Principals Message

Dhanganna, Hello, Rojbash and welcome to the 2023 school year. Already we have seen so many wonderful achievements from our students who are focused on learning and achievement and our goals of shaping “Our Future. Our Learning”. 

Year 7

We started the year welcoming a fresh new group of year 7 students to our school.  Our Year 7 Year Advisers are Ms Tanya Williams from Science and Ms Annie Kanety from our Support Unit. Year 7 participated in peer support activities and activities designed to show our students how we learn at ASC to start off the year. On Thursday 23rd February we welcomed Year 7 and their parents and carers to the school with a BBQ where they could meet their teachers in particular their Crew teachers in an informal setting. Many thanks to the ASC P&C who supplied the BBQ for the evening. 

What is Crew?

At ASC we live the goal that “every student is known valued and cared for”. Part of knowing our students, who they are and how they learn is the daily Crew period. First thing in the morning, our Crew teachers check in with their class and develop positive habits and relationships as well as support students to set learning and life goals. A student’s Crew teacher is the first person you should contact if your young person is having any learning or wellbeing issues at school. The crew teacher sees our young learners every day and we try to make sure that one crew teacher follows the crew class through their schooling wherever we can. You can ask your learner who their crew teacher is or check their Sentral timetable through the parent portal.

What are our big plans for 2023?

Each year schools review their school plan goals and set new goals and develop ways to meet those goals. In 2023 we will continue to build our school plan and activities around the strategic directions of:

• Student growth and attainment
• High Challenge, High Support Teaching and Learning and 
• Student Voice

In the area of student growth and attainment we are aiming to improve NAPLAN, HSC and Attendance Results through targeted literacy and numeracy programs in the junior years and strategic support around HSC attainment. Last year 23 of our teachers undertook further professional learning to improve their teaching of HSC courses in English, Modern History, Mathematics, Biology, Music 1, Chemistry and Business Studies. Our 2022 HSC results certainly reflect how this learning for our teachers has translated into improved results for our students.

High challenge, high support teaching and learning is assisting us to develop a culture of high expectations where our learners are supported in their access to the curriculum to achieve their best. This includes supporting professional learning for staff to collaborate with colleagues to improve outcomes for students requiring differentiation in the classroom. This could be in using Aboriginal or EALD pedagogies to support student success or in developing challenging projects for divergent thinkers. In 2022 the school supported 25 teachers to undertake the Mini Certificate in Gifted Education through the University of NSW and this year, all teachers of the Teal classes will undertake further learning in how to differentiate for High Potential and Gifted Students. All our teachers regularly undertake professional learning to ensure that we are building into our programs and classrooms strategies to support our students improving every lesson. 

Key learning focuses and programs this year that support our student include the accelerated reader program and Get Caught Reading for Year 7-9, supported classes for literacy and numeracy in year 7 and 8, the team around our senior students working to create more effective study habits through provision of quite study spaces throughout the school and digital supports such as Atomic for our senior students.

In 2023 we are rolling out the Canvas Learning Management System for our students. Our teachers are learning the system too so please be patient with the technology. Once it is up and running it will allow parents and carers to have much greater transparency over what their learners are working on, how they are being assessed and the feedback they are receiving on their work. It will also allow learners to be better organised and prepared in getting assessment tasks in on time as each student has an individual calendar as part of the system and reminders are provided. Eventually families and learners will be able to see in real time how well learners are developing their skills and abilities.

A focus on student voice this year will be in three areas; student direction in learning, encouraging students to set goals, act on feedback and reflect on their own learning processes, student self-regulation and governance, learners will be engaging with our Positive Behaviour for Learning framework and redeveloping a Student Representative Council across the school and engagement with community. Our engagement with our community has been slowly redeveloping since Covid restrictions have eased but we expect to see this grow further in 2023 and we will be facilitating opportunities for community to have their say through Yarn Ups, Informal and Informal surveys and forums. We will also be engaging with our partner primary schools through undertaking Quality Teaching Rounds across schools and undertaking learning with them in Curiosity and Powerful Learning.

A big change for our school this year is the change in finance system to School Bytes. Parents and Carers will already be familiar with School Bytes for excursion notes but now when you pay online it will be using this process. The rollover has gone smoothly, and parents should be invoiced soon for subject fees. 

Armidale Secondary College would like to thank our families for the support of Voluntary Contributions which enable us to provide a high-quality education for our students. We greatly appreciate your generosity and dedication to our school community.

With your support, ASC is able to provide a range of resources and programs that enhance the educational experience for our students. Your contributions help us to:

– Purchase new technology and equipment to enhance learning experiences.

– Provide additional learning resources such as textbooks and online resources.

– Offer extracurricular activities and programs, such as sports teams, music and other enrichment opportunities.

We understand that voluntary contributions are a significant commitment, and we are grateful for your willingness to support our school. Your contributions make a meaningful difference in the education of our learners, and we are honoured to have your support.

Thank you again for your generosity and dedication to Armidale Secondary College

These are just the big plans and goals. Each day at ASC there are over a thousand daily goals being met, hundreds of challenges to be overcome as we are a strong and resilient community of learners together. I’ll be sending out a quick survey to our community to get your thoughts on our communications protocols very soon, your voice matters, and we appreciate any feedback that we can use to make us the best school in the state. At ASC we are seeking solutions for improvement.

Who looks after whom at ASC?