From the Principal 

Last Friday evening, our Year 12s enjoyed a rite of passage that has been sadly missed in the last couple of years, their school formal. Nearly 300 students and staff gathered in their finery to celebrate the friendships and achievements of our 2022 cohort. The students who organised and ran the evening, with the support of the Senior School Team, did a fantastic job, I am so glad that they were able to have this experience that the previous 2 years has prevented. They are now getting their heads down again, preparing for the General Achievement Test next week, followed by Practice Exams in the final week of term.

It was also great to see so many of our families attend the recent Winter Series concert, even though the weather lived up to the ‘wintery’ theme, the hall was full of family members enjoying the student performances. Thanks to the Music team for the supervision and organisation. It is great that our community remain keen to attend the performances. We have a second performance tonight, so I hope that this is just as successful but with better weather!

Preparation for the Masterplan works will begin in the next few weeks with the anticipated delivery of 2 double storey portables, similar to the ones currently placed on the school’s border with Merri Park. This will ensure that we have enough classrooms during the construction of the new Library and STEM building.

I am not sure if you follow the daily reports published on Compass each day, however, last week was the first time that we have been able to publish a hat-trick of ‘Donut days’.

While that did not last with some positive reports from students after the weekend, I believe that if we continue to follow the COVIDSafe measures then we will continue to keep the number of positive cases onsite very low and ensure that our students are able to participate in a large range of activities. Please remember to stay home if you are unwell, and continue to use the testing kits.

Our Comedy Night, one of our main Friends of Northcote High School fundraising events will be on next week. I hope that you can join us for a bit of a laugh (at the Comedy night that is 😉)

Chris Jones

Principal