Message from our
Campus Principal
Dan Swallow
Dan Swallow
Principal’s Update
Welcome to all of the new families that have joined our learning community in 2023 and welcome back to those who have returned to us for another year.
Our staff have returned to 2023 with great vigour and incredible excitement for the year ahead. Already only a few weeks in we have seen really excellent engagement in the classroom and some exciting extra curricular activities already starting to pop up. Our students – your children – have shown us their determination to make a good start too. I hope you have received your share of KPA messages and that you’re taking the opportunity to build the positive link between school and home by talking with your children about them.
We have seen a few big changes in our staff team this year and have had a number of exceptionally talented people join us. In particular, I’d like to highlight some changes to our leadership team and encourage you to contact them for all of your child’s needs:
Working in our Literacy and Numeracy Support Program, we welcome Alanah Andrews. Alanah will be working very closely particularly with a number of Year 10 students to build and support literacy and numeracy to prepare them for senior studies in 2024. She will work with Sheryl Tangi who continues as our Year 10 Team Leader. Sheryl is the go-to person for all Year 10 needs and can be emailed at sheryl.tangi@kurnaicollege.vic.edu.au.
Denise Cairnduff has been a teacher with us for many years now and this year we have appointed her to lead a portfolio of Disability Inclusion. Denise has worked in this space over many years and brings exceptional skills. Those of you who have children with identified learning difficulties may have had some communications with her already and she is always open to discussion any further concerns you may have with your child. Denise can be contacted at denise.cairnduff@kurnaicollege.vic.edu.au. Denise will be heavily focused on Year 9 this year but continues to support at all other year levels. Sarah Eccles also supports this work as a Disability Inclusion leader across the College and some of you will, no doubt, meet and speak to Sarah along the way. She can be reached at sarah.eccles@kurnaicollege.vic.edu.au.
Leading our Year 9 Team and responsible for all issues relating to Year 9 students is Ross Johnson. Ross, too, has been a teacher with us for a long time and has a great rapport with many of our students having assisted at Year 7 and 8 for the last few years. If your child is in Year 9 and you need to discuss anything, Ross can be contacted at ross.johnson@kurnaicollege.vic.edu.au.
Daniel Murphy continues to lead our Year 7 and 8 students and staff as the Assistant Principal and is delighted at the immense enthusiasm his new cohort has brought. If you have any concerns about transition or Year 7 and 8, Daniel is available at Daniel.murphy@kurnaicollege.vic.edu.au.
Our Reading Program at Kurnai College, TR@K, is exceptionally important. If you have any questions about the program or your child’s progress or placement in it, Erin Gruis is your best bet. Erin leads our Campus in all areas of school improvement and can be reached at Erin.Gruis@kurnaicollege.vic.edu.au.
We also have a number of additions to our teaching staff. Though too many to go through now, I know many of you took the opportunity to meet them recently at our Year 7 Meet and Greet. It was great to having so many families present and interacting. The vibe was really positive and that is what we always want to achieve for our students. School should be a place that they are proud and happy to come to and share with you. Hopefully for those with children in the older year levels, or those who couldn’t make it, you’ll be able to get down for Parent Teacher Conversations on the last two days of term.
I’m sure you’ve noticed that our new administration building is nearing completion. Fingers crossed, we’ll be able to be in there and ready to go by March with just a few bits of cosmetic work and landscaping still to be done. This will mark the end of many many years of building for Morwell Campus and looking around, I definitely think it’s been worth it. Our new facilities are absolutely fantastic and I have parents who attending Maryvale themselves previously comment on just how much nicer the place is now. We agree and we’re really proud to be a part of it.
I look forward to sharing the rest of 2023 with you all. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with anything you need. Let’s make this a great year together.
