Greensborough Focus 

Principal's  Report

June 2022

Achievements

What a great term we have had here at Greensborough College.  The resilience of our community is to be commended. The way in which we have shown courage and persistence to drive through the challenges, to not only survive, but to thrive.

The term saw many achievements:

 

NAPLAN online

For the first time our Year 7 and 9 students undertook the NAPLAN testing on line. Not only did they do the actual test but they participated in a number of readiness tests or “dummy” tests to make sure the network could facilitate the online testing.  Well done to our students for helping us make the online process a success. Our leaders and staff are to be congratulated for implementing the NAPLAN in this very new way. 

 

Focus on Individual Education Plans for identified students

This year we have more students who are being supported with an Individual Education Plan (IEP). We have conducted more Student Support Group meetings this term and the IEPs are central to the discussions in these meetings.

 

Focus on goal setting

 and reflection for all students

All students in Years 7 to 9 have created their own literacy and numeracy goals. These can be found on the Insights tab on your student’s Compass profile. Next term students will be reflecting on those goals and rewriting new ones. This is a fantastic step in the direction of student voice and agency in learning – that is, students taking control of their learning.

 

Tutoring Support

We have delivered tutoring support for students in the Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy program (MYLNs) and the Tutor Learning Initiative (TLI), without interruption.  This has been a focus of ours to ensure that we have our teachers and tutors timetabled to provide intervention support for our students from the beginning of the year.

 

Student Wellbeing

We have established a new wellbeing referral process that has helped the Wellbeing team to prioritise support for students.  There has been a strategic focus on wellbeing via regular case management and strategy meetings. We have also successfully delivered Consent Workshops and specialised programs.

such as the Man Cave Program and She Shed Program that focused on wellbeing and building resilience. 

 

Academic Support for VCE students who have been absent due to COVID

We have introduced new processes and after school support sessions to assist our VCE students to catch up when they have been absent and to meet the VCE requirements. 

 

 

 

Student Engagement

A variety of lunchtime clubs are running, including the Art Club, Science Club, Gardening Club and Video Games Club.  We are very excited about the upcoming School Production. Rehearsals are in full swing and the crew will be rehearsing during the school holidays. The show is “We Will Rock You” and will be performed during week 7 of term 3.

 

Farewells

During the term we farewelled staff members who have taken up opportunities elsewhere. We thank them for their service and commitment to our school community and we wish them all the best at their new schools.

  • Romy Glenn (Wellbeing)
  • Edie Hutchinson (Youth Worker)
  • Joshua Nelson (Integration Aide)
  • Stacey Thorne
  • Simone Verbeeten (Library)
  • Abbie Xie (Office)

Welcome

We welcome the following new staff members to our school and we look forward to having you work with our school community.

  • Sandra Wilson (Finance Officer)
  • Nick Dimarco (Youth Worker)
  • Georgia Coutts (Library Technician)

 

Welcome Back

The following staff members will be returning to our school refreshed from taking personal leave.

  • Sue Davison (Integration Aide)
  • Marnie Hay (Health and PE)
  • Rosa Costanzo (English/Italian)

 

Taking Leave

We wish the following staff all the best as they take some leave early in term 3.

  • Jan Cornelissen
  • Patricia Quan
  • Lisa Dunne

 

Annual Report

The 2021 Annual Report was presented to the community on Wednesday 16th June.  You will find a copy of the report on our website. I invite you to take a look at the report.

The highlights are:

  • Explicit values that we teach in our classes and that underpin the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Framework (SWPBS). Our values are Courage, Aspiration, Respect and Equality
  • Increasing enrolments in Year 7
  • Strong leadership and organisational structure that provides role clarity and consistency
  • Breadth of curriculum provision - Victorian Curriculum, Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), Vocational Education and Training (VET), Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning and the Head Start 
  • Incredibly successful Athlete Development Program (ADP)

Our major achievements include:

  • Successful timetabling and delivery of tutoring, small group and class interventions through the Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (MYLNS), Tutor Learning Initiative (TLI), Fast Track Reading and High Achiever Programs.
  • Routine use of student data to inform our practice, to differentiate and to teach students at point of need
  • Lead School in the Vic SWPBS and Respectful Relationships Programs
  • Successful implementation of a Social Emotional Learning Program from Years 7-9 (Connect Program)
  • Building school pride and connectedness through new values, facilities and uniforms
  • Successful performance and telecast of the School Production
  • 100 % of students in positive destinations at the end of Year 12
  • Continuing to achieve high study score results in Physical Education, VET Sport and Recreation, Health and Human Development, Media, Further Maths, Maths Methods and Specialist Maths
  • Students regularly achieving ATARs in the 90s
  • Significant learning growth data in literacy – reading, spelling, writing, which is directly attributable to our strategic focus on a whole school approach to literacy
  • Overall Wellbeing measures are higher than Victorian Government Secondary Schools
  • Four-year endorsement for “Sense of Connectedness” and “Management of Bullying” continues to be higher than similar schools
  • We have a strategic focus and supports in Wellbeing

 

Election Day Barbecue

Thank you to Margaret McNicol and the Parents and Friends team for organising the barbecue on Election Day.  As a fundraiser and as a community engagement activity this was a great success. Thank you to the School Council members, parents, staff and students who participated on the day  including Margaret, Lisa Commandeur, Kate Lansbury, Donna Osborne, Jayne Leatherman, Kellie Smeath, Jack Commandeur, Simone Verbeeten and Mal Williams.

 

Covid-19 and Vaccination Update for schools

Please see the notice at the end of this newsletter advising of the new directions for mainstream schools. There is also information for managing illness during the winter season, including Covid-19 and flu.

 

Pauline Barker

Principal