College Principal's Report           

Welcome to our last edition of ‘The Score’ for this term

Term one has been very busy with all students engaged in a multitude of quality learning experiences within and beyond the classroom including camps, excursions, sport, music and many other activities. Our high expectations are known and understood by our students, empowering them to be responsible for their own behaviour and learning.  This isn’t to say that a small number don’t need reminding on occasions.

Our teachers have continued to work extremely hard, modelling our learning values of ‘relevance, rigour and responsibility’ to provide every student every opportunity to achieve their personal best.  This week we had our student/ parent/ teacher conferences.   These conferences were an opportunity for you to meet and get to know your child's teacher and can foster a positive conversation. It is through the sharing of information about your child’s progress, interests and needs, that teachers are better equipped to personalise your child’s learning.

New Council

The College Council Annual General Meeting was held this week.  College Council supports the Principal to provide the best possible educational outcomes for students. On behalf of our community, I thank the following members who have been elected for being prepared to commit their time to support our college

The 2017 - 2018 Committee members :

President - Cindy Lopes (Year 10 and 12 Parent)

Vice President - Keith Talty (Co-opted member)

Executive Officer (Principal) - Gail Major

Committee Members

Parent  Representatives

Michelle Kueh (Year 7 Parent)

Leanne Powell (Year 8 Parent)

Sharon Wallace (Year 8 Parent)

Department of Education and Training Employee Representatives

Chris Knight (Assistant Principal)                                    Murray Cronin (Head of Teaching and Learning)

Michele Rogers (Office / Attendance)

Simone Hargrave (Humanities /Maths / VCAL)

Co-opted Members 

Two College Captains

I would like to acknowledge the work of our retiring members, Leanne Wilson (Former Staff Member), Sharon Hanna, Denise Lucas and Deb Pritchard (all 2017 Year 12 parents) and Christine Prissman (current Year 12 Parent)

With the number of parents of last year’s Year 12 students retiring, we have one further vacant position in the parent category.  If you are interested in being nominated for this position please contact me via the office.

I welcome our new members to Council and look forward to our continued transformation and achievement of our goals and priorities in 2018.

College Uniform

Students are expected to be in their winter uniforms from the start of term two with the correct items being worn to and from school. I am aware that some students have been seen leaving with other clothing items, runners or carrying a bag other than the approved college school bag.  This is disappointing as these students not only impact on the perceptions of themselves and other students; they are not supporting Scoresby Secondary College’s vision and values.

School Review

All Victorian government schools are required to undertake a review every four years to provide an independent analysis of the school's performance against the goals and targets in their school strategic plan.  In February at each of the parent information evenings I talked about the opportunity this provides for us reflect on our improvement journey and identify what is working well, what needs to continue and areas  that may need to be further developed.

I would like to thank all members of the Scoresby Secondary College Community who subsequently participated in focus groups and online surveys as part of our self-evaluation.  Our leadership team has been impressed with the level of commitment, engagement and insights provided by students, parents, families and other members of our community.

This week College Council reviewed the draft Self-Evaluation Report that is to be finalised and sent to our external reviewer within the next two weeks. The College self-evaluation has helped identify what is working well, what needs to continue and which areas of the school's work may need to be further developed.

Next term there will be three days in which our reviewer Barry Soraghan from Education Solutions and a Validation Team panel will visit classrooms and speak with students, staff, members of College Council and other representatives. The information from our own report and that of the reviewer will inform our decisions, priority-setting, initiatives, strategies and actions for improvement for the period 2019 – 2022.

Knox Expo

Last week Chris Knight (Assistant Principal), Holly May, Kahy Girithara and Joel Minisini (College Captains) accompanied me to the Knox Expo to represent our great College.  There were many grade 4, 5 and 6 students from local primary schools who attended the evening.  It was very refreshing to hear such positive feedback on how community confidence has grown. I look forward to seeing many of the children we met there and family and friends of our own students at our College Open Day on April 18. Students at the College will have normal classes between 8:50 am and the end of period 4, with tours taking place at 9:15 am and 11:30 am. The students will be dismissed at 1:00 pm so they may have a break before returning in full school uniform to set up for the evening events at 4:30 pm.  Evening tours with interactive activities commence at 5:30 pm and until 7:30 pm.  The Principals address will be at 6:30 pm.

As we depart for Easter and our holidays next week I wish all of the Scoresby Community members a safe, relaxing and enjoyable break.

Gail Major

Principal