Welcome back to Term 3!

Welcome and farewell!

As we start our new semester, I want to take the opportunity to welcome some new staff to Glenroy College, and say thanks to those who are departing.

We are excited to welcome the following new staff:

Ms Peta Johnstone (Assistant Principal)
Ms Rebecca Irvine (Humanities/English)
Ms Heulwen Sweet (AUSLAN)
Dr Rashid Ahmed (Maths)
Ms Gulfidan Gul (Maths)
Ms Amy Prenc (VET Beauty Services)
Mr Sam Woodberry (Literacy tutor)
Ms Melissa Guclu (Literacy tutor)
Ms Amina Elorr (Wellbeing and Inclusion)

Recruitment has been difficult in all industries and in particular in education, so it is a wonderful sign of faith in our school that so many people are looking to join us here at Glenroy College.

We also sadly bid farewell to:

Mr Petros Kapoulitsas (Science/Math)
Ms Nikki Protyniak (Library)
Ms Huma Adnan (Inclusion)
Ms Ayesha Bibi (Literacy Tutor)

Each and every staff member contributes to the fabric of our fabulous college, and we are grateful to these staff for their substantial contributions during their time here. We wish each and every one of our departing staff well in their future endeavours!

High Expectations

The last week of Term 2 saw our end of semester assemblies to celebrate student growth and achievement for 2023. These were a fabulous opportunity to show that it is not only academic excellence that is valued by our community, but that trying hard and working towards your personal best is equally as important.

During my address I also took a moment to pause and reflect on our growth as a learning community this year. This year has seen a lot of challenges placed in front of our students, from the new timetable, our move to COMPASS, changes to the way we communicate, and changes to what our expected behaviours look like each and every day. Then there's the challenges every young person faces; getting up on time, organising ourselves, meeting new people, or putting yourself out there and trying something new.

I certainly won’t step back from the idea that I have expected a great deal from each and every student this year, and I will continue to do so - mostly because I know they can meet these expectations and in turn set themselves up for a successful future, whatever that may look like to them.

I know some students have found this setting of high expectations challenging, but that is the beauty of learning; learning is all about being challenged, being taken out of your comfort zone, and looking at how you can take your next steps. You’re not supposed to get everything right the first time, not even the third or 15th time in life. It is the trying your hardest that matters, and I know that the vast majority of our students have tried their hardest all the through the year.

So I’d like to congratulate all of our award winners - both those of you who have shown great growth in your learning and learning attributes this year, and those who are achieving at the top of their class. We are proud of all of you, and I can’t wait to see what you do next.

Uniform Changes

During my student focus groups in Terms 1 and 2 it became evident that there are some issues that students want addressed about the College uniform. After much discussion we have worked through the design phase of a number of new pieces of uniform, and we are expecting samples from Lowes in the coming weeks.

The new pieces coming in 2024 are:

An upgraded white shirt (both long and short sleeve) with thicker material based on the feedback that our current shirt is too see-through
An altered design on the sports shirt - removing the open V neck and replacing this with a button up to give the option of buttons open or closed as preferred
Updated sports tracksuit pants - with an improved design based on student feedback
A newly designed Soft Shell Jacket to replace the current jacket, again based on feedback about the suitability of the current item

Many of these changes come from a view of creating a school uniform that meets the diverse needs of the community, and there are more student requested uniform changes in the pipeline. It is important to note that uniform changes usually take place over a two year period, so students may continue to wear their current pieces of uniform until the end of 2025 if they wish.

Communication

All families have now received their COMPASS log ins and I encourage you to go in and familiarise yourself with the features.

In Term 3 we will focus on the following features of COMPASS:

• Attendance (including families entering student absences via COMPASS)

• Class schedules and calendars

• Excursion approvals

• All school communications (important messages, emails and notifications of events including "Back on Track" and Detention)

• Parent Teacher Student Conferences

When the COMPASS app is set up on parents' phones, it will change the main source of school-home communication to "in app messaging" or email, and greatly reduce our need to text message families. It is important that families access COMPASS regularly to keep informed so students don't miss out on any opportunities.

By the time this goes to press we will have begun our parent sessions to support families with this transition, but if you require some tech support on how to set up or use COMPASS please don't hesitate to reach out.

That’s all for this newsletter, but don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and keep your eyes open for COMPASS and email notifications.

Have a great week!

Andrew Arney

Community

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