Well, what a year it has been! Our first full year back to campus after a number of years of lockdowns and remote learning. It really has been a busy, tiresome and sometimes difficult year. As an individual you should be so proud of what you have achieved. As the leader of our school I am also very proud and grateful for the amazing staff who are part of our school community.

It has been a great year at Hester Hornbrook Academy. Each year we see so many outstanding achievements both from our staff and our students. This is a time to celebrate! The upcoming Hester Hornbrook Academy graduation on 8^th December will most certainly celebrate the achievements of so many of our young people. This year we have a record number of students graduating a level of VCAL or graduating and leaving us to exciting new positive pathways.

As the year draws to a close, I would like to congratulate each and every young person who is part of our school community. Each and every one of you has engaged in our education and wellbeing programs and has achieved successes in literacy and numeracy skill building, and so many of you have also been able to complete significant outcomes in your VCAL levels. You have embraced the wellbeing strategies and supports provided for you and you have kept us all entertained and challenged us to think about school just a little differently.

Our focus on Teaching and Learning and preparing for a new curriculum has been first class, our teachers have shown the way with our flexible and supported approach to the new VPC and VCE. We have also been able to advocate for the needs of our young people in so many forums within our VCAA and DET systems.

Our wellbeing staff and allied health staff have clocked up the miles in those fleet cars to conduct outreach to meet students where they are at. This has allowed our young people to feel safe, supported and valued by our education community.

Our educational support officers have implemented interventions and have supported our young people to feel success in learning where they never have before.

Our administration team have supported our work and ensured that we can achieve amazing things, working so hard to implement and improve structures and process ever so quietly in the background.

What we have all done is create a culture of safety, consistency and high expectations for our students: we have Engaged, Equipped and Empowered and Extended! The number of graduating students; whether this be a VCAL level or a positive pathway post HHA has certainly shown that we can have high expectations and allow our students to dream of big things outside of our school setting.

As we grow as a school and open another new campus at South Melbourne, we also have a number of new staff joining us. We are excited to be welcoming these staff to our educational setting and a large number of new students will join us also.

Finally, we are already looking forward to our 2023 school year.Our Welcome Back Meetings will take place between Wednesday 1^st February and Friday 3^rd February. The classroom team will be in contact in late January to organise a date and time for these. We look forward to having all of our students and their parents/caregivers at these interviews.

Our first day of classes is on Monday 6^th February.

Should you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to be in contact with myself or our team at any time.I look forward to meeting with you all in 2023.Merry Christmas, be safe and have a very happy holiday season.

Yours truly,

Sally Lasslett

Principal

Hester Hornbrook Academy