College Principal Message 

JUNE,

Welcome to Winter.  

Top billing news is that we officially have the go ahead to spend the residual money from the Delahey roof repair at Kings Park.  The VSBA is heading up the project and will put out expressions of interest for the required professionals.  As yet we do not know exactly how much it is, but we are hoping it’s enough to include a refurbishment of the staffroom in addition to the upgrade of the entrance and office area.

Professional Learning.  Our recent Curriculum Day was a great success as it focused on our SSP and helped develop common understandings across all staff.  It was capably led by our Campus Principals and some of our Leading Teachers and Learning Specialists. 

• We launched our Teaching and Learning Framework which is an interactive ‘document’ providing links to explanations and resources and staff developed a goal for their practice based on an aspect of this linked to our college values which will be made available on Compass.
• Wellbeing:  The Wellbeing Team worked together to offer simple, sensible and practical suggestions about how best to react if a student is in distress and or acting out in some way. We were reminded that acting out usually disguises some form of distress.

Along with all schools there is an increase in the number of students reporting feeling anxious.  Sociologists attribute this in part to the destabilising effect of the pandemic but also increased use of social media.  Our Wellbeing staff do an amazing job; but we are still understaffed at Delahey by a .5 position.  It also endorses the goal in our Strategic Plan which is to develop a general wellbeing curriculum with the aim of prevention.  

• Attendance: We reflected on how we respond to student absence in a systematic way as well as how we might encourage attendance by creating welcoming and engaging classrooms.  I would be interested to hear what sort of response families would welcome if their child is absent.  

As part of the session staff created unique Copperfield slogans to encourage attendance which you may have seen on our electronic notice boards.  The team is planning to ask students for their contributions as well.

Attendance is a complex issue with very many layers and requires a sophisticated and layered response.  We will continue to work on that, linking the mechanics of reporting and following up attendance with the Teaching and Learning Framework, creating an Aspirational Learning Environment and wellbeing programs.

• VCE Vocational Major:  The new certificates have been approved by the VRQA, so now teachers are engaging with the professional learning sessions and the new Study Designs. Its similarities to VCE are quite pronounced in that it requires students to satisfy 16 units over two years with four mandated Unit 3 – 4 sequences.  It is much less flexible than VCAL and harder to achieve.  The new requirements come into play next year, even for the current Year 11 VCAL students.  This means that the student management team will be looking very closely at students’ eligibility reports to make sure they can be successful at the end of Year 12 in 2023.  All staff, students and families need to be aware of the changes so we can equip all students to be successful.  It is important to note that the other ‘new’ certificate, the Victorian Pathways Certificate is significantly different and is not a qualification as such and only available to students who fit strict criteria. 

Inclusion

It is very exciting that next term we will welcome the services of the I CAN Network to support and mentor students with ASD.  

Pathways 

I would like to acknowledge the work done by the Campus Principals and Pathways staff this year, to bring the course counselling materials and information sessions forward.  I encourage families and carers, as well as students of course, to engage fully with the course selection process, the course confirmation sessions and to make appointments with the Pathways staff via the college website or the following link https://www.copperfieldcollegecareers.com/index.php 

Scholarships

Copperfield College offers a range of scholarships to Grade 6 students.  The categories are Leadership, Academic Excellence or Performing Arts. For 2023 we will award a device as well as the $500 to Year 7 recipients.

Staffing.  As you will have seen in media reports, it has been difficult to recruit staff for ongoing teaching positions as well as CRTs to cover the many absences.  As a result, some students have missed out on being taught the subjects they elected, and others have had missed out on some lessons because we have had to combine classes in order to provide supervision.  Unfortunately, the latter has impacted mostly on our Literacy Intervention program.  Staff absences and student absences have also compromised the achievement of the planned curriculum. We have been aware of the potential stress for students facing exams and CATs and have made class-based arrangements to reassure students they will not be disadvantaged.

The mayoral visit for student leaders was postponed from earlier this term and will now take place on Wednesday August 31. 

Ms Pip Griffiths

College Principal