From the Principal

Principal's Report

Welcome to the second newsletter for Term 4.  Our Year 12 students have finished all their classes and begin their exams on Wednesday of this week.  Our Year 11 students begin exams on 12th November and on completion, they will begin orientation classes for Year 12.

Year 12 Graduation

Last week on Tuesday 23rd October, the Year 12 Graduation was held at the San Remo ballroom in Carlton.  It was truly a gala event and each individual student was introduced and presented with a specially bound folder as a memento of their time at Rosehill.  I especially enjoy these ceremonies as we get to see just how the students have matured over the last six years as they approach adulthood.  It also presents a chance for the Staff to interact with their students on a more social basis throughout the evening. Thanks must go to the Year 12 Coordinators, the Administration Team and our School Captains for their work in the organisation of the event.

School Review

In the last newsletter I made mention that our School Review had been completed.  We are still waiting for the final report to be released, but two of the main findings centre around our Professional Learning Community Processes and Student Agency.

At the start of 2017, we set up Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s).  These communities are formed across the school with small groups of teachers working together to discuss how to deliver the curriculum in the classroom using High Impact Teaching Strategies and the measurement of student progress.  The reviewer has suggested ways in which we can improve these processes.

We have a strong Student Leadership program in place which operates mainly outside the classroom, but the reviewer believes we have to get more feedback from our students about what is happening in the classrooms.  This is called “student agency” and is meant to provide a greater voice for students. We will be working on strategies to address this.

Celebrations of Student Learning

Over the last three weeks, I have had the opportunity to experience student work through the Year 12 Art show, a film night showcasing the work of our Media Studies students and a very pleasant two twilight hours of music.  We should all be proud of student presentations in the area of the Arts.  There are many, very talented performers and artists across the College.

Year 10 ID Expo

A special event that is held this time every year is our Year 10 Expo.  Students from the Year 10 ID classes, as part of the Civics and Citizenship Curriculum, research current issues in our society and then provide an expo of their research in our gymnasium.  Students from across the school visit the expo and then vote for the group that they believe had the most influential presentation.  This year's topics included:

• Refugees and Offshore Detention
• Sexual Assault
• Breast Cancer Awareness
• Homelessness
• Domestic Violence
• Food Waste
• Racism
• Equality
• Animal Rights

It is always a difficult decision when casting votes for the best presentation.