The Umina Campus of Brisbane Water College is the school for students in years 7-9 who live in the Peninsula region of the Central Coast of NSW. Our goal is to develop the best possible models of schooling that match the needs of the age group of our students.
The Campus has innovative structures and organisation and is heavily focussed on Middle School teaching and learning with 8 cross-faculty teaching teams established. The school caters for all kinds of students, having programs for the academically talented, effective programs for those requiring learning assistance and ensuring that all students have access to a range of learning opportunities.
Our NAPLAN results show that the rate of development of our students from Year 7 to Year 9 continues to improve at better than district, region and even state levels in several areas.
In recent years there has been a significant emphasis on performing arts. In 2011 we formed a Year 7 Creative & Performing Arts Class with students placed following school recommendation and audition. Our Dance Program has gone from strength to strength. We had teams in Year 7, 8 and 9 participating in 4 Regional Festivals including the prestigious Starstruck in Newcastle. There was no school in the region with this level of representation.
We have a strong Indigenous community and have personalised learning plans for each Indigenous student aimed at improving learning outcomes. Indigenous students also run the school's very popular Bushtucker café.
Our sporting successes were again celebrated at our annual Sports Presentation Dinner which has become a highlight of the school calendar where students and their families join us in recognising the outstanding talent that has placed us amongst the very best of sporting schools. Regional and District and Zone championships were again won in several sports, including athletics, rugby league, rugby union, touch football and oztag. The Under 14 Rugby League Team was named 'Team of The Year' after winning the State Championships - Buckley Shield.
At Umina campus we have developed leadership programs that give our students an opportunity to become involved in programs that are confined to much older students in many schools. These include: Student Representative Council; School Captaincy; Peer Support Training to work with primary students; peer mediation and many others.
There are strong links with the senior campus and our transition program ensures that there is a seamless transition from Year 9 - 10 with over 98% of students graduating from this campus to the senior campus in recent years.
Kerrie Thomas
Principal