CALLAGHAN COLLEGE PRINCIPAL’S PRESENTATION DAY ADDRESS 2017
Distinguished guests, students, staff, graduates of Callaghan College, and parents and community
members – Good morning and welcome to the Callaghan college presentation ceremony for 2016.
I need to begin my address on a sad note. During 2016 Callaghan Jesmond senior campus suffered a
double tragedy: firstly a Year 11 student, Luke Short, was killed in a road accident; and then a long serving
and well respected teacher, Ms Jenny Lukasic, passed away unexpectedly at the end of last year. On
behalf of the whole of the College I would like to publicly acknowledge the lives of Luke and Jenny and
mourn them as members of the Callaghan community.
We remember the past in order to build a better future.
The esteemed educationalist Jean Piaget said “The goal of education is not to increase the amount of
knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men and women who
are capable of doing new things.”
And this has never been truer for Australian students that today.
In 2017, Australia and indeed the rest of the world, is changing at an ever faster rate. our world is
transitioning to the age of BINC technology in which biotech, infotech, nanotech and cognitive-sciences are
the cornerstone of all important forms of future technology. This shift will have, and has already had, farreaching ramifications, and it is the role of schools to prepare students as best we can to be the best they
can be in whatever form the world takes.
Increasingly, jobs will demand higher order thinking skills as more routine work becomes automated.
So how do Australian students and workers become viable employees now and in the future? They must
be thinkers with high levels of digital skills, numeracy and literacy, and have knowledge of ethical issues
and sustainability. To be competitive, people must develop transferable skills that can be used across
industries, be prepared to work with multiple employers, perhaps even in virtual spaces, and embrace the
globalisation of the workforce. In short, the workers of the future must be high functioning, digitally literate,
flexible, and adaptable.
And that’s where Callaghan College comes in!
Year 7 students, you are seeing here in these awards today just some of the possibilities for your future
available through our College. Only we can offer you the largest range of traditional and innovative
academic and vocational opportunities in this area to fully equip you for a future that hasn’t even been
invented yet!
Today you are witnessing 205 Awards presented to students from across all our three campuses that
represent Callaghan College. We educate over 2400 students and these awards celebrate student
achievements academically, vocationally, culturally, in citizenship and in sport. At the same time even this
number of awards does not fully capture the incredibly diverse life and breath of our amazing College. And
we are holding the presentation here at the University Great Hall to invite you to see the potential for your
future that the College can offer. Welcome Year 7 to Callaghan College – your gateway to a fantastic
future! And in conjunction with our 15 partner primary principals through the Callaghan Education
Pathways, Callaghan College represents a guaranteed high quality education from Kindergarten to Year 12
and into the worlds of higher education and work. There are opportunities at Callaghan College that you
just can’t get anywhere else.
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Let me give you just a few examples from 2016:
•
World renowned educational leader Professor Yong Zhao came to our College to work with all teaching
staff on developing and delivering world class education, and left very impressed. This was such an
important event that principals and staff from 30 other schools joined us;
•
Callaghan College was again named as one of the Top 40 Innovative Schools in Australia by The
Educator magazine for the second year in a row, and we were the only school in Australia named twice.
•
Enrolments continue to increase on all campuses, allowing us to deliver the biggest curriculum in
Newcastle & Hunter – we have the largest 7-10 campus at CC Wallsend with almost 1100; there were
over 800 students in Year 11 and 12 at Jesmond senior campus for the first time in twenty years, with
25% of those students coming from schools outside Callaghan college and enrolments at CC Waratah
continue to rise steeply.
•
Jesmond campus remains the largest government school provider of SBATs in NSW and an innovator
in Vocational education and graduated 270 students with a HSC and another 60 students who took a
Year 12 Record of Achievement (ROSA).
•
In 2016, at the Hunter Region Apprenticeship and Traineeship awards Callaghan College won all three
school based award: Mrs Sara Pendergast won VET Teacher of the Year; Harrison Auld won VET in
schools student of the year and Olivia Haidle was named SBAT student of the year.
•
At those same awards, 8 other young people won trainee or apprenticeship awards from their places of
work, and 5 of them were former Callaghan College students.
•
Mr Andrew Johnson was named Australian Rugby League teacher of the year.
•
In 2016 Callaghan College Jesmond introduced the only Certificate III Aviation – Remote Drone pilot
course in Australia! Nine students graduated with this national credential and in 2017, 30 students are
enrolled in this Year 11 course that teaches students how to fly commercial drones. This course was so
successful that other schools clamoured for training to be able to provide it – but we were first, and
best!
•
The third year of our College Outdoor Digital Media Festival saw about 2500 people attend the function
at Jesmond campus in a huge display of continued community support which has more than doubled in
three years. Also, the reputation of the festival drew the attention of a film producer from Sydney who is
looking to use Callaghan College as a school platform to connect a proposed Hunter Film hub and the
University of Newcastle. As usual with us, watch this space!!
•
Callaghan College became only the second government school in NSW to engage with the CANVAS
learning management system – introducing staff to the Lamborghini of technology platforms for
classroom learning management. By the end of 2016, 95% of all staff were Canvas champions.
•
Callaghan College commenced a partnership project with the university of Newcastle to develop Virtual
Reality resources on our 7-10 campuses – the first project of its kind in the world!
•
Academic results on our 7-10 campuses continue to improve in NAPLAN and VALID with outstanding
value added, and
•
Wallsend campus graduated students from both the Children’s University and from first year University
courses, and you’ll see those students honoured later in the program.
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•
2016 saw the inaugural Callaghan College community ball with staff and community from across the 18
schools coming together for a night of relaxed fun and frivolity;
•
And there are many, many more: whole of College Aboriginal Cultural activities, Creative Arts
programs, student leadership programs and more and more.
Finally, all these opportunities and successes are achieved by working together across the whole CEP, from
Kindergarten to Year 12.
Our College banner statement, “Collaborating to empower learners” reflects our united commitment to
continuous improvement, to being the best that we can be every day, so that you students, the leaders of our
world tomorrow, have every opportunity to be the best that you can be: quality opportunities that you just
can’t get anywhere else!
And it’s up to you to make the most of those opportunities; it’s up to you to allow us to help you be the best
you can be: and it’s up to you to build an even better Callaghan College in the future. We believe in you!
Good luck!
Graham Eather
College Principal
Callaghan College
February 2017
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