Those who know me can attest to how passionate I am about Foxwell State Secondary College. As the third member to join the Foxwell community in July 2019, I have been honoured to serve our community and watch it grow in to the wonderful school it has become. I am very much looking forward to everything that 2023 has to offer for our students, and our planning for future years. We say we will offer students a world of opportunities, through and beyond their schooling life. This can be obtained in a high performing/high expectation State School like Foxwell State Secondary College.

As our students settle in to high school life, it is an important time for some reminders. I thank our families for your support in ensuring the high expectations of our college are adhered to. We commit to offering a world of opportunities, and a safe place for your child to learn and flourish, and our partnership will allow this to flourish. As you would recall from your enrolment interview, we have high expecatations in regards to  behaviour, uniform, learning engagement, work completion, bullying and harassment, our hands-off policy, mobile phone expectations, and personal and social interactions.

Our College SPIRIT values guide us and filter through to every aspect of the school day. Our staff, students and parents/carers all commit to these values upon employment or enrolment. We will continue to hold our community to these values as they are the foundation of our College and make our College the positive learning environment it is.

When we know more we can do more to support our students and families!

Embracing community contributed ideas for improvement forms a large part of our Parent and Community Engagement Framework, and I continue to welcome your feedback. Thank you to those families who have reached out to me directly to share your concerns as they might pop up, and for the suggestions you always provide. Please don't ever hesitate to reach out to us here at school. 

We may not always be able to tell all parties the specific details of an investigation or the consequences for any breaches of our Code of Conduct, but rest assured that they will be dealt with. If you ever have any issues, please address them with members of our Leadership Team, or me personally. Making unnecessary social media comments or posts only ever serves to damage the reputation of our College in the community, which is never in the best interests of your children in both the short term and the future. Those who know me and my team, know that we will listen, we will act and we will communicate openly and honestly. That is our promise to you. Remember Foxwell – Together we are great.

I would like to assure our community that over the past three weeks we have been in regular communication with the bus company that provides the school service for our students, Kinetic. Today I have been advised that the Kinetic Planning Deparment are in discussion with Translink in regards to this service. Over the next week Kinetic will be collating data and conducting surveys to support the school's request to improve the school bus network. I am looking forward to providing you with an update. 

A highlight of my week this week has been connecting with our Year 7 students out and about during break times and in the classroom. It was wonderful greeting every Year 7 student as they arrived for their ID Photo on Wednesday, and to chat with them about their experiences at school over the last three weeks. In years to come we will look back at these ID Photos as we celebrate the groups graduation from high school. For now, I look forward to joining many more hand ball games!

Acting Principal,

Kate Shepherd