Principal Report

Its hard to believe that yet again, I am writing my principal’s report during lockdown. Memories from last year’s lockdown keep popping up on my social media feeds and it reminds me that as much as we may be struggling and facing challenges now, we have done this before. The best aspect of being part of a school community is that you are not alone; there is always someone out there to help you whether you are a student, parent/carer, grandparent, friend or staff member. It's not a token line that we say “please reach out for support”, it is real and there is always help.

I am proud of all of the students who are engaging with remote learning. Having a focus and a commitment to continued learning can provide motivation to keep going. We are seeing some fantastic work being produced by students from all year levels. We held year level assemblies over the last couple of weeks and it was wonderful to see so many students engaging. I encourage all members of the community to get involved with our online challenges. One that we have currently running is the Masterchef Challenge #3 where students and staff can cook anything and submit a photograph of it with the most professional looking entry to be the winner. Entries close on 4th September and entry details can be found on Compass. 

Despite being in Remote Learning, members of the College have continued to be very busy with their extra-curricular activities. As a passionate science teacher, I thoroughly enjoyed Science Week in August. Our science team produced a range of science challenges and experiments to try each day. If you missed it, check out Compass. Congratulations to Caleb B (Year 7), Matthew R (Year 8), Shae P (Year 9), Isabel C (Year 10) and Jaimee M (Year 12) for being our winners of the Science Week Personal Learning Challenge. Thank you Ms Tenedora, for delivering a fun week of cool science.

We received our NAPLAN results this week and I wanted to share some highlights and recognise the achievements of our students. Our Year 7 Students have done amazingly this year, with a significantly higher percentage of students achieving high growth in Year 7 Numeracy and Reading compared to similar and network schools. They exceeded the state high growth benchmark in numeracy by 5%. 67% of our students in Year 7 achieved Medium or High growth in Reading. At Year 9, our students matched the same level of high growth in Reading as similar schools and outperformed network schools. Our Year 9 Students also outperformed similar and network schools in Spelling and Grammar and Punctuation. For those students who participated in NAPLAN this year, you will soon receive in the post individual student reports as well as certificates of achievement for eligible students. Teachers will use the results to further guide individualised support for students to continue to enhance their learning growth. 

Another exciting announcement is that Mount Erin College will be transitioning to a new structure for student management in 2022. This means that the school will operate in a Vertical Structure where each student and teacher will be part of one of four Houses. We already have Houses in place (Melaleuca-yellow, Erica-red, Sage-green, Casuarina-blue) but we use these mainly for sports events. In a Vertical Structure/House model, the focus and responsibility of the House is to support each student in all aspects of their school life from Year 7 all the way through to Year 12 and replaces the current Year Level Coordinator structure. Each House will be led by a team of three teachers who will become the “go-to” point for students and parents. The core role of this team is to manage student learning progress, student attendance, student behaviour and student support needs. The beauty of this model is that it streamlines the process for supporting students and ensures continuity throughout the life of a student’s learning journey at the College. Although the House contains a combination of students from Year 7-12, students will still learn in year level classes and there is no impact on the curriculum as a result of the House model. I look forward to sharing with you more detailed information about this change over the coming weeks.

Thank you again to you all for your continued support of Mount Erin College. I wish you the very best for the remainder of Term 3. Please take the time to look through our wellbeing supports available though Compass, our website and social media.  

Jenni Hodgins

Principal