Principals Report

To have our senior students back today (10/09/21) was a real blessing, as it was great to see them back where they belong. It is incredible to think how much they have had to go through in the final two years of their journey at Woodmans Hill Secondary College. Their resilience and capacity to bounce back is pretty inspirational. As a parent of a Year 12 student, I know the ups and downs that restrictions have had on students and I know how much support each of them will need for this last mile. I also know how lucky we are to have such a dedicated team behind them. In this respect, for a school our size, we pack quite a punch! We have purposefully allocated resources for our Year 12s to ensure that they get to achieve their heart’s desires. We have Carolyn Gregg at hand to guide them onto their next pathway; we have Bart and George from ‘Head Start’ to assist students in securing apprenticeships and career opportunities; we have Angie, Krissy and Gabi, our VCE Tutors, who can provide feedback and advice for students who are about to sit the most important exams of their lives; and we have our Senior School Team and every member of staff to help them finish as strongly as they can. There is nothing that we can do about the face to face time that we have lost, but we can move forward together with a singular focus on the success of our students. 

All our students have the capacity to live their lives abiding by our values of respect, determination and pursuit of personal excellence. Whilst what the latter value means for each student may be different, our expectation is that our students try their best and know by doing this they will experience growth in all aspects of their lives. It was therefore really pleasing to see how much growth our students experienced in NAPLAN in both Maths and English. Through the focused work of our Maths and English teams, we have been able to secure better growth for our students so that they are catching up to their peers across the state. This is massive when you think about the experiences of our Year 7 and 9 cohort over the course of the last 18 months. For them to show such strength over adversity tells you a lot about the culture we are growing and the ‘don’t give up’ attitude of our students. Additionally, we have seen remarkable results in terms of retaining students in the top two bands in Reading. In the Central Highlands Area of schools, 51% of students who were in the top two bands in Year 7 (2019) were still there in Year 9 (2021): at Woodmans Hill, 79% of students stayed in the top two bands…and 4 more students joined that group! NAPLAN is only one assessment, but it is a good indicator as to how students are travelling and what their future academic achievement might look like. The results also reflect what are teachers already know about our students: that they have incredible potential and that they are prepared to work hard. This comes from families supporting their children and working alongside schools to fight for what’s best for them.

Our relationship as a community will always be challenged by adversity, but we keep coming through stronger. On behalf of our staff, we couldn’t have maintained contact and secured stability for our students’ learning if it wasn’t for the support and trust of our families. I am realistic enough to appreciate that not all students have been able to manage this last lockdown well and I share the experience of some families who have seen their child withdraw as a result of remote learning. However, I believe completely that we can support every child so that they can come back from this stronger. For those students who want to learn and grow, Woodmans Hill is the best place to be. I look forward to having all students back onsite soon, so that we can regroup and move forward together. 

Take care and I hope the school holidays bring you all time to get back to the things that make you happy. 

Stephan Fields

Principal