Principal's report
Farewell to Our Year 12 Students – Graduation Dinner
by Maria Bawden - Principal
We have now officially farewelled our Year 12 students who completed their final classes on Friday 14th October. This was followed by their Graduation Dinner in the evening at The Atrium, Flemington Racecourse, which was attended by approximately 420 students, families, friends and staff.
The Dinner was a very special event and it was an absolute pleasure and honour to be part of this occasion with families, friends and staff celebrating the achievements and the contributions to the school of these young people. Congratulations goes to all of them on achieving their VCE or VCAL certificates.
All of the students had their moment of recognition when they were individually presented with an award for completion of either the VCE or VCAL. There were also some who returned to the stage to accept awards for leadership and excellence in different subjects. Special mention must go to both Dat Phan and Robert Doyle who were the two top performing students of the year. The Highest Performance awards were donated and presented by our local federal MP, Tim Watts.
A special thank you must go to Ian Druce and Roma Bond for being the highly accomplished Masters of Ceremony for the evening. Commendation also goes to our two valedictorians for 2016, Shea Grant and Jacob Pook who on behalf of their classmates in Year 12, spoke most eloquently and humourously, and with wisdom. And a final thanks to all of our Year 12 students for being a part of the life of Footscray City, and for the different contributions each of them have made in their individual ways throughout their years with us. In terms of the graduation dinner, they are to be commended for behaving superbly, and for celebrating so happily together as a group. As an aside, it is worth noting that we are one of the few schools still allowed to use the Flemington venue for graduation because of the excellent behaviour of our students year after year, and certainly this year’s group could have only further enhanced this reputation.
Finally, on behalf of the college, we wish the graduating class of 2016 the very best in their exams and in all of their future pursuits in life after Footscray City College
Another Celebration – Bulldogs Grand Final Victory BBQ
While a much more informal affair than Graduation, on the first Friday of term we held a BBQ lunch for the whole school to celebrate the historic and inspiring victory of our local footy team, the Western Bulldogs. It was another happy and upbeat event with both students and staff getting into the spirit of the celebration, and the sense of pride and strengthening of community that the Bulldogs victory precipitated. Thanks goes to Chris Lovelock and the team of staff he organised to help cook and serve a thousand sausages!
Increased Numbers for Year 7 2017
As we farewell our Year 12s, numbers-wise they are being replaced by almost double their numbers with the incoming Year 7s for 2017. From over 300 applications, 225 students have been offered a placement for next year – our maximum capacity. It seems that if this trend continues into the future, the vast majority of our enrolments will come from students living in the designated neighbourhood zone for FCC, with limited opportunities for those outside of these boundaries.
Centenary Art Show Opening Tuesday 8th November 6.00 pm – 8.00 pm
Our annual Art Show will be opening on the evening of Tuesday 8th November with a cocktail party to which
all are cordially invited. The event will also be used to acknowledge and honour our centenary year, with Paul Rovis as guest speaker. Paul worked very closely with the architects who designed our current building, and is also an architect and art teacher himself.
It promises to be an excellent evening, and the brilliant artworks of our students are always more than enough reason to attend our Art Shows. This one will be even a little more special with the centenary celebration and cocktail party – catered for by our students. Entrance will be by gold coin donation.
Centenary Open House Sunday 20th November 1.30 pm – 3.30 pm
A further centenary event will be an Open House on the afternoon of Sunday 20th November. It is an open invitation to all members of the community, and in particular, past students. Our current students and families are also most welcome, of course.
