College Principal Message

Welcome

Welcome to our first iNewsletter. As we finish up Term 3 we head into the busiest time of the year. Planning for 2018 has commenced, at this stage our enrolments are up and we are working on staffing and timetabling for next year. Term 4 will see Year 9-12 students sitting exams. This can be a stressful time for students and parents/carers, particularly for Year 12s. A little bit of stress is to be expected and can bring out the best in students but please be mindful of the pressure your child may be under. If you have any concerns please contact us. Remember that student outcomes are best when we work in partnership; students–parents/carers–school.

I would like to thank Karen Riley for her work as VASS Coordinator at the Delahey Campus over the past 6 years. While Karen’s work has largely been ‘behind the scene’, it has been critical in ensuring our senior students results are entered correctly for the VCAA (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority). We wish her all the best in her new position at Sunshine College.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Jason Austin for the work he has done for our College over the past 14 years. Jason has been a fantastic VET Automotive teacher and was instrumental in the planning of our Trade Training Centre at the Delahey Campus. In his role as VCAL Project Leader he has also supported the development of student work for our partnership with Western Health. He will be missed and we wish him all the best in his new role as Trade Training Centre Manager at Peter Lalor Vocational College.

Student Led Presentations

Our student led presentations were held in Week 8 at the junior campuses. Being ‘student led’ differentiates these events from traditional Parent Teacher interviews. I was able to sit in on a few at each junior campus and was impressed at the level of reflection shown by students on their progress and their understanding of what steps they need to take to improve. This is an example of our Key Improvement Strategy - Develop individual student capacity to act as partners in their learning, within our Strategic Plan. We also saw the Senior VCAL Pathways Presentations which were student led and focus on achieving future educational and work goals.

New Schools Agreement

Last month the new Industrial Agreement was signed off by the Fair Work Commission. There are a number of changes, 3 of which imppact on us but I would like to draw attention here to one, the introduction of Professional Practice Days. From 2018, each teacher in all Government Schools are to have 1 day per term out of the classroom to work on planning, preparation, assessment of student learning, collaboration, curriculum development, relevant professional development and peer observation including feedback and reflection. The aim of this change is to ease the workload for teachers and improve teaching and learning practices in schools. Implementing this change will be a challenge for us, but our aim will be to minimise the disruption to our student’s learning.

NAPLAN

We have a strong focus on improving Literacy and Numeracy and this is reflected in our students out performing schools with similar socioeconomic backgrounds (SFOE) in Numeracy, Reading and Writing.  The graph below shows Copperfield’s performance on Year 9 NAPLAN tests.

Fuji Junior High School Visit

During August we welcomed our Japanese Sister School, Fuji Junior High School. This visit was the 10th to our school since the sister school relationship was established in 1996. We hosted 3 staff and 20 students. Our relationship remains strong and provides an exchange of culture which promotes mutual understanding of each other’s countries and customs. We value it highly. Everyone involved enjoyed the range of activities that were organised. Thank you to our host families and teachers for supporting this program and Campus Principal, Renato Carinci for coordinating the visit.

Senior VCAL Project Presentations

In August we held our Senior VCAL Project Presentations. This year the event was held at our Delahey Campus. The main focus of this presentation is to acknowledge the outstanding work our students do with Sunshine Hospital / Western Health. Our relationship with Western Health provides our VCAL students with the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the broader community - improving the hospital environment for staff and patients - while at the same time learning about teamwork and balancing their interests with the requirements of a client. A very big thank you to, Jason Austin our Project Leader; Lorenne Clarke our VCAL Leader; and Jo Spence and the Sunshine Hospital mentors who have directed and supported our students.

Some final congratulations

Finally I would like to recognise the work of our Sydenham Robotics Club who won the AMAZE Award at the VEX EDR “In The Zone” scrimmage held at RMIT. This award is for a team with an amazing, well rounded and top performing robot. Congratulations to the students and teachers, Ita Altas and Michael Horn who support them. Congratulations also to our VET Hospitality/VCAL teacher Sarah Maric, who has secured $20,000 support from Brimbank Council for the installation of  outdoor fitness equipment for the Delahey Reserve adjacent to our Senior Campus. The planning for the installation will be a Senior VCAL project for 2018. 

Anthony Sokol

College Principal