Principals Report

Welcome to Term 2.

Dear Families,

the Edgars Creek Secondary College community has embraced the challenge of learning from home. The College staff have worked collaboratively to translate what is the essential learning of the Victorian curriculum to online platforms. This will enable students to continue to work towards meeting the achievement standards. The College has a wide range of online resources and applications that have allowed for this change in schooling to occur. I am confident that during this time where we are all working together to keep our families safe that the students of Edgars Creek Secondary College have the opportunity to continue to engage in secondary education. As parents/carers there are no expectations that you are required to ‘teach’ your children we just ask that you encourage them to have a go to the best of their ability. Teaching and learning is the responsibility of the College and we have set out clear expectations in the policies on our Remote Learning Handbook website https://sites.google.com/education.vic.gov.au/ecsc-remote-learning-handbook/home?authuser=0

During this time the College is also continuing to provide ongoing wellbeing and technical support. The Middle School Team – Assistant Principal – Phil Adams; Leading Teachers – Rachael Salter and Belinda McKenzie; Student Wellbeing Coordinator – Chantelle Gianinotti and Year 7 Coordinator, Tanele Spiteri are all available to assist both families and individual students. To support all families the College has sent out student logins on multiple occasions and in general, there has been a high number of students logging into their classes and completing the required tasks over this first week. Not everything has run smoothly but in comparing notes with other colleagues and parents from other schools the College’s teaching and learning has been at a high standard.  Please continue to call the College if you require any support with ICT/devices; helping your child accessing the online work.

 You are doing a great job supporting your children but you remember you are not required to "teach them" - this is our job! Some of students will get through the set work quickly (as there are no distractions!) while others may need further support. All our education support are continuing to be available to support our students with their learning. 

Finally, I would like to thank every member of the College community for their ongoing support. As the College Principal, I know that we all want to safeguard our family members from the COVID-19 virus while wanting for life to return to normal as possible. At the time of writing this, it seems that both the state of Victoria and Australia are on the right track! As a Victorian State government school we take our direction and instruction from the State government - Premier, Daniel Andrews and Minister for Education, James Merlino. At this point in time the message is: all children who can learn at home must learn from home - with exceptions only in limited circumstances."  

Attendance Tracking.

This is continuing during remote learning with students needing to log in during normal home group time to connect with their home group teacher. The Middle school team has a clear process in place with teachers passing on information if students have not engaged in classes during the week. The Middle School team will follow up with families to see if there are further supports that the College could provide. 

Senior School Planning.

Most importantly, as a College we are continuing to plan for 2021 and beyond. The work for Senior School Provision is being led by Assistant Principal, Glen Cowan. The College has to complete mandated paperwork to register to deliver a Senior school program and offer VCE/VCAL and VET subjects in the future. A range of documents that refer to authentication processes; data recording and privacy of senior school results; assessment processes for subjects and staff selection are an example of what must be completed and then be given approval. This work needs to continue so that we will be ready for a Year 10 and Senior school program from 2020 onwards.

Future Build Update

I can confirm that the tender documents for the completion of Stage 2 build were released on Wednesday, the 8th of April. The tender will close on 13th of May. This is great news as you can imagine I was a little unsure what would happen to this timeline under the current climate. This process is all managed by the Victorian Schools Building Authority. As the Principal I am respectfully informed of progress so that I can inform the school community. As a College we do not manage any of the build. 

If all goes to plan, the Sports Hall is documented as being built and completed first with the Performing Arts/Food/Canteen Centre and Learning community buildings to follow. This could all start by July of this year!

Enrolments for 2021

In response to the quickly changing climate at the end of Term 1 all information evenings were cancelled and we are now preparing to upload a virtual school tour; view presentation and welcome for our prospective families on our webpage.  We believe we need to take a proactive approach to supporting our future families as they make decisions about Year 7 2021. 

Thank you for your support

Joanne Camozzato.