Principal's Message

Hello and welcome to 'Education Central'!

Yes, there has been much to celebrate this fortnight. We have had Musical Soirees, Top 20 conversations at all the year levels, our NAPLAN results have arrived and we have 'smashed it'!

In brief: The Year 7 and 9 NAPLAN results show outstanding growth in all literacy areas, with reading and grammar / punctuation being the strongest. The numeracy results are not as strong – however, we have clearly shown improvement in all areas. I’m so proud and so happy. Congratulations to the students, the teachers and everyone who supports teaching and learning at the College, that’s 'all of us'!

Each student will get an individual report card and these have arrived at the school. So please come to the office to collect your child’s individual report. For those that are not collected by Wednesday of next week, we will send them home with the students.

The BTN (Bairnsdale Tambo Network = 16 schools in total) has also done very well across the board.

On another front...

Parent survey: This is an opportunity for you to provide our College with feedback on a huge variety of topics. This survey will close on Friday 16th September. Please make the most of this opportunity to work with us to ensure that we are constantly on a journey of improvement. We have 890 families in the College and so far, 38 have responded. This is 100% confidential – all we are able to see are numbers of respondents – definitely not who or what was said. The unique link to complete the survey has been sent to the email address that the College has on our records. I look forward to reading the feedback - thanks.

Consultation feedback night: This night was really successful and I had promised to relay the feedback headlines! It took some time to collate the responses and then also group them into topics. The feedback is certainly valuable in so many ways. It reinforces many of the changes and initiatives taken, plus highlights work still to be done. The journey of constant improvement for our College never stops and thanks again to all those who took the time to attend and contribute to our work.

So here they are:

Headlines for things that are 'going really well'

The transition processes between year levels and entry into Year 7. This includes head start programs, Year 11 into 12 study camp etc.
Students loving both the variety of classes and subjects, but also the variety of clubs and extra programs.
Morrisby and careers support is a winner.
Music program is always a highlight.
Extension programs in Maths and English received a great endorsement.

Headlines for things that are 'just a bit messy'

Continued frustration with students having to move between campuses – agreed, the new building program should help with this.
Timely feedback from teachers regarding student work is inconsistent.
Toilets! Being inside the buildings is both a win and a frustration.
Reports is an area to tidy up….. spelling mistakes is always a cringe. ☹
The use of Compass by some is great, others not sure how

Headlines for things that 'have made students or families unhappy'

The behaviour of some students in class is unacceptable
Kids pushing in at the canteen
Families who live out of town, not being able to access programs before and after school
A couple of teachers who are regularly late to class
One class in Year 7 has had 3 different teachers for maths

As always I am happy to chat in detail if you would like, just make an appointment. Thanks for listening.

Trudie Nagle

Principal