Super school principal: ‘Things falling into place’

‘‘We’re progressing really well and the key things are beginning to fall into place now,’’ she said.

Ms Simson said the leadership positions within the school would be appointed in the next couple of weeks and staff would begin writing the new curriculum at the beginning of term four.

She said teachers from across all four government secondary colleges would be working together for the rest of the year, sharing their expertise and experience with one another.

‘‘We’ll have the full curriculum written by next year,’’ she said.

‘‘It’s also a good opportunity for teachers to get to know each other.’’

Ms Simson said the staff would also be working on student wellbeing and positive behaviour support next term.

‘‘Everyone will start next year with the same expectations, so everyone is on the same page,’’ she said.

Ms Simson has enjoyed being involved in the new project and is appreciative of the support the plan has received thus far.

‘‘We’ve had an incredible amount of support from the business community,’’ she said.

‘‘We’re all just excited to get started.’’

Ms Simson said the negative public opinion was ‘‘particularly unhelpful’’.

‘‘I feel this is an expression of people’s fear of change,’’ she said.

‘‘They don’t understand it.

‘‘It would be far more useful if they came and talked to us.’’

Ms Simson said stakeholders that had taken the time to attend meetings had been positive about the changes.

‘‘When they know what’s going on, they can see we’re organised and know what we’re doing,’’ she said.

Ms Simson said she was looking forward to offering the students a wider breadth of VCE subjects, including 20 VET courses and VCAL.

She also said she was aware of concerns about the new uniform, but she believed it was important for the students to see themselves as one college from the start.

‘‘We’ve had great support from the government with the $200 vouchers,’’ Ms Simson said.

‘‘That’s a really positive thing.’’