Moving into the Engineers' Precinct

Over the next three months I look forward to working with Alana Wearne who has been appointed as an additional Assistant Principal at the Blakeley Road Campus for the remainder of the year. Alana’s appointment has been made to assist us as we undertake the necessary work to consolidate on one campus in 2017, continue our re-building process and establish our new training facility at the Etty Street Campus.

One of the projects Alana and I are currently undertaking is participation in Andrew Fuller’s Resilient Youth Australia (RYA) project. Last term, 181 of our students undertook an RYA survey which will help us to understand how our students rate in three dimensions of resilience: safety, fulfilment and healthiness.  The RYA project defines resilience as “the ability to draw upon the strengths within yourself and around you to flexibly respond to life while remaining true to yourself and creating positive relationships with others. The more resilience our students have the more likely they are to have a safe, healthy and fulfilling life.” Last week, Alana and I attended a workshop to help us begin interpreting our survey results and start making plans for building on our students’ strengths and addressing those areas which can be developed further. We look forward to sharing more about this project in the coming months.

Paul Frye

Enrolling at CSC for 2017

The experience of enrolling at CSC has been enhanced through the development of two new CSC publications; Welcome and Hello.  Replacing the previous “Returns Booklet”, these new publications are designed to inform and guide new students and their parents/carers through the enrolment process.

Describing her vision for the new publications, local communications expert and graphic designer, Elizabeth Geddes stated,

“Parents and students have a choice about where to enrol for secondary schooling and making the move into high school is a big step. I felt CSC needed to give prospective families an aspirational idea of the school and its environs. The site Master Plan and the intersecting precincts is evidence of a school that is focussed on continuous improvement.

“I considered the practicalities of needing to read and keep the policies, and then on the other hand return a lot of essential forms.  Splitting the document into two booklets was the answer.”

The Welcome - Family Booklet includes instructions on how to enrol, information about CSC’s Redevelopment Program and Master Plan and important policies for students and parents/carers to be aware of.  This booklet is for families to keep and refer to as needed.

The Hello - School Booklet includes the numerous forms the Department of Education and CSC requires to be completed to enrol students, such as class selection (for Years 7 & 8), student and family details, student medical details and policy acceptance forms.  This booklet is for families to complete and return to CSC.

Initial feedback received from CSC staff and Grade 6 families has been very positive and we plan to provide current CSC families with copies of the Welcome booklet during Mentor Day meetings in January 2017.

Many thanks to Elizabeth Geddes from Chops For Tea for her vision and expertise and Mulqueen Printers in Bendigo for their terrific service.

Engineers’ Precinct

There was movement at CSC, as the word was passed around

That Automotive and Woodwork were moving in,

And had joined the Engineers’ Precinct – worth 5 million ‘pounds’

And all the students celebrated the win!

(Apologies to A.B. “Banjo” Paterson for butchering his work….)

The Engineers’ Precinct was officially handed over to CSC on 17 August.  Yippee! Over the past couple of weeks teaching staff members Anthony van Emmerik, Andrew Azzopardi and Andrew Dodgshun, assisted by Geoff Ross, have been sorting, clearing, disposing of and moving items from the Etty Street campus and the 100 block at the Blakeley Road campus into the Engineers’ Precinct. 

All CSC students from Years 7-11 have toured the new building with many of the senior students expressing their excitement at returning to Blakeley Road to enjoy these new facilities.

Over the next three weeks furniture will be arriving and final fixtures and fittings installed including whiteboards and digital projectors in time for the start of Term 4.  Automotive and Woodwork classes will commence in the Engineers’ Precinct in Term 4, along with Year 7 and 8 science classes.

We are liaising with Premiers’ office to schedule the official opening and are hoping to confirm this date and our community opening and celebration within the next couple of weeks.

With just over a week until the September holidays, I hope you all have a lovely break.

Cheers,

Elissa