Principal's Report 

“Being innovative starts with getting outside the office and it doesn’t ‘hurt’, it feels good! It stimulates you and stretches you and reinvigorates you.” Dan Heath

Welcome back to Term 3! I hope that students and families were able to have time “outside the office” as Dan Heath states. The school term break is an optimal opportunity to recharge especially during the cooler winter months. I visited family overseas and feel a renewed sense of connection and belonging that being with loved ones creates. Thank you to the wonderful team here, led by Stephen Bourbon in my absence, for their leadership in the last few weeks of Term 2.

The Year 9 “Choose Your Own Adventure” Camp week was outstanding with sailing, horse riding and hiking just to name a few. 

The Year 10 Work Experience week provided wonderful insights for our students as they plan and prepare for course selection and pathways into VCE. Year 9 and 10 students and their families also explored the wide range of subjects and pathways available to them for 2024 at last night’s VCE Expo & Information Seminar. 

The Innovate and PBL Expo showcased the excellent learning and products our students have developed over the course of Semester 1. We were delighted that so many parents and family members came along to support the students - be sure to check out the video on the Innovate & PBL page of this newsletter. Many thanks to Deb Kirk and the team for organising this night. 

We began the term with a whole school assembly that acknowledged NAIDOC Week and celebrated the events of last term. 

We welcomed our first exchange students from France to the college. We have 7 students who are staying with Beaumaris Secondary students who are studying French in Year 11. Thank you to the supportive host families for providing our French visitors with a once in a lifetime experience.  We look forward to visiting later in the year. If your child is studying French into their senior years, they will have the opportunity to be part of this growing exchange program.

Congratulations to Chris Ardi (BSC Teacher) who has been accepted into the Gandel Holocaust Studies Program for Australian Educators. He was chosen to participate in this long-term professional-development program aimed at training expert Holocaust educators who are active throughout Australia. 

Chris will be attending a challenging and intensive teacher-training seminar at Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies in Jerusalem, Israel in 2024 as part of the program. We are looking forward to this program adding to our rich curriculum offerings.

Staffing Update

This term we are delighted to welcome the following new staff members:

Building works

Over the coming months, we will be replacing the rusted external balustrades around the Learning Hub. The contractors will begin at the front of the college and work in stages around the building. There are over 280 panels to be replaced. There will be temporary fencing around the active work areas and this includes below the balconies. They will be using cherry pickers to access the top levels. The removed panels will be recycled. We will work closely with the contractors to minimise the impact of the works on the school. 

NAIDOC Week (2 - 9 July)

NAIDOC Week (held during the school holidays) occurs annually in July, and celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians all over the country and overseas. The 2023 theme is For Our Elders. 

Across every generation, our Elders have played, and continue to play, an important role and hold a prominent place in our communities and families. 

They are cultural knowledge holders, trailblazers, nurturers, advocates, teachers, survivors, leaders, hard workers and our loved ones. 

Our loved ones who pick us up in our low moments and celebrate us in our high ones. Who cook us a feed to comfort us and pull us into line, when we need them too. 

They guide our generations and pave the way for us to take the paths we can take today. Guidance, not only through generations of advocacy and activism, but in everyday life and how to place ourselves in the world. 

We draw strength from their knowledge and experience, in everything from land management, cultural knowledge to justice and human rights. Across multiple sectors like health, education, the arts, politics and everything in between, they have set the many courses we follow. 

The struggles of our Elders help to move us forward today. The equality we continue to fight for is found in their fight. Their tenacity and strength has carried the survival of our people. 

It is their influence and through their learnings that we must ensure that when it comes to future decision making for our people, there is nothing about us - without us. 

We pay our respects to the Elders we’ve lost and to those who continue fighting for us across all our Nations and we pay homage to them. 

https://www.naidoc.org.au/awards/current-theme

Push-Up Challenge 

Well done to the staff and students who committed to the Push-Up Challenge during June. Together, we conquered 55,024 push-ups in just 23 days and raised an impressive $1406 to support mental health. 

Debby Chaves

Principal