Principal's Report

It’s been another very busy month and as we head further into winter, the days are getting shorter and colder and it’s much harder to get out of bed each morning. At this time of year, it is good to remind everyone of the importance of attending school for both academic and social purposes, even when it’s difficult or when it feels like you would rather stay under the covers. Teachers have been working across the semester to develop and trial strategies to support students whose attendance is not great to improve this and to make it to school more often. There has been a lot of success reported from different teachers, which is encouraging, and we are collating the strategies that have worked so that all teachers are well equipped with these. 

What we see with attendance is that the more time a student takes off from school, the harder it gets for them to feel as though they are keeping up with the work and are connected to their peers, the subject and their teachers. We know that for some students, the classroom can be anxiety producing, especially after the experiences we had with COVID, but the school provides a range of supports to help student to manage this anxiety within the school and within the classroom. If you notice that your child is wanting to miss school more than usual or complaining of symptoms such as tummy upset / regular headaches or vague symptoms that don’t seem to match any particular illness, please report this to the school – via the mentor group teacher as the first port of call, the House leader or any of the classroom teachers that your child trusts and feels safe with. We can then work on what is needed to provide an environment to help them to attend more regularly and to feel more positive about school.  

In the VCE space, it is vitally important to monitor attendance and the VCAA have very strict regulations around this, including the requirement for students who miss SAC tasks to produce a medical certificate for their absence if they wish to sit it for a scored result. It is essential that students and parents of VCE students are familiar with these requirements to ensure that students do not impact on their results unintentionally. 

There has been much going on around the college across the past month and some great achievements made by students. Many of these are outlined in this edition of the Gazette but I would like to especially call out our Debating Team who, once again, have been victorious against Yarra Valley Grammar and are now only one win away from a spot in the finals. This is such a fabulous achievement, and we wish the girls the very best of luck for the next competition.

I would also like to thank the families who have taken the time and made the effort to attend the events that have been held here at the college over the past month. From the Year 12 Theatre Studies production to the music trivia night and working bee it is always great to see members of our community coming along to support the students and the staff in making our school a better place. It is the value of Community that really shines through in these events and demonstrates what is possible when we work together in the interests of the community and our students. I would also like to thank Ms Ling, Mr Shane Hunt and Mr Michael Starr for organising these events and putting the time and effort into making them such great successes. 

I hope that everyone has a great long weekend. If you are travelling for the weekend, please be careful and stay safe on the roads. Next week is a shorter week with Monday as the public holiday and Thursday a Curriculum Day and then after that there is only one week left before some well-earned holidays. 

Kerryn Sandford

College Principal