Dear Parents & Caregivers, 

It is hard to believe that we are already half-way through the school year. We are already undertaking significant planning for next year and the increased opportunities available to our current and future students.  While life doesn't seem to slow down, it is nice to take a breath and reflect on our progress to date.  

Over the past few weeks I have had the privilege to see and hear our students achieve some remarkable results in a variety of fields.  Whether it has been watching our sporting teams win several grand finals in a variety of competitions, seeing our vocal and music groups performing at various shows and eisteddfods or presenting a number of our students with Maths certificates for achieving in the top 1% of maths students globally.  Whatever the event, competition or achievement it has been amazing to witness our students demonstrating our college values of Respect, Responsibility and Perseverance. Nothing brings a smile to my face more than to see students encouraging others, giving things another attempt after not succeeding the first or second time or arriving to training in the cold to achieve that better result.  Personal character always precedes any other great achievement and it is pleasing to see our students growing and achieving in these domains.  

For those who have visited our college recently, you will have noticed the construction fencing that has been installed as works commence on our Stage 3 facilities.  Over the next 12 months, the new Performing Arts Centre (PAC) and J block under-croft classrooms will be built and I am looking forward to these exciting new spaces taking shape over the coming months.  I appreciate everyone's patience during this time and look forward to being able to walk people through these new facilities in 2024.  

As we prepare for the 2024 school year, plans are already well under way for our celebrations as we commemorate our 5th year since opening and our 1st year of year 12 graduates.  Final planning is being completed for our inaugural senior formal, graduation and 5 year celebrations.  Combined with these celebrations, we are always looking at things we can improve within our existing school processes and procedures.  One such area of focus for 2024 is our parent teacher interviews.  We value the fact that parents engage with our staff and book in for parent teacher interviews.  Each year we struggle to accommodate the number of parent requests within the existing times and as a result next year we are proposing a change to these times.  Based on parent and staff feedback, we are looking to make parent teacher interviews in 2024 operate from 1pm to 7pm with teachers having the morning from 8.45-12pm to undertake professional development and planning.    This would mean students will not attend school on parent teacher interview day, however students can attend the parent teacher interview with their parent/carer.  We hope that by increasing the time availability all parents/carers can book in to see their child's teacher and also provide some much needed professional development time for staff.  This proposal will be taken to the P & C and staff for consultation and endorsement before the 28th of July so that dates and information can be distributed to parents/students for the 2024 school year.  

As always, if you have any feedback or suggestions for how we can improve our college or processes please contact myself or the college at principal@ripleyvalleyssc.eq.edu.au

Yours Sincerely,

Brendan Krueger

Foundation Principal