From the Principal Team

Dear Lakes Families,

As we approach the middle of Term One, we can say that our students are working hard to meet the demands of school life supported by our enthusiastic teachers. At the senior school level new horizons are being explored, new challenges are set and opportunities to excel are in the pipeline. Students are rising to each challenge and developing a gambit of personal skills and emotional intelligence along the way.

I can already attest that the nature and feel of the secondary campus is changing - the tone of conversations, the modelling of the behaviours amongst the older students and the leadership that is on display on a more consistent basis.

In regards to our Secondary Campus School Captains, we were fortunate to have our Local Member for Mill Park, Lily D'Ámbrosio come out on Wednesday to engage with our senior students and staff and present our school captains for 2021 with their badges. We are excited to announce that Emily F and Jakob P of Year 11 will be our captains. Both are fantastic school ambassadors, and I am positive will make an excellent contribution on a range of matters at or school. Please read their statements in our newsletter this week.

We will also be announcing our entire student leadership team at a campus assembly once we appoint Peer Support Leaders, SRC and House Leader positions over the coming few weeks.

A huge thank you to both Angela R and Hunter S for their efforts in welcoming Lily and her entourage to our school and in particular our senior school and to Josh T and Maddy G for acting as the ushers for the parliamentarian’s visit.

This year is an exciting time for our school, as we officially become a school containing a Primary and Secondary campus. We, as a team, have made the conscious decision to ensure sporting events are divided into Secondary and Primary events, including the upcoming Athletics Carnivals. This division allows us to ensure the program caters to its intention; providing students the opportunity to compete in a carnival as a qualification for inter-school events whilst celebrating our school houses. The carnivals occur prior to Inter-school Athletics Competitions to allow for a clear pathway for successful students to follow. The carnivals also provide ample opportunities for our students seeking to develop their leadership capacity by their active involvement in novelty events and supporting the delivery of traditional athletics events on the day.

The Secondary Athletics Carnival will be on Monday 15th March at Meadowglen Athletics Track, with the Primary Athletics Carnival being scheduled for Tuesday 27th July on our Secondary Campus. More details will be sent out regarding the implementation of the respective Athletics Days.

We look forward to having your children actively involved in our upcoming sporting events.

At this stage, we are also continuing our planning with the Year 10-11 Formal and a Year 6 Graduation. Both events running will be subject to Covid-19 restrictions and the relevant regulations that may impact these events. More information will be communicated to families to get your input on how we should celebrate these special events across our school. Nevertheless, we are excited to be able to continue planning at this time. School camps, incursions & excursions are currently permitted with certain restrictions. We need to all continue to be flexible with arrangements and possible changes at short notice.

Our Year 7 Orientation Camp/ Year 9 Leaders Camp at Phillip Island has just been completed this week. The students had a wonderful experience blending together to work on a range of activities and programs designed to build rapport, trust and leadership. Thank you to Cam and the team of staff and students who represented our school emphatically on the camp. I am sure families will hear all about these fantastic few days over the weekend.

Thank you for your ongoing support and have a great weekend.

Bill, Marcus & Kerrie.