Dear Parents and Carers
Since the start of the school year the college has experienced growth in student numbers finalizing at 1175. This number is a net increase of 20 students over anticipated enrolments necessitating the employment of extra staff in the college. About half of the extra enrolments were students entering Year 11 and the other half of the extra number were students entering Year 7. The final enrolment number for Year 7 students is 232.
Within the middle school Mr Burt, Mr Taylor and Ms Bright have responsibility for the day to day management of the teaching and learning program and pastoral care needs of the students. Mr Rob Lawson has overall responsibility for the middle school within his Deputy Principal portfolio.
The senior school is also growing with 232 students in Year 10 and 118 students in Year 11 and approximately 140 students in Year 12. Ms Martinovich and Mr Ciccotosto have responsibility for the senior school. Ms Martinovich for her role as senior school coordinator and Mr Ciccotosto as senior school Deputy Principal provide the curriculum and pastoral care support programs for the students in the senior school.
A very busy year is planned within the college. New subjects such as Outdoor Education are being offered for the first time and a high level of student interest in the course is being shown. The Arts program will continue to grow under the guidance of Ms Walter the newly appointed Arts Head of Learning Area. I'm looking forward to performances and activities in the arts as the year progresses.
The summer has been very hot and luckily most areas of the college are now air conditioned with either evaporative or refrigerated systems. Contractors are involved in some call backs but most seem to be resolved apart form the upstairs section of the new Stage 2 senior school building.
It will not be long before the college is asking for input of parents in some particularly important items. Possibly the most important moment is the student and parent involvement in Year 10 course selection processes for students entering Year 11 in 2014. I urge parents to be closely involved in this process and to continually contact the school and the teachers involved to ensure the right suite of courses is selected supporting the skills, aims and aspirations of students. Students can assist by gaining the highest possible results in their courses and subjects to support the choice of a wide variety of courses and options in Year 11.
With Easter approaching and the mid- point of term 1 apparent it is important that students are maintaining their commitment to assessment schedules and keeping their attendance as regular as possible. Easter this year has the added bonus of an Easter Tuesday permitting the students to not attend the school on that day. This anomaly occurs when Easter falls during the school term and not during the end of term holidays. In this regard Atwell College closes for Good Friday on March 29 and reopens with students returning on Wednesday 3 April.
As always I'm very happy to discuss matters with parents on all aspects of education and the education of the their child.
Kind regards
Noel Woodley
Principal