From the Principal Class

Dear College Community,

The return to lockdown and remote learning is yet another challenge to face. It is certainly testing the resilience of students, staff and the whole Viewbank community.

The quote “Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before” rings true. Of course, we are hopeful that over time, things will return to some sense of normality. However, accepting our current situation gives us the strength and courage to adjust, to reset and keep working towards our goals. 

At this stage, we can only keep planning and spreading a positive message to all of the Community. The College will do all we can to continue to give students the best learning and extra-curricular experiences we can. 

This is an important message for our senior students, in particular. We continue to support all of our students through this time and on return to the College. However, we recognise the impact of two years of uncertainty – very much an impacted VCE for our current Year 12 cohort and we will continue to provide them with every opportunity for success.

VCAA has advised that the General Achievement Test (GAT) has been postponed and will no longer run next Thursday the 29th July. The new date for the GAT is Thursday the 12th August. The GAT will run from 10am - 1.15pm. All students completing a Unit 3/4 subject are required to complete the GAT. Further details will be provided to students as the new date gets closer. House Leaders are available to support any student that would like assistance to prepare for the GAT, or has any concerns about it.

We continue to plan for community events and have rescheduled the College production, Chicago. This will now take place during the week starting August 9. More information will be shared with the College community once we have further guidance from the Department.

The Viewbank Market day has been rescheduled to a date later in the year. I want to thank our Senior Student Leaders for all of their work so far, planning this event. Their willingness to continue to plan for the event, after their exams have finished is a credit to their drive and commitment to Viewbank and community building.

The College is offering ‘Tuning In To Teens’ again in 2021. This is a program for parents who would like to engage with an expert in the field to take you through the parenting journey with teenagers. See the information provided further in the newsletter if you are interested. (Community News)

Finally, I want to acknowledge the many members of our community, who have family and friends overseas. There are staff and families who have not seen family members or friends for over 18 months, some have people they care for sick or lost to Covid-19. Our thoughts and commiserations to anyone feeling loss and isolation at this time. Please feel free to reach out for support through our Wellbeing team.

Principal Class Team 

Sharon Grimes, Principal

Emma Ford, Assistant Principal

Rachael Smith, Assistant Principal

Jackson Moloney, Acting Assistant Principal