Leadership Report 

Dear Parents and Carers, 

It’s hard to believe that we have reached the end of week three of Term One. We have commenced this term full steam ahead dealing with the start of the year processes, procedures, and requirements. Commencing a new school year always brings many exciting and at times challenging experiences. However, in true Saltwater community spirit, we always know how to troubleshoot and solve obstacles and challenges as they come our way. 

Welcome 

Congratulations to all our Saltwater children on their first day of school. We have had a successful start to the 2022 school year, with so many excited new students and their families being warmly welcomed by their new teachers and peers. 

Students had a great day becoming familiar with our school routines through our first 20 days of school program. They have enjoyed getting to know their new classmates and teachers. 

A special welcome to our amazing Prep students. We are very proud of the way they settled into class with a smile and a positive attitude. Another big warm welcome goes out to our inaugural Year 7 students who also had a very successful and smooth start to their first day of Senior School at Saltwater College. It was wonderful to see the students’ smiling faces, wearing their smart yet stylish senior school uniform with pride and greeting their teachers and peers with respect as they got to know the inner workings of what it means to be a senior student at Saltwater College. 

Meet and Greet Interviews 

Our ‘Meet and Greet- Get to Know You’ interviews are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday 15th and 16th of February. These 10-minute interviews will allow parents to meet and get to know their child’s classroom teacher and specialists and to discuss and share vital information to best support your child’s needs. To maintain Covid safe processes, we have organised for these meetings to be held on WEBEX. Information about how to make a booking was sent out to all parents earlier this week.  I urge all parents to make some time to attend this important meeting as home/school partnership is vital in supporting the children’s positive engagement and leaning and social aspect of school life. If you are having difficulties in accessing the booking system, please contact the office. 

Parking and Traffic issues 

Our enrolment numbers are growing rapidly. We currently have 1450 students enrolled at Saltwater College with more enrolments to be processed. I predict that we will end this year with 1500+ students. As the school continues to grow in numbers, I am aware of the many challenges that come with operating a big school such as ours and the community frustration around some of the tough decisions that we must make. One of the major challenges that we face is around lack of parking spaces at pickup and drop off times. Unfortunately, the heavy volumes of school traffic are severely impacting not only on the school but also the community centre and the houses around the school. Lack of parking spaces is also causing frustration for our parent community.  

This is an area that I have been thinking a lot about.  I am currently in conversation with the council and the community centre discussing ways that we can make some improvements to our traffic issues in and around the school. 

I am keen to receive parent input with regards to this matter. If you are interested in taking part in a collaborative parent working group to discuss ideas and long-term solutions to our ongoing parking and traffic issues, please send me an email on: Jackie.daniali@education.vic.gov.au

School Council Elections 2022

Nominations for School Council for 2022 are now open and will close on Monday, February 21. Councillors serve 2-year terms (March to February) and attend monthly meetings at the school or via WebEx to discuss matters of importance to the school and its community. 

Process & Timeline

Saltwater College will be calling for nominations for the following vacant positions on our College’s School Council: 

• Six Parent positions
• One DET employee positions  
• Two Secondary Student positions

Parents are invited to collect a nomination form from the office on Monday, 14th February along with an information sheet. Or email saltwater.p9.co@education.vic.gov.au to request for these to be emailed to you.

Nominations are to be submitted by 4.00pm on Monday, 21st February.

Should the school receive more than six parent nominations, the school will hold a ballot where the families of the school will vote.

Kind regards 

Jackie Daniali 

Principal