From the Principal's desk 

Dear Community Members,

GROWTH - Goldsworthy Rebuild

It is with great excitement that we share the start date for the substantial building program that will take place on our Goldsworthy Campus. This project will begin on Tuesday June 14 with the PLAN Building group taking charge of this project - a collaboration we are very excited about. As our community will be aware this project is a $15 million dollar investment in our school and will dramatically improve the resourcing and aesthetics of our college. The project aims to finish 18 months from the start date. Please see below the latest rendering from our architects Biúró Ailtirí.

GROWTH - Professional Learning Day May 20

Can I please take this opportunity to thank our college community for supporting the recent Student Free Professional Learning Day. These days - of which all schools can access  four per year - provide an opportunity for our school to focus on important aspects of practice related to the ongoing goal of improved student experiences and outcomes.

All staff enjoyed a very successful day where the entire program reflected so positively on the ‘One College - One Team’ ethos that is evident in all that we do in 2022. The quality of Professional Learning that was engaged in throughout the day and the interactions that flowed as a result will support us no end in our ongoing quest to support students to reach the aspirational targets we all have in mind for them. 

Taking some time to focus on VCOP. ‘VCOP’ and the ‘Big Write’ format provides a structured, evidence based approach to improving student outcomes across all areas of literacy with a strong focus on writing. The shared language and commitment to ensuring our students are writing with rigor and substance in all subjects on a regular basis is of huge benefit to our work. It is no secret the importance for all students to have a strong capacity to communicate effectively in their writing and the ongoing implementation of this work can only enhance student outcomes in every aspect of their schooling. 

A thanks also to the organising and presenting staff members on behalf of the entire NBC community.

GROWTH - Student Outcomes - Time to Celebrate

It is so exciting to share two data sets that well and truly demonstrates the hugely positive impact that our collective work does to assist the learning gains of our students.

The first data set relates to the growth our students achieve during their first 4 years of schooling. The graph below demonstrates the dramatic gains our students make in Reading from entering Prep (English Online Interview) to their first NAPLAN Reading test. The graph separates students who are considered educationally advantaged and disadvantaged - and as the graph shows students across both groups make huge gains whilst almost eliminating any learning gap between these two cohorts of students. This achievement has been recognised by the DET and certainly suggests that as a college we should be very proud.

The second data set shows the increasing growth students across our college continue to make in the area of Numeracy. Of particular celebration is the fact that of all Secondary schools in our area Northern Bay students showed more learning growth between Year 7 and Year 9 than any other school. Our school is now regularly being recognised as a school with high quality outcomes and outstanding learning growth which does so much to underline the high quality programs students at NBC experience everyday.

COLLABORATION - Open Doors @ NBC

It has been wonderful this week to welcome our current families and new families to the college through the numerous Open Day opportunities. From our 2023 Prep Open Day to Parents Open Days in our P-2, Year 3-6 and SEED programs and the GITTC. This year really is all about us reconnecting with our community and these occasions allow us to do this whilst showcasing the terrific programs on offer at our school. 

These photos show our College Captain Dishanth  Vijayaneethan reading to our Prep students.

COLLABORATION - Celebrating Culture

Last Friday Kailee Kennedy was honored at a formal Networking Breakfast held by the North Shore Football Club for her work in designing the teams Indigenous playing strip.

As you can see in this picture Kailee has done a wonderful job in expressing her cultural identity and story through her artwork that will now be used by the club as a formal playing strip. Congratulations to Kailee for this wonderful achievement.

GROWTH - Annual Report

Each year by the end of April, the college must report to the wider community on progress the school has made towards DET data sets through the Annual Report. The Annual Report includes data sets such as  student and parent perception data, student learning data, attendance data and finance data (amongst other things.) The 2022 Annual Report for Northern bay College was endorsed at our most recent School Council meeting on Monday May 9. Our Annual Report shows that overall, we have remained steady with our data making improvement in several areas. What has been particularly pleasing is the Learning Gain data. These data sets demonstrate that the college has outperformed our similar school cohort in several areas for learning growth. This is most definitely something to celebrate. The Annual Report is submitted to DET and will reside on our college website.

COLLABORATION - Whole School Review 2022

Every four years all DET schools undertake a whole school review. This process is led by an independent reviewer and will see a college review team work together to review college data, view classroom practice and hold stakeholder focus groups with students, staff and parents. Excitingly I can report that the dates for our school review have been set by our reviewer Wendy Larcombe. Wendy is an experienced former principal and SEIL and has completed several school reviews over recent years including a number of multi-campus and P-12 schools. Our dates have been set for August and September of this year. We look forward to this process with great anticipation as there is much to celebrate here at NBC.

GROWTH - Common PPD - Term 2

Part of the implementation of the industrial agreement that covers all school staff will be the provision of Professional Practice Days for all teaching staff. For this term the DET has allowed schools to hold a common PPD for all teaching staff meaning this day will in fact be another Student Free Day. The date selected for NBC is Friday June 10 - meaning students will not come to school on this day. We thank all families for again supporting the college to implement this DET expectation for our teaching staff. 

PERSISTENCE - Campfire Conversations

A real highlight from earlier this term was the Self Determination Campfire Conversations that occurred for all NBC Koorie students, their families and wider NBC community members. The Campfire Conversation process aims to support Koorie students and their families to have a proactive voice in their education and in how their school can support the celebration and inclusion of Indigenous voice and culture. Through these events students were able to share their hopes for their learning and future, provide feedback on how their school currently supports them to show pride in their heritage and give voice to how their school can be further inclusive and aware of the hopes and dreams of indigenous students. 

Senior NBC students demonstrated great leadership as they supported their younger peers to share their voice. The community sessions were attended by parents, key DET representatives and community elders including Aunty May who helped to further advocate for greater awareness and inclusion of the needs of indigenous students at our school. These sessions were extremely uplifting and we thank Ken Massari and Audra Czyzewski along with support staff from all Campuses who worked to bring together an outstanding opportunity for our students. 

Regards,

Mr Scott Diamond

College Principal