pass, ‘Mobile Phones in Classrooms’, ‘Bus Turnaround’ protocols and ‘Parent Drop Off’ zones.

‘Out of Class’ pass

At CSC we are aware that there are very important reasons why students may need to briefly leave class during a lesson. To support student safety, we’ve formalised the pass system. Students can request a pass card from their classroom teacher which then indicates to other teachers they have permission if they are queried.

Mobile Phones

Currently, CSC is reviewing our student Mobile Phone policy with the intent to fully implement next term. All teachers and staff at CSC have the high expectation that students use their phone in a courteous manner. We expect students to; leave their phone in their locker or turn it off in class, students are not to use their phone in the toilets or any other place that can cause embarrassment towards others and not to use their phone to bully or harass anyone. Students bring mobile phones to school at their own risk, CSC isn’t responsible for the theft, loss or damage of mobile phones. In extremely rare situations, if a student has been found using their phone to break the law, the police will be notified. CSC staff ask families to support their children in the ‘reasonable use’ of mobile phones at school and ask that you don’t sms or call students during classtime also. If you need to contact your child in an emergency, please call the main school number, 54791111

Judith McLean

Assistant Principal