Delahey Campus Principal Message
Principals Report
Hi to all members of the Delahey community. Again, we write this Campus Principal’s report while in lockdown. Fingers crossed we’re back on October 4. As we have said previously, our families out there are the real heroes in this pandemic; balancing a ‘new-order’ with so many physical, emotional, mental challenges to confront keeping a household running. The Copperfield College Delahey staff tip their hats off to you. Continue the work and continue to believe in a brighter future
Delahey staff and students are paying even closer attention to Coronavirus announcements than the rest of the school as we consider the impact of the current lockdown on our Year 12 students and the Year 11 students studying Year 12 subjects. The key final dates for the end of the VCE year have not changed; VCE exams are expected to proceed as usual on the planned dates with the main exams starting on October 27 and finishing November 17. This means that students have been completing assessments while doing school online which can be a bit of an unfamiliar experience and tricky for both students and their teachers to navigate.
We’re also anticipating a return to school for Year 12s as soon as it is safe to do so. The State Government has made vaccinating our Year 12 students and teachers a priority in preparations for the GAT and the exams. The fast-track vaccination number for Year 12 students and teachers only is 1800 434 144. We would encourage all our students doing final year courses in VCE and VCAL whose choice it is to take advantage of this vaccinating service, to do so. The research shows that the vaccine is highly effective in preventing serious COVID disease, which means that you are much less likely to be hospitalised if you catch COVID when vaccinated. It is also somewhat effective in preventing transmission of the virus so getting as many people vaccinated as possible is an important step in controlling the virus and getting everybody out of lockdown soon.
Of course, let us re-iterate that vaccination is not mandatory and is done by informed choice. We are only passing on Department of Education advice to you all. Regardless of the vaccinations, when the Government announces a return to school for Year 11 and 12 students, we’ll be making careful plans to make sure everyone is safe.
We also understand that families and students have been affected in different ways by the lockdown and it’s important to note that whilst we are all in the same ‘storm’ at the moment, we’re not all in the same boat. We know many families are struggling financially now with non-essential businesses shut down for the lockdown. We also know that different students also have different experiences with online learning, with some having responsibility to care for younger siblings or difficulty with internet access in large households where siblings might also be studying online.
To acknowledge the different impacts that lockdown and the pandemic are having on students, we are participating in the VCAA’s Consideration of Educational Disadvantage (CED) scheme. This means that every student who is studying a Year 12 subject will be given the opportunity to give us information about the specific impacts of the pandemic and lockdown on their learning. These impacts are then considered by students’ teachers and used to develop ‘expected grades’ which indicate what results students would have been expected to attain if there were no pandemic this year. These ‘expected grades’ are taken into consideration by VCAA in awarding students ATARs, the scores that determine university entrance in 2022.
This year, special consideration will also be available to VET and VCAL students. Students in these programs have been particularly affected by the pandemic because of the practical nature of the learning and assessment in these programs. We anticipate allowing extra time at the end of Unit 4 for students to make up any missed work if necessary. There are also special arrangements through VCAA to ensure that students are still able to achieve their graduating certificate despite, for example, not being able to complete structured workplace learning.
We are also doing our best to support families immediately affected by the pandemic. Our student management team and mentor teachers are actively reaching out to families to check in on their wellbeing in lockdown. We have food packages available for needy families. Today, we have had our first wellbeing lesson for Delahey students. Staff took students across year 11 and 12 through a session about positive self-talk. This session helped students avoid ‘thinking traps’ and to challenge negative thoughts that are not helping them stay well and achieve their goals.
On Wednesday, students will have an online session with Darren Pereira, a motivational speaker who has worked with our students before. They will learn about strategies to promote resilience, but also have some fun getting pumped up for that final stretch to the end of the year.
The Capital Works program continues at Delahey, even though the school seems a little deserted at the moment. One benefit of lockdown is nobody needs to take long routes around temporary fencing to get from one classroom to another. On Wednesday last week, the builders had a fire drill for the building site. This feels notable as we have not been able to complete either our Term 2 or Term 3 evacuation drills due to the various lockdown interruptions! At this stage, we are hoping for the builders to hand over the western side of M-Block in late October. With a cap on the number of tradespeople onsite, it has been a struggle to have our landscape gardeners work concurrently to finish the outside landscaping. Depending on a variety of factors, the landscaping may be completed a bit later.
The Delahey campus is open with a skeleton staff from all three campuses providing a safe learning environment for vulnerable students and children of essential workers from across the college. Year 11 and 12 students are also permitted to enter Delahey if they are picking up or submitting essential work/resources for assessments. A reminder that you need to come through the front office and check in using our QR code.
Finally, we welcome Milos Subotic, one of our Humanities teachers, to the role of Acting Team Leader for Red team, filling in for Bobby Todorovski who is stepping up to take the recently vacated Campus Leader role. We are also pleased to note that Jacqui Breen, a much-missed teacher who left us last year, is returning in 2022 to lead our VCAL program’s transition into the new VCE (Vocational Specialisation). Congratulations to both Milos and Jacqui!
That’s enough from us; stay safe, healthy and happy please
Mr Renato Carinci and Mr Dan Sullivan
Campus Principals