College Principal Message 

Hello Everyone,

I hope all families have managed well enough during the recent lockdown. I would like to commend and thank all staff who adapted very quickly to it.  Teaching staff kept connected to their students and continued to teach out the term to the best of their abilities.  ES staff offered their assistance on the ground where ever they could. Or and continued to work from home.  I have to note the good grace and optimism everyone displayed, including students, who generally managed to stay calm. Of course, we are all very happy to be back face to face.

Natalie Hutchins office contacted us as the lockdown started to inquire about how we were all managing.  I alerted her to the need for more laptops and some internet access, despite the fact that we thought we had largely solved that problem last year or earlier this year.  Much to our delight DET IT services have delivered a number of laptops and internet enabled dongles which have been distributed.  Council and the school have thanked Natalie for her swift action.  In addition she offered access to some non-perishable goods and the details of organisations which could supply packages to needy families.  These offers have been well received by our Wellbeing staff and our community.

You may remember that last time she came she advised us that we had received a grant of $30,000 to promote student activity.  Our student leaders are in the process of getting others to fill in a google form to ascertain areas of interest.

The biggest news is that the Review and the new School Strategic Plan (SSP) are done, apart from the presentation to staff on the newly decided Curriculum Day of August 11.  After that the real work begins and that is how to achieve the targets we have set.  The Fieldwork was spread over three days and was very thorough.  It included two family forums; one face to face one for families for whom English is a challenge and one online for those comfortable with English.   

The face to face one was held during the day but was attended by about 20 families.  Our new Community Liaison Officers, Abraham and T, attended along with Ha, our International Student Coordinator and Goseif Hanania, a Maths teacher who provided translation services.  They also translated the invitation and did follow up phone calls to enlist attendees. We are very grateful for their talents and good will.  Many of the families left with the Compass App newly loaded on their phones and the Community Liaison Officers are currently working on an information session to brief families about the use of Compass.  The Principal Team and the eLearning team are also aiming to develop audio visual ‘how to’ guides for Compass.

The evening forum was less well attended but provided insightful comments and requests related to communication about learning tasks, homework, reports and curriculum outlines.  In addition it provided us with some very positive endorsements about knowing students and supporting their needs.

Students in Years 9 – 12 have had an exam period, although the schedule was altered a bit for some; it is very much worthwhile in order to provide students the experience leading into the senior years.  We are posting reports on Compass at the end of term as previously planned, noting that some subjects may not have exam results included yet.  Exam results will be available on students’ report on July 16, the end of Week 1.

The Pathways team ran an online pathways information session for students and families of Year 9 and 10 students.  Attendance was less than ideal and so we are looking at additional ways to communicate with the cohorts.  The Year 10 students would normally have had their Delahey Experience Day by now but that depends on when the Year 12 GAT is.  We now know that the GAT will be on Thursday July 29.  All students doing a Unit 3 and 4 VCE study are required to do the GAT and as such there will be no classes for Year 11 or 12 on that day. Year 10 students will be attending the Delahey Campus for the first big step in their orientation for their senior years.

Best wishes until next time,

Pip Griffiths

College Principal