Principal update

Principal’s Message

Every Victorian Government School is required to develop a four-year Strategic Plan which is followed by a formal School Review to evaluate the success of the plan and then establish goals for the next four year plan. In 2019, our school is in the final year of its current Strategic Plan. This means that we will be participating in our four-yearly School Review over the next two terms. I am currently working with School Council to plan activities which will allow parents, students, staff and other members of our school community to provide feedback about the school’s performance over the past four years and suggestions for priorities to be included in our next Strategic Plan. These activities will occur in the latter part of this term and into next term. More details will be provided soon.

Last week we had several CSC students participate in the ANZAC Day service at the Castlemaine RSL. An annual feature of the service is the delivery of speeches by the CSC Captains. This year, Ella Hayes and Bodie Maffescioni continued the high standard set by previous CSC Captains by delivering eloquent speeches about the significance of ANZAC Day for them.

As per my previous newsletter messages, we are fast approaching the time when work will commence on our new $11.75 million building project, with construction due to start in July. Currently we are putting in place arrangements to move classes and staff offices out of the 100 block and upper 200 block of buildings by the end of term. Careful planning is underway to ensure that these transitional arrangements occur smoothly and there is very minimal disruption to the way the school operates.

Later this month all CSC staff will undertake the fourth and final day of their Berry Street Education Model training. This will occur during a pupil free day on Wednesday 22 May. The following link provides information about the Berry Street Educational Model training, which focusses on helping students to develop better skills of emotional regulation to improve their learning:

https://www.childhoodinstitute.org.au/focus-areas/berry-street-education-model

Over the next few weeks, we will be saying good-bye to two of our long serving teachers. Ms Jody Takos has accepted a teaching position closer to home, in Kyneton, and will be finishing with us on May 3. Ms Takos has been a passionate teacher of French and (previously) German at CSC for many years. We are currently in the process of appointing a replacement for Ms Takos. On May 9, Judith Hansen will be retiring from her position as a Teacher-Librarian. Ms Hansen has provided excellent service at CSC for many years, initially as our Etty Street Campus librarian, and more recently as a part-time librarian at the Blakeley Road Campus, along with Ms McDonald. During and prior to this time, like many CSC staff, Ms Hansen was a parent of CSC students, with her own children attending our school. I wish both Jody and Judith all the best and thank them for their valuable work at CSC.

Paul Frye

Principal

NAPLAN

Students in Years 7 & 9 will be completing their NAPLAN testing this year from Tuesday 14th – Friday 24th of May. We would like all students in these year levels to complete their tests, as this provides the school with valuable information in relation to the effectiveness of our teaching, specifically on how we are addressing the literacy and numeracy needs of our students. Exemptions from completing the tests can be sought by contacting Kellie Showell at the College and registering your child/s name from the beginning of term 2. Individualised forms will be distributed to the families of students seeking exemptions, which will occur in the 2 weeks prior to the testing.

Please find attached the information

Uniform

After a very successful term 1 of students wearing the College uniform with pride, we have made some minor alterations to how we will manage students not wearing full College uniform.

• Students arriving at school out of uniform should attend the Administration Office before 9am, where they will be provided with uniform. Students will be provided with a pass if uniform is unavailable.
• Any student out of uniform attending class or mentor time will have a ‘uniform incident’ logged on XUNO. For every third uniform incident received in a term, students will be expected to complete an after-school detention, which will be conducted every Friday.

This new process will begin from Monday 6th of May. Families are reminded to contact the College’s Administration or Wellbeing Teams if financial assistance is required for the purchasing of uniform.  

Justin Hird

Assistant Principal