Congratulations to the Class of 2021!

It is with great excitement that I announce some of the excellent VCE results of the Class of 2021. The school's median study score has increased to 29 (up from 28 in 2020). There was also a significant increase in the number of students achieving study scores of 40 or above, with these results being achieved in:

Applied Computing
Biology
Business Management
English
Further Maths
Health and Human Development
Maths Methods
Media
Physical Education
Physics
Psychology
Spanish

Overall, 6.3% of students achieved a study score of 40 or above, up from 3.2% in 2020. Pleasingly, seven students achieved an ATAR of 90.00 or above.

We are so pleased for our students. They have worked hard - whether that be having great attendance for all of their classes, putting excellent efforts into their art folios, or completing multiple practice tasks in preparation for the exams. Across their six years at Coburg, they have always been willing to give new things a go and collaborate with their teachers and classmates. As one of the students said to me at the recent Graduation Ceremony (see later in this newsletter), their growth as young people has been in tandem with the growth of our school. Of course, our students' ability to overcome the challenges of COVID, lockdowns and remote learning also deserves mention.

I'm also very pleased to be able to announce the Dux of the Class of 2021 is Paramita Sharma. Paramita achieved an ATAR of 97.45. As well as being one of our School Captains this year, Paramita was the recipient of a number of subject and special awards at the Graduation. We're exceptionally proud of Paramita and know her achievements are a result of her dedication to her studies across her six years at Coburg High School.

The excellent results of our students could not have taken place without the tremendous support of our families. Due to the nature of this year, I haven't had the same opportunity to meet as many Year 12 parents and carers as usual, but it was great to do so at our Graduation celebration, where we could celebrate student success in front of proud parents and family members. Parents and students also had the opportunity to share their thanks for the work of our tremendous teachers and school staff that have supported our students so well in 2021 and in the five preceding years. We are so fortunate to have a mix of staff that have supported the Class of 2021, with many teachers having experience in other places before joining us here at Coburg.

Recent COVID cases

Over the past week, we have had two further COVID cases, who were both present during their potential infectious period. Thankfully, we do not believe either case infected anyone else in the school community. The latter case did mean that a significant number of students missed the opportunity to attend the Funfields excursion on Monday and we thank them for their sacrifice to keep other members of the school community safe. We trialled a different method of contacting families to let them know that their child needed to get a test (SMS and email with further instructions) and I want to thank families for the very prompt way in which they responded, which meant our staff only needed to follow up a few cases over the weekend.

The continued presence of COVID, and the Omicron variant, means that we as a school continue to strongly encourage vaccination and also boosters as people become eligible.

Nelson Alexander Scholarship

Later in this newsletter you will see a report regarding our Grade 6 to Year 7 Transition Day held a couple of weeks back. At the end of an action packed day of our new students getting to know one another, some of their teachers and our school grounds, it was great to be able to award the winner of the Nelson Alexander Scholarship for 2022. A big congratulations to Holly Dimsey from Coburg North Primary School who has received a MacBook Air. I look forward to visiting Holly tomorrow on her final day at CNPS to congratulate her in front of all of her peers.

Thanks to Stewart

At our final school assembly of the year, we asked students to send their thanks to our former Principal, Stewart Milner:

School Council have also forwarded their thanks via a letter which incorporates many well wishes from our school community.

Best wishes for the festive season and 2022

I would like to wish all members of the school community a great break and all the best for the new year.

Brent Houghton

Acting Principal