Principal's Message

Hello and welcome to week 4 of the term. 

When you put 1150 teenagers and 200 adults all in one place, YES, we are always busy! 

I can not believe how fast the days go. But, having said that, we have really had a fabulous start and classes are well settled into the routine, structure and predictability of the days.

There will be a tinge of sadness in this next 'bit', because Mandy Holmes is officially finishing up at our College as of Wednesday next week. Mandy has landed a sensational role, working for VCAA (Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority). Mandy will begin working with the DET Senior Secondary Reform team to assist schools, across Victoria in their delivery of the new VCE / VM (Vocational Major program). 

Clearly Mandy’s work here at our College has given us a tremendous advantage and set us up very well indeed. Thanks Mandy for your fabulous years of service and we look forward to continuing to work with you, but in a new capacity.

Having said that, we now welcome on board Emily Davie. Emily will be stepping into the shoes of Vocational Major / VET Co-ordinator and co-ordinator of 'all things VCE / VM'. This program is complex and each student can potentially have a different program requiring many different elements. Emily comes to us from the Regional Office team and brings with her a wealth of knowledge and leadership capacity. There will be a week of transition time, with both Mandy and Emily present, so that the students have as little disruption as possible.

We also welcome on board Evie Pinnock. Evie is joining us from Lakes Entrance Secondary and will be totally immersed in 'all things food', by now. Evie has many strings to her bow, she has years of experience and will certainly be an asset to the technology team. Welcome Evie!

Next topic: Disgusting and disgraceful posts on social media! 

Do these annoy you as much as they annoy me? Recently (but certainly also in the past) we have had a run of revolting posts on social media that clearly reflect poorly on our College.  I have had a couple of emails from parents who are concerned by this, and so they should be. 

There are 3 standard actions that can happen when this occurs: 

1. You can report the offensive material to the site and ask that it is removed
2. The College does the same
3. We also alert the police and they follow up 

It seems that some laws have changed and the police now have many more options available to them. I look forward to those who post this rubbish being confronted.

The Principal group and the local Police meet every third week to always ensure clear communication, as we work together.  In our meeting this week this topic was covered in detail.

The police have requested that we advise our school community of the following:

• Parents or concerned students and community members that are aware of the content may report it to police or crime stoppers
• Fights have been investigated 
• They are turning their efforts towards identifying the account owners. 
• If students report that they are one of the parties involved in the posts, then please direct them to report that to police

On a more positive note our Year 7 hub is now fully operational and we are loving it.

 We also received good news yesterday that the Science centre is ready for us to move into next Wednesday to start setting up and students will commence classes in the centre Monday week.  Exciting times!

Something to ponder: What is one thing that you wish you had done, something that if you could go back in time, you would change?

Have that chat with your children and pose the same to them, toss the conversation around and see what falls out!

As always happy to chat, just make an appointment.

Trudie Nagle

Principal