From the Principal Class Team

Dear Parents and Guardians

This term we are delighted to welcome several new members of staff to St Albans Secondary College. Ms Michelle Hudson joins the Careers team as an Administration Assistant, Mr Gavin McNab joins the Facilities team as Grounds person; we also welcome Aileen Korzeniewski, Ms Rebecca Pane and Mr Ben Reddy-Stringer to the Individual Needs Department as Teacher Assistants; and Ms Leanne Fitzgerald as an Administrative Assistant in the General Office. We wish each of them well for their time at St Albans.

On behalf of all of the staff, we also acknowledge and thank Ms Karmini Mauree and Ms Bec Carter for their contributions to students and colleagues as teachers in the Maths and English faculties respectively, and wish them every success at their new schools.

ANZAC Commemoration

On Wednesday, 24 April, our VCAL students led a thoughtful commemorative ceremony to mark ANZAC day. Together with Mr Andrew Marshall and Mr Michael Fry from the Caroline Springs RSL, they paid tribute to the men and women who have served as members of the armed forces, particularly to those who lost their lives.

Thank you to VCAL Students, Edward Huang who was MC for the event, to Chi Vien Nguyen who recited The Ode, and to School Captains, Habiba Habib, Daniel San Jose, Sarah Mollica, Kyle Winter-Boyle and Vicky Le, who laid the wreath.

Thanks also to former student David Wilson who played the Last Post and the Rouse.

The service is an important and meaningful part of our school year.

Congratulations

Very special congratulations from all of us to teaching staff member, Amra Pajalic, on the recent publication of her memoir, Things Nobody Knows But Me by Transit Lounge. Amra is an award winning author of two novels, Amir: Friend on Loan and The Good Daughter; and she co-edited Coming of Age: Growing up Muslim in Australia. Her work is compelling in its immediacy and relevant. Writing is intellectually and emotionally demanding and, at times, a draining process, and to combine this with a full time career, further study, and family is a significant feat.

We are very proud of and please for you, Amra.

Literacy and Numeracy Learning Growth

Once again, our school has been recognised by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) for achieving outstanding growth in literacy and numeracy learning for our students.

This is an excellent recognition of the hard work and expertise of our teaching and education support staff, and of the targeted programs we have in place to support and extend student leaning.

This year we have been provided with funding as part of the Department of Education’s Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy Support program to employ two additional teachers, one in numeracy and one in literacy, to provide extra support to students who are not yet achieving at the expected level in these areas of their learning.

Find My School

The Department of Education recently launched its new website, Find My School. The sits aims to support parents, particularly at the time of transition from Grade 6 to Year 7, to select their nearest neighbourhood school.

The site provides maps which clearly indicate the zone for each secondary school. Click here to access Find My School https://www.findmyschool.vic.gov.au/

The zone for our school has not changed.

Introducing our 2019 School Council

We are pleased to introduce to you our School Council for 2019, following the welcoming of new members and the election of office bearers at the March meeting:

Ms Tracey Nero, President, Community member

Ms Piera Biondi, Committee Member, DET Employee

Mr Craig Jennings, Treasurer, DET Employee

Mr John Coulson, Assistant Principal, DET Employee

Mr Quan Nguyen, Community Member, Community Member

Ms Vasiliki Havelas. Committee Member, Parent

Ms Helen Le Tran, Vice President, Parent

Mr Roy Leutenmayr, Committee Member, Parent

Ms Andrea Mollica, Committee Member, Parent

Ms Natalija Nesvadba, Committee Member, Parent

Ms May Phan, Committee Member, Parent

Mr Predag Simic, Committee Member, Parent

Salma Jamal, Student Committee Member, Student Member

Jennifer Co, Student Committee Member, Student Member

Ms Liz Hedger, Business Manager, Visitor

Ms Tracey D’Elton, Assistant Principal, Visitor

We look forward to working with parents, students and staff on Council, and thank them for being so generous with their time and expertise.