Principal's Report

As the school year draws to a close, it is timely to reflect on the year’s achievements. 

Suzanne Cory High School has had yet another great year where our students have committed themselves to the whole school program; as I am fond of saying, we are more than just an ‘academic sausage factory’.

The newsletters throughout the year have provided on an ongoing snapshot into the life of the school and with the addition of our social media presence, especially Facebook and Instagram, our community has had the opportunity to the diverse opportunities available. Sport, music, debating, international trips, theatre, competitions in all shapes and forms; you name it, we probably offer it!  This is the manifestation of the very concept of the Renaissance person.

I will draw you attention to one event that has only recent occurred, the Global Learning Foundation trip to Cambodia. Sixteen students and three staff travelled to Siem Reap in Cambodia to work on the Pa Sao School. This school provides English language teaching and access to computer skills training. The Khmer education system does not adequately provide instruction in these two key skills and Pa Sao was established to provide these important elements of a modern education. While our students made a positive contribution to the physical surrounds of the school, including raising money and actually sanding and panting the building inside and out, they also established positive relationships with the young Cambodians at the school.  

Our students, and our community, are committed to helping those less fortunate than themselves; we understand the importance of education in improving one’s lot in life. This was the third trip that the school has organised to support schools in less fortunate communities in both Cambodia and Vietnam.  I was so impressed with the aims of the Pa Sao School, that we will ‘adopt’ this school as our ongoing project through the GLF and beyond. There are many exciting opportunities ahead; watch this space!

The staff have been preparing for 2019 and in particular preparing for the ‘new’ vertical House system.  The work that has been done already to ensure that this system will work most effectively for our students is truly inspiring.

What has also been truly inspiring is our VCE results. The media will place their spin on the results and use the somewhat crude measurements of median study scores and percentage of scores over 40 to rank the schools; however, as I have always stated the most important metric is the percentage of students who get an offer for one their first three university course choices. While we won’t know the answer to this until late January, what we do know is that our median ATAR of 88.50 is an improvement of 0.80 from last year’s results.  This is a remarkable achievement and will stand the students in good stead when offers are made in January.

Our dux for this year was Karmil Nguyen, with an ATAR of 99.75. Karmil has embodied the very ideal of the Renaissance person; she was a school captain this year, achieved second place in the national aerosports school division, an accomplished and successful public speaker and committed to the whole school program. Karmil was also in our first batch of Year 10 entrants in 2016 as well as now being our first non-maths/science dux.

We will farewell a number of staff this year.  Cindy Sullivan will be leaving the school after seven years to take up a Learning Specialist position at Hume Central College; William Donaldson will be moving back to New Zealand to take up an Assistant Principal’s position at Kuranui College, Greytown; Arnaud Gazelle has moved to the United States; Jenny Matthews is moving back to New Zealand; and Chris Chau and Maggie Sun are leaving for other schools. We will also farewell Suzi Nubile who has worked in the library.  On behalf of the school we wish them all well in their future endeavours.

It is a privilege to be the principal of Suzanne Cory High School and I would like to thank all members of the school community for their ongoing support of the school. I wish you all the best for the festive season and hope that you all have a safe and enjoyable summer break. I look forward to 2019 and the ninth year of the school.

Colin Axup

Principal