Dear families,

It seems like in a blink of the eye, our academic year is drawing to a close after another unprecedented year of education. I commend our students, staff and you all for the way in which you have worked in partnership with us, thus ensuring your child’s educational journey continued remotely in the second half of this year, despite turbulent times. Student engagement in remote learning was stronger this year which is reflected in our student attendance data and is certainly heartening.

I have seen a dramatic turn around this term having our students back on site. The school feels alive again with the joy of children and young adult voices, as we have treasured many moments reconnecting with our community face to face. It truly has been business as usual which has been wonderful to be a part of after being offsite in Term 3. There have been some absolute highlights for the students this term: dress up activities and assemblies in the primary school, exam and step-up programs in the secondary school and our inaugural Year 12 graduation. We have had many firsts that will set the foundation for the years ahead as a Prep to Year 12 community. As a college, we are immensely proud of the work that has been undertaken to transition from a Prep to 9 to a Prep to 12 school and we have a promising future reflected in our strong enrolments.

Tuesday morning our juniors headed to the Movies at Yarraville via train. The excitement from the students was evident as they talked about it being their first ever excursion at the College. Our ability to undertake extracurricular activities offsite has been hindered by the pandemic and I know our students were delighted to be off on a new adventure. Many of our students hadn’t travelled on public transport prior to the event and as such were full of anticipation.

In the past weeks we have welcomed our new families to our community through Prep and Year 7 induction workshops. Having the new Year 7 students onsite on Tuesday was another annual highlight seeing them connecting with our students and those from other feeder schools. The amazing race certainly had them outdoors and active despite the raindrops. The smiles at the end of the day and positive feedback echoed a successful transition day. Last week we held an information session for their families, followed by a barbecue, providing them with an opportunity to meet and greet other parents and the staff. Our new Year 9 leadership group and staff did an amazing job welcoming the families into the senior centre and cooking and serving at the barbecue. We will be holding a similar event early in 2022 to enable families to reconnect.

At the College our work is continuing and I am certainly grateful for the work of my leadership team who are relentlessly pursuing their schedules to ensure we are ready for 2022. I truly appreciate the committed efforts of my two Assistant Principals: Mathew Kelly and Nathan Guthridge who have worked tirelessly throughout 2021 to ensure our staff and students were supported. They have had invaluable support from the leadership team: Hamish McGee, Julie Giles, Michael Sperling and Amanda Elmer and I can’t thank them enough! Our Executive Business Manager Debra Dorgan has worked closely with my principal class team and her work has been exceptional in managing the financial, human and physical resources in this challenging year. The admin team: Simone Mathews, Deb Cassar and Racheal Puopolo have provided invaluable support to both staff and students throughout both remote learning and when onsite. Our teaching and support staff have shown great resilience as they went from face to face to remote learning, back to face to face before again returning to remote learning, likewise our very adaptable students. They are all to be commended for their flexibility.

Curriculum Day Friday 17th December

The curriculum day planned for October was rescheduled due to the return of onsite learning. This is being held next FRIDAY 17th DECEMBER. Students do not attend school on this date.

Last Day of Term 4

Our final day of school for 2021 is this coming Thursday 16th December. The school day will end at 3:05pm. Out of school hours care is available if required. The link to EXTEND is on the website.

Capital Works Project Stage 2

The contract for stage 2 works will be awarded at the commencement of 2022 and we hope to have the works started during term 1. As we end 2021, it is hard to imagine that the new Senior Centre and science facilities for chemistry, physics and biology were only completed recently. They have been a hive of activity since the students returned to the college. I welcome families for a tour through the new facilities following our assembly next week.

Primary Structure 2022

The primary structure in 2022 will be 2 x Prep Classes, 2 x Year 1 Classes, 2 x Year 2 Classes, 2 x Year 3/4 Classes, 2 x 5/6 Classes

Secondary Structure 2022

4 x Year 7, 4 x Year 8, 4 x Year 9, 2 x Year 10, 2 x Year 11, 2 x Year 12 (includes VCAL)

Staff Changes

Mrs Johanna Simmons 12-month secondment to Victorian Academy of teaching and leadership

Mrs Liza Birch Melbourne Girls Grammar

Mrs Rachel Cauchi Swinburne – Tertiary Education

Mrs Sue Rawat Education Support – Heathdale Christian College

Ms Nicole Punton Education Support – end of contract

Mrs Vaishali Julka Education Support - end of contract

Ms Priya Govender Education Support - end of contract

New Staff

Mr Lachlan Christopher Primary Teacher

Mrs Casey Sperling Primary Teacher

Mrs Julia Cutelle Cosmano Primary Art

Mrs Lucy Zaslona Primary Teacher

Mr Robert Fell Primary Music

New Art Secondary TBA

Mrs Deena Kaltmann Science & Mathematics

Mrs Kathryn Sawyer VCE English

Miss Wanhui(Hera) Li Mandarin Teacher

Miss Jade Chen Mandarin Teacher

Maths Teacher TBA

Primary Celebration Evening

We will be holding our Christmas Carol evening and Year 6 Graduation on Wednesday 15th of December. This has been rescheduled from Thursday this week due to the COVID outbreak.

Final Primary Assembly

Our final primary assembly will be held outdoors on Thursday 16th December at 9:10am. Families are welcome onsite for the assembly. Visitors will need to log in using the QR code and will be required to show proof of vaccination. We look forward to reconnecting with you all.

Uniform 2022

Altona College Council endorsed a 2 year transition from the former Altona P – 9 uniform to the new Altona College uniform in 2019. The transition period has now ended. In 2022 ALL students will need to be in the new Altona College Uniform.

On behalf of the leadership team, I express my sincere appreciation for the work of the College Council during these challenging 12 months. It is never easy being only able to meet online however we have certainly continued our work throughout the year despite the challenges COVID has thrown at us all.

I also wish to pass on my sincere appreciation to Marcus Galbraith for his leadership of the council throughout this year whilst continuing to juggle personal commitments. Marcus has been an incredible support throughout the capital works program to date and in earlier rectification works previously where his knowledge has been invaluable.

I also pass on my sincere appreciation to our graduate Eloisa Fajardo who has represented the student body on the council for the past two years. Eloise on behalf of the council thank you for your commitment to the college.

Grant McKell has served on the council for the past 4 years and as a DET employee in management has had a valuable skill set to add to the council operations.

Bayden, Grant’s son has now graduated Year 12 and has exited the college. We certainly look forward to hearing of Eloisa and Bayden’s success in the years ahead. We are expecting results on the 16th of December.

Thank you all for your commitment to our growing college and I wish you and your families the very best for this coming Christmas and holiday season. I am sure, like all of you, I look forward to hopefully a much more normal 2022 where we can once again travel here and abroad and enjoy what our country and others have to offer.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Altona College and our very best wishes for a wonderful 2022!

Julie Krause

Principal

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