College Principal's Report
Principals Report
The end of the term is upon us and we are already halfway through the year. It has been a significant term with our Open Day, school review, exams, assessment and reporting, work experience, careers activities, university visits, study skills sessions, Naplan, weekly tours, Student Voice, Knox Police Youth Symposium, primary school visits, interschool sport, KIOSC and other excursions. Throughout all these activities our students have continued to model behaviours. The positive feedback about our students and their commitment to their learning, make me proud on a daily basis to be Principal of our great College.
Production 2019 - Little Shop of Horrors
Robin Czuchnowski , Performing Arts Leader, and Sam Eddy, Drama teacher, are busy conducting rehearsals for this year’s production ‘ Little Shop of Horrors’. The quality of the student performances at rehearsals has been exceptional and the main props are the best I have seen for this show.
Our students are fortunate to have such committed teachers and exceptional Instrumental and Voice teachers. This year, the students have had Ms Cheryl Eastwood, professional singer/song writer complimenting the team working with them.
The performances are on Thursday 25 July and Friday 26 July at Knox Community Arts Centre. Tickets are available from this week online www.knox.vic.gov.au or at the ticket box at the theatre which is located at the corner of Mountain Hwy and Scoresby Road Bayswater.
We encourage our community to get behind the production and purchase tickets for what will be a a great show.
College Annual Implementation Plan
The end of the first semester is a good opportunity to reflect on the three overarching goals and targets that we set as a College and the progress we have made towards achieving them.
Goal 1: To improve the achievement and learning growth of all students
Goal 2: To improve student engagement, voice and advocacy, inspiring students to be empowered learners
Goal 3: To build leadership capacity to create high performing teams for whole school improvement
We are well on track towards achieving our goals, already reaching many of the targets including Scoresby Secondary College Instructional Framework being used by all teachers; maintaining high expectations, continuous curriculum development and review by teachers for all subjects; professional leadership coaching for existing and emerging leaders; growth mindset program for students, parents and staff; expanding student voice and agency; and development and implementation of a new student services team model.
Members of the College Council Education Policy Committee (EPC), regularly receive reports on our progress towards the goals, in addition to hearing updates about teaching and learning and providing input into policy development. If you would like to join the EPC, please contact the College General Office.
Uniform
As the weather has been extremely cold, students should now be wearing warmer clothes. The College jumper is very warm especially when combined with the jacket. The winter uniform is compulsory. A reminder to check all items are correctly fitting, are of the appropriate length and items are not lost over the break. Students should be returning on day one having checked the policy in their planner on the requirements. A number of students have been reminded about adjusting their skirt length and to not bring incorrect school bags to school. There are two weeks to prepare.
2020 Enrolments
Our College is growing and while our school numbers may not be large, we offer every opportunity to our students that a larger school would offer. I thank the staff for their commitment and their willingness to give the extra time and effort to run such a rich co-curricular program, and teaching staff for such rigorous, engaging and enriching classroom programs. Next term we will be welcoming more new students across many year levels and enrolments for 2020 Year 7 are still coming in.
Knox Police Youth Symposium
Earlier in 2019 a Knox Community Safety Network was established by Victoria Police to bring together key members of the community to develop a safety strategy for Knox.
Representatives from the Department of Justice and Community Safety, Victoria Police, Rotary Club of Knox, Swinburne University (Wantirna), Knox City Council, Neighbourhood Watch, Knox secondary schools and local community have been planning strategic activities and events to support this project. One of the activities was for Scoresby Secondary College to bring together Knox Youth, from government, independent and Catholic secondary schools, to participate in a Knox Police Youth Symposium. The purpose of the Symposium was to bring the voice of our young people together with key leaders to identify the key issues impacting on young people living and studying in the Knox area. Educators from across the world recognise that student voice and agency not only empower young people to make purposeful contributions to their local and global communities, but also leads to improved health, wellbeing and learning outcomes.
The Symposium took place on Tuesday 25 June and provided students an opportunity to bring their voice to social issues impacting young people within Knox, connect with external stakeholders and other schools, and to engage in solutions focused thinking. Students used problem solving and creativity to generate ideas and potential solutions that will inform future decision making and recommendations.
Congratulations to our students who represented their fellow students. Our students were exemplary hosts to visiting students from all other Knox secondary schools including Bayswater Secondary College, Boronia K-12 College, Fairhills High School, Marta Christi College, Rowville Secondary College, Scoresby Secondary College , St Andrew’s College, St Joseph’s College and Wantirna College.
Mobile Phone Policy
The announcement this week about the Education Minister’s instructions to ban mobile phones has come as no surprise. The ban which is expected to start in 2020 to reduce cyberbullying and prevent children from being distracted in the classroom was implemented at Scoresby Secondary College at the end of 2014.
On Wednesday morning this week, I was asked to speak about our policy in a three way discussion with Mr Neil Mitchell and Professor Michael Carr Gregg on 3AW. We discussed how it was introduced and how it has supported learning growth in student outcomes. The follow up calls commending our College are credit to everyone who has worked hard to ensure phones have not been the centre of multiple issues over the past few years which many other schools have faced.
End of Term
Throughout this busy term I have been surrounded by so many committed staff, at every level of the college community, especially members of our leadership team. I thank them for their work in inspiring our students and working to ensure all of our students have every opportunity to experience success.
This term we are farewelling two staff members who will not be returning next term:
- Mr Andy Phillips (Chaplain) has resigned from his role as Chaplain with Khorus Connect. Andy has been employed for twelve years at the College through Khorus Connect. Andy has been a significant member of the wellbeing team at the College for twelve years. Whilst he will be missed by many students, families and staff, the oppor