Principal's Report

Welcome back to Term 2

It was great to see everyone back on Monday morning and students starting to move into Winter uniform. I did a quick survey of what people got up to and it sounds like the holidays had lots of hanging out and movie watching.  I didn’t get to ask many Year 12s, but I think their holidays might have had some work thrown in with the movies.  We are really pleasesd when we can see they are balancing the work with relaxation time.

Students should all be in winter uniform by the beginning of Week 3.  The uniform shop is open on Saturday this week if you still need to collect some items. 

Working Bee this Sunday

If you wake up on Sunday morning and feel like some gardening, come along and join us at the working bee from 9.00am to 12.30pm.  We’ll be the people in the middle of the school working on refurbishing and planting garden beds.  Morning tea is provided.

Open Day and Discovery Evening

May I please extend a very warm thank you to all who were involved in Open Day and then in Discovery Evening.  Whilst we don't have an actual counter on the door, our overriding sense is there were a lot more people here.  This included during the day for the tours and in the evening to look at the vibrant displays put up by the teachers and students. Visitors were incredibly positive about having their child come to our school as we offer everything the programs, subjects and activities they wanted in a school.  I was even interested to hear one prospective father who I was telling about our big leap in Year 12 results last year had already noted our move to 30, and in the same breath said he had noticed that another school he was thinking of had  backwards!

It is always funny to hear prospective parents asking me about how long I've been here as they had just heard that Wantirna had a new Principal.  News definitely travels slowly as this week is my eighth anniversary!

It was also terrific to see current parents come up to have a look.  The displays for each learning area were really vibrant and interactive.  There were so many smiling and amazed faces as the magic of learning unfolded before these young people.  I’d particularly like to thank all of our students who volunteered to help in a whole lot of different ways – you are remarkable advertising for our College.

Our Parent perspective  was presented  by James Keam's mother, Sally Ann and she talked predominately about the passionate and caring teachers in this school.  Talia Ruighaver gave an inspired student perspective, including her Top Tips for choosing a school for your child!  I think people were taking notes!

Thank you to Mr Andrew Lewis  and his Tech Crew for their terrific set up of lights to get everyone around easily.  Thank you to Mr Bruce Churchward for his organisation of the event - the whole evening ran very smoothly.  Please remember that if you are out of area but will have an older child in the College next year, you are eligible to apply for a sibling placement into Year 7.

Annual General Meeting of College Council

We also held the AGM of College Council this week, where we farewelled the retiring Councillors and welcomed the new members.  I would like to take this opportunity to publically thank Mr Craig Henry as he completes 6 years on College Council, with two as President.  It has been fantastic to have Craig on Council as he has brought a sensible and creative approach to many of our processes.  He was always focused on maximising our use of the money we have, to the betterment of the school lives of all of our students.  He was the main instigator of the Working bees, and the lunches he cooked will be talked about for a very long time. I would like to thank him for the support he gave me with the Boys Cricket team – we started co coaching them in Year 7 and finished last year as they left Year 12.  In that time the boys were State Champions three times and Runner up once. Those young men learnt a lot from working with Craig over all that time, and I must admit I learnt a lot about cricket as well.  Both Craig and Debbie, who has been a remarkable worker on the Parents Association, have finished their time with us, and we thank them both and wish them well through the “university years’.

After the AGM we had the first meeting of the new Council and I’m delighted to announce that Dr Joanne Challinor-Rogers is our new Council President.  Mr Konrad Gill is Vice President and Mr Michael Cross was co-opted as a community member and is our Treasurer.  We really thank them for taking on these roles in College Council and look forward to working with them over the next two years to continue to make this a great learning environment for our students.

Award Night in December

This year the College Awards night has changed from the original date of Tuesday 29th November to Wednesday 7th December. The venue is still at City Life Church.

Sue Bell

Principal

Open Day