25th June, 2009
Principal's Message
Thank you to all Board members who attended the School Board Induction session conducted by the CEO of the Association of School Councils in Victoria (ASCIV) Stephen Franci – Ford. The broad range of topics that were covered has provided us with an informed appreciation of our collective role, improving student learning outcomes. Congratulations and thank you to Jeff Johnson for the accepting the role of Board Chairman; John McGeary for taking on the position of Deputy Chairman and Damien McVilly for Treasurer. Board members will become fully aware of the new ‘Effective Schools are Engaging Schools’ strategy and ‘Student Engagement Policy’ Guidelines. All Victorian Schools are required to develop a Student Engagement Policy to be implemented in 2010. One of the objectives of a School Council (Board) under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, is to ensure that decisions affecting students at the school give primary consideration to the best interests of the students. Consequently the Board will be engaged in the Student Engagement policy development and approval and be responsible for monitoring its effectiveness and evaluating its success.
POLICY DEVELOPMENT
Development on an extensive range of policies will clearly be a major focus of our new School Board. This process was begun by our previous council with excellent outcomes achieved. The formation of Colac Secondary College has required the review of all existing policies that Colac College and High School once operated under. The process is not about simply looking at each set of policies and merging them but rather reviewing and implementing policies that will scaffold our new school into the future.
STAGE 2 BUILDING UPDATE
A number of ‘site meetings’ have occurred consisting of myself, a representative of the Architect (Bradbury Dicker), Builder (BDH), Colac Otway Shire (Joint Use library). These meetings have not identified any issues of concern. The laying of the ‘slabs’ is progressing to schedule. Weather conditions have not yet interrupted progress. Site meetings occur on a fortnightly basis.
TRADE TRAINING CENTRE
Progress towards preparing an application for a Trade Training Centre on behalf of our Cluster (Colac Secondary College, Colac Specialist School, Trinity, Lavers Hill P-12, Apollo Bay P-12, Lorne-Aires Inlet P-12) is continuing. Grant Sutherland (CEO of the Gordon TAFE) has attended a number of meetings to discuss a possible partnership with regard to the Centre. South West TAFE was also approached. Colac Secondary College is the identified lead school which equates to some buildings being located on our site. Investigations into how all schools within the Cluster can benefit, ranging from buildings, facility upgrades to Information Communication Technology links between schools are progressing.
TERM 2
Term 2 has been demanding for all staff as we move towards one school one site. Our new Student Management Policy is yet to be fully embedded, some staff being required to work and travel across campus from Murray to Hearn/Queen Street sites as well as meetings rostered across the three sites. Thank you for the positive efforts of staff, students, parents and our wider school community over the term as we work towards delivering one school one site for 2010.
Richard Cooper
