Principal's Report

Dear families,

“Don’t pray for the rain to stop; pray for good luck fishing when the river floods.”

It has been an interesting week here in Horsham. I was away on the weekend and the hourly updates on the threat of flood here in Horsham provided me with the incentive to return to St Brigid’s earlier than planned to monitor the situation. In 2011, the oval and streets around St Brigid’s were under water. Together with the College Leadership Team, I made the decision to open our school on Monday, as I am reluctant to interfere with our learning program where possible. The wellbeing of the students and staff is paramount always. I was in contact with the local Incident Control Centre daily and, with hindsight, I am pleased we avoided any disruption to our program. This allowed the Year 12 students the opportunity to celebrate their final week in a planned and positive manner. I congratulate all Year 12s on the responsible way that they concluded their formal classes and did so with good humour. Those completing the VCE begin exams on Wednesday, and I hope they receive the results they deserve.

Part of the reason for deciding not to close the school this week was the fact that Term 4 has a number of scheduled disruptions already on the Calendar. Next Wednesday, 26 October , while the Yr 12s are in their English exam, we have a student free day where our staff will complete the second Professional Learning day in the ReLate program. You may remember that this day was originally scheduled for term 3, however I postponed it due to the proximity to the Catholic schools circuit breaker weekend.  The ReLate program seeks to enhance teaching and learning environments and practices, which will benefit our students. On Monday 31 October, the day before the Melbourne Cup, the College will be open and classes will run until lunchtime. The reason for this early closure is so that teachers can attend a workshop on Gender Inclusivity. 

Currently we are calling for Year 11 students to nominate for 2023 leadership positions and we hope to announce our new captains in the coming weeks. I am quite excited by the prospect of working with this cohort of senior students over the next 12 months. 

Exams for Year 11 and 10 students commence on 14 November. This is the first year in some time that we have included Year 10s on the exam schedule and we believe that this will lift the expectations of students in our academic program. Next year, now that Remote Learning is a distant memory, will see a renewed focus on raising the academic expectations for all students at St Brigid’s College.

Stay safe

Gerard Raven