The Footscray Learning Precinct Secondary School (interim name) will be launched in 2020. The Footscray Learning Precinct Secondary School will comprise two junior 7-9 campuses and a senior 10-12 campus (from 2022). In 2020 Year 7 students will be located at the Barkly Street Campus and Years 8-12 at the Kinnear Street campus. The Year 7 students will commence at the Barkly Street Campus. There will be Year 7 students only in 2020, Year 7 and 8 in 2021 and Year 7-9 in 2022. A learning program is being developed by a team of teachers from Footscray City College and Gilmore College for Girls in conjunction with expert curriculum advisors. This is being informed by the FLP Shared Learning Framework. The shared learning framework is an agreed blueprint of how teaching and learning happens across a group of schools. We want to provide a consistent approach so our teachers can share insights and resources. The shared learning framework will ensure a quality education and allow teachers to modify approaches to cater for all student needs. Enrolments for the 2020 Year 7 intake are now open. For parents of Year 6 students in government schools wanting to enrol for 2020 you will need to list Footscray Learning Precinct Secondary School on your Secondary School selection form. This form will be distributed in March to all students in government primary schools. For an enrolment form please click on the following link: Application for Enrolment in 2020. The Footscray Learning Precinct Secondary School will have a strong commitment to STEAM education. Parent information sessions are proposed for later this term and families will be advised through the Victorian Schools Building Authority, and the 2020 enrolment page found on both Footscray City College and Gilmore College for Girls websites. For more information or to enrol please contact Rob McLeod – Assistant Principal Phone (03) 8387 1502 Fax (03) 8387 1599 Contact by Email Location: 1 Kinnear Street, Footscray Postal address: 1 Kinnear Street, Footscray 3011 OR Paul Nucci – Assistant Principal Phone (03) 9689 4788 Fax (03) 9687 3867 Contact by Email Location: 298 Barkly Street, Footscray Postal address: PO Box 2021 FOOTSCRAY VIC 3011
The Duke of Edinburgh students have recently returned from their camp which is the culmination of their work completing the Award. This was a five day hike through the rugged Grampians which pushed them physically and mentally. They have also completed mapping skills, first aid training, and camp skills.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award is highly regarded by employers and universities and the camp is a highlight of the year for students.
2019 has been an amazing year for extra-curricular achievements here at Footscray City College. I am so glad we were able to end the year with the successful launch of Footscray LIVE. The production team of kids behind its inception dedicated themselves to many lunchtime meetings, full days of media training and panel discussion preparation. They were taught industry level skills from Ralph Barba, from Making Media, who was able to engage and excite them about being involved in this amazing venture.
A highlight of this entire experience has been the feedback from each of our guests as to how professional and well trained our students came across, never fumbling or pulling any punches. That was great to hear from highly reputable guests such as Sarah Carter, Bill Shorten, Paul Kelly and many others. They got to share their views and ideas, discussing trans rights, the imposed mobile phone policy and how they feel they fit into this ever-evolving world.
It has been so great seeing the students thrive and take on this project and eagerly anticipating how we will carry it on next year. Furthermore, I would like to thank all the staff and parents who became involved by sharing their stories and allowing our students to take a peek into your lives a little. As well as a huge thank you to Dan who helped source most of the original music and was the greatest support to me and the kids throughout this entire process.
“The program was an amazing opportunity for our students to be involved in a really authentic learning experience where they were pushed out of their comfort zones. They really had to put in their best effort and be brave in order to succeed, which I think they did….. and of course the highlight was being among the intimate audience of students and staff and singing along with Paul Kelly!” Dan Micallef
The station will remain broadcasting, at least, until the end of February 2020, with close to 40 hours of live radio content playing on rotation until then.
We were awarded the best school gardening program in the state.
Look at these happy faces and yes, that’s celebrity gardener, Costa Georgiadis!
Two weeks ago, our horticulture students attended the Royal Botanic Gardens for the 2019 Victorian Schools Garden Awards. We are very excited to announce we won the award for High School Garden of the Year! We are very proud of our Horticulture Centre, ‘The Farm’ and were chuffed to receive this state-wide accolade for all of the hard work put in over the last few years.
Jak Dunstan – VCAL Coordinator & Horticulture Teacher
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‘The Link’ epitomises our first pillar of Unity, in that our school is built on collaboration. This is where three campuses, many cultures and infinite personal journeys unite with pride and with purpose. Thank you to all those who suggested names for our newsletter on social media. I trust you will accept and celebrate the name we have landed on.
‘The Link’ will be published quarterly at the end of every term.
The Footscray Learning Precinct Advisory Board is seeking an expression of interest from a school community member to sit on the board for a two-year period. The Advisory Board meets 5 times a year. The duration of each meeting is two hours. The meetings are held in the afternoon usually on a Monday. We are seeking an interested member from one of the member schools, Footscray City Primary School, Footscray Primary School, Footscray High School to support the work of the FLP and provide a community perspective to our work. Below is an outline from our strategic plan of the vision, values and intent of the FLP. The role of the precinct is to add value to education in our schools, achieving more for our students because we are working as a community with others in our community.
If you have any questions or would like a copy of the strategic plan, please contact your Principal or Angelique den Brinker (Acting Precinct Director) on 0444 526 851. Other information is available on the DET website https://www.schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/schools/Pages/FootscrayLearningPrecinct.aspx or from your school principal.
Achieve Fest is a free, three-day online immersion from June 24 to 26 from 9am-12pm AEST.Achieve Fest is open to young people aged 12 to 24, educators and parents/guardians across Australia.
Over the three days, participants will have the opportunity to explore identity, build networks, and develop the skills needed to thrive now and into the future.
Each day is aligned to the first three components of Prince’s Trust Australia’s flagship youth initiative Achieve, an inquiry-based framework that engages young people in learning through careers education and enterprise skills development.
They are:
Who I Am: A foundation block underpinned by research, it sparks ideas for participants to explore their interests and how they connect to potential career pathways. (June 24)
The Twenties: An ever-evolving set of twenty-minute micro learnings that develop enterprise skills and grow in complexity. (June 25)
Take Action: Align participants with a range of established local and global organisations that already have existing social action campaigns and work experience opportunities. (June 26)
Princes Trust Australia have put together an amazing speaker list so don’t miss the chance to get involved.
You can check out the full schedule along with updated speaker announcements, FAQs and registration information here.
I would like to take the opportunity to introduce our school community to a fabulous resource designed to support families raising teenagers in this modern and at times, challenging world.
SchoolTV is a digital wellbeing platform for parents (& students) and a resource designed to empower you as parents, with credible and sound information with realistic, practical ongoing support strategies.
There are currently over 30 topics available around mental health, cyber safety, school survival, healthy body, and COVID 19 with a new edition released each month.
The platform aggregates content from leading authorities such as Beyond Blue, Black Dog, Reach Out and includes video interviews with specialists including Dr Pat McGorry, Prof Ian Hickey, Susan McLean and many others.
As parents/careers, you can go to one place, get bite-sized content quickly and avoid spending hours ‘googling’ topics to find the information you may need.
Wellbeing activities and conversation starters for parents of secondary school-aged children
There are a range of activities that will help build and maintain your child’s wellbeing. Most of them are short and require very few materials. The activities cover six key elements that are important to wellbeing. There are also activities that focus on positive thinking and gratitude as well as breathing exercises that promote calm.
Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships teaching and learning materials.
We’re excited to be able to offer prospective families a chance to meet our Principals via an online event next Thursday, August 20 from 5:30-6:30 PM
As we can’t meet you in our usual face to face sessions, we want to use this online event as a way to say hello, tell you about our wellbeing and transitions work being done behind the scenes and answer any questions you might have about Footscray High School.
Please help by pre-registering beforehand via the eventbrite link as it will help us to personalise the session and ensure all your questions are covered.
At the event you’ll hear from Executive Principal Frank Vetere and Campus Principals: • Maria Chrisant (Pilgrim Campus) • John Box (Barkly Campus) • Vicki Tentzoglidis (Kinnear Campus)
We also want to hear from you! Register now (https://bit.ly/FHSvirtualevent) to submit any questions you may have about FHS. All questions will be answered either during the webinar or will be communicated to you via updated FAQ’s following the event.
Our school has a membership with Parenting Ideas, and as part of this membership, parents and carers are able to attend their webinars at no cost.
Their latest upcoming webinar is:
Teaching young people about healthy relationships
In a world where young people are bombarded by adult themes, sexualised and destructive media messages, it can be hard for parents to feel confident to take on delicate topics with their child. In this webinar Collett Smart gives parents the tools to build a strong relationship with their child where no topic is off-limits and they can come to them with any questions.
Key learning and discussion points include:
The foundations of healthy relationships and relationship intelligence
How to help a child develop flourishing relationships at each age and stage of their development
Appropriate age guidelines for talking about body safety, sex and sexualised media
How to respond when a child comes across pornography
Conversation ideas on consent and respectful relationships
Presented by
Collett Smart
Psychologist, teacher, speaker and author
More information available through their flyer here.
We’ve updated our FAQ to provide some extra information about our curriculum, our campuses, student wellbeing, inclusive education support and lots more to help Year 6 students and their families with their transition to secondary school. There is also a form available to submit any other questions you may have.
Visit the Y 6-7 Transition Page to view the updated FAQ or for more information about the Y6-7 Transition Process
Parents and Caregivers of Senior School Students at Footscray High School are invited to Join Learning and Mindfulness Experts as we discuss and have questions answered about the role that mindfulness can have in supporting students and their families as they move into this vital stage of their formal studies.
Mindfulness is the practice of focusing attention on the experience of the current moment, with an attitude of non-judgemental acceptance and curiosity.Research has shown that by practising mindfulness, learners strengthen areas of the brain that control ‘executive function’ including the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, insula and precuneus.For this reason, mindfulness can lead to better attention, memory, planning, regulation of emotions and self-awareness.
Mindfulness can also be an effective tool for reducing stress and anxiety. As parents of young people currently preparing for the end of year exams, mindfulness can support you in helping to create the optimum conditions within the home learning environment to help them achieve to their full potential.
This new school year presents a number of significant milestones for our community as we continue to develop our bright future at Footscray High School. We have officially opened our new Pilgrim Campus, the new three-story Community Learning Building at our Barkly Campus, and the new Science Centre at our Kinnear Campus. On Thursday, 28 January, the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, the Honorable James Merlino officially opened our new Pilgrim Campus. It was a great event and attended by key members of the community who were instrumental in visioning and advocating for world class education in Footscray
Maria Chrisant (Pilgrim Campus Principal), Katie Hall (Member for Footscray), Michael Clarke (Mayor of Maribyrnong), The Hon. Melissa Horne (Member for Williamstown and Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Ports and Freight and Minister for Fishing and Boating), Wade Noonan (Former member for Williamstown) Left to Right (Front): Luke (Year 7 Student), The Hon. James Merlino (Deputy Premier and Minister for Education), Edith (Year 7 Student), Marsha Thompson (Former member for Footscray), Frank Vetere (Executive Principal)
On behalf of all our staff, I thank our parents for supporting students returning to school organised and ready for the year ahead. If you find yourself in a situation where you cannot access resources or uniform, please contact a member of the principal team at each campus for a meeting. The conversation will be confidential and focused on support.
I would like to extend a special welcome to all staff, students and families that have newly joined our learning community. I trust that your association with Footscray High School will be positive. It was wonderful to see our Year 7 students arrive at both our Barkly and Pilgrim Campuses in their new FHS uniforms. They have settled in well to secondary schooling and have an exciting year ahead. Similarly, I was particularly inspired by the Year 12 students and their engagement with their commencement day. On behalf of our entire school we wish them a great final year of high school. The Year 8 – 11 students have returned and hit the ground running in all their subjects and programs, we also wish them a great year.
2021 Footscray High School Priorities
I believe it’s important for me to share with you our priorities and goals for 2021. The goals highlight that our core business is teaching and learning in a positive climate. We know that healthy happy students do better.
To make explicit the skills and practices needed so that each student is challenged and taught at their point of need in every class and every day.
To improve the outcomes of STEAM education across the school and within the Footscray Learning Precinct.
To improve leadership capabilities with a focus on improved student learning outcomes and leading teams.
Improve the positive climate at Footscray High School.
Communication
I encourage you to visit our website and social media platforms regularly. Please bookmark our website at www.footscray.vic.edu.au
Follow our Facebook and/or Instagram via the links or simply search and ‘like’ Footscray High School.
In 2021, all relevant correspondence will be sent via the Compass Parent Portal and newsletter items will be published here throughout the term. You can access Compass here on our website under ‘Links’. Our website includes all current policies and information about programs. If you have any questions moving forward, please contact us on our central phone number 9112 9500 or by email at info@footscray.vic.edu.au.
In the next few weeks, there will be some important notes and announcements that will be shared on Compass.
I also ask that you inform us of any changes to contact information or student medical information. This will assist us in taking the best possible care for your child in the event of an incident.
School Review
In April this year Footscray High School will be conducting a whole school review. The extensive review will examine current performance and practices. There will be opportunity for community members to become involved in the process. The result of the review will inform the strategic direction for the next four years and will be developed around the Departments FISO framework (Framework for Improving Student Outcomes)
Kinnear Campus Upgrade
In 2020 the Andrews Government announced a further 25 million dollars funding allocation to upgrade our Kinnear Campus. As always, we will endeavour to ensure that there is minimum disruption to the students’ learning. The development of these new resources will further enhance the learning opportunities for current and future students. I will keep you updated on progress throughout the year.
I am also pleased to inform you that a fence is being erected around Kinnear Campus. It is a grand project and will take some time to complete. Works have already commenced.
Our new science facilities upgrade at Kinnear Campus, completed in 2020 with funding from the Andrews Government
FHS Food Service
In 2021 Footscray High School is introducing a multi campus food service that is co-designed, integrated, and operated by the school community (students, staff, parents, caregivers, and general community). The food service will be implemented with the guidance of a nutrition expert in clinical practice (Accredited Practising Dietitian), a nutrition researcher and scientist with project management skills which will enable the school community to achieve best practice guidelines and health outcomes.
Aims of the FHS food service include:
• To empower and educate students and staff to make informed choices about food and the benefits of healthy eating
• To create affordable, accessible and enjoyable food that recognises and respects culturally and socially diverse eating environments
• To promote a progressive food service focusing on ethical and sustainable food systems while minimising food waste
To engage in inclusive participation and connection with food within the school and throughout the local community
FHS food service will be managed and run internally rather than an outside provider, allowing the school community of students, staff, parents and care givers to manage and implement a food service system that meets all the aims of the project.
The project will leverage the wider range of existing educational offerings at Footscray High School including the subjects of Health, Community Action, Foods of the World, Food Technology and Food Studies as well as the VET Hospitality and VET Horticulture programmes. In addition, the service will provide students with invaluable skills and experience that can be applied in ‘real-world’ contexts and assist in further education or employment opportunities.
We plan to be up and running during Term 1.
Stay tuned for more information soon.
Mobile Phone Policy 2021
You should all be aware by now that a ban on mobile phones has been introduced across all Victorian Government schools. The rationale of this policy is to provide:
a safe environment to learn without inappropriate mobile phone use (including cyberbullying) or distractions
greater opportunities for social interaction and physical activity during recess and lunchtimes
Whilst we have made considerable effort to discuss these changes with students, we appreciate that it may create some tension and or confusion. We thank you for your support with this matter. Please read the full policy on the school website.
S.E.E. (Social Emotional Education)
In 2021 we are introducing a new class referred to as S.E.E. (Social Emotional Education). It is a 30-minute scheduled class one day a week. The initiative has been introduced because, at Footscray High School, we believe we have a collective responsibility to build and nurture a positive climate of learning and wellbeing.
We will be sharing more in the near future.
Our Pillars
Finally, at Footscray High School we aspire to be an educational establishment renowned for its vibrant community, which develops creative thinking and learning dispositions in order for our students to engage with the complex challenges of an ever-changing world.
The community has a collective responsibility to engage in the total life of the school and to actively pursue a range of learning experiences. Our ultimate aim is to develop compassionate students with the personal qualities and attributes that will enable them to face their future with confidence.
Footscray High School’s pillars are:
UNITY
Our school is built on collaboration. This is where three campuses, many cultures and infinite personal journeys unite with pride and with purpose. We lift each other up, building on the strength and support of our whole community to achieve greatness.
RESPECT
Respect – for ourselves, our colleagues, our individual traditions and our shared future inspires us in every way. We treat each other with care, compassion and kindness; we act with integrity; and we are engaged in making a positive impact on our world.
CREATIVITY
We embrace doing things differently because we want to make a difference. We draw on wisdom, experience and our own original thinking to create new possibilities. Future focused, open minded and proudly progressive, we constantly seek a better way.
ENDEAVOUR
The boldness of our vision is matched by our relentless spirit, our self-belief and the pride that comes from hard work. The enthusiasm which drives our endeavour also demonstrates our character: In the classroom and beyond, we strive to be our very best.
I look forward to seeing and hearing these pillars come to life every day at school.
As a community of students, parents and staff, we work together to grow and embrace the learning opportunities that are provided. This is very much a partnership and I am confident by working together and supporting each other that we can continue to build a culture here at the school that truly reflects our commitment to educational excellence. In order to do this, we need to have open and honest conversations with each other about any concerns and issues that we face throughout the school year. I ask you to please contact members of staff here at the school to discuss any wellbeing or academic concerns that you may have regarding your child.
I look forward to working in partnership with you and wish our entire community a wonderful and more importantly safe 2021.
Footscray High School has welcomed an array of new staff into its fold in teaching positions as well as education support.
From Humanities to maintenance, to office support and Mathematics, we’re growing our staff cohort as we grow our space.
Following on from an online induction late in 2020, new staff met on Thursday 11th of February to further their knowledge with sessions in classroom management practices, Compass, and Google tools for teaching. New staff also shared their experiences of the first few weeks and highlights included:
‘Meeting the friendly students and staff, and most importantly Barkly the wellbeing support dog’
‘Forming positive relationships with the students and learning new strategies’
‘Disengaged students becoming engaged and open in my classes’
‘One fellow teacher asking me if I got enough sleep and how I am feeling (every day)’
‘Year 8 Camp – super!’
Thank you to these staff for choosing Footscray High School as their school and for adding to our community.
Keep an eye out for them and say hello!
Current opportunities to join the FHS Team
Do you know somebody who would love working with us at FHS? We advertise opportunities here via the recruitment page on our website, then all applications are made through https://schooljobs.eduweb.vic.gov.au/ (formerly recruitment online).
There are currently opportunities to join our fantastic team of teachers in English and Humanities, so spread the word if you know of somebody who would be a good fit for our students and school community.
