From the Head of Senior School
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome to the 2026 school year! I trust you and your family enjoyed a well-deserved and relaxing summer break. In the Week 2 Newsletter, I’ll share more about our outstanding HSC results from the Year 2025 cohort, but I wanted to highlight here that so many students achieved their personal bests. While we acknowledge those who excelled at the highest level, including the impressive 27% of our cohort who earned an ATAR above 90, we also celebrate the 96% of students who made remarkable progress from their Year 10 performance, opening up a wide range of future opportunities for themselves. This is the best ‘value added’ result we have seen since we started compiling these results.
Earlier this week I spoke to the Senior School staff about a number of things, but high on the list was culture. Here are some of the quotes that I used.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” — Peter Drucker
“Culture is simply a shared way of doing something with a passion.” — Brian Chesky
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.“ – Aristotle
“Culture affects every member of the organisation and should be owned by all members.” – Deri Latimer
The final one is what I try to bring though my work at Oxley: “The best way to create a positive culture at work is for the leader to bring positive energy to work.” – Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell. Those of you who know me would be aware of this. Those of you who I have yet to meet, I hope to see you at either the Parent Information Sessions in Week 2 or the Welcome Drinks. I’ll also be at most Student Parent Teacher nights through the year.
I related much of my talk with staff to one of my holiday reads, ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tzu. He summed up his chapters with: “He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks”. I continue to work to unite staff, parents and students to strive to share the pride for Oxley College and its values.
Whilst much of the rest of this message is operational, please get your calendars out and add the relevant key events as we start the year together.
Thursday 29 January: Welcome Day & ‘Meet the Mentor’
Year 7 students and all new students in Year 8 – 11 will be on campus in the morning to complete onboarding and orientation activities. For all Year 11 students, we will be running our ‘Burn Bright’ program on campus, to support their transition to Stage 6 and the HSC. Year 7, new Year 8 – 12 and Year 11 students will wear summer school uniform and need to bring their laptop and a pen. Buses will not be running on this day, so students will need to be dropped off and picked up – Year 7 from the Junior School Turning Circle (First Driveway) and Year 8-11 from the Senior School Drop Zone (Second Driveway).
Please ensure that students bring in their laptop fully charged. (We recommend they bring in their charger as well). It is important that your child is the administrator of the device and knows all passwords to access the settings.
All students in Years 7 – 12 and their parents/carers will be invited to a 10 minute ‘Meet the Mentor’ Online teams meeting during the day to discuss aspirations and goals for the year ahead. It will be beneficial for returning students to review their previous school report on preparation for the session. New families to the senior school will receive communication directly from the College. Families continuing in the Senior School from last year will receive an email from their Mentor.
Please see the relevant details about Thursday 29 January (Welcome Day) for each year group in this link: Senior School Information – Oxley College
Term 1 starts for all students on Friday 30 January.
Traffic Management Plan
Parents may drop off Senior School students in either the Junior School Turning Circle or the Senior School Drop Zone. Whichever location is chosen please ensure that you drop your children off before 8.40am. This is the minimum time needed for them to get to class on time before Roll Call at 8.45am.
Two family name signs will be issued to new families on Friday 30 January via your eldest child. One of these will need to be visible on the passenger sun visor when you arrive each day at the campus for pick up. Should any families require additional or replacement signs, please email student.services@oxley.nsw.edu.au. Please do not arrive in the Junior School Turning Circle (eldest child in Years 7 & 8) or Senior School Drop Zone (eldest child in Years 9 – 12) before 3.25pm. Parents & carers will be asked to move around if their child is not ready to be picked up so arriving a few minutes later is often the best practice. I will be trialling some positive re-enforcement to encourage use of the family name signs in cars as this allows greater efficiency at the Drop Zone.
P & F Welcome Drinks and Parent Information Sessions
We are pleased to be able to host Welcome Drinks for all parents and carers on Thursday 12 February from 6.00pm-8.00pm. Please RSVP to Welcome Drinks via this link. There will also be Parent Information Sessions in Week 2 of Term 1:
Year 7 & Year 11 – Tuesday 3 February
Year 9 & Duke of Edinburgh Program – Wednesday 4 February
Uniform
The start of the school year is an opportunity to re-establish standards and expectations regarding uniform and appearance. Uniform rules can be found in the Student Diary. Whilst uniform rules remain unchanged, I would like to draw your attention to a few areas that cause the most conflict:
Hair: Must be clean, neat and groomed. If long, it must be tied back and out of the face [please note: mullets are not permitted – students attending school with a mullet will likely be sent home on day 1]. Hair colour should be natural and not be a significant change from previously.
Students must be clean shaven.
Earrings: Girls are permitted to wear only one sleeper or plain stud in each earlobe. Plain studs should not have any colour or sparkle. All other piercings must be removed.
Skirts/dresses: Hems must be to the knee. These may need to be adjusted at the beginning of the school year.
Socks: Boys must wear their socks up. They should be of sufficient length to be folded to just below the knee.
Blazers: Students must wear (or carry, if hot) their blazer to/from school, when on public transport and when in town. They should have their blazer at school every day.
PE Uniform: should be worn correctly and not mixed with forms of College uniform.
Students attending Saturday sport matches who are not playing must wear school or PE uniform. Students have the option to wear sports uniform on Thursdays. Students are to arrive at school on all other days in full school uniform, unless they have a practical PE lesson in Period 1.
I would love to have a positive interaction with each and every student that I see and, for those who follow our uniform guidelines and operate within the College values, this is usually the case.
Student Timetables
All students can access their timetable via a link to EDVAL. The students will be emailed a web code to their school email address which will allow them to access the 2026 timetable. The timetable is still being finalised and there may be minor changes in the first teaching cycle as necessary.
Year 7 Orientation Camp
Year 7 Orientation Camp will be on Thursday 5 to Friday 6 February. Further details have been sent to Year 7 parents and those whose Year 12 student leaders are involved. More information regarding the Year 7 Orientation Camp can be found on the Year 7 Oxley Connect page: Year 7 Parent Information.
School Photos
School photos will be on Monday 2 February for Year 12 and Junior School, and Tuesday 3 February for Years 7-11.Students will need to be in full SUMMER uniform. Orders can be made via www.advancedlife.com.au using the code 86P AZG PJ9.
Canteen
• There will be no cash transactions at this stage.
• Orders for recess and lunch can still be placed via Flexischools, the over-the-counter option is for students who may have forgotten their recess/lunch or are still hungry!
• Students are to use their student cards which will be scanned for payment and if they do not have one, they will be directed to student services to obtain a replacement.
Parental Communication
I’d like to remind parents of our communication policy that can be found on the website. We communicate with you in a number of ways but, if parents need to contact the College, then their child’s Mentor should be your first point of contact. Most of you should have received an email from them today (relating to the ‘Meet the Mentor’ session). Please save that email address for further communication.
In line with the Federal Government’s ‘Right to Disconnect’ legislation, please do not expect a response immediately, especially if you have made contact outside college hours. Our policy states that you will receive a response within 2 working days.
The Start of Year Information Pack has more information and can be found by following this link: 2026 Oxley College Start of Year Information – Oxley College
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
Gold Award students who attended the December hike are asked to please return any borrowed equipment to BR-5 at recess on Friday.
Silver Award students attending the canoe trip this weekend should meet at BR-5 immediately after Period 4, bringing your lunch, for a final briefing and equipment distribution. Please be punctual.
I am looking forward to welcoming students back to school and for the many opportunities that the coming year holds.
Kind regards
Tristan Bevan
Head of Senior School
