Secondary News

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our students and parents back from what was hopefully a restful and rejuvenating holiday. As we start a new semester, it is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the first part of the year, appreciating what has worked well and identifying areas where we can make positive changes.

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Staff Conference

Our staff community returned a week early and we experienced a fantastic conference in Albany doing professional development sessions ranging from an AISWA led Community Culture Audit to Walking through time visiting an ACC parent’s and staff member’s journeys; highlighting our growth, changes and future vision.

Upcoming Events

As the term has started, we look forward to the many events that we have planned for our students this term, including Chess Competitions, The Adventurous Journey, the Busselton Pedal Prix, Perth Athletics Carnival and the Sydney Canberra Trip, to name but a few. These events promise to provide our students with the opportunity to grow in a variety of areas. We look forward to sharing highlights and photos in future newsletters. 

Timetables and Uniforms

As of Monday next week, we would like to remind our parents and students that there will be a final timetable update. Students are encouraged to utilise their live timetables to stay up to date with important information. Parents can also view their students' timetable via the Parent Portal App. In terms of sports uniforms, our Year 7-9 students will be wearing sports uniforms on Thursdays, and Year 10-12 students will be wearing theirs on Wednesdays.  All high school students will be wearing sports uniforms on Fridays.

New behaviour management and positive framework

As a school, we are very excited about implementing our new behaviour management strategies and positive framework which will allow us to recognise and award the many positive behaviours that our students display. As parents, you will be receiving a video link to a video prepared by Mr Ramsay where he outlines the exciting changes in this space.

The start of the term

Although we have only been back on campus for five days, it has been a fantastic start to the term. It is always encouraging to see students arrive on campus after a holiday looking happy and ready to learn and socialise with their peers. 

Recess continues to be a highlight, and we have enjoyed seeing many of our students bask in the Albany sun that has blessed us throughout this past week. Due to the great weather, Mr Thomas has been able to run a range of athletics activities, which have encouraged our students to challenge themselves and improve their athletic performance.

Chess club, Book club, mountain bike track time (Friday lunch), ultimate frisbee, worship band and many more activities are to be launched in the coming weeks.  Our student leaders are initiating these activities and we look forward to facilitating their successes.

Excursions

Our Year 11 and 12 General Art and Graphic Design students have already visited Perth for their PULSE Art Camp! They attended both the PULSE Art Exhibition which is an exhibit of Year 12 Visual Arts students' work and provides context to the work they are doing in class and the RONE Street Art Exhibition, which is renowned for its large-scale "walkthrough" installations that breathe life into forgotten spaces. This has been a fantastic opportunity to see art come to life and we thank all the teachers involved in the organisation of this successful excursion.

NAPLAN and OLNA

A reminder for our Year 10 students about the upcoming ATAR entry examinations which take place on Thursday and Friday next week. Additionally, the NAPLAN and OLNA results have been released. These have been posted and families should expect to receive them by the end of the next week. We encourage students and parents to review these results together and consider areas for growth. We are very pleased that all of our Year 12 students have now obtained their OLNA which demonstrates that students have met the minimum standards of literacy and numeracy to achieve the Western Australian Certificate of Education upon graduation from secondary school.

Parent Teacher Interviews

We are thrilled to see that many of our parents have already booked in for our Parent-Teacher Interviews which take place early next week, using the Parent App. We look forward to meeting parents face to face on Monday or Tuesday afternoon.

A Final Word

As we continue with the term, let's keep the momentum going from our successful start. Remember, the journey of education is a partnership between students, parents, and teachers. Let's stay engaged, supportive, and proactive in our approach to learning and development.

Thank you for taking the time to read through our newsletter. We are excited about the weeks ahead and look forward to seeing all the wonderful achievements our students will make. Here's to a term filled with learning, growth, and plenty of memorable moments!

Warm regards,

Di & Will