Across the Principal's Desk

It hasn’t been a ‘normal’ year for anyone, but we have headed into the last term with some optimism about life edging closer to a return to ‘normality’. I understand we still have quite a way to go but at this stage we are taking steps in the right direction. One significant step has been having our students and staff back on site. It was an absolute pleasure to have the students return to face to face teaching. We’re proud of what we have been able to achieve with Remote and Flexible Learning, but having students in classrooms is definitely our preference for teaching and learning. The students seemed to reflect these sentiments with their smiles (behind the masks) upon returning. I’ve enjoyed many conversations, with most students indicating their preference for being at school to learn. We placed a clear emphasis on wellbeing with a focus on how students are going and how we can help to support them. Let’s hope for some smoother sailing this term.

We have quite a bit to get through in Term 4, but we are mindful of making it manageable for everyone given the changes and pressures that staff and students have endured throughout this year. Our school calendar has been carefully reconstructed to fit in what we can. We have our wellbeing processes in place and have also prioritised what we need to work on with our teaching and learning between now and the end of the year to support our transition into 2021. We are pressing forward with our school camps in December, as we have recently been given approval to run them. Camps provide terrific learning opportunities for our students and we don’t want them to miss out. We will continue with our ‘Step Up’ program for our Year 10 and 11 students progressing through their senior years. We are still unsure how we will celebrate the achievements of our students but at this stage a Presentation Evening is not possible under current guidelines. However, we are planning for alternative ways to acknowledge the success of our students. It has certainly been a year with a difference!

Our Year 12 students will have their last day on November 6th and we are currently working on what that might look like for them as we need to work within regulations. There will need to be some changes to how we have done this in the past but we are still keen to acknowledge and celebrate with them and we have some ideas in the pipeline. Some of our VCAL students will finish their formal secondary education on this day, whilst we will work with others over the remainder of the year to help them to complete all of their work requirements. VCE students begin exams on November 10th, with English being the first cab off the rank. It’s a little later than in previous years but they will still receive their results before 2020 comes to a close. We wish all of our students well with the next step in completing their studies. 

Stay safe and well.