PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Tamy Stubley - Acting Principal

After 10 weeks of silent spaces and empty classrooms, it has been an absolute delight to welcome back our students and staff onsite this week.  The extensive preparation and planning to ensure the return was smooth and warm is a testament to the care and commitment of all staff at Surf Coast Secondary College.

The aim for the first few days back was to enable students to reacclimatise and reacquaint themselves with not only each other but their learning spaces as well.  It was important for us to normalise the school day as much as possible and reengage those positive connections for staff and students alike, despite the masks, handwashing and physical distancing measures.  It really was quite wonderful to see their bright, sparkling eyes peeking over the tops of masks, as students returned onsite. Although we could not always see the smiles, we could hear the giggles and feel the warmth.  A very big thankyou to all the parents and guardians for helping to prepare your children, our students for their return.

There is no doubt, there is still a number of routines and protocols that our students will need to become familiar with, but we are confident that we will get through this together.  It is unrealistic to think that we won’t have communication challenges with masks, regulation encounters with physical distancing and working memory slip ups with regular handwashing and directional flow expectations. But we will work together to ensure we have a successful and safe re-entry to onsite learning.  It is important that our entire school community feels safe and cared for during this time and I want to personally thank everyone involved in our return to onsite learning. We are so very happy to be back.

I would like to recognise and congratulate our senior students who sat the General Achievement Test (GAT) on Wednesday 07 October, for the way in you prepared for the day and most importantly represented yourself and the school with such pride. It would have been very easy to become overwhelmed by the sense of occasion but to everyone’s credit, you were focused and mature in your approach. The feedback we received from the GAT supervisors was distinctly positive and impressive.  We are extremely proud of you all.  Let’s keep it going!

We have a number of key priorities for Term 4 as a result of the significant impacts of COVID-19 and remote learning:

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Our highest priority is the mental health, safety and wellbeing of every student and member of staff.  We will work closely with the Department of Education to ensure we tap into all available resources needed to ensure support for every student, including our most vulnerable.

Learning

Some students have been able to more quickly progress in their learning in the remote and flexible learning environment, others have maintained their rate of progress, and some have, despite their best efforts have fallen behind.  Our priority will be to support those who have fallen behind to catch up and those who have progressed significantly can continue to be extended and stretched in their learning.

Transitions

A key focus of Term 4 will be to make every effort to ensure each year level has a profound and valid transition period, setting them up for success in the coming school year. This includes finding contextually appropriate ways to conduct orientations and end-of-year celebrations and ensuring transition information captures additional details as necessary.