Issue 5 2023 - Principal
Principal
Rebecca Kirkwood
Over the past few weeks we have had such wonderful reasons to celebrate how fantastic our College is!
The main event of course was our annual Open Day and what a great day that was! The glorious winter sunshine ensured that we had strong numbers through the gate with about 800 attendees. Visitors were treated to a variety of demonstrations and those who have attended before would be familiar with our tours of Dairy, Residence and Horticulture as well as favourites like Junior Cattle Judging and Parading.
This year we introduced a few new items: The gym was reinvigorated with the introduction of beekeeping produce, a new Old Collegians display and Student Services led activities. Engineering students showcased their blacksmithing skills using our forge and our Forestry students had the opportunity to showcase their arborist skills.
The best of course was left for last. Anyone who was present would attest, that the changes to the final parade were fantastic and such a great representation of all that we do here on the College Farm. Well done to those students in Dairy, Equine, Beef, Abattoir, Sheep, Workshop, Viticulture and Forestry. We were all very impressed with the skills on display. The final applause goes to Dixie of course for not only using the telehandler to stack the hay, but also to balance that final star on top!
We had a lovely write up of our College in the latest edition of the Denmark Bulletin. Feel free to read the write up by clicking the button link below.
The following Monday we hosted our annual Primary Awareness Day. This saw 260 Year Six students from nine different primary schools attend our College. The students partook in 10 different rotations encompassing different enterprise areas across the College. The feedback both from students and their supervising teachers was excellent. Huge thanks to the Farm staff, our Year 12 students and Mr Mungioli for all their efforts on the day. It was so refreshing to see so many young people so very keen to embrace all things agriculture.
Only a week earlier I hosted fourteen members of the Rural and Regional Education Advisory Council. Members of the council included our local member Jane Kelsbie - MLA, Divina D’Anna - Member for Kimberley, representatives from the Goldfields Chamber of Commerce, Aboriginal Education, Industry groups, Catholic Education and WA parent groups. They attended eager to improve their knowledge about the role that the College plays in creating meaningful post-school pathways for secondary students. The council met with key members of staff and listened to students share their future career aspirations. The Council were impressed with the College’s capacity to prepare our students for their future.
Later that week members of our leadership team met with Mike Morgan. Mike attended our College, representing the Minister of Education. He spoke with staff and students about student engagement. Valuable discussions were had about the strategies and resources we use to engage our young people resulting in strong student outcomes. He was similarly impressed by our agricultural, vocational and academic programme.
It definitely was a great couple of weeks to share the good news of the College!
This week Friday our Minister for Education will also be on site to view our facilities, speak with our students and take a tour of the farm. It is also a timely reminder that he is promoting a running challenge that is open to all primary and secondary school students in WA. To read more about the challenge, I have included a button link below.
Rebecca Kirkwood
Principal
WACOA - Denmark