School Council News

There has been a significant amount of work undertaken on Educational Policy during Semester 1 and we would like to share an overview of some of the things we have been doing and provide some further information about our short-term plans.

As was already reported in the preceding edition of the Cheltonian, teachers worked with Vic Zbar on the opening of the lessons and linked this work to the school instructional model. Vic will return later in the year to work with staff on continuing to set high expectations. Staff were also involved in a Professional Practice Day on Monday 20th June which was an opportunity for them to collaborate and plan for Semester 2.

NAPLAN has closed for 2022 and we are very pleased with our completion rates which are well over 90% for each cohort. Due to the substantial absenteeism that was occurring across the state, the original deadline was extended. The extension enabled us to lift our completion rate to almost 98%, a fantastic effort that will give us some valid data which we will use to inform our teaching and learning programs. We also had an impressive completion rate for the Attitudes to School Survey which all students were asked to complete this term, achieving a response rate of over 91% across the whole school. School Leadership, Student Voice and Teaching Staff will all be involved in sessions looking at these data sets. Randomly selected families will be invited to participate in a Parent Survey which will be the next step in the process of getting feedback from our community. Some staff have volunteered to be involved in a pilot Pivot program. Pivot involves staff surveying students about their teaching to establish a baseline. The staff involved will then work collaboratively to improve the identified areas of teaching and then retest to check whether they were able to improve. This is a program that we intend to use with all staff in 2023.

All students in Years 8 to 11 have recently sat exams. Students in Years 8 and 9 participated in exams for both English and Mathematics. Year 10 also sat additional exams in Science, History or Global Consumers and Citizens. VCE Unit 1 and 2 students sat exams for all their subjects. Exposure to sitting an exam is an important part of preparing students for future studies and is also an important assessment to determine what content students have been able to retain and how well they can apply their knowledge. Students will also have the opportunity to continue developing these skills during the Semester 2 examination period which will be held during weeks 6 and 7 of Term 4.

Semester 1 reports have been released to families and bookings are open for VCE and VCAL Parent Student Teacher Conferences which are scheduled for the first Wednesday of Term 3, Wednesday 13th July.

A major focus during Term 3 will be subject selection for students who are currently in Years 8 to 11. Again the bulk of this work is being undertaken by the subschools. Students will be provided information and counselling during the Pastoral Care program in the early parts of Term 3. There will also be parent information sessions. We are very excited to once again have the opportunity to offer these sessions onsite. Keep an eye out for further information which will be provided soon after our return to school for Term 3.

Preliminary discussions have occurred regarding how we introduce the VCE Vocational Major (VCE VM) which will replace VCAL and bring all students into the one Certificate Program, VCE. The bulk of this work is being completed by the Senior School and VCAL coordinators and will continue throughout the year.

A lot has been achieved in Semester 1 but there is still a lot of work to do. The challenge is one that inspires and excites us.

Peter Allen and Emily Nicholls 

Acting Assistant Principals and Co-Chairs Education Policy Committee

School Council Member Profiles

Rory Hall - Co-Vice President

Rory joined the school council in 2020 in the role of a community member.  Rory lives in Noble Park with a son in Year 10 at CheltSec.  Having spent the past 20 years leading young people on overseas expeditions, Rory's passion is for all CheltSec students to develop into broadminded global citizens, particularly through experiences beyond the classroom.  

Brooke Matthews - Assistant Principal 

Brooke says it is a privilege and an honour to be working as Assistant Principal at Cheltenham SC. 

Brooke, is joined by our school therapy dog Patty and between them, they oversee the student management and wellbeing of all in the College.

Brooke loves serving as an Assistant Principal. Her passion is developing positive relationships with everyone within the community, working with students as they grow, supporting teachers and staff so that they can reach their greatest potential, strengthening a connection between school and home, and fostering a positive school culture. At our core, we know that the school to home partnership is what allows us to provide an extraordinary school experience for all students.