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Welcome to Beechworth Secondary College. I am proud to be the leader of such a great school.
Why should you consider Beechworth Secondary College? It’s easy for a school to say that they are a great school with glossy brochures and TV ads but it is a lot harder to actually deliver those promises. How can you be sure that your child will fit in, be looked after and learn?
I believe that we have a number of features that make us a terrific school.
Our size is a real advantage for our students. Because we are smaller than all of the surrounding secondary schools our class sizes are smaller. This means that the amount of time a teacher can spend with each individual student increases. It also means that teachers get to know students more easily and this helps them to design learning activities to suit individual students.
Being small also means that students have more opportunities to become involved in our many extra activities. It is easier for students to be selected for sporting teams, be elected to the SRC, be given an active role in our wonderful annual Drama Production and be selected for other enriching activities. Our record in the sports area includes winning many state championships in Hockey, Golf and Soccer.
Being small also means we are in a great position to be able to provide a safe, caring school environment. We have a system of care involving class and Form Teachers, Year Level Coordinators, a Welfare Coordinator our School Nurse and classroom teachers. At Year 7 our Peer Support Program assists students to settle into their new environment. The College hosts a Year 7 Parent Day in Term 1 where parents have the opportunity to participate in a range of classes with their children. This is followed by a BBQ for parents, students and teachers. New students at other year levels are given a ‘buddy’ to help them settle in for the first few days of their attendance.
Our new vision, “Connecting Communities, Widening Worlds …” was developed through our involvement in the University of Southern Queensland’s Innovative Designs to Enhance Educational achievement in Schools or IDEAS program. With this vision we aim to provide a broad, well-balanced education that prepares and equips our students to continue learning and growing throughout their lives.
We provide a stimulating, comprehensive and challenging academic curriculum and an extensive programme of extra-curricular cultural and sporting activities including a wide range of excursions, camps and sporting competitions. In 2009 we added a Maths Olympiad and Think Fest to our program. These involved both our own students and the students from our feeder primary schools.
We offer a broad range of VCE, VET and VCAL subjects and our results at VCE level are consistently high. In 2007 and 2008 we had the best performing student in our local area. In fact, our overall VCE results were better than all the schools around us.
We are also a member of a consortium of schools through the Wodonga Trade Training Centre. Through this group our students are able to access the facilities of Wodonga Senior Secondary College for VET courses such as Hair & Beauty, Automotive Studies and Building and Construction. We are also able to use Desktop Conferencing (via the Internet) equipment to enable face to face delivery of VCE subjects between schools in the consortium. This increases student access and choice and means that students can remain at Beechworth Secondary College for the majority of their studies to take advantage of our small class sizes and not have to travel each day.
We aim to foster the development of student self-esteem, independence and a sense of responsibility through the values of honesty, tolerance and respect for others.
The physical environment is currently being transformed. In the first stage of our building program in 2008 a new Administration and Visual Arts/Technology centres were constructed and feature a number of environmental design principles. Eventually we will have a completely new school as all of the existing buildings are due to be replaced. This gives us a unique and exciting opportunity to design teaching areas to match 21st Century learning and changes in approaches to teaching. In 2009 we are landscaping around our new buildings, erecting a major shade structure and refurbishing an existing building shed to house VCAL, Drama storage and our Year 9 Vine to Wine program.
The College has a computer network in all of our rooms. There are two computer laboratories and a class set of laptop computers and we are continually upgrading our IT facilities.
Ours is a student-centred College, strongly supported by parents committed to their student’s achievements. The College has an exceptionally caring, well-qualified, dedicated and talented staff who form positive relationships with our students and place students and their learning at the centre of what they do.
As I said in my opening remarks, it is easy to blow your own trumpet but I strongly believe in what I have highlighted to you. The proof of course is in the pudding. Take the time to come and visit. Drop in and have a chat with me and have a guided tour. Talk to some of our current and past students, teachers or parents.
Dr. John Hunter
Principal
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