by Rosina Fotia, Principal

The month of May has proven to be a very busy period for staff and students at Lilydale Heights College. The classrooms remain a hive of activity and this has been supplemented by the various extra curricular programs on offer to students throughout the College.

Learning Focus

We currently have two teams of teachers undergoing professional learning related to improving literacy and curriculum development. These teams are working exclusively with the Bastow Institute. This institute develops the capacity of educational leadership within government schools. The work of these groups is being shared with the whole staff cohort.

Thursday May 18 was a scheduled curriculum day at the College. The staff learning and development focus on this day was centred around: Development of course documentation for the Student Engagement in Learning for the Future program, team planning in faculty groups and finalising assessment tasks in preparation for semester one reporting. Staff are always appreciative of opportunities to work collaboratively to develop programs for students and took full advantage of the time afforded them.

China Tour

The trip has allowed Lilydale Heights College to recruit more fee paying students, with five RTP already received. I presented to 146 agents in six cities over 17 days. The trip has also allowed Lilydale Heights College to strengthen its profile as a preferred study destination in China. In conjunction with the work of other DET delegates on the trip, the VGS roadshow and CIEET fairs also provided an opportunity for Victorian schools to showcase our brand and develop/maintain strong working relationships with education agencies in China.

Budget Announcement

This month’s state budget announced that funding will go towards the Lilydale and Upper Yarra Secondary Schools Plan. This budget will support master planning and look into further provision of educational opportunities for students across the Yarra Valley. Lilydale Heights College has been nominated as a school that will be part of this planning group. Initial meetings are scheduled to take place early in June.

NAPLAN/PISA

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. All students in Years 7 and 9 participated in tests in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy during this month. In addition to this we were audited by the curriculum and assessment authority in the writing category for NAPLAN and approximately 40 of our students will undertake the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) of 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic performance in mathematics, science, and reading.

Students Attitude to School Survey

Lilydale Heights College values student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and are conducting a survey to find out what your child thinks of our school. The Attitudes to School Survey is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Our College will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve your child's schooling experience.

The Department has updated the survey for 2017 to include important new measures that are known to influence student engagement and performance. All students at our school will participate in the survey. Your child will complete the survey online during school hours using a purpose built secure online survey tool. It is important to note that we are not in any way “testing” your child. Your child has the right to refuse or withdraw from the survey at any point before, during, or after completion of the survey.

Your child will be provided with a unique login to complete the survey. The student login is an assigned identifier that may be used by the Department to combine data for research purposes only. Your child’s privacy and the confidentiality of your child’s survey responses will be protected at all times. No identifiable personal data is included in the survey response file.

The survey results will be reported back to the school in Term 3. No student can be identified in the results reported to schools or in any other report of the data. Last year we used the survey results to support our decision to introduce the SELF (Student Engagement in Learning for the Future Program) and as an impetus for us to introduce the positive reinforcement in our wellbeing program through the use of Green Chronicles.

This year the Attitudes to School Survey will be conducted at our school over the period Monday 22 May to Friday June 9. The survey only takes 20-30 minutes to complete and occurs during your child's class time.

Please speak to your child’s teacher if you would like more information or visit the Department of Education and Training website:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/management/Pages/performsurveyat.aspx

Work Experience

This month our Year 10 students particpated in the Work Experience program. Work Experience provides many benefits to young people as they make their way to adulthood. It provides students with a glimpse of life outside of school as they begin to make important decisions about future pathways. Students undertook experience in areas such as: building and construction, legal work, retail, hospitality, engineering, animal care and health sciences. Well done to all the students that participated and congratulations to Ms Julie Byrne for all her work in preparing students for this program.

Occupation Expo

Whilst the Year 10 students were on work experience placements, the Year 9 cohort prepared for an occupation expo. Teams of students investigated a career of their choice and then presented their findings at the occupation expo. Year 7 students were invited to attend the expo and encouraged to ask questions about the variety of career pathways on show. This was a very authentic and powerful project for all students involved. Well done Middle School Team!

High Tea in the Café

I had the pleasure of attending the Mother’s Day High Tea hosted by the Middle School Café students during this month. The calibre of service, quality of cakes and savouries and impressive coffee and tea were the best. The students were thoroughly engaged in the entire process, from planning and costing through to marketing, preparation and finally service. Congratulations to all students involved! I would like to acknowledge the tireless work of Ms Wilkins and Ms Francis and thank those members of the wider school community who took advantage of this outstanding event.

National Science Week School Grant

Congratulations to Mr Terry Payne for his successful application for funding to support National Science Week activities in schools. Mr Payne is busily preparing for our own launch to Mars. Six students will travel to our own ‘Mars’ and spend 30 hours on the ‘surface of Mars'. Students will undertake a range of experiments, engineering activities and problem solving scenarios. Well done Mr Payne!!