NGSC Newsletter

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS’ REPORT

Mrs Julie Andrews, Mr Paul Dawson &

Mr Bradley Headlam

Assistant Principals

The Geelong Project

North Geelong College is participating in The Geelong Project (TGP) in 2019.  TGP’s focus is to minimise youth homelessness and prevent young people from leaving school early. TGP is unique to Geelong and is now being used interstate and internationally. It is recognised as the best way to tackle the problem of youth homelessness, long term.

 

TGP believes that working early (early intervention) with young people and their families is the best way to solve problems before they become too large. Early Intervention Response Worker’s from Barwon Child, Youth & Family (BCYF) will be placed at North Geelong Secondary College. They will provide support to assist students to stay at home and remain connected to school.

 

Students are asked to complete the Australian Index of Adolescent Development (AIAD) survey. The survey asks questions about students’ current circumstances at school, their health and wellbeing, family, friends and the community. Through the survey, students with high risk factors will be identified so that TGP can offer support.

North Geelong College and TGP hope that parents and the community will get behind this effort to provide improved support to students in Geelong schools.

Year 12 Study Camp

This camp was held from 6th to 8th of February at the Warrnambool Campus of Deakin University and was once again a great success. Over 100 students attended and, from all reports, thoroughly enjoyed the experience, both academically and socially.  A highlight was seeing students taking themselves out of their comfort zones and participating in unfamiliar activities. The Year 12 students have begun the year with their heads down and are working hard, with few students requiring assistance to refocus.

Reading at NGSC

Due to our high expectations around improving school data, the school has implemented a targeted reading program for Years 7-9. The English program is split this year into four periods of English and one period of dedicated reading with strategies about appropriate reading levels, reading comprehension and promoting reading for learning and enjoyment. Teachers of the reading classes have had specific training by an external specialist in reading.

 

The Curriculum Day being held this term on 7 March, has a focus on reading across the curriculum and a guest presenter will speak to all staff in the first session with workshops to follow. Contact your child’s reading teacher or Brad Smallman, English/Literacy Leading Teacher, for more information. 

Uniform

The students have started the year smoothly and in particular; the school uniform has been worn well, most students have their devices  connected to the school’s wifi and many students have the correct materials for their learning. There are the usual efforts of children wearing incorrect socks or wearing the PE uniform on non-PE days or even if they are not doing PE or Outdoor Ed in a senior program. The Year Level Coordinators are working with these students and families to address the problem. The new version of the PE zip up jacket, with the soft shell outer, has also been seen at school. 

Progress Report

Please note that on the evening of Monday, 25 February the first round of Progress Reports will be available on Compass. This will provide an insight into your child’s progress with particular focus on the following:

  • Achievement- progressing toward outcome/standard
  • Attendance- meets NGSC requirement
  • Homework
  • Participates positively in learning activities
  • Preparation/Organisation- required materials
  • Respect to peers and staff.

These will be conducted every four weeks and reviewed by staff and the Student Management team to address areas of support, improvement and celebration.

Logging in to Compass

It has been noted that approximately a quarter of parents still have not logged into Compass. A letter and details around setting up Compass on a device at home has been mailed to those parents, with details on how to log in. Parents should receive this in the next few days. Support can be provided by speaking to Mr Headlam.

Attendance

Attendance is an area of significant improvement in the College, however, it continues to be an area of focus. It is included as an area of assessment in the Progress Reports. We have significantly high expectations in this area and are always aiming to support parents in ensuring students are at school more consistently. This year we have enabled parents to provide a response to the morning SMS by a link to indicate a reason for absence. We hope that this enables an easy notification to school.

Engagement Survey

In recent weeks all students at the College have been completing an engagement survey. You will be able to access your child’s responses to the questions via Compass Insights. Teachers will receive details from this survey in the next week to completely inform them of the learning needs of the students in the class environment. Teachers will identify avenues to differentiate their instruction and therefore cater to the different abilities and needs in their classes.