It was with much honour that I accepted the position as the Relieving Principal at Marsden High School in April 2023. Since then, I have been impressed with the dedication of Marsden staff and their commitment to building and strengthening students’ academic, wellbeing, sporting, creative and citizenship outcomes.
The school culture is one of close collaboration with the Marsden P&C Association and the broader community to ensure that strong professional relationships are forged, supporting each student to reach their potential. At Marsden we believe that every student should be given the opportunity to grow and develop in a caring, supportive and safe school. Our commitment to building and sustaining teaching and learning environments with high expectations for all, enables the development of healthy, successful and productive individuals, with recognition within the community as a school that is striving for excellence.
Marsden High School operates with a ‘CARE 2 LEARN’ ethos which supports students to learn our core values of Cooperation, Achievement, Respect Everyday (C.A.R.E). We have high expectations of our students and believe that success is earned through a strong work ethic and an open approach to lifelong learning that is supported by experiences with a rich curriculum, explicit teaching and the provision of quality feedback in assessment. I see Marsden as a school on a growth pathway, for example, in 2023, Marsden’s HSC ranking in the State increased by 36 places.
Marsden High School’s Strategic Improvement Plan 2024-27 has a priority for strong growth in literacy and numeracy. Our 2024 results in NAPLAN demonstrated the positive effects of implementing a researched based literacy and numeracy approach, with the school yielding results much higher than previous years. Our commitment to building students' skills in writing, reading and vocabulary will remain a centre focus of the school moving forward.
Sincerely,
Mr Stephen Smith