Principal's Report

As the coloured powder from the Holi celebrations settles this afternoon, the term is officially over.

Nominally, a nine-week term, in reality it was less, we have managed to fit ten week’s of work in to the time available. This is the way of our school; purposefully busy.

The Year 9 students have now well and truly settled into the SCHS community. Last week the final part of their transition, Year 9 camp, was conducted at Phillip Island. This was an opportunity to challenge themselves as individuals and to continue to develop connections with their peers. One of the most important skills developed on camp was teamwork. I witnessed some very entertaining approaches to teamwork on the rescue challenge!

Throughout the term we have also been ensuring that the new Year 10 and Year 11 students have also settled into our community. The wellbeing of our students is of fundamental importance to us and we ensure that sufficient resources are allocated to support all of our students as they undertake their journey at SCHS.

Sport plays a significant part in school life. Throughout this term we have not only had house sporting competitions, namely swimming and athletics, but we have also had many teams competing in inter-school sports, including cricket, tennis, netball, golf and lawn bowls. Many of our teams have progressed through to the next round, including our swim team, which is competing today.

At the beginning of the year we instituted a new attendance policy. While in comparison to the state data our attendance data was not bad, there was definitely room for improvement. We have already seen a marked improvement in attendance across all year levels. There are still some areas of concern; however, we will continue to seek improvement. It is imperative that parents support the school in ensuring that their child is arriving at school on time and attending all timetabled sessions. A data analysis undertaken last year drew a direct correlation between attendance and VCE scores; not surprisingly, those students who had the best attendance rates across all areas of the school program invariably performed the best in their academic work.

Over the last three years, we have made substantial improvements to the physical environment of the school. Whether it has been installing ceiling fans throughout the school or ensuring we have appropriate audio visual set ups, the aim has been to make the school a better place for the students. Twelve months ago, we replaced the old asphalt basketball courts with concrete ones; they are now not cracked and uneven. More recently, we have replaced the half courts, which were also asphalt, with a concrete court and additional half court. Along with the building of a green screen room in T7 and an additional room in T5, labelled T5a, the physical environment of the school is much improved.

Early next term we will have two days of parent teacher interviews. These are now available to be booked through Compass. This is an opportunity for parents to meet theirs child’s teachers and have a brief discussion about the next stage in their academic progression. These interviews are one part of the school communicating with parents. This is in addition to Compass, the website and social media, especially the school’s Facebook page. I look forward to seeing many of you at the school one of these two days.

You are all familiar with the enrolment process. Applications for entry in 2019 have already opened and last Tuesday we held the information evening. We conduct tours on most Thursdays and these are fully subscribed. It is pleasing to note that interest in the school is increasing. We receive regular updates on applications for Year 9 from the department and the number of families’ preferencing SCHS number one is increasing. We are becoming the select entry school of choice for a growing number of families.  This is a positive reflection on the work that we have done, and continue to do, to ensure that every one of our students achieves success.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a safe relaxing break. I mentioned to the students of all year levels, that this is an opportunity to recharge and catch up and/or get ahead of their work. The emphasis is on having a rest and being emotionally and physically ready for the next term.

Colin Axup

Principal