Principal’s Report August 2024

Dear Fitzroy High School community

Achievements:

We are pleased to bring you the latest newsletter which highlights some of the achievements and activities of our school. There have been so many remarkable achievements within our student body, from the everyday positive posts on Compass that show our students exhibiting the school values, to the Premier’s Award for VCE Media!

New achievements are happening every day and don’t always make it to the latest edition of the newsletter. Most recently, I have been informed that our Year 11 Debating team have made it through to the playoffs for Finals. More on that in the  next edition!

Of course, some of these achievements include what students do outside of their school hours. For example, you can read how Clancy was awarded the Certificate of Meritorious Conduct by the Chief Commissioner of Scouting Victoria, and how this relates to our school values of Trust, Engage and Respect. I would be very glad to receive and share similar news about students’ achievements outside the classroom to add to future newsletters.

Staffing:

This term Mac and Hanna are on well-deserved leave, and I congratulate and thank Leah Christou for taking on the role as both year 9 and 10 leader. Andrew Iacono is taking Leah’s Humanities classes for the term. Louie Dalzell is taking Mac’s Maths classes and Jack James is taking Hanna’s Phys Ed and Health classes. Millicent Seeto has also joined us to take some Science classes and is working with Louie on the Feminist Collective Extend class.

In Education Support roles, we welcome Charles Bushrod in Inclusion, Sahel Rasouli in Reception and Regan Garner in Enrolments and Administration. We farewell Madeline Bullen who has moved to a school closer to home. Maddie has been a well-loved staff member for several years and we thank her for her wonderful contribution to FHS. We welcome back Jamie Bishop as our school psychologist. Jamie is working two days a week at the school and has a local private practice the other days.

Events:

Earlier in the term there was a very successful year 8 camp. I thank the students, staff and parents, guardians and caregivers for all their efforts in making this happen. Coming up later in the year we have year 9 camps and there are also some lucky students who have been selected for the preparing for the specialised camps run by the Department of Education Bogong Outdoor School. These include the Kimberley Cultural Experience Extension Program and Summit to Sea experience in NSW.

You will read about the wonderful experience that happened in our year 9 Food Technology class, when students were visited by Melbourne chef and restaurateur Joseph Abboud and his apprentice Bubble Booker-Malcolm, an ex-student of FHS. We are very proud of our food program, and I extend my thanks to James Hardie for organising this incursion. James himself was an apprentice of Joseph and of course was Bubble’s teacher!

Book week is coming up on August 17-24 and I thank our Literacy Learning Specialist, Olivia Meisel, for organising some fantastic events, including book reviews by students and teachers displayed around the school; the Readathon for Uganda; the Book Sale Initiative; and the Book Character Dress-Up Day.

On Thursday August 8 there will be an online meeting from 7-8pm for Fitzroy High School Annual Community Meeting for parents, guardians and carers. This has been posted on Compass with a link to TryBooking. Please book if you are intending to come. In this meeting, there will be a summary presentation of the 2023 Annual Report, the new four-year Strategic Plan and the 2024 Annual Implementation Plan, followed by an opportunity to ask questions. You can find these documents on the school website under the School Council tab https://fitzroyhs.vic.edu.au/community/school-council/. Our guest speaker will be Tess Hodgins-Parry, Secondary School Nurse, who works across FHS and Wurun, supporting students, teachers and parents with a range of health-related topics.

We have also been getting feedback from our students. This has included some student focus groups to better understand the annual Student Attitudes to School survey. Thankyou to Timothy Simpson, our Student Voice and Leadership Coordinator, for running these groups. Our Student Representative Team continues to work on issues they identify within the school community, as well as contributing their voices to School Council meetings through the elected Student representatives, Anna P and Thomas H.

Twentieth Anniversary Celebrations: SAVE THE DATE!!!

This year, the newest version of FHS turns 20!  We are centring the celebrations on the School Production which is Wednesday October 23rd and Thursday October 24th. On Monday October 21st, will be having an Open Day with a difference, called our Open Day Experience. On Friday October 25th, we will be having an anniversary event, where we share memories with alumni, including students from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, and have a whole school assembly with the opening of time capsules, a guest speaker and performances. The publicity about these celebrations and information about how you can participate will be shared over the coming months.

Kind regards

Linda Mitchell, Principal, Fitzroy High School