Principal's Report

Welcome back to our students, families and community for 2021.

We are well underway with a positive start to this year, and have many plans for the continued improvement of our college. I’ll share a few highlights from our first month of school, as well as some information regarding our VCE results, our literacy and numeracy plan, our new GPA Reports, and our swimming sports event last week. 

Welcoming our Year 7s

We started the year welcoming our students back, including our 182 new Year 7 students. It’s the first time in many years we have had eight classes of Year 7s (up from seven last year). Given the limited transition activities the grade six students were able to do last year, we expanded our orientation program to two full days this year. The program helped ensure students were well set up with their books, their locker, their laptop, and generally felt comfortable with how to navigate the school. Our laptop program continues to go from strength to strength, and learning how to navigate their new device was a highlight for many Year 7s. 

VCE Results

Following a significant concerted effort over the last couple of years, it was incredibly pleasing to  celebrate our VCE results in December with students and staff. Our college achieved a median study score of 27 – the equal highest state-school score in Gippsland. We also achieved the highest number of 40+ study scores. We look forward to continuing to build on these results with our 2021 cohort, with a strong focus on expectations, revision, study support and exam practice. 

Literacy and Numeracy

Building on the success of our literacy and numeracy enhancement programs last year, we are fortunate and grateful to have received an additional $400,000 from the state government this year to expand our work. We welcome a range of new and continuing staff across these programs, including Julie, Sarah, Dan, Grace, Grace, Lachlan, Ben, Lauren, Mugsy, Bree, Phoebe, Victoria, Ashlee, Mary-Anne, and Ashlee. These staff will be working with small groups of students across a range of year levels, boosting their learning in literacy and numeracy. 

In the coming weeks, we will undertake an assessment of all Year 7 to 9 students using a NAPLAN screening tool, as we did this time last year. NAPLAN is not every student's favourite process, but NAPLAN is an incredibly accurate tool for informing us as to our students’ current strengths and gaps. This will allow us to tailor both class lessons and individual support based on student need, ensuring we’re growing each student in the key areas of literacy and numeracy. 

Our Values

As many in our community will know, we spent Term 4 last year collaboratively establishing values for our college. We have integrated our values into a broad range of areas, including assemblies, certificates and positive acknowledgements. We were excited to see the installation of our new totems at the front of the school last week, proudly displaying our values for students and visitors as they enter the school. 

New GPA Reports

We have taken time to align our GPA progress reports to each of the five values. In keeping with the original intent, each of the five progress report areas look at a specific student behaviour that supports their learning. It is important to note that our progress reports are not academic in nature, they are based around behaviours that support learning (such as effort, or use of feedback). Our first GPA cycle is released today, and I encourage all parents to access their child’s report via Compass. It is valuable to have a discussion with them about their strengths and where they might be able to improve. As always, if you have any queries about your child’s progress report, please speak to the classroom teacher in the first instance. 

Swimming Sports

We held our annual swimming sports event last Friday, and many staff and students commented that it was the best day we have had in many years. We were fortunate to have warm weather and beautiful sunshine on the day, and students were bright and positive as they supported each other in the swimming events. We were able to allow all students to have a ‘free swim’ for about 20 minutes between events, and it was great to be able to give all students a free icy-pole on the afternoon to keep cool in the heat. I’d like to thank Allan Chandler and the PE team for their coordination on the day, the music department for the entertainment, the Year 12s for the BBQ lunch, and Latrobe City for the great team of lifeguards. 

I hope, like us, you are looking forward to a bright and positive 2021. We look forward to supporting all students in their learning, as we strive towards our vision of all students achieving excellence in their endeavours. 

Adam Hogan

College Principal