College Principal Message 

 Copperfield College Principal Appointment

As our community are aware, Copperfield College is made up of three campuses; Kings Park and Sydenham (Years 7-10) as well as the Delahey (Years 11-12) campus. The college principal team consists of two campus principals at each of the three campuses with a college principal overseeing the entire college. During 2020, Phillipa (Pip) Griffiths assumed the acting college principal role while our college principal Anthony Sokol was on leave. During 2020, Anthony announced that he was retiring from the start of the 2021 school year.

The College Council undertook a thorough, extensive and merit-based process to find the best applicant to lead Copperfield College from 2021 onwards. It is with great pride and pleasure that I wish to advise the school community of the appointment of Pip Griffiths to the privileged position of Copperfield College Principal. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Pip on not only her appointment but on the way she has led the college during difficult times this year. Pip brings a wealth of expertise and knowledge to the role, having spent the last seven years here at the college in her capacity as campus principal at both the Kings Park and Delahey campuses. Congratulations Pip. The college will no doubt be the beneficiary of your appointment to the role.

Brian Miller

School Council President

Message from our College Principal

Hello Copperfield Family

Welcome to our last newsletter. I would like to reflect a little on the year that we have had but before I do so I want to say that I am honoured to be trusted with the role of Principal of this wonderful school.   

In February this year I became aware of the impact of Novel Coronavirus on schools that had a large cohort of international students from China.  That did not affect Copperfield so I thought no more of it.  Little did I know the massive impact it was about to have. I don’t need to remind any of you about the impact of moving to remote learning, having campuses closed and cleaned and the associated stresses.  But I would like to remind you of the amazing work our teachers and support staff have done to make the best of a very difficult situation. I acknowledge with pride that the school as a whole responded swiftly and decisively to each successive change in expectations.  Our unity was obvious to all and is to be admired. 

I am not only proud of how the staff responded I am proud of how we responded as a community.  Many families were incredibly gracious, sending messages of thanks to our teachers for their work which they could see and hear in their living rooms. I can’t tell you how greatly appreciated those comments were; they really meant a lot.

Families were also understanding of the struggles and accepted advice and assistance in the spirit it was given. I’d also like to thank College Council for its continued support and understanding, particularly our President, Mr Brian Miller who gives generously of his time for our benefit. Our beautiful students have learned more about the ways of the world than we would like to think they would need to at such a young age; but I am sure it will stand them in good stead for their futures.

As I explained in a recent Compass notice, the Education Minister James Merlino has made grants to schools for a tutoring ‘program’ for 2021 to help students adversely affected by the pandemic and remote learning. We have been granted $1million to help 650 students; based on an estimated 20% of students needing extra support. Most importantly the assistance is not just for those who need to catch up, it is also for students who want to be extended.  This is a wonderful opportunity for students, but it does present some logistical issues.  Thus far we have involved students in nominating themselves for extra help because there would be nothing more frustrating than setting up a program only to find students who are not committed to it.  We have also sought teacher recommendations which we will consider alongside additional data like PAT test scores.  When we have a list of students we will communicate with families to encourage student participation. 

Each student receiving tutoring will have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) which will be shared with classroom teachers and families.  Tutors will track their students’ progress and write an exit report when the tutoring concludes.

Our Orientation Nights for our 2021 Year 7 families ran successfully in mid-November.  We had almost 100% attendance from our Kings Park enrolees and around 50% of Sydenham families. Many thanks to the Campus Leaders, Team Leaders and our Community Engagement Leader who organised and largely ran the sessions on Webex Events. 

Year 7 Orientation Day on December 8 went ahead thanks to the decline in COVID cases.  The day was run as normally as possible with adaptations to reduce interaction with our current students and with students in the other Year 7 groups.  While this partially defeats the purpose of the day, as long as the new students start to get to know the students in their Home Groups and some teachers and find their way around the school, we can be satisfied. To that end, as in past years, our Year 9 students were asked to stay at home on that day.

Junior campus Campus Leaders prepared for the end of the year, endeavouring to enhance the Step Up program to align with our AIP priorities. We continued to engage students in Years 7 – 9 until the end of the year but at our most recent meeting College Council approved Friday December 18 as a pupil free day. In such a large school there are many people to acknowledge and that takes considerable time; we have campus based gatherings followed by a whole college lunch. 

Year 11 and 12 exams have gone extremely well considering the year we have had.  Our modified Year 12 Graduation was held on December 2. Yet another compromise for our Year 12s who have endured so much this year.  However the student management team worked hard to make it as special as we could and the students conducted themselves beautifully and it was a very positive event.  We look forward to the second instalment of our Awards Ceremony early in 2021 when we will present subject awards and the Dux. 

The Junior Campus Awards ceremonies also ran according to a modified plan to comply with safety precautions. 

As we are saying goodbye to some staff members, we are preparing to welcome new ones.  They joined us on December 16 to start to learn and understand the Copperfield culture and processes.

I would like to take this chance to wish everyone a restful break over the holiday period and enjoy time with your extended family, now that you can.  I hope this is a holiday we will enjoy like no other; we have all earned it.  I look forward to working with you again in 2021.

Best wishes,

Ms Pip Griffiths

College Principal