From the Principal
Dear Parents, Staff, Students And Friends
We have finally made it to the end of a very challenging tough year for students, parents and teachers. Congratulations to everyone for upholding our school values of responsibility, persistence and optimism whilst living and learning by our motto ‘Optima Semper’ (Best Always). Now we are coming out the other end and looking forward to a brilliant 2021 thanks to all our efforts.
WELCOME TO AN OUTSTANDING NEW PRINICPAL FOR FRANKSTON HIGH SCHOOL
It is my pleasure to welcome an outstanding new Principal for Frankston High School, Mr Andrew Batchelor. Mr Batchelor is renowned as an exceptional leader who will continue to lead our great school onwards and upwards. He has been a substantive Assistant Principal at three different secondary colleges across two regions, and is currently the Junior Campus Principal at Mount Waverley Secondary College. Mr Batchelor has experience in leading whole school change across different settings and has a real passion for Teaching and Learning, Student Leadership, Student Voice and Student Agency, coaching staff and developing high performing teams. He has a partner and very proud father of three children aged 4 to 10 and enjoys exercise, sport, cooking, reading and coffee. He is excited to be appointed as the next Principal of Frankston High School and is looking forward to meeting and working with everyone. I know our warm caring community will make Mr Batchelor feel very welcome as you did for me.
HAVE A LOOK AT OUR FINAL STUDENT ASSEMBLY
One of the silver linings of being in lockdown is that we have filmed student assemblies. Parents have never had the privilege of viewing such assemblies so this could be an initiative we adopt for the future. The last student assembly for the year was very special. I recommend you view it by following this link:
BACK TO SCHOOL ASSEMBLY HONOURS TWO FORMER STUDENTS
As part of the final assembly we inducted two former students into the Frankston High School Hall of Fame. They were Gemma Murphy and Dr. Jake Martin.
Gemma Murphy graduated from Frankston High School in 2013. Since graduating she attended drama school to become an actor and then undertook further studies in film and television in the areas of producing and directing. In only a few years since beginning her career Gemma has been responsible for directing and producing short films, music videos, television shows and feature films. A feature film Gemma produced led to her attendance at an awards ceremony in San Francisco to receive an international award for a film she made. Gemma’s main message was about the importance of giving 110% in everything you do whilst being prepared to be a lifelong learner because this allows you to be recommended for a variety of different jobs. We know Gemma will continue to have great success in her future career.
Dr Jake Martin graduated from Frankston High School in 2011. Dr Martin shared with us his ongoing life challenge of being diagnosed with Dyslexia. He courageously shared how he found most subjects very challenging and spent time in class terrified that a teacher would ask him to read aloud or write on the whiteboard. Despite such a learning challenge Jake persevered with his studies and went on to complete a Bachelor in Science followed by a Ph.D. Now Jake lives the dream as a post doctoral researcher with a particular area of study focused on investigating how fish are affected by the level of antidepressants that escape into our waterways. Jake is an example to us all. To those students out there who find that learning is tough, I hope Jake has inspired you with his story. We are so fortunate to have his identical twin brother: Mr Adam Martin as an exceptional teacher at our school.
EARLY COMMENCEMENT PROGRAM: KEEPS STUDENTS FOCUSSED!
Our 2021 Early Commencement Program clearly demonstrated the commitment of our teachers to set their high expectations, resulting in our students rising to meet such expectations. At this time of year we did not relax as a lead up to holidays. On the contrary, students were meeting their new teachers and being reminded about our school values/motto and the behaviours required to ensure they have another year of high quality teaching and learning. I was pleased to hear from VCE students on the first day of Early Commencement how holiday homework was already being set by their teachers. It is essential that every precious second of learning time was challenging before being rewarded with a relaxing summer holiday break.
MEDIA STUDENTS WIN TOP AWARDS
Congratulations to our Media teaching team who have mentored students to develop their talents to an exceptional level, where their work is being regarded as being up there with the best in the state when compared with students from across all private and government schools.
We are currently celebrating:
Tavi Sharma (Year 12) and Shilo Saker (Year 12) shortlisted for TOP DESIGNS. Furthermore Amelia Neofitou (Year 10) has received the People Choice Award in the mobile muster film competition.
PRESENTATION NIGHT VIDEO PREMIERE
I hope families found time to join together to view the premiere of our ‘Presentation Night’ video that was released on Wednesday 16 December via Facebook. Another unexpected bonus of COVID-19 is that families are able to keep this video as a keepsake to remind them of our great students’ achievements. If you missed this premiere or if you don’t use Facebook you can view this event via this link:
https://www.facebook.com/FrankstonHighSchool/posts/1418061088368860
GOODBYE AND HAVE A TERRIFIC HOLIDAY BREAK.
Frankston High School and the lovely community that makes our school so great will always hold a special place in my heart. I will always remain connected and interested as the school continues to thrive and celebrate future successes. If you see me around Frankston please come up and say hello and if I can ever help you in some way please don’t hesitate to ask. As my wife and I embark on a new adventure, spending a lot of time exploring Australia in our caravan I wish everyone a fantastic holiday and every success and happiness in their future lives and careers.
Mr John Albiston
Principal