Assistant Principal 

Year 9 &10 

Welcome back to school and the start of term three to all of our students and their respective families in years 9 and 10. I hope students enjoyed a relaxing holiday break and managed to steer clear of the nasty viruses that seem to be doing their rounds at the moment.

 On the last day of term, your child’s semester one reports had been posted on Compass. I trust that you have had an opportunity to view these reports and to have had conversations at home to acknowledge strengths and success that your child experienced throughout semester one, but also discuss the areas which require further improvement.

 I encourage you to talk with your child regularly on how they are going towards having completed all set work and their general progress in all subjects. Perhaps consider making contact with your child’s subject teachers if they have not performed well this past semester.

 Positive changes to results will only occur if positive actions are taken by students to change their application to study and to fully participate in all aspects of their learning including completing homework and assessment tasks. Your involvement as parents is vital in establishing a positive educational partnership with us as teachers of your children, and more importantly send that strong message of consistent effort and application to learning, being the driver of successful results. Adolescents sometimes forget that hard work is the key to success. They require encouragement and reminding of this from time to time!

I would also like to welcome Mr Isaac Mercado to the year 10 team. He will be replacing Mr McDonald who, for this term, is Acting Leading Teacher – Strategic Operations. Mr Mercado will work alongside Mr Wilkinson as year 10 student manager.

This week our year 10 students were at their Work Experience placements. I am confident that many students found this experience both rewarding and insightful. I hope that it will go some way in confirming possible pathway possibilities for the future years and perhaps make the upcoming subject choices into VCE, VET or VCAL a little clearer. Work experience will certainly provide insight for students about “employability skills” and on the job routines that are used on a day-to-day basis in most workplaces.

I would like to thank you as parents, for supporting the College in encouraging your children to find suitable placements, and to thank  Ms Krystal Bussell for her work behind the scenes, ensuring students completed the required paperwork, relevant OHS modules and were well informed about appropriate conduct in the workplace. We are looking forward to hearing of their experiences upon their return next week.

Term 3 will be a very busy one with students in Years 9 and 10, with them needing to take every opportunity provided during the upcoming student and parent information sessions and evenings, in order to be able to make informed subject choices for 2020. We would love to see all families attending these evenings. Set aside the Tuesday 30th July for current student of year 10, 2020 VCE Information Evening. This evening will provide you and your child with information regarding study options in years 11 and 12.

Individual subject selection appointments will follow this evening with students and their families as part of a Course Counselling Days on Monday 5th and 12thAugust. Students have already been provided appointment times.

 Thursday 1st August is the date for year 9 students and their guardians to attend the 2020 Year 10 Information Evening. Information will be provided about course offerings available at year 10 and how these lead to senior years of study.

  This year we will be hosting a Meet the Parents BBQ prior to the start of the information session. Please join us for a light BBQ supper outside the Gym at 4.30. The Information session will be held in the drama centre and begin at 6.30 following the BBQ.

Please contact Chris Danher or myself for any further information.