Young people of great character

Amazing Open Night

On Thursday 27 April we held our annual OPEN NIGHT. On the night we had over 1350 parents and students come through our school. The highlight was of course our amazing students who took parents on tours, talked to them about subjects and learning and acted as guides. Our students are the heart of our school, we don't need to prompt them or provide a script, they are able to talk with honesty and passion about their school and are the best promotion that we have for why Sandringham College is such a great community and place to learn.

I would like to thank and acknowledge our students and also the Domain Leaders and staff who set up displays, helped our preparation and/or attended on the night. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the incredible work of our 7-9 Campus Principal Vivienne McElwee. Viv always gives 150% to our school, to our students, staff and parents and we are extremely lucky to have her. Finally, I would like to thank the students and parents who attended our working bee on Sunday 23 April. Please go to the parents and community page for an update on the great work we did on the day.

STUDENT SUCCESS 

Please let us know if your child is a star outside of the College, we would love to acknowledge them.

Charlotte Christie

Congratulations to student Charlotte Christie (Year 12) who has been selected to perform as a specialist dancer in the 2023 State Schools Spectacular. 

What is the State Schools Spectacular? 

The annual Victorian State Schools Spectacular program is an invaluable performing arts opportunity for Victoria’s government primary and secondary school students.

The program showcases and unites government school communities through working towards a common goal of more students reaching the highest level of achievement in the arts, ensuring kids are happy, healthy and resilient, and building pride in our schools.

The Spectacular has become an invaluable rite of passage for Victoria’s top young talent, and a cherished, memorable education experience for all participants.

Pip Asome

"Pippa Asome is amazing as Henri – the talent of this young actress will ensure that we will see her on stage and on screen for many years to come."

Well done to Pip Asome (Year 9) for her performance in Bayou Bart. Pip is a talented actress who received strong reviews for her recent performance. She held her own against adult actors and we agree with the reviewer above, watch out for her in years to come!

https://subcultureentertainment.com/2023/05/theatre-review-bayou-bart-theatre-works-review/

Welcome to our French Assistant - can you help?

We would like to welcome out new French Assistant Marie Castel. Marie comes to us from Caen in Normandy where the weather is even colder than Melbourne. Caen is where the Canadians landed on D-Day and Marie has spent a year working as a language assistant prior to joining us. She has a linguistics and translation background and she has lived in Spain, Greece and the Czech Republic and speaks Spanish and English fluently and is trying to learn Czech.

Marie will work with our French Language students across the school with a particular focus on preparing our Year 12s for their French Oral examination.

I am reaching out to our community to ask if anyone has accommodation available for Marie to rent. She is looking for a granny flat or share house to move into. Do you have a student studying French? She would be a great asset to have in your home!

Please contact the College and ask to speak to the Languages Domain Leader Laura Ritchie if you can assist - 8599 0500.

Drop off and pick up

Please respect our neighbours by not parking across their driveways. We also ask that you do not use the Bluff Road Medical Centre carpark as a drop off and pick up spot.

Bluff Road - please drop off and pick up your child/children in the back carpark off Lansell Avenue. If you are picking up your child who is ill or going to an appointment or dropping a child off after the school day has commenced, the front car park off Bluff Road is available.

Commencing in 2024, a new drop off point will be available at Holloway Road outside the new High Performance Sport/Dance and Music Centre.

We must be vigilant 

You may have seen in the media reports of a swastika being scratched into the outside of a glass panel at the front of our Hall at the Bluff Road Campus. This symbol along with other words/tags were used to vandalise our facilities. I do not believe that this graffiti was perpetrated by a member of our school but I cannot prove this and so I must be clear that we do not tolerate hate at our school and anti-Semitism/racism/homophobia and misogyny have no place at Sandringham College or in our community. 

Developing ‘young people of great character’ is at the centre of what we aim to do at Sandringham College. Young people don’t always get things right, but as adults, we can teach and guide them to be the best version of themselves. Whilst we already engage with Holocaust education programs, in response to what has happened last week I wrote to Dr Abramovich, a leading academic and member of the Jewish community to seek support. 

We have been actively looking for a school-based program to educate our students about racism, but we have been struggled to find an appropriate platform. Most programs are one off guest speakers, and we were looking for something that our teachers could use as a part of our pastoral care program on an ongoing basis. I sincerely thank Dr Abramovich for developing the program Click Against Hate and for talking to me about it, and I look forward to being one of the first state schools to implement it. We will also be talking with our students about the incident and using it as an opportunity to educate. 

The graffiti was removed the day after it was discovered and my door is, as always, open to members of my community to discuss the incident.