Principal's Report

Principal's Update

Firstly, thank you very much to all the parents who contributed to the Bunnings BBQ & Cake Stall Fundraiser last Saturday. It was great to see so many of you there. Congratulations to the Parent Association who coordinated the event and thank you for raising well over $2000.  

Congratulations also to the students who represented themselves and Coburg High School so well during the live broadcast on Channel 7 last week. There is more information about that activity at Pentridge within this issue of the newsletter. 

In this issue, I would like to highlight two of the three cross-curricular priority areas within both the Victorian Curriculum and the Australian Curriculum:

1. Learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures
2. Learning about Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia

National Reconciliation Week (27 May—3 June)

This week is National Reconciliation Week which incorporates dates that commemorate significant milestones in the reconciliation journey, including the 1967 referendum to remove parts of the Australian constitution that had discriminated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This followed the right to vote federally and was in later years followed by the Mabo decision, the Bring Them Home Report (the Stolen Generation), and the Apology.

National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to consider the history and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to find ways to contribute to achieving reconciliation. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are the oldest, continuous cultures in the world, having existed in Australia for at least 50,000 years. The uniqueness of these cultures and their stories, artwork, music, dance, food and the sense of custodial responsibility for Place is of significant value to us all.  

At Coburg High School, some of our trees are scarred trees that would have been cut by the Koorie people in making tools for everyday life. This is a tangible reminder of our Indigenous history in Coburg and of practices that extend back many hundreds of years.

Expanding our languages program: Chinese and Spanish from 2019

Spanish is currently the only language offered at Coburg High School and we are proud of our strong Spanish program. As the second most spoken language in the world (440 million native speakers) and the official language of over 20 countries, it is an important language. We have a fantastic team of Spanish teachers and our amazing students have achieved great success in Spanish, including collectively coming first place in Australia for Spanish in the global Languages Perfect competition last year.

Because of a sustained increase in enrolments into Coburg High School, we are now able to offer an additional language option to students when they begin in Year 7.

From next year, we will offer two language options for students in Year 7:  Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin).

By introducing Chinese in addition to Spanish, we will be able to offer students two different language options, both of which offer viable pathways.

The choice of Chinese (Mandarin) was based on extensive deliberations and follows discussions and decisions by school council and curriculum committee.

Chinese is not only the most widely spoken language in the world but is also one of the world’s oldest languages and it is now the second most studied language in Victorian schools. China is our largest trading partner, by a wide margin, and our economic, geopolitical and cultural opportunities have increasingly become tied with China’s. In addition, within the Victorian Curriculum, one of the three main cross-curricular priorities is ‘Learning about Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia’ and introducing Chinese will strengthen our overall curriculum and our languages program even further.

We look forward to the continued success of our languages program at Coburg High School and to offering both Spanish and Chinese from 2019. Language learning is fun and important because it can expand our repertoire of ways to think, act and feel, exercise our ability to handle differences, and improve our overall communication skills and literacy. 

Finally, inside this issue of the newsletter, there is further information about a new sister school relationship that we have formed with IES La Madraza High School in Granada Spain and an inaugural exchange program that is being developed with them, scheduled for 2019. For more information, please contact Jess Griffiths (Spanish Learning Area Leader) or speak with one of our Spanish teachers. 

Stewart Milner

Principal

Coburg High School