PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Nicolas Adamou

Principal

2023 Key Dates

Semester Exams

We are already more than halfway through Term 2 and the second semester for the year is around the corner. Semester Two, will begin in Week 9 of Term Two (19 June). 

Semester exams for all Year 7 to 11 students will take place in Weeks 7 and 8 (5 June to15 June). On June 16, students will not be required to attend classes (Student Free Day) as Teachers will be working on Assessment and Reporting. 

Details about the exams timetable for all Year Levels will be distributed to all students via their Year Level, Sub-School Leaders, and Compass.

North Geelong SC has implemented Semester exams for several years now and Semester examinations are well embedded in our school calendar and culture. The formal examination structure creates an opportunity to provide students with skills in examination preparation, practice, and personal experience in the valuable life skill of undertaking formal testing. Regular opportunities must be provided through both formative and summative assessment for students to develop examination techniques and to receive feedback on their performance.

Our school community prides on our structure examinations, ensuring that; 

• students develop confidence and skill in exam techniques and settings
• give students experience in formal testing situations that may be useful in later life
• instil a home/school study culture of regular revision and test preparation
• develop subject specific exam skills 
• reinforce the learning and teaching culture of the school amongst the students, parents and wider community
• provide an additional assessment tool for teachers and students

Wishing all students Good Luck with the upcoming exams.

Vietnam International student trip (5 to 14 May)

I was lucky enough to be part of a Department on Education (DE) international students’ trip to Vietnam. A delegation of 6 public school Principals in Victoria (NGSC was the only Geelong school) and a DE representative. Vietnam is the second largest provider of international students in Victorian schools and DE is very keen in increasing these numbers. At NGSC we have 6 Vietnamese international students.

The expected outcomes of this travel were:

• improved intercultural understanding, global citizenship, and language learning of local students by studying alongside students from another country 
• the new perspectives and ideas brought to our classrooms by international students participating in classroom discussions 
• that having international students lifts the academic and career aspirations of local students 
• the subjects that can now be taught at your school for all students because of demand from international students for these subjects.

Benefits for Education and NGSC 

• Maintaining and increasing the number of Vietnamese international students studying at NGSC and in Victorian government schools aligns to the department’s vision of “supporting Victorians to reach their potential, regardless of their background, postcode or circumstance, and to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to participate and thrive in a complex economy and society, as well as engage as global citizens.
• International school students contribute significantly to global learning and engagement by bringing to our classrooms diverse cultures, languages and ideas that build Victorian Curriculum F-10 intercultural capability, develop global mindsets and lift aspirations.
• In July 2022, the Executive Board noted the department’s International Student Program Recovery, Growth and Diversification Strategy which focuses on incremental and sustainable increases in student enrolments, including through marketing and recruitment activity, that enable the department to maintain delivery of a compliant and high-quality program.
• The travel also supports the Victorian Government’s International Education Recovery Plan (released in late 2022) which includes a range of strategies to increase student enrolments, including in schools, following COVID-19 impacts.
• Having international students studying alongside local students builds the Victorian Curriculum intercultural capability and supports global citizenship and language learning in Victorian schools.

Although the itinerary was challenging at times, the DE team managed to visit many Education agencies and officials, presenting, and meeting prospective parents and students.

I also had the opportunity to meet the parents of one of our international students, they really appreciated the effort.

Thank you to Brad Headlam for acting as the Principal during my absence.

Pupil Free Day Professional Practice Day (PPD)- Wednesday, August 2  

As advised in the DE School Update (4 April 2023), as part of the implementation of the VGSA 2022, the department has agreed that principals will schedule one of the 2 common professional practice days for 2023 (and beyond) as an additional student free day. The common day for PPDs is to be nominated by the principal however as it is now an official student-free day. Our School Council has approved and endorsed the student free PPD common day.

NGSC common PPD is on Wednesday, August 2 and it will be a student free day.

Education Week - May 14 to 20 

151 Years of Public Education

2023 Education Week

Education Week is an annual celebration of education in Victoria.

This year Victoria celebrated Education Week from Sunday 14 May to Saturday 20 May.

This year’s theme was ‘Active Learners: Move, Make, Motivate’, which celebrates physical activity, hands-on learning and student voice in education.

At NGSC Education Week 2023 was all about celebrating the wonderful programs provided to our students, in particular our Excellence in Sports Program (EIS), Australian Rules, Soccer and Volleyball, therefore, it is an opportunity for us, to showcase the work that we do to promote Active Learners, Make and Motivate, celebrating physical activity, hand’s learning and student voice in education. 

The vision of the EIS program is to develop students’ sport specific skills, knowledge and practical application in their chosen sports, as well as other important aspects of their learning. The EIS program encourages academic achievements by:

• Increased student engagement 
• Increased attendance
• Increased progress reports scores
• Increased organisation skills 

and development of life skills such as;

• Resilience
• Confidence
• Wellbeing
• Problem Solving
• Leadership
• Teamwork and Cooperation 
• Building new friendships
• Respecting different ideas and opinions 
• Leading healthy and balance lifestyles

North Geelong SC is proud to be a successful educational setting with lots of tailored programs for all, addressing student individual needs. 

Other programs providing outstanding learning opportunities to our students:

• Performing Arts program

An extensive Performing Arts program is provided to the students interested in performing, singing, dancing, theatre, instrumental music, backstage support. The Performing Arts area offers a variety of performances (musical, theatrical, karaoke and dancing) throughout the academic year. 

• Scholarship Program

The Scholarship program promotes and recognises outstanding commitment by primary school students who have displayed a strong involvement in their school community. The College looks for exemplary young people who are exceptional in different areas and possess personal qualities and values that will contribute to the life of our College. The Scholarship Program recognises the considerable achievements of children in our community and provides them with the opportunity to experience exciting curriculum opportunities through a broad range of engaging programs delivered by our dedicated teachers. Scholarships are available in the following areas: Academic Excellence, Student Leadership, Community (Good Citizenship), Sporting Excellence and The Arts.

• The Select Entry Accelerated Learning Program (SEAL)

The SEAL Program at North Geelong Secondary College provides an opportunity for students to undertake learning experiences that are designed to meet the needs of high performing students; capable of outstanding academic achievement, who want to be challenged and who demonstrate high levels of task commitment.

• Strive to Achieve Results (STAR)

This innovative Literacy and Numeracy program is unique to our college and achieves outstanding results for students in Year 7 to 9. The aim of the Striving To Achieve Results (STAR) program is to identify students with the potential to become our future ‘stars’. Using testing, triangulated data and teacher feedback we establish the student’s individual needs and tailor a program to develop, consolidate and nurture their skills.

• Achieving Core Education (ACE) (Literacy and Numeracy Program)

Another unique Literacy and Numeracy program at the school aiming to improve the Literacy and Numeracy of students in Years 7 and 8. It is an intervention program for those students that may be performing below the appropriate standards in one or more areas. It also builds student confidence and sets them up to be successful in their secondary schooling. 

• Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program 

The STEM program provides knowledge and skills to our students, so that they can fully participate in the day to day social, cultural and economic aspects of life. Building the STEM knowledge and skills of current and future learners will also help to give employers the confidence to grow, explore and innovate knowing they can call on a highly skilled, adaptable workforce in the future. The STEM program sparks interest and curiosity in young people, both in their learning in education settings and at home, therefore at NGSC we believe that our children deserve rich, immersive learning experiences in scientific experimentation and hypothesis, in using and creating technological innovations, in engineering practical solutions of their own design, and the awesome power of Big Data for discovery.

• HPV Human Power Vehicle

The school is one of very few state schools that have a fleet of recumbent vehicles and a strong Advance/HPV team of approximately 30 students that train and participated in energy breakthrough competitions throughout the year. 

• The Wellbeing Hub

The wellbeing of students at the school is always front and centre of what we do. Our specialised wellbeing team includes; social workers, psychologists, youth worker, school nurse, chaplain, Doctors in Schools Program. These professionals work together with the Regional School Student Support Officers and a variety of external agencies to ensure the wellbeing of all of our students. The team works tirelessly on re-engaging and preventative student programs that are geared to ensure student healthy and resilient minds. Here are some of the Student Wellbeing Team activities provided to our students and staff.

Lunch time extracurricular activities and other social groups; these groups are open to all students. Groups are facilitated by Student Wellbeing and other staff. Students are also invited to suggest ideas for other lunch time social groups

• ‘Bijou Jewellery’ students learn how to create stunning pieces of jewellery and can take pieces home
• ‘Bust a Move’ dance group, students have fun learning the latest dance moves and sharing their own choreography
• ‘Open microphone’ students have fun by trying their singing talents every Thursday lunchtime in the Piazza
• ‘Anime Club’; a pop culture group where students share their interests.
• ‘SoulART’ is an eight-week Art Therapy program that taps into student creativity to enhance their wellbeing and resilience. This group is facilitated by our School Chaplain who is also an Art Therapist
• Twice a Term: Workshops to support staff in building resilience and a workplace climate of mutual respect and trust are offered to all staff members. 
• Dungeons and Dragons club
• Fuse Cup (e-sports games)
• Full time breakfast club; a healthy breakfast menu is offered to our students on a daily basis, at no cost. Approximately 140 to 160 students have their breakfast at the school every morning. The NGSC Breakfast Club has been running on full time basis for the last ten years. It is one of the most successful, high school breakfast programs in the state of Victoria. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the work and sincerely thank numbers of our wider community, organisations, volunteers, Second Bite, the NGSC Wellbeing team and the School Breakfast Coordinator Ms Alison Costa, who work tirelessly, providing breakfast to our students every school day. 

Healthy Eating, Healthy Lifestyle, “Kids—Go for your life.”

In today’s modern Australian society, parents and schools are the major socializing forces. 

Childhood obesity and an Australian epidemic obesity issue are current topics that the government and media talk about on a regular basis and schools have become the centre of promoting Healthy Eating and Healthy Lifestyle. This year’s education Week theme Healthy Mind, Healthy Body fits in perfectly with Healthy Eating, Healthy Lifestyle. 

Without any doubt the school has a role in dealing with this problem and at North Geelong SC we take this issue seriously. At present we ensure that all students get a reasonable level of physical activity in school through the Physical Education classes and School Sports.  We also encourage our students to play sport during recess and lunchtime. Our sporting facilities are maintained at excellent standards with upcoming plans for more sporting facilities upgrade in the near future. As part of our curriculum, we teach Health and Nutrition, and we also monitor what is sold in our school canteen. Our canteen can only promote healthy eating and can only sell foods approved by the Victorian Canteen Association.

However, the school’s role in this area is a supplementary one. The primary responsibility for developing and reinforcing good eating habits rests at home with the family. It is important that parents/guardians develop and encourage good eating habits at home and that this process is enforced from an early age of the child. 

Our school community does take the issue of childhood obesity very seriously and will continue to do what we can to reinforce the message of healthy eating and physical activity, when students are at school. However, good habits are established at home and that is a responsibility parents & guardians must take very seriously. 

In today’s modern Australian society, parents and schools are the major socializing forces. 

Absences during the term “it is not ok to be away.”

I am concerned as of late I have received a great number of requests for students to miss school time for what I see as frivolous reasons. We publish our term dates way ahead of time to assist parents/guardians in planning family trips in the 13 weeks of the year set aside for that purpose. When holidays occur or absences without an appropriate approved reason during the term it disrupts children’s education. Of even greater concern is that it sends the wrong message to a student; it says: “holidays, or some secondary activity such as birthday celebrations, rank as a higher priority than your education.

At NGSC we work very hard to ensure students understand the vital importance of making the best of their educational opportunities. Receiving mixed messages about this do not make our task any easier.

I am aware of some parental special circumstances and am also aware that not all parents are able to take holidays within term breaks due to work related restrictions, sometimes it is necessary for single parents to take their children away with them on business trips etc., and that parents may decide to take their children on an extended break to travel around Australia. When this occurs, I ask that parents think carefully about the possible impact of such trip on their child’s education and then seek to minimise this through consultation with the school as far in advance of the trip as possible.

The school has a fantastic structure to ensure clear parent communication, through the Sub-School Assistants, Sub-school Leaders and Year Level Coordinators. We also provide the latest ICT technology to enable students who have legitimate reasons to be absent to be informed, complete and submit work and part of the school community while they are away. The school is required by law to keep attendance records for all students. Absences are recorded as due to illness, for other legitimate reasons, or as unauthorised absences. There is also a 90% minimum attendance requirement as part of VCE assessment. For all of these reasons I ask parents/guardians to minimise student absence during the term time, and where it absolutely unavoidable, to contact the school as far in advance as possible. 

Picking Up and Dropping Off your children around schools

For the safety of children, parents/guardians are reminded and strongly encourage to take care and obey parking signs when picking up or dropping off children around the school. Council’s parking and information officers regularly patrol school areas during start and finish times and motorists detected breaching parking regulations risk being issued with a Penalty Infringement Notice.

Remember, as soon as you stop to let your children in or out of the car, you are deemed to be parked. You do not have to leave your car or turn the engine off to receive a fine. 

At children’s crossings, you must remain stationary at the stop line while any person (including an adult or the supervisor) is on the crossing or the stop sign is displayed. Do not let your child out at this time; ensure that they wait until you are safely and legally parked.

If you breach a parking regulation the parking and information officer assigned to monitor our school crossing will usually record your registration number and details, and the Penalty Infringement Notice will be posted to the registered owner of the vehicle within the next three days.

Also dropping off or picking up children in the staff car park is prohibited and no parents/guardians should be parking in the staff car park at any point in time. This behaviour places our students at great risks as they are walking to school or riding their bicycles through the car park. 

Please ensure you adhere to the parking regulations around schools and the school’s expectations, so that all children are safe, and you avoid running the risk of a Parking Infringement.