Principal’s Message

by Principal, Mr Steven O’Connor

Student Leadership – 2023 Student Leaders

This week, I finalised the appointment of the new Student Council for the remainder of this year and 2023. These appointments were finalised after an extensive and rigorous process which included:

• Year 11 students nominating themselves
• Staff providing detailed feedback on the nominations and their suitability for leadership roles
• Shortlisting of Year 11 students – once students were shortlisted, they were invited to write a letter of application and respond to the specific leadership criteria
• Students in Years 10, 11 and 12 were invited to vote for the positions of College Captain, College Vice Captain, House Captain, and House Vice Captain
• Shortlisted students were invited to attend an interview with me, the Deputy Principal, and the Director of Senior School to outline their application in detail.

Once again, I have to say that I was very impressed with all those young men in Year 11 who applied and who attended the interviews. I conducted every interview and was enormously impressed with the capacity and the commitment of all applicants. Mr Brodrick and Mr McCrum also were very impressed, and we found our final decisions very difficult to take in determining these leadership roles. I commend all students who were involved in this process.

Following this extensive and rigorous process, I am very pleased to announce the following appointments to the key roles on the 2023 Student Council:

 

College Captain:  Samuel Clark

 

College Vice Captains:  Matthew O’Brien and Lachlan Brodie

 

 

House Captains and Vice Captains:

Galvin:   Campbell Gladman (Captain)

Ethan McKercher and Fred Valpied (Vice Captains)

Keniry:   Jack Kovacevic (Captain)

Damian Irvin and Finn Watson (Vice Captains)

Nunan:   Alec Carthew (Captain)

Tom O’Loughlin and James Halsall (Vice Captains)

Ryan:     Sam Litras (Captain)

Josh Huxtable and Ted O’Brien (Vice Captains)

Captain of Boarding      Ngor Bar

Vice Captains of Boarding    Hugo Delaney and Patrick Hannaford

Thank you for all who were involved in these appointments. I look forward to formally welcoming our new Student Council next term at our Student Leadership Assembly on Tuesday, 4 October and to working with them from this time.

 

Staff

Mr Stuart Harridge finishes at the end of this week after he accepted a role in the office of Minister Ben Carroll, the State member for Niddrie and Minister for several portfolios including Industry Support and Recovery; Public Transport; and Business Precincts. Stuart will contribute to the Minister’s office in an advisory role and on behalf of the College, I wish him all the very best in his new role with Minister Carroll and thank him for his many contributions to the College.

 

GAT Test and VCE Practice Exams

Our VCE students have been busy of late; it is getting towards the business end of the VCE journey. This week, all VCE students sat for the GAT across the State. This is an important test which assists VCAA to moderate all VCE results across all students.

Next week, the College will conduct a series of important practice exams for all VCE subjects. It is vital that all VCE students completing 3-4 subjects attend at the scheduled time next week and complete these practice exams. The feedback students receive from their teachers about these exams will be an important part of the preparation for their formal exams in October and November. And, the act of completing these practice exams under exam conditions is incredibly relevant and important. The practice exams for our VCE students are not optional and I seek the support of parents in this context.

I wish all our VCE students the very best as they complete the GAT and these practice exams. The weeks ahead for these young men, must be predominantly focused on the revision, study and preparation required for success in the VCE. The light is at the end of the tunnel, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the lead up to the completing the VCE program!

In addition to this, next week a number of Year 10 students will undertake some work experience. I wish them all the very best and hope that the experience provides them with some relevant experience which informs decisions about future subject choices and pathways.

 

End of Season Dinners

This week, we had the joy of acknowledging and celebrating the involvement and success of many of our students at the John James Medal Dinner for Football and the Performing Arts Dinner. It has been a few years since we have been able to gather as a community to celebrate the achievements of our young men in this context and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to do so.

Congratulations to all those who received awards at these dinners! Thanks to the staff who coordinated and organised these gatherings and to the parents for coming along with their son(s) to support them.

 

End of Term

I wish all students and staff all the very best for the term holiday ahead. Term 3 is always very busy for schools and this term has presented some additional significant challenges for the College community. I hope that the holiday period will provide opportunities for all to refresh and refocus before they return to the final school term for 2022.

We continue to hold the families of Rohan Cosgriff, Mike Brady and Mark Waddington in our prayers and thoughts in the weeks ahead.

I look forward to welcoming everyone back to Term 4 on Monday, 3 October. Please note that as we move into Term 4, they should return in correct summer uniform on 3 October.

Mr Steven O’Connor
Principal