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From the Deputy Principal – Staff and Operations

31 October 2024

Together is better – Simon Sinek

In his book titled, ‘Together is Better’, Simon Sinek uses various quotes to illustrate his definition of leadership and the above quote captures the role of leaders at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø.

Throughout this year, all the teaching staff in positions of leadership have been involved in the College’s Leadership Development Program for Middle Leaders. Within an education context, the term ‘middle leaders’ is often used to describe a range of formal leadership roles that are responsible for a specific curriculum area or year level. At 51³Ô¹ÏÍø these roles include Learning Area Leaders, Year Level Leaders and House Leaders.

This has been a wonderful opportunity for the staff in these important roles to gather and further build upon their expertise as leaders within our College and the broader community. On Thursday 31 October, the final session of this program was held recently focusing on how, as leaders, we can continue to foster a school-wide culture of collaboration and improvement.

This session was built upon the understanding that middle leaders are highly regarded educators whose expertise and experience shape teaching quality and student outcomes. The work of all our middle leaders across the various areas of our College, has contributed to a number of new initiatives being implemented in 2025 including Welcome Circles and the use of Consistent Predictable Routines (CPRs). Their collective leadership is also to be acknowledged in working alongside our staff to support the overall learning and wellbeing needs of our students.

I wish to congratulate all our staff in positions of leadership for their service to our community and thank them for their active participation as part of this program. I also wish to acknowledge Kelley Revelman, who in her role as Director of Leadership Development has facilitated these sessions and worked closely with all our leaders throughout this year.

New Teaching Staff

We would like to welcome the following staff 51³Ô¹ÏÍø who have recently started teaching at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø:

  • Amy Smith (English)
  • Stephanie Ferreira-Bothma (Science)

We also welcome Rhianwyn Ellis and Deana Galea who have joined our Learning Diversity Team.

Each of these staff 51³Ô¹ÏÍø brings great knowledge and expertise to the College and we wish them every success in our dynamic learning community.

Upcoming key dates (Advent Term)

A reminder that on the following dates there will be no timetabled classes and students are not required at the College:

  • Monday 3 November (College closure)
  • Monday 18 November (Staff Professional Practice Day).

Further information outlining the key dates and student expectations for the upcoming Year 7 to 11 examinations and HeadStart will be shared with families via Operoo and SIMON.

We also wish to remind students and families that the final day of scheduled classes for the Advent Term is Thursday 5 December. The College’s End of Year Mass be held on this day and students will begin to be dismissed as of 12.45pm with all students dismissed from the College by 1.00pm.

All these dates and related details are listed on the College calendar. If you have any questions related to the above dates, please contact your child’s Pastoral and Learning Mentor (PaLM), Year Level Leader or House Leader.

Andrew Bryson
Deputy Principal – Staff and Operations