Welcome to Heathmont College, I am proud to introduce our school to you.

Students are at the centre of all that we do here at Heathmont College. We aim to foster student development and growth through a focus on student engagement, empowerment and learning in order to support students to achieve their very best in all that they do.

During these uncertain times, it is vitally important that schools focus on supporting students to develop strategies to navigate the unknowns in the world around them and to build resilience in order to manage uncertainty and challenge. As a lead school in the Maroondah Positive Education Network, Heathmont College aims to do exactly this through developing growth mindsets in our students and our staff and leveraging this to enhance resilience across the school by focusing on student and staff strengths. By developing student skills in managing adversity, we empower them to lead their best lives.

Principals Report

Bali Tour

In our last edition of the Gazette, I sent through a quick snapshot of what we were doing on the Bali International Tour. I am pleased to report that the tour continued very successfully, and we all had an amazing time. There is further detail about the trip later in this edition however, I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank Bu Devathas for organising this trip and passionately campaigning for it to go ahead. It was the first international tour we have run since the COVID pandemic and for it to go so smoothly took an awful lot of work.

I would also like to say a big thank you to Nova Bacon, a parent member of our community, who accompanied us on the tour and supported staff and students. It was great to have the additional support and I know that the students appreciated Nova being there. Parent helpers on camps and excursions are quite rare in secondary schools so it was especially special to have that support for this tour.

ATSIMA AAMT National Summit

In the holiday break, I also had the opportunity to represent Victorian Mathematics teachers at the ATSIMA (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Mathematics Alliance) / AAMT (Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers) Summit for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Education. It was a great opportunity to hear about what is currently occurring in this area to help to close the very large (and widening) gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous mathematics outcomes.

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Kind regards,

Kerryn Sandford

“Acknowledgment of Country” by students at Heathmont College

Hello and Wominjeka.

Wominjeka means ‘Welcome’ in Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

On behalf of Heathmont College, we would like to note that since the dawn of time, the sacred land on which our school is situated Always Was and Always Will Be Wurundjeri land. We would like to pay our respects to the traditional custodians who are guardians of this land, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and we acknowledge their Ancestors, Elders, Youth and Children; past, present and those of the future within their community.

We recognise the many diverse and ongoing living cultures of all First Nations people of Australia. It’s with appreciation we see their perseverance, strength and value their deep continuing spiritual connection to Country, Community, Animals, Skies, Stars and Waterways, as they belong to the oldest living culture in the world. The Heathmont College community is dedicated to embracing First Nation’s history and cultures by fostering respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people built on co-operation and trust. We all come from different places though we must work together on this shared learning journey to enrich our understandings and celebrate First Nation’s people and their cultures.

This land was never ceded, it Always Was and Always Will Be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.