NEWS DESK
Burglars hit men’s shed – again Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au WESTERN Port Men’s Shed can’t take a trick. The club is reeling for the second time in months after another callous robbery at their clubhouse in FrankstonFlinders Road. This time burglars stole the $6000 in tools generously donated
to replace the last lot stolen. Shed president Colin Proud said this latest robbery, overnight Sunday 27 October, came at an especially bad time as members had several community projects in the pipeline. “It’s a real kick in the guts,” he said. “I got a hell of a shock when I got here yesterday and saw they’d knocked off another load of tools. “They were probably professionals
because they left no fingerprints. “It appears they waited a couple of months for us to get a full complement of tools after their last visit.” The burglars bent security locks and levered their way through doors to gain entry. Their haul included a new welder, cordless drills, nail guns, sanders, planers and routers. “I’ve just put in the claim to the insurance company,” Mr Proud said. “It
will be for a little bit more this time.” One lucky break was that the shed’s laptop computer was with Mr Proud at the time or it would probably have gone, too. Mr Proud said he would look into buying security cameras that could be relocated when the shed’s new home at Sudholz Street, Bittern is complete. Work is due to start at the end of January.
Thieves steal four water meters
FOUR water meters have been stolen from Hastings businesses, 20-22 October. Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Peter Drake, of Somerville CIU, said offenders unscrewed and hacked off the meters with a hacksaw. They are valued at about $1000 each. Detectives are reviewing CCTV footage of the thefts. Anyone with information is urged to call to Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000.
College wins outstanding school improvement award WESTERN Port Secondary College won a prestigious award at the Victorian Education Excellence Awards at the Plaza Ballroom, Friday 25 October. It comes after the school’s leadership team implemented ambitious education improvements over the past few years driven by a vision of delivering learning growth for every student. Principal Chris Quinn said the college had embarked on a targeted program of whole-school professional learning, beginning with the development of an instructional framework grounded in the Department’s Pedagogical Model. The performance and development process was also revised, with teachers working collaboratively to collect and analyse a variety of student learning data to design learning programs that meet each student’s needs. The team also worked closely with the local community and system-level organisations to support positive outcomes for students, he said. “An example of this is the Learning Guarantee Project which delivers academic support to students in two of the college’s feeder primary schools to ensure they meet the age-expected
level when they are in Year 10.” Mr Quinn said: “The team’s work has produced outstanding results. In 2018, the school announced significant improvements in Year 9 numeracy, reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation. Attitudinal survey results showed an average improvement of more than 10 per cent across all factors.” It also worked closely with the local community and system-level organisations to support positive outcomes for students, he said. “An example of this is the Learning Guarantee Project which delivers academic support to students in two of the college’s feeder primary schools to ensure they meet the age-expected level when they are in Year 10.”
Vision reaps rewards: Teachers Tom Cain, Matthew Bodley, Brooke Taylor, Michael Devine, James Merlino MP, principal Chris Quinn, Donna Geritz, Luke Matthews and Mathew McLaren. Picture: Supplied
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6 November 2019
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