A Unique Year in the History of Patterson River Secondary College

In its 50+ years, our College has never experienced such rapid changes to school operations and ways of learning as we have this year. I am so proud of the way in which our entire school community worked to together to not only ensure the safety of each other but to ensure a continuity of learning to such a high degree.

With many students completing almost 50% of the year studying from home, it has been pleasing to see strong academic growth and performance across all year levels.

Our VCE students managed to outperform our cohorts from the last two years and although we were unable to compare NAPLAN this year, cohort level PAT English and Maths assessments indicate that our Year 7, 8 and 9 students have all respectively outperformed the mean results from previous years. This is a considerable achievement given the concerns in the wider community about the potential negative impacts of remote learning on student achievement. It is likely that the most significant negative impacts of remote learning are in other areas such as social engagement, extra-curricula activities and practical based subjects.

Assisting Students Impacted by Remote Learning

While the cohort level academic results are positive, there are a number of students who were not able to achieve to the level that that they otherwise would have during remote learning. Our College has been provided with $376 000 to provide assistance in the form of tutoring throughout 2021. This funding will be used to support approximately 20% of our students in an attempt to catch them up to their expected levels.

In the final weeks of term, key staff were involved in identifying students to receive support. A wide range of information was used to identify these students, including PAT and On Demand testing results, teacher judgements as well as remote learning task completion and attendance data.

Families will be contacted early in 2021 if their child has been identified for tutoring assistance.

VCE Results

On 30 December, VCE results were released. It was pleasingly to see such wonderful achievements by our Year 12 students. The final year of school is challenging enough without the additional circumstances faced by our students this year.

Our Year 12 DUX was Jenna Howe who achieved an ATAR of 96.30 which will allow her to realise her dream of studying Biomedical Science at Monash University.

In addition to Jenna, we had an increased number of students achieve 37+ study scores.

Alistair Chitty 44 (Studio Arts)

Alistair Chitty 39 (Business Management)

Brayden Forsyth 38 (Studio Arts)

Flynn Isles 37 (Psychology)

Flynn Isles 38 (English)

Flynn Isles 38 (Philosophy)

Jane Butcher 41 (Further Maths)

Jayden Lyness 37 (English)

Jayden Lyness 39 (Studio Arts)

Jenna Howe 40 (Biology)

Jenna Howe 42 (English Language)

Lara Ioviero 39 (English)

Lara Ioviero 42 (Art)

Paris Pledger 37 (Further Maths)

Ryan Heibach 37 (Further Maths)

Zac Kampman 38 (English)

Our VCE students now eagerly await their tertiary offers. Our Year 12 Cohort have selected first preferences in over 50 different types of university courses. The results that they have achieved will mean that the vast majority of students will obtain university places in their courses of choice.

Student Excellence Awards

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we were unable to hold our annual presentation night at the conclusion of the year. In its place, we took the time to recognise year level awards at during College Values Award Ceremonies. The following page highlights the recipients for

awards that are usually announced at presentation night.

Principal's Commendation Awards

Each year, a small number of students per year level are awarded a Principal's Commendation Award. To be eligible for this award, students must receive at least one College Values Award (Persistence, Excellence, Community & Respect). Congratulations to the following students for being awarded a Principal's Commendation Award for 2020:

Year 7

Storm Muir, Vicky Giapitzakis, Belle Hingert

Alanah Skinner, Salome Cotora, Keely McLaughlan, Iniya Appaji, Alexandra Tasker

Year 8

Charlotte Eveston, Leonard Harrington, Daisy Mooney, Isaac Simos, Clover Goldsmith,

Emma Borg, Martin Ling

Year 9

Jowen Louis-Smith, Clayton Zsigmond, Mali Goggin, Mattia Ioviero, Amelia Godino,

Kelsey Hughes, Kathleen Mulholland,

Sienna Jarvis-Devlin

Year 10

Jenna Herrmann, Leilani Kimber, Alethea Barnard, Claire Boyle, Amara Fennessy,

Max Weinmann, Haydn Skinner, Madeline Wicks, Kasey Smith

Year 11

Rachael Gibson, Bronte Martine, Isabelle Muir,

Jane Butcher, Kayla Borg, Olivia Boicovitis, David Travica, Kyan Frantzeskakis

Year 12

Alistair Chitty, Lara Ioviero, Flynn Isles, Zachary Kampmann, Jayden Lyness, Jenna Howe

Preparing for 2021

Plans are well under way for 2021 which, fingers crossed, will involve a much more stable year for our school community.

Year 7 and 12 students will return on Thursday 28 January for a day of orientation and associated activities. The remainder of our students will begin the 2021 year on Friday 29 January.

Building Works to Begin in January

In the final week of term, we awarded the tender for our $8million capital works program. The builders will likely be onsite during the January holidays to organise fencing and staging areas. It is planned that the building works will be completed during the course of 2021 according to the following timeline:

Feb-May: Food Centre constructed

May-October: STEM Centre constructed

October - December: Year 8 Centre constructed

Student Management Teams for 2021

Year 7 Coordinators

Kristy Ackland

Molly Lean

Tony Pecur

Year 8 Coordinators

Chris Kloas

Jay Cashmore

Year 9 Coordinators

Sean Leith (Program Leader)

Simon Andriessen

Molly Riddle

Year 10 Coordinators

Leigh O'Brien

Matthew Hayes

Year 11 VCE Coordinator

Yolanta Chadwick

Year 12 Coordinator

Rachel Crowe

VCAL Coordinator

Matthew Clark

Senior School Leader

Lyndal Ford

I would like to take the time to thank and congratulate several coordinators from 2020 who have taken up other roles for 2021. They include Leigh O'Brien (moving to Year 10 following almost 20 years as senior school leader), Leanne Kirkland (moving to student tutoring program) and Tim Cook (moving to Outdoor Education Coordinator).

New staff for 2021

At the end of 2020 we said farewell to Tina Exton and Jade Boyd who are taking up positions in other schools.

We will welcome several new staff in 2021 to replace departing staff and to accommodate the needs of our growing school:

Gavin Bell (Science)

Mel De Lange (Food)

Zoe Stokes (German)

Jimmy Orange (Maths/Science)

Ben Ryan (Art)

Jade Thorsen (Design & Technology/Art)

Hazleman Norhafis (Maths/Science)

Changes to Bell Times 2021

Following a positive reception to altered bell times during remote learning we are introducing new bell times in 2021. Benefits include:

easier to remember
additional 30min of class time per week
reduced wait time between bus arrivals and first bell

Form Assembly 8:40-8:45am

Period 1 8:45-9:35am

Period 2 9:35-10:25am

Recess 10:25-10:50am

Period 3 10:50-11:40am

Period 4 11:40-12:30pm

Lunch 12:30-1.20pm

Period 5 1:20-2:10pm

Period 6 2:10-3:00pm

Thank you for your continued support throughout the course of 2020. It has been an honour to lead such a supportive and persistent school community. Wishing you a happy and safe new year.

Best wishes,

Mr Daniel Dew

College Principal

Dates to Remember