My Vision

It is a great honor to be appointed as the substantive new Principal of Box Hill High School this term and I look forward to leading the school over the next five years (at least)!  I have been at Box Hill High School for over twenty years and have been the Student Wellbeing Leader and Assistant Principal for many of those years.  I have also been a passionate teacher of Humanities subjects, and a Year 12 Psychology teacher for over 15 years.  

I am committed to being a caring and ethical leader with high expectations for teaching and learning.

An effective school leader must have a strong educational vision for the school and its context and be able to enact this vision through careful management of the school’s resources and through human leadership capabilities.

I want to lead a school that is about the development of the whole-child in a community where everyone – staff and students and families – feel like they belong. I strongly believe that good mental health enables students to flourish at school and will continue to prioritise school-wide practices and programs that contribute to student wellbeing.  I want Box Hill High School to be a school we are all proud to belong to, and where staff and students want to come.

My three values that guide my leadership are social justice, accountability, and optimism. I am also committed to the educational vision of The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration and the two key goals:

Goal 1: The Australian education system promotes excellence and equity 

Goal 2: All young Australians become:

• confident and creative individuals
• successful lifelong learners
• active and informed members of the community.

I am fueled by strong sense of social justice in my work in that I want every student to be able to learn, to have opportunities to realise their strengths, and be valued.  Box Hill High School should be an exemplary school that shows that equity leads to excellence and that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.  I want Box Hill High School to provide a genuine inclusive education. This is so important if we are to create a positive school community where all have a voice and feel empowered in their learning. Social justice also means developing and demonstrating compassion and empathy for others. 

Optimism is at the heart of my leadership.  We must ensure that young people leave school with literacy and numeracy skills strong enough for them to contribute and make good decisions.  We must also work together to ensure that students leave Box Hill High School with other valuable skills needed for living in our world these days – critical thinking and ethical reasoning skills, communication and collaboration skills, problem-solving skills, self-regulation, resilience, and compassion for others. How do we best help students transition into the next stage of their lives - what imprint can we leave as a school?

We have a culturally diverse community, but we are fortunate that most of our students come to Box Hill High School with a ready-to-learn approach instilled by their parents.

Examples of some school improvement goals over the next 5 years:

• Development of a strong middle sub school for year 9 and 10 students based on their social and developmental needs – renewed curriculum and engagement program 
• Strengthening student voice and student agency across the school – creating more active learners in the classroom
• Embedding new evidence-based pedagogical practices for teaching writing and numeracy in the English and Math classrooms from year 7-10.
• More opportunities for students to engage in technology and enterprise programs
• Strengthening practices for extending high ability students and for students who require additional supports
• Whole school approach to student wellbeing and ensuring an inclusive and safe education for all students
• Embedding Aboriginal cultural perspectives in the curriculum 

2022 VCE Achievements

2023 School Improvement Goals for Box Hill High School

This year is the first year of our four-year School Strategic Plan (SSP) and the focus for 2023 is on developing a strong foundation for reaching our targets in learning and wellbeing (the SSP can be found on the school website).

In 2023, there are also state-wide key improvement strategies that all Victorian schools are required to prioritise:

• supporting students who need scaffolding and those who need extension, especially in numeracy. 
• supporting student wellbeing and mental health, especially the most vulnerable.

The 2023 Annual Implementation Plan outlines a plan for Learning and Wellbeing improvement:

Learning:

• embedding a new pedagogy of teaching mathematics, 
• strengthening teacher capacity to improve writing skills at the point of need,
•  providing more opportunities for students to be active learners and have agency in their learning.

Wellbeing

• embedding whole-school approach to wellbeing including strengthening inclusive practices across the school, 
• improving communication protocols across the whole school community
• strengthening support pathways for vulnerable students, including a case-management approach for students who require significant support to stay connected to school.

Events for term 1 

• Year 12 Retreat
• Year 7 Transition Camp
• Swimming Carnival
• Cross Country
• Diversity Week and Harmony Day
• Sustainability Week
• Pi Day
• Chess competition

Visit by Premier Dan Andrews, Education Minister Natalie Hutchins and Local Box Hill MP Paul Hamer

On Tuesday 28 Feb, the Premier Dan Andrews, Education Minister Natalie Hutchins, and local Box Hill MP Paul Hamer visited the school to meet with some of our VCE Vocational Major students and officially launch this new VCE program.  This is the first time Box Hill High School has provided an applied learning program to students. 

We are one of 25 State Secondary Schools across Victoria who are offering Applied Learning for the first time.  We have 9 students who are part of our first intake who complete 4 subjects (Work related skills, Numeracy, Literacy, and Personal Development).  They undertake one day a week of a Structured Workplace Learning placement, and one day of a VET subject). 

The Premier also conducted his press conference from our Student Wellbeing Hub and it was interesting for students and staff to watch the Premier and the media in action. 

Congratulations to some of our students on their achievements:

We have three students who have been recognized for their talent in the 2023 Top Arts Exhibition.  Kean Ngooi’s work has been selected as the ‘Hero’ artwork of the exhibition which means it will be widely used in advertising of the Top Arts. Two other students Brianna Coulstan and Chloe Ong were also shortlisted. Congratulations to them!

Congratulations also to Taj Fox and Elliott Gibson on receiving the 2023 Pasch Scholarship to Germany this year!

We have asked parents to let us know about student achievements outside school and thank you to all those parents who have contacted us already to let us know about so many of our students who are demonstrating talent and strengths across many areas.

Ex-School Captains (2019) Ananya Sehgal and Tom Yakubowski come back to visit the school and say hi!

Well done to many other Box Hill High for your contributions to the school and wider community!  We love hearing from members of the public when they observe our students behaving helpfully and respectfully in the community as well. We are proud of you all!

Student Leadership and Prefect Team

Parent Engagement

As the new Principal of Box Hill High School, I would like to strengthen our partnerships with parents and improve communication and connection to the school.  Towards the end of last year, School Council reached out to parents and ran focus groups to provide opportunities to hear from parents about their views of the school.  We wanted to know what were the priorities for parents for School Council and get some feedback about the school’s processes.

Some Key Insights:

• Parents would like more opportunities to engage with the school eg. Student events and meeting with teachers
• Perceived strengths of the school included school’s academic record and strong student engagement teams.
• More information about teaching and learning, subject selection processes and assessment methods would help parents understand current educational direction and how to understand their child’s learning growth.
• More communication from the school on upcoming school events, school processes, and individual student concerns.
• Improving the channels for communication. Large cohort of families with EAL backgrounds also require communication in languages other than English to connect with the school.

Opportunities in 2023 for parent engagement

Term 1:

• Year 7 Picnic
• Year 7 Instrumental Music Information Night
• Year 7 Online Parent Forum
• VCE Parent Information Night
• German cake fundraising Stall – Diversity Week Stall
• Parent and Student Bookclub

Term 2:

• School Open Afternoon for 2024 Year 7 students (May 4)
• School Production of Sweeney Todd
• Connected Parenting Workshop (May 29)
• Vocal Night (May)
• Junior and Senior Winter Concerts (June)
• VCE VM parent information night
• GAPP and High Ability Parent meeting - date TBC

Look out for the new Compass fortnightly school bulletin in Term 2 that will be used for regular communication about school events and help Parents and Carers with forward planning.

New Time-in-Lieu arrangements & school events including camps

There is no intention to reduce any of the school’s camp programs or extracurricular activities including musical performances, debating, or school production. I am committed to continuing the following camps each year:

• Year 7 Transition Camp
• Year 8 Camp
• Year 12 Retreat
• Year 10 Duke of Edinburgh Camp
• Music Camp

In addition, we exploring the possibility of having a Year 10/11 Central Australia camp in 2024.

Update on the long-awaited toilet upgrade

It goes without saying that we have waited too long for the Stage 2 program for the whole school toilet upgrade to be completed.  This project is managed by the Victorian School Building Authority and is funded both by the school and by the Minor Capital Works Funding Grant ($500,000). Following further investigation of one of the buildings to be renovated, it was uncovered by the building surveyor that the structure required extensive rebuilding rather than a cosmetic upgrade to the existing structure. This additional cost meant that further investigation was required to look at the original tender and process for acquiring additional funds.

We have recently been informed that the works will now continue with the builder returning to site and continuing with the upgrade of the final blocks next term. In the meantime, the school has hired new temporary toilets for students and staff.

2023 School Council

On behalf of the school and school council, I would like to publicly thank our retiring School Council Members who have been such strong positive advocates for the school over their terms. Thank you to Andrew Walton, Daniel Buick and Thuy Tran (Community member).  We would like to especially thank Daniel Buick who has been on School Council since 2017, taking on the role of Treasurer and Finance Representative on the Finance Committee. We wish him all the best with his move later this year to Western Australia.

We welcome new members and returning members to School Council this year and thank them for making this commitment to supporting the school.

Our current School Council are:

Kajaal Fox – School Council President

Andrew Cameron – School Council Vice President

Muhammad Ali – Parent Representative

Kim Huett – Parent Representative

Ashley Schwartz – Parent Representative (new)

Tony Bui - Parent Representative (new)

Schweta Pradhan – Community Member (new)

Chloe Steele – Staff Representative

Nathaniel Smith - Staff Representative (new)

Shareen Bottrell – Staff Representative (new)

Taj O’Donnell – Student Representative

By Kellie Ind

Principal