Anzac Day

The reverence and solemnity of this ceremony grows in power every year across Australia and therefore it is vital that we pass the baton on to our younger generations. 

With a theme of “Gallipoli” this year, a huge contingent of service men and women, community groups, government officials and local families gathered at Riverway to mark the dawn 111 years after the beginning of the first world war – the “war to end all wars” and 110 years after the devastating landing by Australian and New Zealand troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula (now known as Anzac Cove)

And our school leaders represented us with pride and conviction at this service. They certainly made us Heatley Proud!  I trust that they will carry the importance of marking this day with them for the rest of their lives.  I should point out that, for some of our leaders, this was the first Anzac Day service they had ever attended.  The importance of the moment was not lost on any of us.

P and C News

For the first time in 7 years, the P&C has a full contingent of executive members!  This is an amazing reflection of the dedication of these people to the college and a reflection of the community spirit which is alive and well at Heatley.  In an age when many schools are disbanding their P&C and struggling to fill membership positions from year to year, I am proud to be a part of the team.

The executive includes parents, staff and former students.  We meet every second Wednesday of the month during term time in the administration conference room at 6.30pm.  You are very welcome to join us!

Congratulations to the 2025 executive members:

• Demi Warria (President)
• Adam Hoffman (Vice President)
• Sally Kelly-Berg (Secretary)
• Lisa Knudsen (Treasurer)

I wish to thank these members of our school community for committing to the ongoing work in supporting our school.  I wish them well in their endeavours.  We all look forward to seeing a growth in membership this year and a renewed interest in all things P&C Heatley SC!

Vibrant and Diverse.  We belong

Recently, our College was privileged to be able to welcome the Queensland College of Teachers who graced us with a professional photographer on the hunt for exciting subjects for QCOT promotional material.  I have included a sample of the myriad of photos which emerged from the day. 

As I scanned through the many examples of success at Heatley SC I was taken in by the smiles!  These are smiles of success and belonging and I will brag relentlessly when Heatley SC is featured in QCOT material for the next 12 months.

 Data

It might interest you to know that the college staff regularly review data (and lots of it).

Some data is obvious – student grades, attendance, behaviour data, improvement data, reading data, budget data, staffing data…… and the list goes on.

Recently, we were able to celebrate two distinct data sets which are absolutely stunning examples of improvement:

• English Grades in Junior Secondary – this is up by 16% overall from the end of last year
• School Discipline - Compared to the same time last year, our School Disciplinary Absences (suspensions and exclusions) have dropped to almost half

It’s early days but I think we can give a bit of a cheer and I must congratulate staff, students and families for buying into our improvement journey.

Word of the Week

The college is implementing a high impact teaching practice – explicit instruction of a word of the week in each class.  We have just started learning about this but I expect that this will be well and truly alive in every classroom from the start of term 3.  I’m looking forward to the growth in our literacy as a result.

As we hit the downward turn and head towards the end of Semester Two, it’s time to find that last bit of “oomph”.  Seniors especially!

Kind regards,

Melissa