From the Principal

Dear Parents & Friends,

Term 3 finish-up

It is hard to believe that this week is the last week of Term three. When the Year 12 students return next term, they will have just over two weeks of formal classes remaining before exams commence in late October. To maximise their level of achievement, our senior students obviously need to plan to make the most of the remaining time.

To help you with your planning, can I please remind all parents about the following?

• Please check your son or daughter’s Term 3 progress by accessing the feedback available on our Learning Management System, “Canvas” (ask your son or daughter to show you how to access this if you are not sure how to find this information)

• The Last day of term three classes will be Friday 15th September. 

• The first day of term four is Monday 2nd October.

College Captains for 2024

A significant number of Year 11 students expressed their interest in becoming the College's student leaders for 2024. We are grateful for their enthusiasm to serve, their evident dedication towards the College, and their consistent demonstration of the College's values in their day-to-day activities.

The College Captains and Vice-Captains for 2024 have been announced, marking the completion of the first stage in selecting the student leadership team.

We congratulate the following students for putting themselves forward for leadership of the College in the year ahead:

College Captains: Alana Clark & Curtis McCoughtry

Vice-Captains: Zoe Walter & Thomas Galan

College Production – Tickets now available & selling fast!

It is very exciting that the College’s Production – “Anastasia” will be performed next week. After many months of planning, preparation and rehearsals, the cast of well over 100 students, together with the student, staff and parent support crew, are ready to entertain us and reap the many benefits of being involved in such an undertaking. The students have been developing valuable knowledge, skills, talents and confidence in many different areas.

The performances will be held at the Geelong Arts Centre’s (GAC) new Story House Theatre at the following times:

• Thursday 14th September –evening show (7.00pm)

• Friday 15th September - evening show (7.00pm)

• Saturday 16th September – matinee show (12.00pm)

• Saturday 16th September – evening show (7.30pm)

Tickets are available from the GAC website: https://geelongartscentre.org....

I encourage all members of the school community to support this event by coming along to one of the performances.

School Community Surveys – please provide feedback

Every year at about this time, students, staff and parents are surveyed by MACS (ORIMA Research will manage the surveys this year for MACS) to provide data to inform how we are progressing with our School Improvement Plan. Four hundred parents have been randomly selected and emailed a link to complete the survey online to provide confidential information about how the College is performing in a number of areas. This important information will help us determine how we are performing and inform our school improvement strategy plan. I ask all parents to please take the time to complete the survey if you are selected. We obviously need as many parents as possible to respond so we have the best possible sample of opinion. Thank you in anticipation of your support.

Students completed their survey during Mentor time on Tuesday 29 August, and Staff completed their survey at Wednesday afternoon’s Staff Meeting.

Staff changes for Term 4

Returning from leave:

Going on leave:

Due to the intricacies of teaching loads and our timetable program you will find several of the changeovers for Term Four of staff are not simply “one for one”. The exact details will be evident on your daughter’s/son’s Term Four timetable when it is published.

I wish to acknowledge the enormous amount of work done throughout Term Three by Craig Brown (Timetable Manager) and Anthony Fitzgerald (Daily Organisation) to plan for all of the above staff changes and to implement them into our Term Four timetable.

Thank you to the staff who have supported the College over Term Three by replacing our returning teachers.

Some important dates on the College Calendar

• Staff Professional Learning Day Friday 20th October. No classes will be conducted on this day.

• Melbourne Cup Public Holiday Tuesday 7th November, and no classes are to be conducted on Monday 6th November.

• Mosaic Awards Ceremony Costa Hall Thursday 16th November

• Staff Professional Practice Time Day for teachers on Friday 8th December. No classes will be conducted on this day

• The final day for classes for Yr. 7-11 is on December 7th.

• Year 12 Celebrations:

  • Monday 16th October - Final day of scheduled classes

  • Monday 16th October – Farewell Assembly, periods 5 & 6

  • Monday 16th October – Valete Mass & Graduation Ceremony at the College (5 pm to 7:30 pm)

  • Tuesday 17th October – Year 12 Celebration Day

  • Tuesday 24th October – Unit 4 Exams begin

  • Wednesday 15th November – Unit 4 Exams finish

  • Friday 24th November – Valedictory Dinner at GMHBA Stadium (6 pm)

Best wishes

This is the final newsletter for term three. The next newsletter will be available late in the day on Thursday 5th October 2023.

I hope all students have a restful break with some time spent revising work and preparing for next term included. Best wishes to all families for an enjoyable time together.

Thank you to our dedicated and hard-working staff members for their efforts to support our students’ educational experiences throughout the term. I wish all staff members who will be on holiday my best wishes for a well-deserved and enjoyable break.

Michael Exton

Principal