Principal's Report
Parent Teacher Meetings and Subject Selection Expo
Feedback for online Parent Teacher interviews over the last couple of weeks have been very encouraging. While we clearly had no alternative given the restrictions, many parents and guardians have commented that the online format actually has a number of advantages in terms of the commitments that families face each evening and makes this format worthy of future consideration as a viable ongoing option. Thank you to everyone who worked to ensure that these meetings could be conducted so successfully. Parents of Years 8,9 and 10 students have also had the experience of an online Subject Selection Expo this week and I want to say thank you to Mr Michael Box, Mrs Pam Ryan and the many other contributors who put in an enormous amount of work to prepare for this event. I hope that participants found it helpful.
Weekly House Challenges
I want to commend our student leaders on the wonderful initiative to engage our student community in a fun activity each week to help build connection and House spirit. The first week saw 172 very impressive art submissions, with points awarded to the respective house per entry. A commendation was awarded to two middle school and two senior school students from each House and all entries were uploaded to a website maintained by various senior student leaders. The Year 12 leaders maintain the administrative aspects of the challenge, and each week a different year level is in charge of organising the theme for that week. The theme for week two was cooking, and this week will see submissions on a music theme. At a time when many students are missing the social interaction with peers, it is great to see our student leaders looking for ways to help others to continue to engage.
VRQA Accreditation
It is pleasing to report that our five year review by the VRQA last Friday week was very positive. In an exhaustive analysis of our policies and compliance protocols, we were able to demonstrate that the College continues to meet or exceed the statutory requirements. We have three minor areas around which some additional work needs to be undertaken and this will be completed over the coming days. There are many to thank for their contribution to the review as we compiled literally hundreds of documents as evidence to demonstrate compliance, but I wish to make special mention of Mrs Janet Blackwell, Mr Luke Russ and Mrs Dawn Aitken who brought many of the threads together so that we could present a coherent picture of our College policies and protocols to the assessor.
Aquinas College Board Meeting
At the end of the school year, we will farewell three long-serving members of the College Board. At our Board Meeting on Tuesday, I was able to thank Mr Brad McDonald, Dr Roland Faktor and Mrs Nadine Callahan for their outstanding contribution to our College over a span of many years. We will also farewell our student representative, Miss Charlotte Dring, at the end of 2020. At our AGM this week, the College Board decided that it was prudent to wait for the new Board Constitution that will come into effect when Aquinas College incorporates as part of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) on January 1, 2021, before commencing a search for new members, or electing office bearers. Hence, Mr Paul Ayton will continue in the role of Chairperson through this period of transition. If you would like to find out more about the changes to governance of schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne please go to https://governance.melbourne.
Capital Projects Update
As you are aware, the College Board decided to put the Gymnasium redevelopment project into hiatus earlier this year when it became apparent that our revenue would be down significantly due to the impact of Covid-19. However, part of the project, which was to address a serious matter regarding stormwater drainage, cannot be delayed and we are continuing to prepare for this work to be undertaken as soon as possible. We had hoped that this work might be possible while the school was closed this term, but we are still some time away from having all of the necessary permits in place to be able to go to tender. We are also in the midst of seeking permission from Catholic Education Melbourne. It’s obviously disappointing that this work will essentially be “in the ground” and that, despite a substantial outlay, there will be little to show for this investment in terms of improved learning facilities. Of course, not having to dry out a flooded Theatre and Food Tech facilities when we have future heavy rains will be a great relief to those who learn and work in these spaces.
Darren Atkinson
Principal