Principal’s
Report
So much can change in a year. At the time of writing an article for the 2019 Mazenodian we had just returned from our Language Tour to Japan and I made reference to the biennial AHISA Conference, which adopted the theme “Forging the Future” reflecting on workplace structures and skills students will need to tackle the next decade. How pertinent one year later. At the beginning of the year we proudly acknowledged the achievements of our VCE cohort, highlighted by the fact eight of our students achieved study scores of 99 or above. This caught the eye of the media who also recognised Mazenod’s outstanding performances in the areas of Science and Humanities. Victoria Police circulated information about Ryan Dean’s efforts to promote the Blue Ribbon Foundation and Phil Ryan’s work with the Mazenod Panthers All Abilities Football Club was being endorsed by the Victorian Community Sports Awards. Our year then proceeded with great uncertainty and a sense of vulnerability. After being shocked by the devastation of the bushfires over the summer holidays, we were confronted with the coronavirus pandemic. Our community spirit and resilience were about to be challenged. We nearly made it to the end of Term 1 with conventional face to face teaching and we managed to complete all the scheduled camps and Outdoor Education activities for the term. We commenced lockdown and our new Learning Management System, MazCom, was about to be tested. Thankfully, we had updated our infrastructure and spent considerable time training staff and students to use this new medium. The development of the online classroom evolved and evolved rapidly. Assessment tools and video conferencing became a new art form. The students’ resilience and capacity to support the necessary changes were amazing. A significant number of students reached out for support during the year, whether for reassurance with their studies, vocational direction, or moral support, to keep motivated and on track. By the second wave, routines were established, students and teachers were becoming quite innovative and several activities continued despite the isolation and lockdown restrictions. Debating and public speaking, Chess competitions, food technology, home fitness activities, social justice programmes, trivia competitions, Performing Arts festivals, music performances, virtual assemblies and award presentations all continued utilising videoconferencing. Parent Teacher Interviews proved quite successful, even to the extent many families stated the new format was preferred to the traditional mode. In 2019 the College completed its NSIT (National School’s Improvement Tool) Review. The College Executive met in January to establish a clear and explicit agenda to respond to the Review and establish a Strategic Plan for 2020 to 2024. That plan is multi-faceted and was circulated throughout the community. Titled, ‘Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow’ the document reflects on our traditions and history with enormous pride, appreciates the rapid rate of change that is occurring in our community, and portrays a clear vision for the future. The Review is designed to critique current practice and provide an improvement agenda so the College can continue to develop. The reviewers were stunned by the community relationships and networking. The College is truly blessed with the associated organisations that link our families and Old Collegians. The de Mazenod Family was introduced in Fremantle in 2019 and is designed to reach out to all who associate themselves with the Oblate Ministry across the country. We are poised perfectly to nurture and develop these communities and relationships as part of the de Mazenod Family. As part of the Strategic Plan the College has developed an explicit learning agenda that incorporates ‘Visible Learning’ and ‘Visible Wellbeing’. Based on evidence-based research, the College has established a Visible Learning Framework utilising Professor John Hattie’s research that is designed to make a positive difference to maximise learning outcomes for students. Similarly, our Visible Wellbeing Programme complements all our existing structures, but also uses evidencebased research, in this case, the work of Professor Lea Waters from Melbourne University, who is an expert in Positive Psychology.
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