Student excellence and achievement

For this newsletter, I would like to congratulate and showcase some of the students from Ms Brew’s year 9 English class who received excel awards for their work in semester 1.

It is great to see students putting in the effort to excel at their studies and receiving acknowledgement for doing so.

Later in term 3 we will have an awards assembly for the whole school once we have had an opportunity to collate and analyse the results from semester 1 for all students. I will provide further details around this soon.

Uniform policy changes

As we begin semester 2, I would like to provide some greater detail and clarity around our uniform policies and processes.

During term 2, school council considered a range of potential changes to the school uniform policy and offerings. The results of this process are outlined below. These changes have come about as a result of feedback from the community regarding the communication around the transition to the new style uniform and are designed to support a more consistent and family friendly approach to the management of uniform at the college. Significant consultation and feedback from our community have helped to shape the changes to our current policy and I wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to this feedback.

Several proposals were put forward by School Council to the community, and the following information provides a summary of the responses received.

Proposal 1: to allow students to choose to wear PE uniform regardless of their school programming

As you can see, the feedback overwhelmingly supported this proposal.

Interestingly, soon after we closed this survey, the Herald Sun ran an article with the Headline, “Experts call to replace school uniforms with sports wear”, further supporting the position that the school is taking in this area. You can read this article online here: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education-victoria/experts-call-to-replace-school-uniforms-with-sports-wear/news-story/7df9a776938697976949501cc46af94b

Proposal 2: To remove seasonal restriction around what can be worn when

Proposal 3: Uniform to no longer be described and applied according to gender (eg. Girl’s shorts vs boy’s shorts)

Proposal 4: Consider the introduction of a ‘hoodie’ style windcheater that would be more suitable for active uniform

Further considerations for uniform items

The school also will be looking to expand the range of short styles on offer to provide more options for various body shapes and types.

We also received some great ideas for other uniform items such as scarves and beanies which we will also be considering for possible addition to the uniform in 2022.

Currently, we have asked the supplier to develop some samples of possible windcheaters, additional styles of sports shorts and active wear pants and we will be testing these samples with students when these come in.

We are also investigating options about alternative fabrics for some of the current items in response to feedback received.

Any new styles added to the uniform offerings will be available in 2022.

As a result of this feedback, uniform monitoring at the college will change slightly. It is still a requirement that students are all are dressed in uniform for attendance at school. The only real difference for the rest of this year will be that students may choose to wear sports uniform on any day if they wish to do so. This will support those students who wish to engage in active activities during recess and lunchtime as well as those who ride bikes to school. It will also ensure that it is easier for teachers and staff to regulate the wearing of uniform, providing them with greater time and opportunity to focus on what really matters – the teaching and learning of our students.

I would like to sincerely thank all students, staff and parents who took the time to respond to the surveys. The response was quite impressive with more than 350 responses received, clearly indicating that this is an issue for many students, staff, and families.

Frances: The HOPE Dog