Vice Principal News – 7 February 2019

Welcome to 2019 

Welcome back to all students for the year ahead. The start of the year is an exciting time. New beginnings, engaging opportunities and challenges all lie ahead. Some nerves and anxiety can be felt to varying degrees as well, and we are conscious of that.

College Directions

The College is always striving for continual improvement. We are ambitious for student achievement in the broadest sense. Our College theme for 2019 is We Grow Together, and this is important theologically as we in particularly reflect upon the parable of the sower.  This theme also relates to our goals as a school for 2019. We hope to deepen the directions which have been established in recent years.

Our focus remains on student achievement.

We have summarised our focus in what we are titling Our Game Plan and it has 4 plays which are:

Catholic Identity – orientating towards Christ

Positive Learning Partnerships – building stronger relationships

Differentiation – enabling growth for all

Wellbeing for learning – teaching the skills of wellbeing

I hope that you can see the consistency in our direction present in the aforementioned game plan and that your child experiences benefits from this focus.

Curriculum Review Outcomes Implementation

This week has been really exciting as the outcomes of the Curriculum Review from 2017 and 2018 have been implemented.

Just a few examples:

• VCE English Language classes
• VCE Environmental Science classes
• Year 7 students beginning lessons with orchestral instruments
• Year 8 and 9 Dance classes
• Year 8 and 9 Media Arts classes
• Year 10 VCAL program

Key dates in Term 1

The College calendar is being imported into SIMON today. Key term dates were shared last year, however the whole calendar will be accessible as of the end of today.

New learning spaces for Beaconsfield Campus

The General Purpose Flexible Learning Centre opened for classes at Beaconsfield Campus this week.

The learning spaces were designed to facilitate enhanced learning for senior secondary students.

Student learning and differentiation with growth for all was a significant focus. This has been achieved through features including:

• Flexible learning spaces with breakout rooms
• No front of the classroom – no stationary teacher desk but rather a mobile station
• Teacher and student wireless projection to all or one of the projector or two screens
• Students seated in groups facing multiple directions rather than all the same way to facilitate a quick transition from presentation mode to collaborative and active learning mode
• Lots of glass to write on for collaboration and to promote a culture of safety and dialogue
• Link to the Learning Resource Centre
• The opportunity for independent learning remains

This new learning space is a fantastic facility and one which will support student achievement.

PAM – student medical system and online excursion consent system

Thank you to parents who have entered their child’s medical details on PAM. This is now due to be completed.

We are now using PAM for online excursion consent. Hard copies are no longer being used. Medical information must be up to date on PAM to allow for excursion consent to be granted. Parents receive an email when excursion consent is requested.

Instructions can be found on PAM via the Knowledge Bank and by selecting the following selections:

1. Parent Information
2. Medical Action and Management Plans

There you will find:

• PAM – how to enter student medical details (a short movie)
• PAM – how to enter student medical details guide (printed instructions)

If you need assistance accessing PAM please email pamsupport@sfx.vic.edu.au.

If you require any help with uploading medical information to PAM please email the Campus First Aid Officer:

Best wishes to all students for the 2019 school year. I pray that all students and parents feel well connected to the College and that through the many deliberate learning activities and pathways offered, that all students achieve throughout the course of this year.

Timothy Newcomb

Vice Principal