Principal's Report 

Welcome to the 2021 school year at Epping Secondary College. I feel very privileged to be appointed to the Principal role for this wonderful school serving the broader Epping community. It has been a pleasure to welcome our staff and students back to the school routine after a well-deserved holiday break. The staggered start to our school year has allowed all of our students to recommence with focus and an opportunity to reconnect with both their peers and our staff team. A very warm welcome is extended to our new students and staff, particularly to our Year 7 students as they commence their secondary school journey.

Our staff team and students have given me a warm welcome to Epping and as the year unfolds I am looking forward to getting to know students and their families, as we host different events and functions throughout the school year. Until that time though I will provide a brief introduction.

My family and I have recently relocated to the Epping Community, having moved from regional Victoria, and we are looking forward to exploring and learning more about our local community. My family includes six boys, 4 enrolled in local schools – Epping Primary and our own Epping Secondary. My wife, Maree, is also a school Principal in the government school system. Outside of work our family enjoys time together, visiting local attractions and exploring what our great State of Victoria has to offer us.

On a professional front, I am joining you as a school leader with over 20 years Principal experience. This has included a number of schools, most recently as Executive Principal at Wangaratta High School. Other school communities that I have served have include McGuire College in Shepparton, Rushworth P-12 College and a number of Primary Schools around the State. My role at Wangaratta also included leadership of the Benalla/Mansfield/Wangaratta Network of 24 Schools.

I look forward to working with our school community in ensuring that our students have a school that supports their needs and equips them as learners and leaders, not just today but also into our future.

News across the College

We have started the school year with 1264 students and it has been wonderful to welcome them back to the school after the summer break. Our students have resumed to see a number of changes around the school and the most significant of these is the opening of our new Senior Building at the front of the school. This is a fantastic facility that provides our senior students with comfortable, contemporary and adaptable learning spaces to support their learning. Our students and staff are delighted with the new space and together with our academic and social development achievements for our students, is just another thing for our staff, students and school community to be proud of. Over the term ahead we will be working with School Council to arrange an official opening for the building, stay tuned for further information.

In further facilities work, our Junior, Middle and Senior buildings have all had air conditioning units installed to ensure better conditions for our students on those days of warmer weather. Whilst we haven’t really had to call on these units so far this summer, I am sure they will be put to great use over the years ahead and provide our students and staff with much more comfortable learning environments.

As always, the start of a new school year brings a few new faces to our staff team. We are pleased to welcome Alessandra Pecorari, Sean Loffman, Katherine Czarnecki and Donna Thomas to our teaching team. We also welcome a team of teaching staff to our school in 2021 who will be part of our Tutor Learning Program, supporting identified students in the areas of literacy, numeracy andwellbeing/engagement. Please welcome our Tutor Learning team of Katherine Czarnecki, Nicole Kanderovskis, Katerina Klimovski, Branko Lukic, Marie Lukic, Leila Maddela, Chris Peake, Donna Thomas and Gina Zorzan.

As a school we have a number of key messages that underpin our work and operations, two of the most fundamental of these are our mantra, “Learning for Life” and our school values of Respect, Fairness, Honesty, Commitment and Perseverance. As we have welcomed students to the College over the last week we have highlighted the importance of these values and statements. Our mantra and values underpin our work and the culture that we have at Epping Secondary College. We have asked all students to work towards making 2021 count by being prepared to demonstrate Learning for Life and our school values in all that they do and they have certainly taken on this commitment in their first few days of 2021. We look forward to seeing this continue throughout the year as we support every student to be their best and strive to ensure our College community is warm, caring, inclusive and proud.

In terms of living our College values, I am delighted to be able to share with you two examples of our students not only living our values but also demonstrating kindness and consideration to others. Thank you to Aveen Khalid and Batul Imrabim, Year 10students, who walked by a new Year 7 student who was visibly upset. Aveen and Batul assisted our new student who had just returned from overseas with empathy and support, reassuring our Year 7 students and supporting him to get assistance and be where he needed to be. I would also like to recognise, Esther Stark, again from Year 10. Esther kindly helped a fellow Year 10 student who arrived late, was struggling with their locker and generally frazzled about the start to the school year. These are just two examples of our wonderful students, their thoughtfulness, kindness and sense of being part of a bigger community.

Important Reminders

With the start of the new school year we have a few reminders for our students about our operations and expectations as a school.

The first of these is around Mobile Phones. In line with state-wide government policy, students are unable to have their mobile phones with them during the school day, from 8:45am until 3:06pm and including recess and lunchtime. In our limited time onsite last year we saw the significant positive impact that this approach to mobile phones had on student learning and relationships.Students are required to keep their phones at home or leave them in their lockers during the school day. Any parents who urgently need to contact their son or daughter are asked to contact the school office on 9401 2599 and leave a message. 

I would also like to take the opportunity to remind all students and families of a few key actions and behaviours that we are asking our school community to follow in order to remain COVID safe. As a school we receive a number of directives and recommendations from the Department of Education and Training in regards to maintaining the health and safety of our school community and these reminders are reflective of the recommendations that are provided. We ask members of our school community to remember: 

• Face Masks – these are a must have item for all students, staff, parents/carers and visitors on our school site. Whilst outside you will not be asked to wear a mask provided that you can physically distance from others. However, in line with a state-wide change in restrictions, all students, staff and visitors are required to wear a face mask when inside until further notice.
• Hand Hygiene – students, staff and school visitors are all asked to maintain good hand hygiene and when unable to wash their hands to make use of the hand sanitizer that is available throughout the school.
• Parents on site- Parents are welcome on site for scheduled meetings with staff in regards to any matters that need discussion. Please ensure that you contact the office or staff member directly to organise a mutually convenient meeting time. We do request that all parents drop students off and pick them up outside of the school grounds.
• Students who are unwell – When students are unwell they are asked to stay at home and if presenting with any COVID like symptoms, parents are encouraged to ensure students are tested. If students are away as a result of testing, please let us know and also notify us of the outcome of the testing. This will assist us in supporting the health and safety of our school community.

School Council

Every government school in Victoria has a small team of staff, students and parents who support the governance of the school and provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that help inform and shape the direction of the school. Epping Secondary College has been well served over the last twelve months by our School Council Team. On behalf of our school community I would like to thank our School Council of 2020 for the support and advice that they provide to the school leadership team throughout the year, particularly given the many challenges that were faced by the pandemic in 2020. Thank you to:

It is now that time of the year whereby we are calling for nominations for School Council and welcome members of our school community to nominate for membership of School Council for 2021/2022.

We have a number of School Council members at the end of their term of office. Thank you to Sarah, Chris, Rodney, Tan, Ross, Mary Mequita, Grace and Imani for their contributions over the last couple of years. You are all more than welcome to renominate to School Council and of course we would be delighted to have new members from our school community nominate in 2021.

Further information is contained within this newsletter about the School Council Election process and nomination forms are available from our school office and can be emailed directly to interested school community members.

Bradley Moyle 

Principal