On Wednesday, November 29, St Mary’s College in Seymour held its first Year 11 general maths class.
St Mary’s College principal Wayne Smith said the school was thrilled for the students that the VCE years were returning to the institution for the first time since 1987.
“A lot of work has been done to return St Mary’s College to Year 12,” Mr Smith said.
“Year 11 starts next year, and then the following year is Year 12.”
The college has also put in a grant to build a VCE Centre, further enthusing staff and students.
“We’ve got some very good experienced teachers coming,” Mr Smith said.
He said the students were looking forward to continuing into years 11 and 12 with St Mary’s.
“In the past, a lot of the students have been very upset because they didn’t want to leave,” he said.
Enrolments are open for the upcoming year, having grown for the past five years.
“St Mary’s College has growing enrolments,” Mr Smith said.
“We’ve done a master plan for the college.
“We are doing a lot of work around the curriculum.”
Mr Smith said the goal was to build a model that embodied not being the biggest but the best.
“We believe firmly that a holistic education is really important for our students,” he said.
“When they go off into the world, we want them to take a bit of St Mary’s with them.
“When they’re making decisions as adults, they can also reflect on ... what the values of our college were through the Mercy sisters’ values.”
St Mary’s College has few students leaving before the end of their schooling; according to Mr Smith, this is because they are generally happy.
“Most students that leave are leaving because parents are in the Defence Force,” he said.
“As a principal, I have a very firm view.
“If we have our values, we’re not going to drop our standards.”