Principal's Report
Welcome!
It was a relief to have all our students back on site at the beginning of the Term and I must say that I breathed an even bigger sigh of relief once all students returned after the snap lockdown! I think we can all agree we want all students of all ages at school as much as possible this year. Regular attendance at school is vital for consistent progress in academic and social skills. I encourage you to read with interest the Attendance & Data Update in the newsletter.
I want to commend you as parents and carers for your efforts to ensure your children are attending the College wearing the correct school uniform, a working device, and other equipment. We now have 699 student enrolled and I am certain we will have 700 students by the end of the term. I especially welcome all our new students - our Year 7s as well as the new students across all other year levels.
Overall it has been a very smooth start to the academic year. The College has focussed strongly on encouraging all new staff to use our Learning Management System – Compass to access individual learning data. “Know thy students” is one of the important messages that we have communicated to all staff. If every teacher can understand and become familiar with the starting point for each student in their class, then targeted differentiation and teaching can occur. ECSC has received funding in line with the current enrolment numbers for the Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (MYLNS) and the Tutor Learning Initiative Program (TLI). The MYLNS funding is used to build teacher capacity in understanding how to best support the learning of students who have been identified as being below the National benchmark for Literacy and Numeracy. The Department of Education and Training Tutor Learning Initiative Program is aimed at as well as students who did not display the learning growth, they should have achieved in 2020. The College has employed two tutors (English and Maths) who will be working in classes with identified students to support and stretch their learning. The College collects data and tracks learning growth through the use of a range of diagnostic and assessment tools. This data set determines the students across all year levels that will be receiving extra support in the learning environment.
Happy Health Kids!
Athletics Day/Interschool Sport/Camps and Excursions.
The Edgars Creek Secondary College have been determined to provide the students with a range of activities for 2021. A full schedule is in place for each term this year. In the coming two weeks there will be Camp Summit; Camp Dewar; Athletics Day; International Women's Day; and Interschool sport. Like all schools, the College has been following all State government advice in regards to the Covid-19 pandemic; however, we are hopeful that there will be a period of time now where all these events can go ahead safely. It is important to remember that families can choose to use Camps, Sports and Excursion funds for all these events.
Stage 2 Build
To date the build is going well with only a few days delay due to the last shut down and inclement weather. We should all expect to be able to use the new sports gym by early Term 2. This is very exciting!!! We were able to use Edgars Creek Primary School gym recently for our assemblies and it was wonderful to be able to explain to the students that the secondary college will have their gym very soon. We have also taken delivery of new lockers for our Year 7 students. They have been incredibly patient - once again the lockdowns, and restricted state travel resulted in some delays. I can share with you that the College PE staff will be ready for the gym in their ECSC branded sports gear which coordinates with the College sports uniform.
Jo Camozzato
College Principal
