Principal's Report
Term 4 Reflection
“I look forward to 2020 and the tenth year of the school.” With these words I concluded my final newsletter report of 2019; I was, in hindsight, very optimistic. And as I write this report, my optimism remains as high as it was in December 2019. Too much has been written about this year that is negative and while I don’t want to downplay the travails of 2020, I do think it is important that we focus on the positives.
On the final day of classes we conduct assemblies and the message for the students has focussed on the positives. This year has provided challenges for us all. All too often at the start of the pandemic, commentators talked about us all being the in the same boat together. I disagreed with this statement; I preferred the analogy that we were all in the same storm together, but in different boats! We have all faced our own challenges this year, therefore it is important that we all reflect on how much we have achieved and how much we have learnt about ourselves. Throughout the year I have written about the school’s response to the situation and how proud I have been at all members of our school community. And while it was not the year we were expecting, we still achieved so much. As a school we have still held events, there was a winner of the House Competition (well-done Blackwood) and academic awards and school colours have been presented.
The strength of the culture of the school ensured that we have weathered this storm. On Wednesday 9 December we held a Valedictory Dinner/Graduation for the Year 12 students here at school. A sit down dinner for 260 students and staff in the Agora and just outside under a huge marquee; the school looked amazing. For us to enable this celebration for the Year 12 students was an imperative; having missed so many milestones this year, they needed an event to celebrate them. We had the opportunity to present graduation certificates, academic awards and colours. Each year we award the Renaissance Award, for a student or students, who have achieved awards in at least four of the five categories, of which at least three are gold colours, in one year. This year two students achieved this exemplary level; Edward Le and Melvin Moncy.
In a ‘normal’ year, I would also be writing about our VCE results; however, this is obviously not the case for this year. With the results not due until 30 December, we will just have to wait; however, I have no doubt our students will do exceptionally well in their endeavours.
This year, like any year, we have staff leaving to pursue other opportunities. Andrew Bonollo and CJ Zhou will be leaving for another school. Amy Rashid will be taking up another leadership opportunity at another school and we wish her, Andrew and CJ all the best. Helena Hall, Julia List, Karen De Leon and Neil Dorney will be taking leave for a year and several of our staff who have been on leave will be returning for 2021.
It is an immense privilege to be the principal of Suzanne Cory High School. I would like to thank all the members of the school community for working together to make this year the success it has indubitably been. As the tenth year of the school comes to a close, I look forward to being able to celebrate our decennary in 2021 and, more importantly, to hear the school song performed by all of our students with gusto and pride. I wish you all the best for the festive season and a safe and restful school break.
Colin Axup
Principal
Contact Us
Phone: (03) 8734 2800
Email: suzanne.cory.hs@education.vic.gov.au
School Website: www.suzannecoryhs.vic.edu.au