Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

It has been lovely to have the yard full of chatter and activity and classrooms filled with learning and discussions over the last 3 weeks. The students have been very responsible with the wearing of face masks as they have settled back into school. Staff have focused on re-establishing expected behaviours/practices, classroom routines and staff-student relationships. This will continue to be a priority throughout the term, along with the three collective priorities for all schools across Victoria:

supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing
identifying those who need help catching up and extending those who have progressed
preparing for successful transitions.

However, a pre-condition is that we ensure all our schools continue to remain safe environments based on four key pillars:

reinforcing COVIDSafe behaviours, such as staying at home and getting tested when unwell, physical distancing where possible and wearing masks
creating COVIDSafe spaces, including ensuring ventilation and regular cleaning
promoting COVIDSafe activities, such as limiting visitors to schools, and reducing mixing between groups
responding to any coronavirus (COVID-19) risk

I appreciate the support from all of our families in ensuring we maintain a safe school environment.

VCE General Achievement Test (GAT)

On Wednesday 7th October we had our students across Year 11 and 12 who are studying a Unit 3 & 4 sequence sit the GAT onsite. The GAT is a test of general knowledge and skills in written communication, mathematics, science, technology, humanities, the arts and social sciences. Thanks to Sarah Whitwam and the Senior team for their support of our students in preparation for the GAT. The GAT is even more important this year as it will be used to help calculate the ‘consideration of educational disadvantage’ process, given the potential impact of COVID-19. It will also be used to help calculate a student’s Derived Examination Score for any student whose exam performance is affected by illness, accident or personal trauma. The GAT results are also used to help validate the accuracy of school based and external assessments. We always encourage students to strive to do their best in completing the GAT, putting in 100% effort across the three hours, just as they would for a SAC or exam.

Many of our VCAL students also came to school on that day to cook a BBQ lunch for them once they had finished and set up a Scavenger Hunt which was a great success for the students that stayed and got involved. There were quite a few laughs and some great team work displayed as teams raced around solving riddles, challenges and trying to identify staff from their baby photos. Thank you to the VCAL staff and students for making this day special for our senior students

Year 7 2021 Transition

Due to the current restrictions and social distancing requirements we are not able to run our usual Grade 6 to Year 7 Transition sessions onsite. We are still hopeful that we will be able to run a couple of sessions onsite but until we get approval to go ahead with this, we are organising a video presentation for students, visiting our feeder primary schools to run Q&A sessions at their school and linking in with the Grade 6 teachers so our staff can be involved in conversations with the students during their classes.

We look forward to welcoming all of our new students officially to the school on Orientation Day (Tuesday 8 December), pending Department advice that this state-wide day can proceed.

Uniform update

All students returning to onsite learning should be wearing the correct school uniform this term. Just a reminder that hooded jumpers and leggings are NOT PERMITTED. For the remainder of the term we will allow students to continue to wear a non-uniform jacket for the extra layer of warmth, however they must have the correct school uniform underneath this. It is not a substitute to our school uniform.

Since arriving in Term 2 last year, I have received feedback from many students and parents/carers raising concerns about the need for something warmer in our school uniform range of items. Over the last 6 months, our senior school leaders have been part of the process to design a new school jacket. We are now at the stage of getting community input in the preferred design.

You should have received the link to the survey via Compass this week and we are asking all students, parents and staff to select their preferred style. There are three designs to choose from and the survey will be open until next Thursday 5th November and will close at 3:30pm. There is also a sample of the jacket on display in the front office for students to have a look at and see the type of material the jacket will be made from.

Staffing update

Since we were last onsite we have had some new staff join our College. I would like to welcome:

Ms Alice Corkill (English)

Mr David Bryan (Maths and Science)

Mrs Juanita Steers (Integration Aide)

We have also had a couple of staff who will be leaving us. I would like to thank Mr Jacob Schutte (Instrumental Music – Drums) and Ms Shareena Boyd (Food Tech Assistant) and wish them all the best as they take on new challenges. We are currently in the process of recruiting someone to replace Shareena and we are fortunate that she is able to stay with us until someone is appointed. I would like to thank Mr Ryan Lestrange who is currently our Guitar teacher, for picking up the student's studying drums as of next week, due to Jacob’s sudden departure.

Congratulations to Lindsay Coridas AFL Trainee 2021

It is my great pleasure to announce the AFL SportsReady Trainee for 2021 is Lindsay Coridas. Lindsay met with Sue Clancy and myself two weeks ago regarding the School Based Traineeship we advertised to our senior students to commence next year. Following this meeting, Lindsay met with a representative from AFL SportsReady for an informal interview and they were very impressed with her passion, maturity and communication during the interview. Lindsay will undertake a paid Traineeship with us next year, working alongside the Health/PE and Outdoor Education staff.

Student Led Conversations

At the end of last term, we moved away from the traditional Parent teacher interviews and instead trialled student led conversations. From the data alone, we had a significant increase in appointments compared to our normal Term 3 Parent/Student/Teacher interviews (18% in 2019 to 65% in 2020) with a parent/carer and student involved in these.

Whilst we are aware there are some changes required to this process, the feedback has been overwhelmingly supportive of the value in providing an opportunity for students to be able to reflect on their learning, articulate strengths and areas for improvement and set goals for the future. I would like to thank all of the students and parents/carers involved in the process last term and if there is any further information you would like to provide about the process, please don’t hesitate to contact the school and speak with a member of the Principal or Leadership teams.

Cup Eve 2nd November

Monday 2nd November will be a normal school day for all of our students. Given the unusual year we have had, we are expecting all students to be in attendance. We need to make sure every day counts between now and the end of the year for all of our students and this will enable teachers to continue to work with the students that have fallen behind and extend those who have been successful during remote learning.

Parent Opinion and Student Attitude to School surveys

Under normal circumstances, both the Parent and Student Attitude to School Surveys would have been completed by now. This year, all parents/carers are being invited to complete the Parent Opinion Survey. You should all have received a link to this survey early last week. If you have not received this or have lost the link that was sent out via Compass, can you please contact the College on 5147 1790 and we will organise for the link to be resent.

The student survey is currently being conducted during Learn2Learn classes and all students have the opportunity to provide feedback on the year. There are additional questions added to the survey focused specifically on remote learning and this data will provide us with valuable information and guidance on where we, as a College, need to focus our resources in 2021.

First Aid News 2