The Grapevine Newsletter Friday 13th June 2025

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Dear Parents and Carers,

While rural schools face exceptional challenges compared to our regional and Melbourne schools, I feel incredibly proud of the work happening at Robinvale College. In many areas, I believe we are leading the way. At Robinvale we are moving into a time of a stable staff committed to supporting your child and our school. We are seeing the reintroduction of programs that many schools have paused or discontinued. These include reintroducing camps to all year levels, targeted literacy support, broad subject offerings with breadth and depth for our year 7-10, and our commitment to a strong and viable VCE, VPC and VM in 11 and 12. I have a real sense of pride among as I reflect on the direction we are heading . I am also delighted that our student enrolments continue to grow with an additional 40 students joining since the beginning of this year.

Parent teacher interviews

I would like to thank all families and students that attended their Parent Teacher interview on Tuesday. Again, I think the number of parents making the time to meet with teachers is an excellent indication of your support of your child and the school. Compared to semester one interviews last year we had a 400% increase in meetings. 

Year 7 & 8 camp

Our Year 7 and 8 students had an amazing time at their Mount Bogong camp. I received a call from the camp principal commending our students on their enthusiasm and resilience. For many it was the first time they had seen snow or had the opportunity to be away from home. These opportunities don’t happen without a huge amount of planning and work.  A huge thank you to Georgia McGinty, Miss Pretty, Miss Yates and Karbi for volunteering to make the camp possible.

Exams

Our senior students have now completed their semester one exams. I am delighted with some of the very pleasing results achieved. These exams help prepare or students for further studies and their Year 12. The General Achievement Test (GAT) will be held on Tuesday, June 17. It is important your student sit this test. The test is held off site with external supervisors. The senior staff will make sure your students know what they should be doing during this time.

Author visit Troy Powles

Please make sure you read the article in this newsletter of Troy’s visit and talk to our Year 9 English class. The class has been reading and studying the novel as one of their texts. Thanks to Ms Griffiths for organising the visit.

New rules

People may be aware of the changes announced by the government this week regarding student behaviour and school responses outside school hours.

Our school is committed to providing a safe, respectful and inclusive environment for all students and staff. Recent changes announced are regarding suspension and expulsion powers that will be available to Victorian principals from day one of Term 3, (Monday 21 July 2025).

We know that students’ behaviour outside of school, particularly online, can sometimes impact the safety of students and staff at school.

In exceptional circumstances, principals of Victorian government schools will be able suspend or expel students for behaviour that occurs outside of school grounds and/or hours including online, if it poses a significant danger to the safety and wellbeing of students or staff.

These powers apply only to serious incidents where there is a clear and close connection to the school and the behaviour of a student outside of school unreasonably impacts the safety and wellbeing of students or staff at school, and their ability to learn or work. Please note:

• They do not apply to behaviours unrelated to the school or school community.

They only apply to behaviour which occurs from Monday 21 July 2025 onwards.

Suspension and expulsion will remain measures of last resort – our primary approach continues to focus on proactive and positive behaviour support, including working with you to teach students the behaviours we expect of them, in school and in life.

Thank you for your continued support as we work in partnership to educate and support our young people.

Lyn Coulter

AUTHOR'S VISIT

Gus and the Missing Boy. Troy Hunter: visiting author. 

It was very exciting to have crime author Troy Hunter visit our students to speak about his book Gus and the Missing Boy, answer questions from students and provide feedback on their work.

Students in year 9 have been studying the book in English class this term as part of a unit of work on text analysis and have found the text to be highly engaging.

The book addresses many areas that are extremely relevant to teenagers such as developing identity and exploring who you are, good and bad ways to manage anxiety, how parents and teens can struggle to communicate, what it means to be a good friend and how a lack of ethics can lead people to do the wrong thing for the right reasons. The book has been the perfect vehicle through which students could examine and reflect on issues such as these in a safe place and with adult guidance.

Being in a regional location, students can sometimes miss out on opportunities simply because of distance, so we are very grateful to Troy for being willing to travel all the way to Robinvale from Melbourne just to visit us.

Students had a valuable opportunity to hear from a published Australian author about the writing  were given a sneak preview into the sequel Gus and the Burning Stones, due out in August this year. It was exciting to hear that some of the suggestions students had thought of for the sequel were already included!

Gus and the Missing Boy has been a success with adult and young adult readers and was shortlisted for the prestigious Ned Kelly Awards 2024 Best Debut Fiction. The cover art has just been awarded Best Designed Young Adult Cover in the Australian Book Design Awards, and the students had fun trying temporary tattoos of the cover art.

As their teacher, seeing students engage so deeply with a text to the point where they are pleading with me to continue reading is the best possible outcome. These students have been able to realise and enjoy the escape and excitement that can be found through reading and listening to great (Australian) stories and I hope that passion always stays with them. If they take nothing else away from my classes, let it be that.

You can find out more about Troy at www.troyhunterwriter.com

Michelle Griffiths

Literacy Leader and Coach,

Robinvale College.

STORYTIME MAGIC IN YEAR 1/2!

We were thrilled to welcome Annette into our classroom to read The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. With her warm storytelling and animated reading, she had our students captivated from start to finish.

Thank you, Annette, for bringing books to life and helping foster a love of reading in our classroom. We can’t wait to see which class you visit next week!

YEAR 7/8 CAMP 2025 BOGONG ADVENTURE

This year, our Year 7 and 8 students embarked on an unforgettable camp to Bogong in Victoria. The focus of the program was teamwork and collaboration, with students developing their understanding of others, building positive relationships, and learning to work effectively as a team.

A highlight for many was the chance to enjoy the snow—with 30 students experiencing a variety of fun and engaging activities in the wintery landscape. It was a fantastic opportunity for students to connect, grow, and make lasting memories together.

VET TRADIES

VET Tradies is onsite at the Robinvale College and conducted every Thursday, taking in units from Engineering and Automotive. Students this term are completing automotive units. The shed was very busy last Thursday with students completing the practicals of their units. If any students currently in Year 9 or 10 are looking to join the VET Tradies group next year, pop in to Julie Kelly's office to find out further information.

RECONCILIATION WEEK

The F-6 Community acknowledged National Reconciliation Week by completing a range of activities across the grades. This culminated in the co-creation of a Reconciliation display, with students' photos and art pieces arranged to represent the 2025 Reconciliation Week theme of 'Bridging Now to Next'.

THANK YOU SELECT HARVEST

The community garden received a generous donation of 1.5 tonnes of compost from Select Harvest, organised by Management Brodie Wright. The compost was delivered earlier this month by Rodney Holani and Martin. Lionel Setyawan, Vilivaka Filimone, Simione Liutolo-Masila, Suliana Mafi, Hopoate Lui , Latu Ale,  and Leini  Fanua, also helped with the unloading on the day