From the Principal

I hope that you were able to see at least one of the performances of Matilda in our school’s Performing Arts Centre that were held over the last two weeks. Witih some incredible teamwork and juggling from staff and students, we were able to run all 8 of the scheduled shows, even after a number of students were required to step into key roles when lead performers were required to isolate. Thanks to the Production Team for all of their work in the organisation of the shows and a big thank you to the staff that assisted with supervision. The students and families were so appreciative of the efforts of our staff as much as the amazing performances that were seen on stage. After the last performance on Saturday night, our senior students spoke about the disappointment of the shows not running over the last 2 years but how the production was such an important part of their schooling. We hope that there are no further interruptions in future years and our junior students can enjoy many years of our production - I wonder what the show will be next year!

I am very excited to update you on the progress of our school masterplan. The design for our first project, the three storey Library STEM building was passed at the School Council meeting last week. Thanks to all of the stakeholders and members of school council, particularly those that were involved in the planning meetings, who worked with Kirsten Thompson Architects to develop the design. I will share formal communication from the Victorian School Building Authority in an upcoming newsletter, after the documentation is processed and I hope to be able to share some images of the new building very soon.

Please note that we have scheduled an additional student free day this Term on Tuesday 16 August. This is due to new Employment Agreement with the Department of Education that schedules 3 Professional Practise Days (PPD) for staff this year, that can be taken on a common day in Terms 2 and 3. These days allow staff members to undertake work of their choice such as; curriculum planning, assessment and reporting or professional learning. To assist with replacement teacher coverage, the Department has requested that schools take one of the two remaining days on a common day for all staff At this stage the PPD will not be taken as a common day in Term 4 although we will update families as soon as possible if this is to occur.

Implementation advice has been developed for schools about the key changes arising from the new Employment Agreement with staff. The new agreement now allows for the accrual and acquittal of Time in Lieu, where teachers are required to attend a school activity outside of normal hours. This will ensure that teachers are properly recognised for the work they are required to undertake in addition to normal hours of attendance.

Parent Teacher Student Conferences are coming up at the end of Term 3. As noted in the Calendar section of our Newsletter, the Term 3 Parent Teacher Student Conferences will be conducted:

Wednesday 7 September, 10.30am-7.30pm (GAT Day)
Friday 16 September, 9.00am-2.30pm (Last day of Term 3)

By holding the first day of conferences on the same day as the General Achievement Test (GAT), our senior students will be able to have enough spaces and classrooms to run the assessment.

Last fortnight, families received a Compass notification regarding the changes to the COVIDSafe measures, including clear communication about the expectation for students, visitors and families to wear masks while indoors. The Department of Health strongly recommends that everyone wears a mask and our school has the expectation that masks are worn. I thank everyone that attended the production for adhering to our expectation. With students wearing masks as soon as they were offstage in the upstairs spaces the spread of COVID amongst the performers and team was minimised.

I look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events this term such as the highly anticipated Friends of Northcote High School Comedy night, please see the ‘save the date’ item in this issue of the newsletter.

Chris Jones

Principal