From the Principal 

Welcome back to Term 2, I hope that you had an enjoyable holiday break with your extended families and I wish our students and families that celebrate Eid this week, a safe and enjoyable celebration. It is great to see community celebrations and events underway again.

Thank you to all of the staff and students involved in Open Day last Wednesday. The school was buzzing with a large number of families visiting the school and I thoroughly enjoyed talking about the school and the opportunities we provide for our students and families. We had such great feedback about the day and I want to give a big thank-you to the staff and students that made themselves available to take our families on tours. Our School Captains are amazing representatives. Our Year 7 Captains, Sonny and Chloe talked about their transition to Secondary School and the great experience on Year 7 camp. The Year 12 Captains talked about what they had enjoyed most during their time at the school and it was great to hear how different their experiences were.

There is more to read later in the newsletter about the fun our Year 7s enjoyed on their Phillip Island adventure camp at the end of last term. The opportunity to further develop friendships and connection to their peers is such a valuable part of schooling life. It is fantastic to see the students having such a great time and tackling new experiences and challenges.

Our VCE Classics students have also been on an adventure, with an interstate camp last week to Canberra to see an exhibition at the National Museum. While it is not the same as travelling overseas, it was a great opportunity for the students to see artifacts up close, that will support their understanding of the subject. It remains a challenge to organise interstate camps and we thank the staff and committees involved for their support and preparation. The DET were also very supportive in assisting with the requirements and documentation to ensure that our students were able to go and in a safe manner. Let’s hope that we can have many more experiences and soon look to forward to international travel. 

Looking ahead, our Year 7s and 9s will be undertaking Naplan testing in Weeks 3 and 4. We hope that they enjoy the testing and participate fully, as the results give useful feedback to them, families and the Department.

Our work on the school Masterplan continues. Kirsten Thompson Architects have been working with many of our stakeholders who are giving feedback on the plans that we have been developed so far. We received fantastic news in today's state budget regarding further funding for the project (please see funding update later in this Newsletter), and look forward to sharing information about the building once we have finished the Schematic Design stage.

We continue to see an easing of COVIDSafe measures in our school and in the community. With this easing, we may also continue to experience disruptions as staff and students are required to isolate. Thank you for your ongoing support in reminding your children about implementing COVIDSafe measures both at school and at other settings. 

I look forward to seeing more of our families at events throughout this Term.

Chris Jones

Principal