Principal's Report

This week’s principals report is an abridged version of my speech at our Awards Night this week.

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are meeting. I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present, and the Elders from other communities who may be here today.

I love working in this community. I have spent my life here. Looking at all of the wonderful achievements at our school in 2018 I have a hopeful view of the future. It is easy to be optimistic when you look at what our students are capable of. The many and varied awards tonight pay testament to that

There is a proverb that it takes a village to raise a child and that is what I see in the Staughton community, the Staughton family. This is why our students can achieve great things. None of us are perfect, but when we work together the results can be spectacular

This can be seen in all of our achievements in 2018. I apologise to all of the people I don’t mention here. This is just a snapshot

I am very proud of :

Our student survey results. We are in the top half of schools in Victoria

The smooth running of all exams and sign off processes. It has become a part of our culture that students put in effort to achieve success. You get out what you put in and our students are learning this. It is our motto of try, persevere, and achieve.

Our students picking up multiple awards from our VET cluster, Will Cachia and the students involved with a variety of radio programs, our cultural family picnic that had record numbers attend this year, our many performing arts events from the variety show to the instrumental music concert. We have tremendously talented students here.

Our debaters and public speakers. I love travelling in to see us compete against private schools. We more than hold our own. Our sports teams who continue to impress with their enthusiasm and performance. I love it when they hassle me to get into the gym to practice like our volleyball team did this year. I would also like to mention Jack Carr for his extraordinary feats in the pool when representing Staughton, his club or Victoria.

Staff effort is top notch here. I am often in awe of the commitment, time and patience they show in working with our students. I am also particularly thankful for the work of assistant principals Ben Russell, Daniel Xuereb Kristy Herridge and our senior management team of leading teachers. They are passionate, hardworking and give me great support. And most importantly they also tell me when I need to improve. We care about making each other better.

I would also like to pay tribute to our school council ably led by Rachel Johns.

I talk to our staff a lot about having high expectations of what we can do. That that needs to go hand in hand with a high level of support for each other . I know our whole community rightly has high expectations of what our school can be. I would like to thank the many parents and students who have gone out of their way to give me and the school messages of support this year. It means a lot. There is always continued improvement work to do. I am confident we can continue to do this together

Some of my strongest support this year has come from our fantastic student leaders. They have shown genuine engagement and have a real voice in helping to run their various areas. We took some of our key leaders to an Area Principal Forum. They impressed 150 principals with their clarity about what they were doing and the passion with which they were doing it. Leading these leaders this year we have had school captains Nicole Nicholas and Ben Mulheran. It is their leadership that has allowed the other leaders to flourish. I would like to pay tribute to their work this year and the legacy they leave in providing a model for the next generation of our leaders .

DAVID LORD

Principal

We, at Staughton College, would like to show our respect and acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which our school is situated, of elders past and present. We extend a warm welcome to everyone who visits our school.