Foundation Teachers Announced

I realised today that it had been a little while since I have completed an update on what has been happening at Iona. Time is certainly moving quickly as we continue to lay the plans for our commencement in 2020.

I am delighted to share with you the appointment of the 2020 teaching staff at Iona College:

I am excited to be welcoming the teaching staff to the College and I assure you that we have assembled a wonderful group of educators who will be key contributors to the culture of the College for many years to come.

I am also delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Tom Harriott as the Business Manager for the College. Tom has been the Business Manager at Clonard for the past eleven years and will take up his position at Iona in the middle of October. Tom has a great deal of experience in financial administration and in capital works. I very much look forward to Tom joining the Iona team.

I am sure that many of you have had the chance to drive past the building site over the past weeks. Whilst there is still a great deal of work to be completed, everything remains on track for our commencement in 2020. The tradespeople are hard at work with much of the interior work taking shape. Learning spaces are becoming more definable as the plasterers complete their work. Over the coming month, you will see the commencement of work on the western side of the property with the oval being constructed. It is still our aim to have the oval completed by the start of 2020. Works of the gymnasium/food technology and specialist building will commence in March 2020.

These drone shots, taken last week, offer you a different perspective:

This week I am visiting two schools, Marist College, Bendigo and St Anne’s College, Kialla, which are two of the most recent Catholic Colleges to be opened. I look forward to spending some time at these schools and looking at some of the innovative ideas that they have developed in recent years. I believe that we can learn a lot from the experiences of others and that these learnings will assist our development of Iona College.

On Friday this week, I am seeing the first production of the College uniform. As mentioned in previous correspondence, PSW will be the official suppliers of the College uniform and I am excited to see our design concepts come to life. I look forward to sharing this with the College community in due course.

Later this week, I am meeting again with the bus companies to further map out arrangements for 2020. We will publish arrangements for buses in due course and assist families as to how these arrangements will work in practice. There are numerous complexities behind bus arrangements and it is important that this is well planned to ensure the best possible service for our families in 2020 and beyond.

A reminder that our Year 7 (2020) information evening will take place on Thursday 17 October commencing at 7pm in the St Joseph’s College Gymnasium. This gathering will be a chance to provide the latest updates in relation to Iona and drill down into specific information required by families. It will also be a chance to introduce the College teaching staff. I will have representatives of the bus company and uniform supplier available on that evening as well. Please note that the important information presented will be available on line after the event.

In the meantime, if there are any urgent enquiries regarding Iona, please feel free to contact Cassie or myself at reception@iona.vic.edu.au or telephone (03) 5229 0004.

Enjoy the arrival of spring!

Damian