Welcome back to Term 2

It was pleasing to see students looking refreshed and ready to learn.

I would like to extend a warm welcome the new students and families joining us this term. It has been so rewarding to find that so many of you described the growing confidence in what our College offers led to your decision to enrol or transfer to Scoresby. I am passionate about our vision to be the College of Choice and looking/forward to working with all members of our community over the coming years.

Open Day and Night

Last Wednesday it was our Open Day and Night and what an outstanding success The College facilities were looking magnificent thanks to Mirvac sponsoring new fencing, landscaping and the construction of a new bike shelter. The northern side of the College aligning the Harcrest Estate now has a walk through and bike track, making the Open Night more accessible.

The day started with our morning tours, these provided prospective families first-hand insight into our high quality teaching and learning programs. In the evening our student leaders were eager to greet and meet our guests upon arrival and lead them between each of the display rooms where teachers were able to talk about our curriculum programs, breadth of subjects offered across each of the learning areas, enrichment opportunities and supports available to ensure every student has every opportunity to experience learning growth. Throughout the evening, it was pleasing to see how proudly our own students showcased their College and how they engaged primary school students in the interactive activities organised. I would like to thank the students who modelled exemplary practises and modelled what our college stands for, our teaching and non-teaching staff for their exceptional work prior to and on the day, members of College Council and ParentNet who supported the evening. The feedback we have had already from tours has led to multiple further bookings for tours.

Student Success

Congratulations to Erwin Diesta from Year 11. Erwin was interviewed by SBS following his last year success winning a major prize in a writing competition in addition to being awarded the University of Melbourne Kwong Lee Dow scholarship. The broadcast link is available on our Facebook Page and whilst the interview was in Pilipino, Erwin spoke positively in English about the opportunities he has had since he arrived at the College in Year 9. Erwin is a positive role model and has been invited to go to the Philippines.

Salvation Army Presentation to VCAL students

On Monday 23 April, Sean Attard from the Salvation Army presented Certificates to all of our VCAL students in acknowledgement of their work raising funds and collecting clothes for the homeless. As a College we appreciate and foster the breadth of skills our students require for their futures and I commend their coordinator Ms Hargrave for engaging our students in a project that gives back to the community.

School Review Progress

In term one we conducted a series of focus groups and online surveys as part of our pre-review self-evaluation for our school review. School reviews take place every four years and provides students, parents, staff and members of the broader community an opportunity to provide feedback on how we have progressed against the goals and targets the College set out in the 2015- 2018 strategic plan. I thank everyone who took the time to participate, your commitment to Scoresby Secondary College’s continuous improvement is appreciated. Last night College Council endorsed the final self-evaluation report which is to be presented to our external reviewer Barry Soraghan next week

Anzac Day

On Anzac Day Jared Larter (Year 11) presented a reading at Waterford Park Village. We are proud of the feedback we had on Jared’s presentation. I am sure it is the quality of the leaders we select that keeps them inviting us each year.

Pictured below is Jared Larter with Cr Tony Holland, Representing the Mayor of Knox, Alan Tudge, Federal Member for Aston & Rod Stodolak, Regional Operations Manager Lendlease Retirement Living.

Professional Learning Community Initiative

Scoresby is lucky enough to be one of the schools to obtain funding to participate in the Victoria Professional Learning Initiative. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are an approach to school improvement where groups of teachers work collaboratively at the school level to improve student outcomes. Whilst we have commenced this approach as a College, the opportunity to have funded support to continue our work with our local primary schools in raising numeracy achievement in addition to further developing all existing PLCs across the College.

Evidence show that effective PLCs exhibit the following10 principles that bring together the best available research on school improvement.

Student learning focus: School improvement starts with an unwavering focus on student learning.
Collective responsibility: For every child to achieve, every adult must take responsibility for their learning.
Instructional leadership: Effective school leaders focus on teaching and learning.
Collective efficacy: Teachers make better instructional decisions together.
Adult learning: Teacher learn best with others, on the job.
Privileged time: Effective schools provide time and forums for teacher conversations about student learning.
Continuous improvement: Effective teams improve through recurring cycles of diagnosing student learning needs, and planning, implementing and evaluating teaching responses to them.
Evidence driven: Effective professional learning and practice is evidence based and data driven.
System focus: The most effective school leaders contribute to the success of other schools.
Integrated regional support: Schools in improving systems are supported by teams of experts who know the communities they work in.

Curriculum Day

On Friday 11 May all staff will be participating in a professional learning day focused on further building teacher practice.

Mr Murray Cronin Head of Curriculum and Pedagogy will lead sessions to launch a fully documented College Instructional Framework that embeds:

use of our well documented curriculum (what we teach)
the College Instructional Model (how we teach)
High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS)
Department of Education and Training Practice Principles.

Our Framework supports Victorian Teaching Standards for Building Practice Excellence. We are excited by the progress that has been made in preparation for the day.

Students will be required at school on this day.

Gail Major

Principal

The Score

Issue 4 · 30 Apr 2018

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