Message from the principal
JOANNE CAMOZZATO
Welcome to new staff
I would like to welcome Assistant Principal - Middle Years, Phil Adams to our College. Phil joins us from Hazel Glen P-12 College where he was able to experience first hand the challenges of a growing school. Before that he was also at Hume Central Secondary College. Taryn Godley has also increased our Principal Leadership team in the role as Acting Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Pedagogy. As the College Principal I feel very fortunate to have such a strong Principal team supporting and collaborating with me to build comprehensive educational experience for the young people of Wollert and Epping North. It was also wonderful to have English/Humanities/Media teacher Tanele Spiteri begin with us and Senior Administrative Coordinator, Vanessa Bitton. Many of you will become familiar with Vanessa as she is based in front reception and supports our Business Manager in the areas of finance, human resource management, enrolments, and key administrative duties.
Student Agency and work 2020 in response to Student Opinion survey.
Assistant Principal, Glen Cowan and I had the opportunity to attend the Whittlesea Network Principals Conference where we were inspired by the key address and presentation by the facilitator, Lee Watanabe-Crockett. With over 80 educators present Lee was able to keep us engaged as he spoke with us about the importance of personalising learning, connecting learning with context and strongly communicating with students what they should be learning and why. Our students have informed us through their results in the Attitudes to School survey that they believe that the teachers are differentiating the learning for them but are not necessarily engaging them in a variety of learning tasks. As we continue to work with the architects on planning the rest of the College facilities I am very keen to work with educators like Lee Watanabe-Crockett to ensure that our pedagogy maximises student learning growth and the state-of-the-art spaces and environment that has been created. As you read on in the newsletter you will hear more about the work staff and students have begun to do in regards to student agency.
Bus Route Announced:
It was very exciting to receive the information that a bus route to the College has been announced and will begin on Monday 19 August. More information will be released in the coming weeks by PTV in regards to future bus routes for 2020.
Mobile Phone Policy
Currently, the students at ECSC are allowed to bring their mobile phones to school, leave them in their lockers and check them at recess and lunchtime while at their lockers. On Wednesday 26 June 2019 the Minister for Education, the Hon James Merlino MP, announced a new schools Mobile Phone Policy which will come into effect from Term 1, 2020. The new policy will require all students at Victorian state primary and secondary schools to switch off their mobile phones and store them securely from the start of the school day until the final bell. This is a small but very important adjustment as there are some students who do not have the maturity to manage the use of their mobile phone. As further information becomes available in regards to the new government policy we will be communicating this to our families ready for 2020. Many of our students choose to do the right thing all the time and I believe this will be an easy transition for them.
Extract from : ABC News 26 June 2019
I do remind families that at times when students feel unwell or have concerns during the day, we require students to notify a teacher, education support officer or a member of the principal team. It is not appropriate or helpful that students make direct mobile phone calls to parents, asking that they come to collect them because they are unwell or have concerns. We are obliged to know and understand if a student is unwell or has concerns and act accordingly. Furthermore, we also seek to enact our duty of care and know and understand the status of your child’s wellbeing should you need to come to school to collect them. Our school policy states that students are not to use their mobile phones during school hours only to check them. This policy protects our students and limits the disruption to the normal school routine.
Thank you to all families for understanding the importance of this process.
Importance of Attendance
The College Leadership is currently revising our attendance policy as our school data analysis has demonstrated that too many students at Edgars Creek Secondary College are attending school only 80% or less. Over a period of time this impacts greatly. This is set out on the table below. ECSC is determined to maximise student learning growth but students must be regularly attending to build the skills that are required for successful outcomes. We will be launching our new policy in Term 4 and sharing it with both our students and families.
Finally, I encourage you all to book in for Student Led conferences. Information has gone out via Compass but is also in the newsletter.
Joanne Camozzato