Assistant Principal's Report 

Welcome back to all of our students, families and community members. I would particularly like to extend a warm welcome to our Year 7 students and to all of the other students who are new to our College.  Our Year 7 students have settled in well and are currently preparing to head off to Camp Rumbug on Wednesday 2nd March – Friday 4th March. 

We have certainly hit the ground running with Year 10, VCE & VCAL information evenings taking place in week 1 and School Photos and the Swimming Sports last week.  Students who may have been absent for their school photos due to illness will have the opportunity to have these taken later this term.  Term 1 continues to be a busy term as round 2 of Rapid Antigen Test kits being available for all of our students and interschool sporting competitions kick off in the next couple of weeks.  This week on Tuesday 15th February starting at 5pm in the Music Amphitheatre, we have our Year 7 BBQ & information evening, along with a music info session for those who are interested commencing at 6.30pm.  It would be great to see all of our Year 7 families as this is an opportunity to meet your child’s teachers and team leaders. 

One of the key areas that I will be leading this year is ‘To improve student wellbeing’.  From our school review, which concluded last year, it was noted that student wellbeing would be enhanced through the consistent implementation of our School Wide Positive Behaviours Support Framework’ and the development of a range of different strategies to address key areas that were highlighted on the 2021 Student Attitudes to School Survey…This included but is not limited to our young people having; an advocate at school, respect for diversity and developing resilience. 

To commence the year, all staff have been setting their classrooms up for success establishing classroom routines with their students and explicitly teaching our expected behaviours whilst acknowledging positive behaviours.  As a parent we all know that it is crucial for our children to have routines and to establish a set of expectations that create boundaries for our children…Children thrive for boundaries and classrooms are no different. We need to explicitly teach these routines and behaviours so that students develop a range of social and emotional skills that will set them up for learning and success outside of school. 

Our Positive Climate Behaviour Purpose Statement - ‘Our community provides a safe and respectful environment, which promotes individuals’ social, emotional and academic growth, ensures that all students at Maffra Secondary College are able to learn and achieve in ‘a positive learning community where all individuals are accepted, inspired and empowered to succeed’. 

Our focus for Term 1 is around the value of RESPECT and the three associated expected behaviours: Use respectful, language, volume and tone / Support and encourage others / Be kind thoughtful and inclusive of everyone. All classrooms will be looking at this Value and the expected behaviours and developing an understanding of what each of these looks like, sounds like and feels like in different spaces.  As a parent it would be great if you too could discuss and reinforce what these expected behaviours look like, sound like and feel like in your own home and the wider community. 

Posi-Slips and Community postcards continue to be a fantastic way to acknowledge positive behaviours both within and outside the classroom. Parents are encouraged to use COMPASS as a tool to check on their child’s learning tasks and outcomes.  These are a great starting point for conversations around what your child is learning and a way to celebrate the growth and achievement they have made.  If you do not have a login code or you are having difficulties accessing COMPASS please do not hesitate to contact the school on 51471790 for support in this matter.

Our College uniform is a requirement of being a student at Maffra Secondary College. This is endorsed by our school council.  All students in Years 7-12 are required to be in full school uniform on a daily basis…thus items which are not part of our school uniform such as: hoodies, leggings, puffer jackets and incorrect shoes, etc, are not to be worn to school.  Totally black shoes must be worn at all times unless your child is wearing their PE uniform.  If you have any questions in regards to uniform please refer to the Uniform Policy on our College Website.  If you need some assistance purchasing uniform please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Year Level Coordinator or Team Leader.   

Lastly, on Wednesday, 9th February, majority of our students participated in an extremely successful swimming carnival at the Maffra Pool.  A big thank you to all staff who assisted on the day, but in particular to Brett Hudson for organizing the event. Congratulations to all students who attended and for the enthusiastic support they gave all participants throughout the day.  ‘Congratulations’ to Macalister (Red) House who had a narrow win over Thomson (Gold) House…we look forward to seeing more students participate in the House Athletic sports which will be held early in Term 2.    

                                                       Cheryl Evans

Assistant Principal