Principal's Report

Harry Potter Day

This year's Harry Potter-themed book week was a huge success. The minute to win it activities, dress-up, food stall and whole school Quidditch exhibition were extraordinary ways of connecting. A huge thanks to Karen Egan and Linda Voykovic in the library for driving the event, to Deanna Audino and Kate Casamento for all of their work baking and preparing food, Lillian Tran and our amazing student leaders for running stalls and activities all day, and to David Crowe, Michelle Wallis and Sharyn Moussa for managing the chaos of the Quidditch exhibition.

Winning isn't everything, except in this case where importantly the staff team beat the year 12's!!!!

Collaborating & Evaluating Student Opinion Data 2022

We were very excited to welcome a number of students to join teaching staff at our weekly Professional Learning, this week focusing on collaboratively analysing Student Opinion Survey data.

We focused on 4 main areas; School Connectedness, Student Agency, Advocate at School and Effective Teaching Time, asking more broadly;

What did the data confirm about what you already know?
Does this data match your experience? How?
What information presented in the data surprised you?
What do you think might be causing students to feel this way?
What does this data make you want to share with teachers and the leadership of the college?
What are the 2 top things we should focus on in 2023?

The student responses were insightful, and the interaction between staff and students was electric, and gave us some great insights into how we can progress from here as a Community, particularly in the area of building and maintaining connections.

We are now looking at expanding this out to year levels, hopefully giving all of our students the chance to put forward their perspectives on our future.

College Captain Interviews

I was privileged to be on the panel to interview prospective 2024 student leaders. No matter how many times I witness it, it never ceases to amaze me the leadership qualities students bring to a school, and this year's applicants show this in spades.

Interviews happened this week, which will be followed up by a Whole School Leadership assembly in week 1 of term 4 and then a ceremonial handover at the final year 12 assembly. I look forward to witnessing this changing of the guard and hearing the vision that our wonderful leaders will sharing with our fabulous school!

Term 4 and 2023

Term 4 promises to be even busier than Term 3.

As our year 12's head towards their final VCE exams, a great deal of time will be dedicated to ensuring the amazing work our team are doing this year continues into 2023. The renewed focus on Student Agency and Voice will be expanded, some exciting initiatives are being worked on in the Personalisation of Learning space, and plans for a new elective structure for years 9 and 10 are just some of what 2023 holds.

I am also pleased to let the community know that Mario Panaccio has confirmed he will be returning to the role of Macleod Principal for 2023. Mario has been such an integral part of the fabric of Macleod for over three decades, so it will be amazing to have his experience and passion for the community back at the helm for 2023.

This does unfortunately mean that I will be leaving Macleod at the end of the year, but I am excited for what the new year holds, both for me personally and for this wonderful school community.

I hope you all have a brilliant holiday, and I look forward to seeing everyone back, bright and refreshed in two weeks!

Cheers

Andrew