Head of College
Dear Parents and Carers
As Term 1 draws to a close, I pause to reflect on what an incredible team of staff we have at Oxley College who have worked extremely hard to ensure our students have been able to make the most of their learning journeys so far, in 2024. While we have had some challenges as a school this term, we have also achieved so much. Listed below are just a small number of these highlights.
- The launch of Pre-K at Oxley. We particularly thank the Judy Hannan MP for her attendance at our launch last week.
- The launch of the Oxley College Centre for Ethics, with our inaugural lecture from Prof. Toby Walsh on the important issue of AI. We have also seen the introduction of the Ethics group in the Senior School – The Gibraltar Society, I am sure we will hear more from them soon.
- Celebrating the extraordinary success of Hannah Zupp (Year 12, 2023) and her inclusion of her HSC Design and Technology work in Shape.
- Four students being presented their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award from the Honourable Margaret Beazley AO, Governor of NSW.
- The wonderful performances of “The Book of Everything” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
- The launch of study sessions for student in Year 11 and 12, four nights per week and the introduction of Academic Mentoring for Year 12 students.
- Our first student led International Women’s Day Breakfast
- Wonderful sporting opportunities, including Swimming and Cross Country carnivals.
- Year 7 Camps, Year 5 and 6 camps to Bathurst and Canberra and two wonderful Duke of Edinburgh Adventures.
- New electives in Year 8, 9 and 11, the introduction of Year 8 Service each week and our continued work with the Grand friend’s program.
Feedback and our next Strategic Plan
We know from the work of John Hattie that feedback is one of the top 10 influences on student achievement. Some of the principles of effective feedback include:
- Ensuring the feedback is timely and related to learning.
- Is constructive and provides meaningful information to students.
- Focusses on the activity rather than the individual.
- Identifies and reinforces strengths and provides information about how they can improve.
This is something I am pleased to say that our staff at Oxley are very well versed in and continue to work hard to achieve the best for the students we teach.
As an organisation feedback from our community is also vital to ensure we continue to partnership with each other to ensure the best outcomes for the students in the school. The principles above also work at an organisational level. That is ensuring feedback is timely, constructive, focusses on the activity, reinforces strengths, and provides information about how we can improve.
As per the direction in our Strategic Plan (Item 5.4), in May this year we will be conducting a school wide survey to support the preparation of our next Strategic plan. I look forward to receiving this feedback to enable us to make positive decisions for the future of Oxley.
As a school we have spent some time this term reflecting on our strategic plan and as you look through the plan, I am sure you will agree there is much we have achieved.
As always if there are things that are not working for you and your children, I do encourage you to reach out to us at the College. Or if things are going well, reaching out is also appreciated. As our Deputy Chair of the College mentioned this week in some correspondence to you, you can always provide feedback at any time through contacting us at the College or providing feedback through the feedback form on the website under policies and documents.
Recommencing in Term 2 will be the Head of College Breakfasts, I hope this provides Oxley families with an opportunity to come and speak with me in a more casual setting. We’ll hold one per term, in The Pavilion, and adjust frequency as required. Should you wish to attend please book in here.
Our website is also currently under review and we will be launching a new website soon to continue to ensure the most effective way to communicate with our community.
Staffing updates
It is with mixed emotion that we farewell some staff from the College at the end of this term.
- Ms Lorrae Mueller (Accounts Receivable). Ms Mueller has been with the College since 2006 and is relocating to Port Macquarie. We are so thankful for her service to the College over so many years and we wish her all the best for her move.
- Mrs Tahren Hicks (Head of English). Mrs Hicks has been with the school since 2013 and we are incredibly grateful for her leadership. She has made the decision to step down and spend time with her young family. We will still see Mrs Hicks around the school from time to time as a casual teacher and we look forward to continuing to work with her in that capacity.
- Mr Andrew Jones (Art Teacher). Mr Jones has been with the College for the past 15 months and is returning to Canberra. We thank Mr Jones for his work with us and we wish him all the best for his future.
- Ms Melissa Lamrock (Music and GnT Teacher). Ms Lamrock has accepted a promotion position in a new school. We wish her all the best as she takes up this new role.
We have begun advertising for these positions, and we will update the community with the replacement staff in the not too distant future.
Yours sincerely
Mr Scott Bedingfield
Head of College