Congratulations to all Year 12 students who have now finished their final exams. Well done! Remember that the staff at the College are still available for support if required. The Careers and VCE teams will be available during the last week of the school year to assist with change of preferences and course counselling should it be required.
We look forward to celebrating 13 years of school on Graduation Night. Almost 50 staff will be attending this event, a testament to the strong rapport our staff and student forge. I’d like to acknowledge the VCE team, and in particular Ms Morabito and Ms Zivcic, for their work in organising this event. Special thanks to the Administration team who as always has done a mountain of work behind the scenes to make this possible.
Year 11 students finish their exams on Friday 18th November and then commence Year 12 Orientation. This is essentially the beginning of the Year 12 course; it’s an important time for students as it prepares them for their final year in 2023.
Year 10 students commence their exams on Monday 21st November. It is vitally important that students use this as a dress rehearsal for VCE. Every opportunity to ‘train’ for exams is vital for sustained success in VCE.
On Thursday 17th November, the School Improvement Team (SIT) spent the final day of the school review working with the review team to finalise our new School Strategic Plan (SSP) for 2023 – 2026. After a long day looking at data and the findings of the review, the school leadership has set its priorities for the next four years. I will provide more commentary on this in the coming weeks, but I’d like to acknowledge the review team led by John Haines. We are excited by the findings and are very pleased with the many positives to come from this review and look forward to working on the areas identified as new priorities over the next four years.
Finally, I would like to ask our parents and guardians to take a moment to thank our support staff and teachers when the opportunities arise. As you would be acutely aware, there is a significant teacher shortage across the country and in particular, Victoria. Having spoken to several colleagues who are principals at rural or outer suburban schools, the situation is very dire. Some are reporting a shortage of over a dozen staff for next year. This means they will start the school year with at least 12 less teachers than required. Most teach five classes, so 12 x 5 = 60 classes NOT covered. This will have a significant impact on our students and society for years to come.
Research clearly indicates that the classroom teacher has the biggest influence on student outcomes. Fortunately, at Rosehill we have been able to fill all our vacancies - for now. So, I ask that you take the time to thank our staff for their work and acknowledge the difficult task that they do each and every day and continue to provide high quality learning and teaching. They work tirelessly to keep our children focussed and engaged in class, in school and help develop them into well rounded citizens of our global community.
Arthur Soumalias
PRINCIPAL