Welcome to the 2021 school year, and a special welcome to all our Year 10 students and any new students at other year levels who are joining us this year for the first time. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break with family and friends and look forward to a positive and productive year ahead.

This year we have 315 Year 10 students starting with us, our total school enrolment of approximately 870 students. This represents and overall increase of around 150 students from last year and is a reflection of the continual growth of Tarneit and surrounding areas.

We've had a great start to the year at Tarneit Senior College, and it's pleasing to be able to bring you our first newsletter of the year.

Be Involved:

We encourage parents to be active in your child’s learning. Ask your child about school and what they have learnt at school during the day. Don’t hesitate to ask your child questions and please contact your child’s teachers or House Leader if you have any concerns about their learning/schooling. We look forward to working with you in a partnership of learning in 2020.

School Council – Become involved

School councils play a key role in Victorian government schools. Participating as a school council member is a rewarding and challenging experience. The school council supports the principal to provide the best possible educational outcomes for students.

School councils comprise parents, the principal, staff, and students. Many councils also have community members.

School council elections are held in February/March each year and must be completed by 31 March.

All parents or guardians of students enrolled at the school are eligible to vote for parent members, staff vote for Department employee members and students vote for student members. Community members are co-opted by the school council.

Please give some thought to contributing to our College by participating in College Council – there are generally two evening meetings per term, and it can be very rewarding. College Council decides, to a large extent, the policies and direction the College takes and is therefore a most important part of the College community.

Nominations for school council are now open and we invite any interested parents to nominate. Nomination forms are available from the General Office. Vacancies on school council are:

MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY	NUMBER OF POSITIONS
Parent Member	3
DET employee member	1
Student Member	1

Nominations close at 4pm Friday 26th February. Any parents wishing further information about the role of school council are encouraged to speak with myself, Principal.

New Staff

As Tarneit Senior College grows our staff team also grows. This year we have welcomed the following new staff to the Tarneit Senior College Community:

· Jessica McCartney – Penrose House Leader/Chemistry Teacher

· Katrina Ketsakidis – English Domain Leading Teacher/English Teacher

· Ashley Sevior – English Teacher

· Deepa Johney – Maths Teacher

· Divya Mehta – Maths Teacher

· Eki Chan – Maths Teacher

· Glen Stewart – Psychology Teacher

· Janine Poole – English Teacher

· Jordan Membrey – PE/Health Teacher

· Kristine Tree – English Teacher

· Kyra Fennell – Maths Teacher

· Laura Bonne – Arts Teacher

· Leanne Twigger – English Teacher

· Mark Agius – Food Studies Teacher

· Peter Tran – Maths Teacher

· Veronica Wang – Arts Teacher

· Sharon Mayne – House Leader Assistant/Compass manager

· Rajni Nadar – Integration Aide

· Matetahora (Maree) Whareait – Integration Aide

Contacting our School – the importance of making an appointment

Our school prides itself on encouraging parents to take an active interest in their child’s education and we welcome your enquiries. If you have any concerns that you wish to have addressed or any positive feedback that you wish to offer, please do not hesitate to contact us. You will find our office staff extremely helpful and professional and our team of House Leaders equally so.

It is important to remember that parents wishing to speak with a House Leader, an Assistant Principal, a teacher or myself should phone ahead to make an appointment. We can’t guarantee staff availability without a prior appointment.

COVID Safe Behaviours

A few reminders about the key behaviours required for reducing COVID-19 transmission risk. This includes staying home when unwell, washing hands regularly and use of hand sanitiser, no sharing of drink bottles or food and, where possible, social distancing. Students should carry a mask with them at all times and they must be worn when on public transport and school buses. Following the Government’s announcements last week, face masks are now mandatory inside for students over 12 years of age and adults – this includes within classrooms. At present, density limits do not apply in classrooms and other spaces for the purposes of student use and learning including buildings and other shared areas – however students are encouraged to always maintain appropriate social distancing where possible.

Hand sanitiser stations continue to be available in all classrooms. Hand sanitiser is also located in key areas of the school for student and staff use. Both students and staff are encouraged to cough or sneeze into their elbow or tissue.

Any staff member or student who becomes unwell whilst at school with symptoms of COVID-19 must return home immediately and get tested. Students need to report to our first aid officer at the general office first and she will call a parent/carer to arrange pick up as soon as possible. The student will be isolated in an appropriate space with suitable supervision until this can happen. It is not suitable for an unwell student to travel home unsupervised.

The additional cleaning in place last term (COVID safe routine cleaning) is continuing this term in line with public health advice, with a particular focus on cleaning and disinfecting high touch surfaces.

All visitors to the school need to wear a mask. To support contact tracing, schools are required to keep a record of all visitors who attend onsite for more than 15mins. This includes the name, contact details, date and time of attendance at school, as well as the areas of the school that person attends.

School events like house carnivals, formals, interschool sport, excursions and camps can now resume, in line with any specific capacity limits on venues that are being used.

Attendance:

Our target for every student is a minimum 90% attendance at school. It is a proven fact that learning, social connections and problem solving are enhanced through regular attendance at school. Parents play a vital part in supporting their child’s attendance; ensure your child will arrive at school on time. Do not allow your child to be un-necessarily away from school – students should only be absent for legitimate illness. Please ensure if your child is going to be away you have contacted the school to explain their absence in a timely manner.

Ready for Learning:

It is important that all students are ready for learning when they come to school. Parents can assist with this by ensuring that students come to school with all their essential learning materials; this includes items such as laptops are fully charged. Being at school in full school uniform is also an important signal that we are all part of the Tarneit Senior College Community and are here with the same purpose.

Embracing our Values:

Relationships play a key role in maximising learning. It is reasonable to expect that all students, staff and visitors demonstrate our values; Integrity, Innovation and Focus when they are at school and participating in school activities in the community. This enables us to function purposefully and effectively together as a growing community. Importantly though, through the values we are able to commit to the ongoing improvement which our students deserve. Any actions which deliberately act against our values cannot be tolerated, as this takes us away from our core purpose.

Mobile Phone Policy

As all should be aware now, the State Government last year issued a new mobile phone policy banning them from use during the day at school. This wasn’t a huge change for us, as this policy has been in place at Tarneit Senior College since we opened. The main thing for students to get used to is actually locking them away in their locker for the day rather than carrying the phone on them in silent mode. As such, it is even more important that students keep their locker locked at all times to keep all of their belongings safe.

Looking Forward...

I look forward to an exciting year ahead and thank the staff, students, and community for the positive start to 2021. If I can be of assistance at any time, please contact the college to arrange an appointment or a follow-up phone call.

Regards,

Simon Haber

College Principal

Student & Staff House Leaders