2020 Community Report

Community Report For the year ended �� December ���� Southern Cross Grammar A Company Limited by Guarantee ACN 149 437 276 Registered Office and Principal Place of Business 2-20 Lancefield Drive Caroline Springs Victoria 3023

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 1

CONTENTS OUR SCHOOL | 4 LEADERSHIP | 10 FINANCE | 12 FACILITIES | 14 THE CENTAURI PROJECT | 18 UPGRADES AND EXPANSIONS | 26 OUR STUDENTS | 30 NAPLAN RESULTS | 36 STUDENTS’ SUCCESS | 38 STUDENT ATTENDANCE AND COMMUNITY SERVICE | 40 OUR STAFF | 44

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 2

Principal’s Statement Congratulations to the SCG community for navigating, and concluding 2020, with joy and resilience.

MATT DODD PRINCIPAL

Handing over the leadership baton requires an important care, particularly passing from a Founding Principal to a first new appointment for our community. Add a global pandemic and more remote online learning, the challenges for the Board and Leadership Team—and indeed each member of the school—cannot be underestimated throughout 2020. Strategic decisions from the Board to bring forward my appointment and overlap this generously for a term is one of the many sensible and agile decisions, and supports, put in place for a smooth and positive transition of leadership.

I congratulate the Board for their sensible and supportive governance throughout the year.

As a community SCG enjoys a proud history of resilience and success. The entire team stepped up to the unique and significant swift changes brought to the global education landscape and our day to day operations with intelligence, determination, flexibility and generosity. The ability to adapt and remain focused on care, connection, learning— maintaining more than class activities but indeed—cultural and other events, will be a source of pride for all involved and provided another moment of building strength through our SCG community.

In addition to managing transitions of leadership and the movement in and out of lockdown, the staff had to be congratulated for the manner, ambition and professionalism displayed in also undertaking a significant review and updating of the secondary school’s curriculum.

Several new subjects have been added broadening the student experience and choice in many areas. Throughout this Report the very significant building and ground planning and updates, planned and delivered throughout the second half of 2020, ensure we continue to support high quality teaching and learning with outstanding facilities.

The Centauri Project was adapted to remove office and administration spaces to preference a Cert III Food Technology kitchen, Year 12 common room, restaurant, theatre and a foyer.

Upgrades and alterations also include an expansion of the library space, addition for more VCE classrooms, and an inclusion of two cafes. We also undertook a significant upgrade of the current office space to ensure that the needs of our supporting staff were met.

The staff, students and parent community have shown great support and excitement for this significant expansion and investment. Along with the school Board, I thank our wonderful community for the warm welcome and continued support of both myself and Southern Cross Grammar.

Matt Dodd Principal

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 3

OUR SCHOOL Southern Cross Grammar (SCG) is a vibrant, F-12 school focused on maximising the learning of every member in our school community. Founded in the 21st century, we have modern, up-to-date facilities, teaching and learning practices.

With a capacity to balance traditional approaches with contemporary ideas supported by latest research, we are committed to selecting the best methods to suit our students’ needs.

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SOUTHERN CROSS GRAMMAR HAS THRIVED, BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMING, MODERN SCHOOL FOR FAMILIES SEEKING A QUALITY EDUCATION IN MELBOURNE’S WEST.

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Officially opened in July 2011, Southern Cross Grammar (SCG) is a vibrant, Foundation–Year 12 school focused on maximising the learning of every member in our school community. Founded in the 21st century, we have modern, up-to-date facilities, teaching and learning practices. With a capacity to balance traditional approaches with contemporary ideas supported by latest research, we are committed to selecting the best methods to suit our students’ needs. Our students enjoy the liberal curriculum and variety of opportunities we provide.

The facilities, the overall size of the school and the way we teach, all support our focus on the care and knowledge of each individual. We maintain a commitment to providing personalised learning experiences for all our students. Our students, parents and staff enjoy a deep sense of belonging as part of a strong community. This high level of care and inclusion forms an integral part of our students’ high performance in their studies.

SCG provides a variety of pathways to excellence by adopting a personal approach to recognising and developing each student’s personal strengths. In addition to national sporting representation, awards for citizenship and general academic achievement, the school has introduced, from 2021 an exciting select entry pathway for Music and STEM at Year 7.

Our students enjoy learning beyond the classroom, in local and international settings. We enjoy the teamwork and competition of house and regional sports, and the cultural and academic challenges that allow students to test their abilities at a school, local or national level.

We have a clear vision for our school and remain committed to an intimate, small student population, with a modern and impressive campus supported by high performing and caring staff.

Together, we have shown great resilience and an ability to build positive futures with our community. We are confident that we are well-placed to continue to provide a highly personalised and impactful experience for our families into the future.

Our Vision Southern Cross Grammar was founded on the concepts of New Generation and a Student Centred Vision. As the school continues to grow and evolve, so too has the interpretation of our founding concepts.

We have taken the very best parts of New Generation Learning and our Student Centred Vision to showcase our healthy foundations and the exciting directions our school is heading towards in 2021 and beyond as a modern, high performing and personalised school.

MODERN

HIGH PERFORMING

PERSONALISED

As a school founded in the 21st century, we are privileged to a modern and beautiful campus with state-of-the-art technologies to teach, work and learn.

We enjoy a diverse, collaborative and productive community, where people make the most of the opportunities provided.

Our resources underpins our commitment to providing personalised experiences for students as it to pursue subjects and topics of interest.

Our prioritisation of adopting a personal approach to recognising and developing each student’s personal strength promotes a culture of high performance.

Southern Cross Grammar’s intimate size has enabled us to have a long tradition of knowing each student, and building a culture that supports the individual student while promoting belonging.

Our teaching and support staff are also supported with industry leading technologies to achieve high outcomes in their area(s) of expertise.

As a school, we recognise that in some instances, students require the best equipment to create outstanding outcomes. However, at other times, we limit resources intentionally to encourage enterprising attitudes and innovative problem solving.

Our students, and staff, have been recognised in local and national sporting groups, received awards for citizenship and academic achievement and, as Alumni, have launched themselves into bright futures.

Our commitment to personalisation means that our students enjoy many opportunities to build on their strengths, pursue their passions, and excel in areas they are confident in.

Our Head of Personalised Learning leads our school’s efforts in data collection and research of each child such as their contributions in cocurricular activities. We plan to stay at a scale that supports good knowledge of each student.

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MODERN

(adj) Involving recent techniques, methods, or ideas: UP-TO-DATE 2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 8

H

M

E R D N O

PE H IG

HIGH PERFOR

(adj) Designed to high standard

o perform to a

ED

MI NG

RMING

SO NA R E P

LIS

OR

E RF

PERSONALISE

(verb) To make personal or individual

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 9

MR MATTHEW DODD JOINED SOUTHERN CROSS GRAMMAR IN TERM 1 AND HEADED OUR REMOTE LEARNING PROGRAM BEFORE BEGINNING HIS PRINCIPALSHIP IN JUNE 2020.

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LEADERSHIP

Southern Cross Grammar is a company limited by guarantee.

Officially opened in July 2011 in the presence of Mr Zig Inge and the Inge group, Mr Michael Daly and the founding Board of Directors, and the Foundation Principal Mr Andrew Ponsford, Southern Cross Grammar has thrived, building a high performing, modern school for families seeking a quality education in Melbourne’s West.

The Current Principal, Mr Matthew Dodd, commenced his Principalship in June 2020 upon Mr Ponsford’s retirement. With the support and guidance of the Board Chair, Mr Andrew Borg, and the Board of Directors continues to honour the school’s proud foundations and history while remaining committed to the continual improvement the school has become known for.

Working alongside Mr Dodd are a team of highly experienced senior staff who make up the Leadership Team.

MATT DODD Principal

DEBORAH HOLLIS

ANTHONY CLARK

JENNIFER TURNER

ROMINA PIMPINI

Dean of Wellbeing and Pedagogy

Corporate Services

Human Resources

Head of Junior School

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 11

FINANCE As a not-for-profit organisation which has completed nine full calendar years of operation, Southern Cross Grammar has strong business practices in place and is managed in an effective and compliant manner.

Our Finances indicate the categories of income and expenditure for the 2020 calendar year.

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Southern Cross Grammar is a not-for-profit organisation and has strong business practices in place to ensure that its finances are managed in an effective, efficient and compliant manner.

Leading into our 10th year of operations, the school has consistently practised sound financial stewardship and management, delivering surpluses for each financial year. These surpluses are applied to facility development and to improvements to educational resources and services.

The charts indicate the categories of income and expenditure for the 2020 calendar year.

INCOME GRANTS 52%

OTHER 1%

FEES 47%

EXPENDITURE EMPLOYMENT 78%

CORPORATE 8%

PROPERTY 9%

EDUCATION 5%

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 13

FACILITIES In 2020, we expanded our physical and digital facilities to accommodate remote learning, our subsequent return to site, strengthen the relationships within our school community and announced plans for The Centauri Project.

We also began laying groundwork for a strong start to the 2021 academic year with a number of upgrades and expansions across our campus.

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Technology for Learning, Connection and Care Southern Cross Grammar has a rich history of seeking innovative ways to maximise our students’ learning.

In March 2020, we launched Schoolbox, an all-in-one Learning Management System (LMS), community portal and engagement platform, for our school community to learn, communicate and connect.

An example of this has been our pivot to presenting modified livestream assemblies on Schoolbox for our families to watch and partake in. Parents, uncles, aunties, grandparents and even great grandparents from across the globe watched as the Class of 2020 officially became Alumni in the Year 12 Final Assembly, to much joy and celebration.

Launching Schoolbox

Taking Learning, Connection and Care Further in 2021

In addition to Schoolbox, we integrated further cutting edge remote communication technologies into our teaching and learning offerings to maximise students’ learning, and our community’s connection and wellbeing. The integration of remote communication tools such as Cisco Webex Meetings and Cisco Webex Teams, remote support tools (TeamViewer) and support management tools (Zendesk), further made the remote learning experience smoother, and allowed us to keep connected with community.

We held our first remote music recitals in May 2020 to great success, with families and loved ones tuning in across the globe. We also facilitated our first remote Parent Teacher Interviews via Cisco Webex Meetings, with an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from staff and parents.

Keeping our Community Connected During Transitions Our implementation of Schoolbox and remote communication systems also served us well as we transitioned back to onsite learning, and continues to be used across our school.

With restrictions on the number of visitors we can have onsite and parents’ presence onsite, we have been able to use these technologies to foster an online space that transcends social distancing and physical restrictions.

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N TO CA

R EA D T

Integrating Remote Communication Technologies

We are in the early stages of developing the app, with plans to launch it in Term 1, 2021.

LE S IC

Students were able to keep track of their due work, be assessed via online quizzes and easily manage their workload via an integrated calendar for all their subjects.

The parent dashboard gave parents added visibility and knowledge of their child’s performance, by giving them an overview of their child’s due work calendar, assessment scores and academic reports.

Schoolbox is currently a desktop interface and while useful for learning content, our preference to receiving news information has shifted from desktop to mobile. We have began working with Digistorm —a market-leading developer of school software for F-12 schools—to build our Schoolbox app for IOS and Android so parents, staff and students have access to the news and updates without restrictions.

ART

With remote learning becoming a reality in Term 2, Schoolbox had an integral role in allowing our staff to continue delivering high quality learning programs; provide our students with guided autonomy to manage their learning; and gave parents an overview of their child’s work, and academic and pastoral progress.

Schoolbox and our remote communication systems has diversified in the way we teach, learn and connect with one another at Southern Cross Grammar. We are looking forward to taking this a step further in 2021.

HE

Founded on the best principles of teaching and learning practice, Schoolbox allowed us to take learning a step further with the ability to run virtual classrooms, with tasks and activities being submitted on the platform. Our ability to do this, coupled with being able to connect with members of our school community on the platform, was vital as the possibility of remote learning looked like—and became—a reality.

SCG CASE STUDY At Southern Cross Grammar we pride ourselves how we combine best teaching practises with leading technologies to foster an environment of high performance.

In 2020, we built our capacity further by implementing latest technologies including the Cisco Meraki infrastructure to update our cloud systems. JB HI-FI completed a case study on the muti-staged project as part of their collaboration with our school.

OUR SCHOOLBOX LAUNCH AND INTEGRATING REMOTE COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES ENSURED OUR STUDENTS CONTINUED RECEIVING HIGH QUALITY LEARNING PROGRAMS DURING REMOTE LEARNING.

SCAN THE QR CODE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR TECHNOLOGIES FOR LEARNING, CONNECTION AND CARE IN THE 2020 YEARBOOK 2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 17

THE

CENTAURI

PROJECT

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THE CENTAURI PROJECT REPRESENTS AN EXPANSION OF OUR STUDENT CENTRED APPROACH TO PROVIDING THE BEST FACILITIES FOR OUR STUDENTS AND STAFF TO WORK AND LEARN TOGETHER,

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THE YEAR 12 COMMON ROOM

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THE LEARNING RESOURCE CENTRE

The Centauri Project Following the successes of our remote learning experience, we announced the launch of The Centauri Project in November 2020. Over 10 years in planning, The Centauri Project is a modern and multipurpose building that supports our school’s commitment to the creative and performing arts (in particular our school’s interest in high performance in music) and allows us to expand out offerings in STEM and other learning areas across the school.

Due to launch in 2022, The Centauri Project represents an expansion of our student centred approach to providing the best facilities for our students and staff to work and learn together, and is our school’s most significant and ambitious project to date.

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The Centauri Project’s Features Highlights from The Centauri Project include: •

a significant state-of-the-art Senior Centre with large VCE classrooms, a Year 12 common room and large VCE examination rooms to provide a pre-tertiary environment for our VCE students

•

a 400 seat auditorium and gym space for music concerts, performances, assemblies, events, and Health and Physical Education.

•

drama, music tutorial and workshop areas for students to learn and perform in exciting new spaces, and to be supported in their commitment to their studies

•

a Library and Resource Centre for students to study before and after school, and during school hours

•

a tertiary level Cert III compliant commercial training kitchen with an adjoining 50-seat restaurant and cafe that allows us to provide a tertiary experience of VET Cert III Kitchen and VET Cert III Hospitalities, expand our Food Technology offerings across Foundation-Year 12, and allows us to welcome families for events at our school

•

Alumni spaces as part of our commitment to our growing Alumni community.

We broke ground on the Project in December 2020 and are looking forward to watch the building take shape in 2021.

THE SIDE VIEW OF THE NEW BUILDING FROM THE SCHOOL OVAL

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FIRST FLOOR APPROACHING THE LEARNING RESOURCE CENTRE, ARTS FACILITIES AND THE PERFORMING ARTS SPACES

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2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 24

THE PERFORMING ARTS AUDITORIUM

SCAN THE QR CODE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CENTAURI PROJECT 2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 25

UPGRADES AND EXPANSIONS The Centauri Project has also allowed us to reimagine our current facilities and expand our offerings in STEM, grow our Primary Years to include our Years 5 and 6 students, and expand our facilities to include a Sport Science Centre and new state-of-the-art laboratories fit for Senior Biology and Senior Chemistry in time for the 2021 academic year.

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 26

Two Updated Laboratories During the 2020 summer break, we began updating our previous laboratories in the middle school building to become state-of-the-art spaces fit for Senior Biology and Senior Chemistry in preparation for the 2021 academic year.

With updated and upgraded audiovisual and multimedia resources, flexible furniture to cater to a dynamic working and learning space, interactive projectors for students to collaborate and save their work, and increased access to cutting edge scientific resources, the new laboratories have been built to cater to students who are passionate about STEM. The 2020 laboratory upgrades form the first stage of expanding our overall STEM offerings and facilities with plans to transform the current Art room and Music room into the Middle School building into a STEM laboratory, and merge our current Music room and STEM room into one large, extensive facility for an electronics and engineering lab in time for the 2022 academic year.

Doing this will support our Engineering pathways program with Units 1 and 2 VCE Systems Engineering being offered in 2022.

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 27

Middle Years STEM Room Our Primary School students have a great advantage of being at Southern Cross Grammar and having their STEM skills developed in their early schooling years.

To further support our younger students in nurturing their passion for STEM, we are also upgrading one of our double classrooms in the upstairs Middle School building to be a permanent Middle Years STEM room for students in time for the 2021 school year.

Sport Science Centre

Tutorial Rooms and Flexible Learning We are trialling university style, flexible learning tutorial spaces in 2021. Doing this allows our teachers greater choice on how to teach depending on the content they are delivering to students, and gives our students greater freedoms to collaborate and receive lessons, while being able to move between the two modalities.

There will be a 110m2 Sport Science Room launched in 2021. At SCG, we view Health and PE as an essential part of learning as it leads to pathways such as sports science, Physiotherapy and other professional careers.

Our Sport Science Centre will focus on fitness (in terms of cardiovascular and strengthening supported by equipment such as exercise bikes and weights) and will be supported by technology and data logging (to look at things such as carbon dioxide rates, heart rate, lactic level rates and more).

As well as wanting our students to enjoy Health and PE, we also want to include technological and scientific elements to our facilities and students’ learning as we prepare them for the varied and the sophisticated career pathways that wait them in the future.

First Aid Room and Locker Upgrades We are updating more built-in lockers for students and expanding our first aid room to be included beside reception with more space and updated facilities. Having the expanding First Aid room beside the reception will assist families with picking up their sick child and will provide one home for First Aid in 2021.

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Junior School Reception From 2021, families and visitors to Southern Cross Grammar will be greeted by a new, elegant and improved reception area.

The new reception area will allow us to have airlocks throughout the reception to greet families and visitors in a more efficient way. More importantly, we are also installing a second door at reception so that those who are welcomed at reception do not have easy access to our students and staff, creating safety and security for our learning community.

Junior School Library In Term 4 2020, we unveiled our Library in its new home in the former Junior School Hub. The new Library is a flexible learning space with large spaces for students to congregate and learn collaboratively, and maximise their learning between classes. Students have responded positively to the space, working collaboratively in the space between classes, practising their musical instruments, and connecting with one another over their shared love of literature.

Shade Sails As we undertake The Centauri Project, we will be installing shade sails across our campus so students can have extra sheltered spaces during the school day and break times.

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OUR STUDENTS Our students demonstrated resilience as they transitioned between remote and onsite learning with poise. We watched with pride as they embodied the Southern Cross Grammar spirit in the way they cared for, and supported, one another while remaining steadfast in their studies.

Their commitment to high performance in such a challenging time was a joy to witness with students stepping beyond their local communities to competing on national platforms, leading by example in academics and co-curricular activities, connecting with members of high office, publishing their first novel, and having their art selected for State exhibitions.

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 30

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2020 VCE Results From perfect scores in Mathematics through to clever and Creative Art being selected for State exhibitions, the Class of 2020 are to be commended for their high achievements and success, having worked hard during a pandemic.

2020 saw our Head Prefects, Liam Giacchi and Bella MacPherson, lead by example. Liam, a Founding student, achieved a perfect Study Score of 40 in Further Mathematics and an outstanding ATAR of 98.90 placing him in the top 2% in the state and securing his title as the Dux of 2020. Bella achieved Dux proxime accessit with an ATAR of 95.85 after enjoying great success in her tertiary studies in Literature at the University of Melbourne, as well as her Year 12 studies.

Our commitment to providing personalised learning experiences for all our students in Foundation to Year 12 was also reflected in the 100% pass rate of the Class of 2020. Furthermore many students who chose to study a VET course as part of their VCE in 2020 scored their personal best in the subjects. As a school committed to providing scope to every student to achieve and experience success, students’ achievements in their VET studies highlighted the importance of empowering students to select a field of study they are passionate about and while consistently working hard throughout the year for VCE success.

2020 also saw Year 10 student, Sachitha Dinnesh, make Southern Cross Grammar history by being the youngest student to take a VCE study and achieve the highest language score in the 2020 VCE exams with a Study Score of 34 in Tamil. Sachitha’s incredible achievement is a testament to our hardworking community and the opportunities we provide students looking to apply their passion and skills further.

Our 2020 Year 11 VCE students, the Class of 2021, exemplified excellence in their VCE exams with many scoring Study Scores in the high 40s. Samy Assafiri achieved a Study Score of 46 in Legal Studies: the highest Study Score in Year 11 and the second highest Southern Cross Grammar Study Score in the 2020 VCE exams.

With our Class of 2020 receiving offers from leading tertiary institutions such as The University of Melbourne and Monash University, and entering many varied and exciting career pathways, we are proud of their achievements and wish them success.

VCE Highlights

Elaf Elsheik’s Art Recognised Elaf Elsheik’s short media animation film, Recycled, has been accepted into VCAA Top Screens as part of the 2021 VCAA Top Designs.

Her film follows a boy’s coming of age story as he realises his impact on the environment, and facilitates a conversation about the complexities of Global warming and deforestation.

Elaf plans to study her Bachelor’s degree in Interior Design at RMIT.

James Kojdovski Ranks First in Computing Applied Computing (Data Analytics) was a highlight in the 2020 VCE exams, with students achieving a median Study Score of 38. James Kojdovski ranked first in the subject with a Study Score of 40.

A student with a life-long interest in working with technology and exploring its possibilities, James plans to work with technology in his future career.

READ THE STORIES BEHIND OUR CLASS OF 2020 AND VCE STUDENTS’ SUCCESS IN THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE SCG MAGAZINE. 2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 32

Tahlia Balliet Flies High After achieving high results in her VCE exams, Tahlia Balliet has been offered a place in the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), where she will also be studying a Bachelor of Business at UNSW, Canberra.

Tahlia comes from a family with a military background who have supported her dream to pursue her success in the army. We wish her well as she begins her lifetime of service.

2020 VCE RESULTS SUMMARY

100%

TOP OF CLASS

of students received their VCE Certificate.

29%

of students scored an ATAR of 80 and above.

90%

of students were offered a tertiary placement during first round offers.

70%

of students who received a tertiary placement during first round offers received first preference.

6.4%

of Study Scores were 40 or above.

MATHEMATICS

LEGAL STUDIES

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

VET SPORT AND RECREATION

COMPUTING (DATA ANALYTICS)

BIOLOGY

ENGLISH

HISTORY

MEDIA

TOP STUDENT PERFORMERS ATAR OF 80 AND ABOVE

PERFECT STUDY SCORES

Yuanbei Li

80.1

Liam Giacchi

Amilia Sleman

80.6

Chloe Su

80.8

Michael Ah Ching

81.05

STUDY SCORES OF 40 AND HIGHER YEAR 11

Qaem Syed

Further Mathematics

Samy Assafiri

Legal Studies

81.7

Alex Banovski

Legal Studies

Grace Muneretto

83.9

James Kojdovski

Computing (Data Analytics)

Nurainy Azman

87.25

Tomai Laspas

Biology

Elaf Elsheikh

87.6

Doreen Lee

Media

Megan Tolson

88.2

Kinda Lutfi

History

Isra Elsheikh

88.35

Zaraar Rabbani

Biology

Kinda Lutfi

91.2

David Vu

Further Maths

Tahlia Balliet

93

Joanne Vuu

Business Management

Isabella Macpherson 95.85 Liam Giacchi

98.9

YEAR 12 Tahlia Balliet

Further Mathematics

Elaf Elsheikh

Further Mathematics and Media

Liam Giacchi

English, Specialist Mathematics and Further Mathematics

Bella Macpherson

English and Further Mathematics

Paris-Lee Spirovski

VET Sport and Recreation

CLASS OF 2020 TERTIARY AND FURTHER STUDIES PLACEMENTS

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Students’ Success

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WE ARE PROUD OF OUR VCE STUDENTS AND CLASS OF 2020.

THEIR SUCCESS, HAVING WORKED HARD DURING PANDEMIC, IS TO BE COMMENDED. WE CONGRATULATE THEM AND EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED THEM THROUGHOUT THEIR JOURNEY.

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NAPLAN RESULTS 2017 NAPLAN RESULTS

YEAR 9

YEAR 7

YEAR 5

YEAR 3

2018 NAPLAN

SCG NAPLAN RESULTS

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 36

AUSTRALIAN AVERAGE

SIMILAR SCHOOLS

N RESULTS

2019 NAPLAN RESULTS

2020 COMMUNITY REPORT • 37

STUDENTS’ SUCCESS Our students are high achievers who do not shy away from opportunities to pursue their passions, hone their skills, and challenge themselves in trying something new. 2020 was no different and saw students reach new heights both at a local and national level.

From connecting with members of high office, to publishing their first novel, and competing in the acclaimed Junior MasterChef series, our students’ successes during the challenges of lockdown and constant learning transitions brought us great joy and pride.

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Filopater Barsoum Wows in Junior MasterChef

Mia Gjoni Publishes Her First Children’s Book

Aarin Dang Receives a Letter from the Prime Minister

Dubbed “The Pastry King” and “The happiest little chef”, Filopater Barsoum (Filo) wowed judges and won hearts in Junior MasterChef Season 3. His passion and great culinary skill secured him a place in the Grand Final and to our delight, he finished in the top three.

Year 7 student, Mia Gjoni, published her first novel, Our Trip to Gravity Planet, in 2020.

After learning about poetry as part of Year 4 Literature and Writing Genre Studies, Aarin Dang wrote and sent a poem to Prime Minister, Mr Scott Morrison.

A passionate cook since the age of five, Filo began cooking with his grandfather and mother in Egypt. After his family migrated to Australia, he continued developing his culinary skills by baking and decorating cupcakes. When open calls were announced for the third season of Junior MasterChef, Filo knew he wanted to be a part of it.

From the first episode of the new season, our school community and thousands of Australians tuned in every week to watch Filo showcase his skills in the MasterChef kitchen. From cooking the perfect Lobster Mornay in episode 1 to baking five-star desserts, Filo’s confidence in the kitchen, his maturity, and supportive nature, was a joy and privilege to witness.

In 2019, her tutor tasked her with writing a short story during the holiday break.

After seeing a picture of a floating house on the Internet, the inital draft of what would be her first novel was born.

In September 2020, her first children’s book was published. Keen to share her work with her peers and inspire students, Mia ran a reading session for Year 5 students in our newly redesigned Library in the Junior School, in Term 4. The session was then followed by a writing workshop.

During the workshop students worked in groups of three to five where they wrote a short story from the prompts they picked from separate bags.

A few weeks later, after posting the poem, Aarin received a letter from Mr Morrison thanking him for his message.

We published Aarin’s article about his experience writing to Mr Morrison in our 2020 Yearbook, and The Indian Sun also published a piece about his letter.

SCAN TO READ THE INDIAN SUN’S ARTICLE ABOUT AARIN

Mia is currently working on her next children’s book and hopes to study literature at University in the future.

Filo describes being in Junior MasterChef as “the best experience of my life”. His dream is to one day open a fine dining restaurant that showcases rich Egyptian heritage.

SCAN TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FILO, MIA AND AARIN’S SUCCESS IN OUR 2020 YEARBOOK. Their stories feature in our Stories of Success chapter in the Yearbook on page 62.

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STUDENT ATTENDANCE AND COMMUNITY SERVICE With the pandemic posing challenges to how we connect with members of our community, our introduction of groundbreaking remote connection technologies ensured our students, staff, and families could remain connected to their local communities.

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Community Service Southern Cross Grammar does not exist in a vacuum. We encourage our students and school community to think beyond the school’s gates and immerse themselves in their local community. With the pandemic posing challenges to how we connect with members of our community, our introduction of groundbreaking remote connection technologies ensured our students, staff, and families could remain connected to their local communities.

To commemorate ANZAC Day, we invited families to join the RSL initiative and stand together in their driveways at dawn, with a candle or torch, for a minute’s silence. Families also had the option to Light Up the Dawn with a virtual candle, listen to the Ode and the Last Post.

In previous years, our students facilitated and hosted Assemblies with veterans in attendance. Last year, we welcomed veterans, Mr Peter Burquest and Mr Alan Godfrey, to our school and listened to their first-hand accounts of their wartime experiences.

With lockdown presenting challenges to how we commemorate ANZAC Day and connect with one another, we facilitated several online activities and events to bring our staff, students, and families together. One of our initiatives included inviting students to make connections with older residents in our community, and asking their grandparents about their ANZAC experience.

Following the initiatives we were privileged to receive responses from students and staff about their grandparents’ and great grandparents’ stories of service, bravery and sacrifice.

With restrictions continuing to ease as we head into 2021, we look forward to being able to go beyond our driveways and paying our respects in person.

During the beginning of lockdown, our Primary school students joined their peers in Europe and around the globe to make rainbows and proudly display them on their windows, and on footpaths, to spread hope and joy to their communities during lockdown.

97.1%

average student attendance rate in 2020.

93.5%

The average attendance rate of students in 2020 was 97.1% and our student retention rate was 93.5%.

Note: the student retention rate is measured by the number of 2020 enrolled students (excluding Year 12 students) who re-commenced in 2020. Our 2020 student figures are higher than our 2019 figures: a testament to our commitment to prioritising and caring for our students and families throughout the year.

Overall, in 2020, we welcomed 113 new students to our school community.

student retention rate in 2020.

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Spreading Easter Joys In a year like no other, Easter marked one of the first significant days of celebrations for our families while in lockdown. As we do during hard times, our community found ways to adapt and make the best of the situation we found ourselves in.

To spread joy to our families and inspire others in our school, and wider, community on how they too could celebrate Easter while in lockdown, we asked our families to share how they were planning on adapting their Easter plans.

We received many responses from our students, parents, and staff on how they were adapting their Easter during lockdown. From adapting religious ceremonies at home, to having camping trips and Easter egg hunts in the backyard, the Easter spirit was tangible in the excited responses and photographs we received from our community. We also shared the responses on our social media channels to inspire others to find alternative ways to mark their Easter rituals.

The Spring Festival

As we looked forward to a more hopeful time after a long winter in lockdown, we launched the Spring Festival in the last week of Term 3.

The online Spring Festival brought our school community together as we planned and facilitated workshops, activities and competitions that explored the theme of Spring. Parents volunteered their time to run engaging workshops, and our community took part in the Hope Project. The Project saw families gather in their backyards or garden to plant tuber or bulb plants to represent our hope that our time in isolation and efforts to keep one another safe would lead to more hopeful and happier times ahead.

As part of our Spring Festival Workshop series, we were delighted to have Azumi Ishikawa, an internationally recognised creative florist and Ikebana practitioner, host an Ikebana workshop. During the workshop, attendees learnt about the Japanese art form and made their own Ikebana arrangements at home with simple materials including wild grass, a jar, vibrant flowers and a wire coat hanger.

Over 100 of our talented music students performed during the Spring Festival at our online Spring Music Concert. Hosted by our Senior Art Captains, our community tuned in to enjoy the solo performances and group performances from our SCG String Orchestra, Senior String Quintet, and Middle School Choir.

Our week-long Festival concluded with winner announcements and showcases of students’ works and talents from the many Spring Festival activities on offer. It was wonderful to have our community come together while in remote, to learn new skills, participate in hands-on activities and explore the new topics and ideas as our days gradually became brighter and warmer.

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STUDENTS MAKE THEIR WAY TO THEIR LOCKERS ON THEIR FIRST DAY BACK ONSITE

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OUR STAFF Our staff are important members of our school community. As we found ourselves transitioning in and out of remote learning, we remained committed to supporting them and prioritising their safety and wellbeing.

We have also built, and are building our staffing wellbeing capacity as we look ahead to 2021, with a greater focus on being able to offer higher levels of support for students and their families in a pastoral and operational ability.

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Staff Overview All staff, both teaching and non-teaching, have current Working With Children Certificates and Level 2 First Aid training. All members of the teaching staff, most with post-graduate qualifications, are registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

In 2020, we employed 60.6 FTE teaching staff and 21.1 FTE non-teaching staff. The average attendance rate for teachers in 2020 was 98.65%. 7 teachers (5.66 FTE) from 2020 are not returning in 2021.

Supporting Staff in 2020 With the possibility of remote learning and lockdown becoming a possibility in our state, we implemented strategic steps to support staff in managing their health and wellbeing. This included facilitating conversations about flexible working arrangements and workloads, offering wellbeing resources on Schoolbox, and putting strategies in place to assist staff with managing their work and life balance.

A significant part of our commitment to supporting staff through this year’s challenges was the addition of our 10 days of paid COVID leave, to our leave structure. The introduction of the paid leave was important in giving staff the security of being able to take time from work, without using all their sick leave allocation, in the event they became ill.

To prepare for our return to onsite learning, we put processes in place to support teachers, especially those who were at risk or caring for people at risk, with their working arrangements. We also provided extra covers for classes with more Casual Relief Teachers.

Building Wellbeing Capacity: Staffing for 2020/2021 As part of our commitment to providing premium learning and teaching experiences at Southern Cross Grammar, we have taken steps to improve our staff offerings in time for 2021. These improvements further strengthen our ability to offer higher levels of support for students and their families, in a pastoral and operational ability, in 2021 and beyond.

Improvements to our current staff offerings include: •

Head of Wellbeing Curriculum: We are taking the best elements of New Generation Learning (NGL), Positive Education and other wellbeing learnings at our school, and integrating them with the Resilience Project and contemporary health needs for our students into a planned F-12 Program for Wellbeing in 2021. Starting with a few lessons in the Primary Years and extending to Year 12, our new Wellbeing curriculum ensures our students are mentally and physically at their peak, and are also able to make healthy and responsible choices while in the wider community as they complete their academic ambitions at school.

The Head of Wellbeing Curriculum will work closely with the Dean of Wellbeing and Pedagogy to unveil the new program next year.

•

Heads of Year Levels (Years 5-12): We have seven new Heads of Year level to keep an eye on students’ wellbeing and progress at different year levels across our school. As well as looking after students’ wellbeing, the Heads of Year are also a close point of contact for families to connect with and discuss aspects and concerns about their child’s learning, wellbeing and care, and to pass on positive feedback and any areas of improvements regarding our school.

•

Head of VCE: Our current VCE Coordinator is now the Head of VCE. This role represents our commitment to building capacity and excellence in our school, and to ensure our Senior Students’ are well supported as they prepare for their final exams and tertiary endeavours.

•

Head of Additional Needs: Our Head of Additional Needs has a key role in supporting our commitment to equity. By covering off on students’ personal need, our Head of Additional Needs ensures we are able to give all students the support they need with as they learn at a pace that suits them.

•

We have also increased staffing in English, Mathematics and Junior School Physical Education in 2021.

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2 - 20 Lancefield Drive Caroline Springs, 3023 (03) 8363 2000 admin@scg.vic.edu.au

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