PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Dear parents and carers,

Term 3 is almost over and we are heading quickly towards the end of the year.  Our new school for next year has just announced its new name and will be known as Footscray High School.  As we come towards the end of the year we are planning a celebration of Footscray City College.   For parents, families and community members there will be an afternoon showcasing the best of FCC programs by the students on Friday 29th November between 2 – 4 pm.  There will be displays, musical performances, an historical digital show of education on this site over the years and tours of the school by students.  We are hoping that as many parents and families can attend to mark the end of Footscray City College.  Please keep the date free and more information will be communicated in the October newsletter and via Compass. 

We must remember that as we mark the close of Footscray City College the new entity in 2020 will herald a vibrant new direction for education in Footscray with a clear vision of meeting the needs of the current and future population.  It is an exciting time for education in this area and the planning for 2020 is well underway.

LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE FOR FOOTSCRAY HIGH SCHOOL 2020

There is a new leadership structure for 2020.   The following details the leadership structure at the two campuses.  We congratulate the staff who have been appointed to these positions. 

Kinnear Street campus - Years 8 -12, 2020

Campus Principal – Vicki Tentzoglidis

Assistant Principal Years 10-12 – Paul Nucci

Assistant Principal Years 8 – 9 – Lachlan McOmish

Barkly Street Campus – Year 7, 2020

Campus Principal – John Box

Assistant Principal – Maria Chrisant

Operations Assistant Principal across both campuses - Rob McLeod

Executive Principal - Frank Vetere

Special Days

We have had a few special days this term where students have participated in a variety of different events.  Languages Week was started with special guest speaker, former student Rosie Kilvert and Book Week was marked by performances and a dress-up parade.  Wear it Purple Day acknowledged inclusion for LGBTIQA+ young people in our school and staff and students found their best purple clothing items and wore them to school to signal their support.  R U OK? day was acknowledged with music performances by our students at lunchtime and chalk messages out the front of the school.  The music group did a beautiful rendition of Nature Boy by Nat King Cole.    The following students are to be commended for their contribution and their talent:

Hunter Craggs, Year 12, keyboard

Rumi Espinosa, Year 10, drums

Martin Harris, Year 12, tenor sax

Rory McKenzie, Year 12, vocals

Tom Purcell, Year 10, bass

Samira Reason, Year 12, vocals

Aren Taipi, Year 12, guitar

Josh White, Year 9, drums

It was beautiful and so symbolic of the day.  Our Health Nurse Jessica Winter and Irene our Student Wellbeing leader organised the event at lunchtime to highlight the need for all of us to be mindful about the mental health of friends, family and the people we work with. 

STEAM Presentations

This term some of our Year 9 students and a class of Year 7 students have been going to Victoria University each Tuesday to work with students from Footscray City Primary School and Footscray Primary School to develop a learning framework for STEAM to be used across the Footscray Learning Precinct.  They have been supported and lead by Simon Taylor who has been seconded from VU to the Footscray Learning precinct this year.  This term Emma Pollock and Adam Taylor have been teachers involved in creating a learning environment where students have been solving problems relating to climate change, in particular, problems that relate to Footscray.  There were presentations on creating safe bike paths in Footscray, planting more trees to increase pedestrians and reduce car use, creating a special road for trucks, a bicycle loan scheme at schools to increase bike use by students and a bulk purchase store to reduce use of plastics by households.  It was wonderful to see the students working together across multi-age groups learning, creating and developing solutions to their problems. 

A special thank you to Emma Pollock, Adam Taylor and Tim Beare for their enthusiasm, commitment and courage to take on this new approach that has given our students exposure to new ways of learning.  Next term we will continue with some other Year 7 students and enable another teacher to engage in the experience of the STEAM lab. 

Angelique den Brinker - Acting Principal