Principal's Message
It is wonderful to slowly be getting back to some kind of normality at ASC following a particularly challenging period of stay at home orders for Armidale and learning from home last term.
I would particularly like to highlight the incredible resilience of our Year 12 cohort. These students have faced an extremely difficult senior secondary experience, and will be the first Year 12 cohort to graduate from our new ASC campus. Our Year 12s have had so many of their rights of passage interrupted due to Covid and the restrictions that NSW Public Schools have operated under to keep everyone safe and well. However, the latest changes to Level 3 restrictions allow for us to once again hold assemblies and we can celebrate Year 12 finishing their secondary schooling with their Valedictory Assembly on 3 December at 5.30pm. This decision was made to ensure that parents and carers of our Year 12 students are able to attend under Covid-safe practices.
We will keep families informed of changes that may occur due to state wide changes and advice from NSW Health. The changes and their timing are outside of the school’s control and we follow the guidelines provided by Health and the Department of Education. At this stage, each student will be able to invite two people to watch their graduation at school, with tickets to be sent to students in Week 6. Any person who is attending as the guest of a student must be fully vaccinated, provide proof of vaccination, and check in using the Service NSW app to attend. I encourage all families to access the NSW Department of Education’s Covid 19 Advice for Families page for the most up to date information.
All of us wish Year 12 the very best of luck in their upcoming HSC examinations which will begin next week on 9 November and continue (for our school) until 2 December.
Despite our restrictions, students at ASC have been shining and achieving so many amazing things. Congratulations to our winning Game Changer Challenge Team who have brought acclaim to the school. The team were very flexible in meeting the challenge of competing online this year.
This week Year 10 have had their exam week, and in Week 8 they will participate in their Setting Up for Senior Success week. During this week, Year 10 will participate in a series of compulsory workshops under the Life Ready framework and learn about Turn it In and complete their All My Own Work course. In Week 10 they will complete their life saving.
At Armidale Secondary College our three core values are Respect, Responsibility and Resilience. It is very obvious where we can see resilience being displayed within our community. The last few weeks of wild weather including the tornado have been just one more difficulty that our community continues to overcome. To see our learning and wider community draw together to assist those most severely affected by the storm just reinforces what a wonderful place Armidale is. Many of our students display the respect and responsibility values in an outstanding fashion. Having role models to look to both at school and in the community help our learners to grow both socially, emotionally, culturally and academically by embracing these values.
Our new student leadership team have demonstrated respect and responsibility throughout their school careers and continue to be wonderful role models for their peers. We are looking forward to them taking up their roles and being able to celebrate their election. Thank you to our outgoing 2021 captains who have displayed these values in spades. The drive, integrity and leadership that this team has shown during their time as captains has been exceptional. They will take these characteristics out into the wider community and post-school lives, to the benefit of all of us in the community.
Ms Harvey-Bice
Principal (Rel.)