From the Principal Class

To the College Community,

What a term! Having faced the challenges the bushfires brought to the beginning of the 2020 year, we now continue to work through the challenges of COVID-19. I feel strongly that we will get through the possibility of closure and the transition to online learning by working to support each other and by clear communication.

We all want what is best for our students – your children. Staff are working hard to provide continuity of learning. At this time, it is even more important that the partnership between parents and the school is a positive one. We will rely on you to provide the support and supervision of your child while learning at home. Please stay tuned to Compass Newsfeed for updates.

We know that there will be families in our community that will be facing hardship due to unemployment. We sincerely hope that this is short-lived and that life will soon return to some sort of normality.

With the advent of the Coronavirus, unfortunately we have had to cancel many events and programs that are integral to our College. Our aim is to reschedule camps, Autumn Brunch and Work Experience later in the year. However, there are events that will not go ahead, including NAPLAN testing.

In these past few weeks, our students have continued to attend school in large numbers. We thank parents for their confidence in the College to support students and to keep them safe. We also respect those who chose to keep their children at home.

The sense of community has stayed strong and we want to thank all of those parents who have emailed or phoned expressing thanks to our staff for their ongoing work in difficult circumstances. Thank you to the parents who delivered cakes and chocolates for our staff in this past week – it was very much appreciated!

As you will see as you read further in the newsletter, community is so important and alive at our College. The World’s Greatest Shave day saw students gather together to support Leukaemia research. Whilst we may have to delay our College Production until later in the year, students are still rehearsing remotely! Our ensembles are still practising.

Finally, I wish to thank our teachers who have really stepped up to do their job in a changing landscape. They have trialled new ways of teaching and learning, supported each other and shared ideas and resources. The Principal Class team are incredibly proud of the positive way they have embraced the challenge.

I wish all members of our community a safe Easter holiday. I hope that we embrace the time spent with our immediate families and we do all we can to maintain healthy minds and bodies.

Warm Regards,

Sharon, John, Darren and Rachael

College Council Elections

We wish to congratulate returning and new members to the Viewbank College Council:

Parent Members: David Green, Rachel Kennedy, Chris Madden, Sam Ricardo, Manjula Shaw, Maria Tickle and Graham Webb.

DET Members: Darren Murray and Ruth Perkins

Student Member: Helen Do

Article from Heidelberg Leader

Our Year 12 College Captains, Joel and Lily spoke to the Heidelberg Leader last week.

Pink Stumps Cricket Day

Congratulations to the staff team who beat the students for Pink Stumps Day which was rescheduled to Tuesday 10th and Thursday 12th March.