Principal's Report

Open Night Success!

We were thrilled by the incredible number of prospective students and families that joined us for our recent Open Night. Families took part in an informative school tour led by staff and students, exploring our College grounds and facilities. At each checkpoint, families engaged in a range of activities and learnt about all the wonderful opportunities on offer to students at Lilydale Heights College. I had the opportunity to speak to many primary school students and families on the night and everyone I spoke to spoke highly of our school, our learning programs, staff and students. It was wonderful receiving this feedback from our community. We know that we are a college that consistently focuses on high-quality teaching and learning for our students, and it is reassuring to hear our wider community confirm this. 

I would like to thank all of our students and staff who supported our Open Night and made this such an incredible event for our community. In particular, I would like to thank Isabella Phillips (Assistant Principal), Tim Wright (Assistant Principal) and Helene Butterworth (DPO) for their leadership and organisation of the evening.  

We will continue to conduct day tours over the coming months for prospective students and their families so that they are able to see us in action. Many of the families on the tours have been speaking very highly of Lilydale Heights College. They continue to be impressed by our calm and orderly learning environment and our focus on learning and wellbeing. 

We are extremely proud of our school, staff and students and are privileged to share this with our wider community. 

Learning Focus - Parent Student Teacher Conferences

Parent, Student, Teacher Conferences form an integral part of the Continuous Reporting Process at Lilydale Heights College. They provide a unique opportunity for the school, families and students to come together and discuss student success, growth and areas for improvement.

Parent, Student, Teacher Conferences will be held on Wednesday April 5 from 4pm – 8pm and then on Thursday April 6 from 10am – 1pm. 

Please note that no regular classes will be held on Thursday April 6. It is expected that students accompany their parents to the conferences and participate in the discussion of their progress and areas for improvement. 

Bookings for Parent, Student, Teacher Conferences can be made via Compass. Bookings will close Tuesday April 4 at 10am. 

Parent, Student, Teacher Conferences provide an important opportunity for students and families to discuss their progress and to build communication between parents and the College.  However, interview times are short: only six minutes in duration.  To make interviews productive and worthwhile, parents, students and teachers need to be well prepared. 

Suggestions:

• Bring your child’s report with you to the conference.
• Make a list of the questions you wish to ask.
• If you wish to discuss a specific issue that you know will involve extended time, contact the appropriate Year Level Liaison.
• If family or medical circumstances may be having an impact on your child’s progress, inform the teachers.  This will help them to better meet your child’s needs.
• Focus on discussing your child’s progress rather than sharing unrelated issues or experiences.
• Include your child in the discussion.
• Jot down brief notes during the conference.

 Suggested questions:

• How can my child improve the standard of their work?
• How can the family assist the student to attain their goals?
• What strategies does the teacher suggest to improve student outcomes?
• Is my child taking responsibility for homework, completion of classwork and participation in group work?

 After the interview:

• It is important to acknowledge and focus on the positive outcomes of the interview, then work on manageable areas that need improving.
• Follow through and reinforce suggestions made by the teachers.
• Keep in contact with teachers if necessary.  A note in the Student Planner or via email is a good way to make contact.
• If you are concerned about your child’s progress during the course of the semester, contact the relevant Learning Leader.

We look forward to seeing you at the Parent, Student, Teacher Conferences.

Student Voice and Leadership

We recently held our Student Leadership Assembly to present our student leaders with their badges. This was a special occasion where we were all able to come together as a whole school community to officially and formally acknowledge the Lilydale Heights Student Leaders for 2023. Our student leaders are an incredible group of young people and we are looking forward to seeing what they will achieve this year. 

We have also introduced a new College Newsletter for 2023 (which you are reading now!). The focus for our new newsletter will be on extending student voice into our community by having students write more articles on what is happening around the school and within classrooms. 

Our school phone greeting service has also been updated to reflect our focus on putting students at the centre. When you now call the College, you will be greeted on the phone by a recording of our students, welcoming you to our school and acknowledging the land of the Wurundjeri people. We have received numerous compliments from the community on our phone message and I have included one of these below: 

‘Just had the loveliest compliment about our new phone greeting! … said it was so beautiful that we recognised the original land owners and that we had students do the greeting. She said she has never heard anything like it at any school ever in her career and it made her day being greeted by such beautifully spoken students. She hopes everyone follows our lead in the future and wants us to let the students know that they did such an amazing job.’

Students have joined our Transition Committee to provide a student’s perspective on the processes and programs that we run to support our new students as they transition into the College. We have also consulted with groups of students on various areas of the College. An example of this was our recent consultation with some classes on the wearing of earrings as part of the Uniform Policy. 

Students have also been instrumental in running a range of events within the College, including our most recent Harmony Day. 

We will continue to build opportunities for our students to have a voice within our College. Supporting students to make explicit connections with their learning goals, achievement, growth and pathways will be a future priority as we empower them to be aspirational and proactive learners.

Discovery Days

As part of our transition process, Lilydale Heights College hosts Discovery Days for our local Grade 5 students. These days are an opportunity for primary school students to attend our College and discover what secondary school is like. During our recent Discovery Days, our primary school students attended classes in Maths, English, Japanese, Science, PE, Food Studies and Technology. This was followed by an exciting ‘Battle of the Minds’ in the PAC. We knew that it was a successful day when the ‘Battle of the Minds’ ended with a dance-off on our PAC stage! The Grade 5 students had a wonderful time and our student leaders and Peer Support leaders who assisted on the day were amazing. We are extremely grateful to the staff who put together this incredible day for the Grade 5 students. 

Key Dates – End of Term 1/Term 2 Return to School. 

Term 1

Wednesday 5 April - The last day of classes for Term 1. 

Thursday 6 April - Parent, Student, Teacher Conferences. There are no classes on this day, however, students are expected to attend the conferences with their family. 

Friday 7 April - There will be no school due to the Good Friday Public Holiday. 

Term 2

Monday 24 April – Student Free Day. The Department of Education provide staff with two Professional Practice Days to be held throughout the year.  The first of our Professional Practice Days will be held on Monday 24 April. Organising for all staff to have their allocated professional practice day on the same day is the most effective and efficient use of this day.  As a result, students will not be required to attend school on this day.

Tuesday 25 April – There will be no school due to the ANZAC Day Public Holiday.

Wednesday 26 April – Classes will resume for all students. 

I would like to thank all our students and staff for an extremely successful Term 1. On a daily basis I am reminded that we are an incredible school. Whether it is on a school tour, visiting classes, watching staff vs students competitions, taste-testing our Café students' coffee making skills, taking the Wasabi test at Harmony Day, engaging in Professional Learning with staff or attending an excursion with students, it is clear that that our community has a shared focus on providing excellence in teaching and learning. We have high expectations of our students and ourselves and will continue to focus on challenging ourselves to achieve our best. 

Have a wonderful holiday break and I look forward to an exciting Term 2. 

Shane Kruger - Principal.