Principals Message

Celebrating our Successes

With the third term break upon us it is important that we reflect on what has been a very busy one in the life of our growing College. Our Naplan results help guide our priorities for the next four years as our focus on writing sharpens. Numeracy results continue to improve and like our VCE results have caused a number of local secondary schools to come to us to see what it is we are doing that is leading to such positive outcomes. Our School Review gets underway at the beginning of Term 4 and involves student, staff and parent feedback as part of the important process run by external school reviewers. Already we have successfully completed an International Student Program audit as part of the review. Thank you to Karin Miller for her hard work in completing the audit with the support of the ISP Team. If any parent is interested to be part of the School Review focus groups please contact the college and express your interest.

Our construction project is on target with most of the building works scheduled to be finished this year leaving only the external courts (on the existing Alexander ave car park) to be completed early next year. This is exciting news given the school enrolment numbers continues to grow with another group of over 200 students entering Year 7 in 2019.

Mobile Phones at school

At McClelland we are investigating the impact that mobile phone use in schools is having on student learning and wellbeing. Currently we allow students to bring phones to and from school, but they are expected to not use them throughout the day. However if research and our own observations suggest the policy impacts negatively on social and emotional wellbeing, School Council may need to revisit this policy. 12 years ago when I commenced at McClelland College mobile phones were banned but parents argued on the grounds of personal safety students should be able to bring their phones to school. Where we are today is a long way from those days with many students having mobile phones and being constantly distracted from their learning. The personal safety argument is no longer the case when phones are being used in ways that lead to students being less safe and their mental health being at risk due to this overuse.

There are four fundamental reasons behind McClelland’s exploration to limit the use of mobile phones during school hours, even at break times: 1) social interaction among students, 2) cyber safety, 3) the need for down time and 4) encouraging general courtesy and student engagement with the world around them.

The research and common sense is very clear: before school, recess, lunch and after school are times students should rest their brains and engage socially with their friends. Texting or communicating via social media disconnects people from each other.

We are always endeavouring to create a culture of positive behaviours for learning which is why we are currently investigating what our parents, students and staff feel about this issue in the hope that if we need to shift our thinking we can make any relevant changes before the start of the 2019 year.

New school website launched!

Andrew Harms has been working hard for quite a while on updating our website. I encourage you to check it out and let us know what you think. https://www.mcclellandcollege.vic.edu.au/