College Principal Message

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS AND ASPIRATIONS

Term 4 has been like three terms in one with the continuous stream of events and highlights.

SOLAR BUDDIES PROJECT

The junior classes at both campuses were involved with Solar Buddies, thanks to Faryal Niazi in her role as Science KLA Leader, supported by Mary Chiodo. The project involves students constructing solar lights and writing letters which are then sent to young people their own age who live in communities that do not have electricity. This is so they can read and study at night. Seeing the video clips showing how the recipients react when they

receive the lights and the letters was so moving! It is a wonderful project that our students embraced enthusiastically as part of being responsible global citizens.

AFRICAN FAMILY INFORMATION NIGHT

Another highlight was the African family information night. While the weather put few families, those who attended contributed enthusiastically to the discussion and all appreciated the amazing food and the information packs in community languages that were prepared by our African Community Engagement Officer Ayak Mawien. Mary Chiodo practised her Dinka in her welcome and the audience was nodding appreciatively as she spoke!

SCHOOL LEADERS AWARD TO BUSINESS MANAGER

Julie Rogers has been successfully nominated for a School Leaders Award by the library team, for her ongoing support of the staff and the libraries themselves.

She has overseen their evolution into spaces more suited to the 21st century along with the adoption of a range of digital platforms as well as retaining up to date collections. Bronwen says, ‘There aren't many ways that ES staff can acknowledge their leader positively...so it’s not just for us in the library, but to share with all ES at Copperfield.’ Congratulations Julie.

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

Thanks to the local community, the IGA Community Chest has donated $1,300 to the college. It has been allocated to a fund for student leadership in 2023.

CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION STUDIES

Four students going into Year 12 applied for the CHES (Centre for Higher Education Studies). They have been offered provisional places which are contingent on their final reports. We see no reason why these aspirational students will not be successful. They have applied for the following areas:

La Trobe (Law)
La Trobe (Law)
RMIT (Ecosystems & Sustainable Development)

• La Trobe (Health Science)

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS ROBOTICS

Two teams qualified for the Robotics National Championships in Sydney last weekend . The last-minute notification made for high pressure planning, but John Breen put in a huge effort to make it work, the college also provided a significant contribution. It’s a big investment but an absolutely wonderful opportunity. Many thanks to Ita Altas for also participating in the trip.

This came on the back of us hosting the qualifying finals at Sydenham on Saturday November 12 which I had the honour of opening.

FUJI JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL EXCHANGE IS BACK ON THE AGENDA

We were delighted to receive an invitation from Fuji Junior High School to resume our exchange visits. Japan has recently lifted COVID related travel restrictions. With the help of our Japanese teachers, we have come to the decision that in 2024 a group from Copperfield will travel to Japan and in 2025 we will host them. Immediate resumption of travel was not seen as viable given the long break. We need to build momentum and an understanding of the opportunity and allow families time to save.

YEAR 7 CAMP

Year 7 camp ran successfully for the 40-45% of students who attended. This has caused us to reconsider this camp because the low uptake meant we had to run a program at school as well, which is resource intensive. We are considering running more local excursions to provide all students the opportunity of bonding socially while undertaking some challenging activities. We trialled this tack with Year 10s this year to great effect.

REMINDERS

Transition and Course Confirmation are key aspects of creating an aspirational learning environment and enhanced pathways advice. The whole staff has really got behind these events with that in mind. Transition for all year levels begins in Week 10 with Course Confirmation in Week 11. We encourage families to attend Course Confirmation to ensure their child is in the appropriate subjects to enable them to achieve their pathway destinations.

VCE results come out on Monday December 12 at 7 am. Our Delahey leadership team and pathways advisors will be ready to assist students with change of preference and any related support required after that.

Our Awards ceremonies are happening over coming weeks and are very uplifting events. We look forward to celebrating our wonderful students’ achievements and growth with you all.

This year we are farewelling two long standing staff members who are retiring; Carmen Calleja and Eugenia Kozlevcar. They have been at Copperfield for most, if not all, of their teaching careers. I believe Eugenia was one of our first student teachers, who then went on to secure a position here. On behalf of students and families past and present, I thank them for their dedication to Copperfield and its community. They have touched the lives of thousands of people.

REVIEW

Last week our Curriculum Committee voted to create a working party to investigate, develop and recommend a revision of the weekly structure to best help us achieve our strategic plan goals, particularly those of creating an aspirational learning environment and creating a comprehensive social and emotional wellbeing curriculum. Any change will not come into effect until 2024 but many things have to be considered and many people consulted. The working party will manage the project and we would like to involve families in the process. A family member may be on the working party or may just be willing to be involved in consultation groups which we may offer to be online after hours. Please look out for nomination forms from the Curriculum Committee on Compass. It is a very exciting time at Copperfield.

This is the last newsletter of the year so I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful break. We wish our exiting Year 12s all the best for their prosperous futures and look forward to continuing to work with and for all our other students in 2023.

Ms Pip Griffiths

College Principal