BROADFORD Secondary College welcomed its 2021 school captains and new principal Tania Pearson last week at its first whole-school assembly for the year.
The cohort gathered in Broadford Leisure Centre to applaud the new appointments, as well as the house and sport leaders who were announced on the day.
School captains Angel Ravenhill and Cody Ball had planned to host their first assembly – the first of several throughout the year – in February, but Victoria’s five-day snap lockdown derailed the original plan.
Ms Pearson said the two were nervous before the assembly but shone behind the microphone.
“They owned it, this was their assembly,” she said.
“We’d gone through and had a look and said it’s all sounding great. There were a few grammatical things but that’s how they speak, and I certainly wasn’t going to correct that. That’s who they are and they’ve got to be true to themselves.”
The captains emphasised how much they enjoyed writing the speeches themselves.
“It felt more comfortable saying stuff that we prepared … so we did it how we wanted to say it,” Cody said.
“It’s more representative of the youth,” Angel added.
“Nothing wrong with the normal teacher stuff, but [it’s] kids talking to kids.”
Ms Pearson became acting principal at Broadford in 2020, after a 32-year career at Whittlesea Secondary College. It is her first principal position, which she said had come in an optimistic time for schools across Victoria.
“It feels like it’s real now considering the students are back on site,” she said.
“We’re doing normal things like having school assemblies and parent teacher interviews – we’ve had junior school and senior school barbecues with families here, so it’s back to almost normal.”
Ms Pearson spoke at the assembly to congratulate the senior students on their year 11 results in 2020, as well as the now-graduated year 12s, more than 90 per cent of whom were offered places in their first preference courses at university.
She also welcomed the school’s three new tutors for its tutoring program to assist students who might have struggled or fallen behind during lockdown.
Ms Pearson said some students would need extra support this year, but that both captains, who were elected by teachers, were up to the task.
“They were willing to take the extra time and effort to put their foot forward and they’re very genuine in what they were saying and how they intend to care for the whole cohort and represent all the students,” she said.
