Principal's Report

The sound of our students talking and laughing has been echoing around the school and it has been a most welcome sound after the months of silence and talking to screens.  It is the way a school should sound.

Since we have returned to onsite learning, we have had wellbeing days and activities for all students, the year 12 students have sat the GAT and we have celebrated the year 12s final week with a unique final assembly. We have worked hard to support the students on their return to school and have been very pleased with the enthusiastic way in which they have come back to the classroom.

Our teachers have been moving heaven and earth to help our students, especially the Year 12s, as they approach the culmination of 13 years of education. The teachers have also been working diligently to understand and implement the newly announced Consideration of Educational Disadvantage which aims to replicate the results students would have achieved had we not been through both the bushfires and Covid-19. 

We have also been regularly adjusting timelines and projected events in response to daily announcements. To say it has been a moving feast would be an understatement. I am very grateful to our teachers and support staff who have adapted and risen to the challenges as they have managed their work and their own families as well as teaching and caring for our young people. I am very grateful to you, the parents and carers who have also managed families, students learning from home, isolation, and possibly a loss of income. As a community, we support each other and if you are struggling, please let us know so we can help.

Over the past months, we have realised how resilient and strong we can be, what is really important, and what we value most. We have struggled and we have learned and we have almost made it through Stage 2. We will take new practices into the future and leave behind what we no longer need. We will focus on helping our students catch up if they have fallen behind and we will extend those students who have done well. I am very proud of my staff and my students and I am looking forward to moving back towards normality. Stay healthy and positive.

To help our teachers to support students overcome the interruption to their learning this year and to best prepare our students for 2021 the college will be introducing a Headstart Program for 2021.

The rationale for the program:

The end of the school year, when assessments are complete and reports are written, can often be marked by disengaged students, a reduction in learning gains, and a sense of biding time before the holidays descend.

Head Start programs where all students get a taste of the year ahead by entering into classes for two weeks has been common practice in most schools for many years. Students move into the next year’s classes with their timetabled teacher of the following year and begin the new academic year. For most students, there is a renewed sense of purpose and direction to their learning during the last two weeks of the school year.

The purpose of the Head Start Program is to:

• Provide a solid foundation prior to the holiday period, and in the case of VCE, allows a purposeful holiday homework program to be embedded
• Create stimulating student learning opportunities, which serve to improve student engagement and attendance rates
• Allow for the provision of data gathering of student abilities prior to the new academic year

Proposed Timeline:

 30th November - 11th December

• Friday 27th November 2020 is the last day of the 2020 academic year.
• Monday 30th November 2020 will be the first day of the 2021 academic year
• Friday 11 December 2020 is the last day of the Head Start program.
• Monday 14 – Friday 18 December 2020 students attending school will be involved in an alternative program

V3 (2021) HEADSTART PROGRAM - Monday 30th November to Friday 11th December 2020

All current Year 9, 10 and11 students intending to continue their studies at Carwatha College in 2021 will complete a two-week V 3 Headstart Program.

Students will begin their 2021 studies during this time and will have the opportunity to use the holiday period to reflect, review, and continue with this work. 

As some programs are run outside the College the following expectations apply:

• Students doing a complete VCE course will be required to attend Monday to Friday.
• Students doing VCAL will not be required to attend on Wednesday and Friday as these are the days their VET study and Work Experience are scheduled.
• Students who do not maintain an attendance rate of 90% for those 2 weeks will need to make up classes in the week commencing Monday, December 14th.

YEAR 8 and 9 (2021) HEAD START PROGRAM - Monday 30th November to Friday 11th December 2020

• All current students in Years 7 and 8 are expected to attend school and begin their 2021 program during these 2 weeks. Students will do the next year’s work.
• Students will be in their Year 8 and year 9 classes for 2021 and will have timetables that reflect the composition of classes for 2021.
• The College will try to keep staffing changes to a minimum but some will be inevitable due to staff leaving the College for employment elsewhere in 2021.

STUDENT INFORMATION & EXEMPTIONS

• Students must attend classes with workbooks or folder (paper) and pen/pencils.
• Students will not be expected to have textbooks at this time. Teachers will provide resource material for students.
• There will be NO opportunity for students to “catch up” on work missed in 2020 in preparation for the 2021 year unless the student has been granted an exemption from the program.
• An exemption will only be granted for compelling circumstances.  Parents will need to ask the Principal to exempt a student from the program at the end of the year and provide a reason.

• The Principal  may grant exemptions for the following reasons:
• new student to the College
• serious medical issue – eg: the student has a medical condition supported by a medical certificate to explain any on-going absence during this time.
• an urgent or serious family-related issue
• a family holiday away from the normal place of residence
• Students granted an exemption may choose to do the work provided at home either in 2020 or 2021 whichever is appropriate.

END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR (Monday 14th December to Friday 18th December)

Friday, December 11th is the last day of the Headstart program. From December 14th to 18th, an alternative program will take place and no new work will be introduced.  During this time teachers will be correcting Headstart work and finalising marks that are part of the 2021 assessment. 

  A summary of key dates:

Finally, I would like to once again acknowledge the staff of Carwatha College P 12 for the work they have done to support our students during this difficult time. I would like to congratulate the students on the resilience they have shown and to thank all parents for their support.

All the best and stay safe.