USC Council

As I write my last Chair’s Report for USC you might expect me to reflect on the many and various challenges, the achievements, and the significant changes that USC has seen over the recent past eight years.

So, with your indulgence as readers I will spend a little time reflecting and thanking the key people who have positioned USC as one of the premier Year 10-12 educational institutions in South Australia.

Yes, there have been many challenges met over the years, many great successes and change has been constant; but I think nothing in my time as a Council Member and Chair could ever rival two key initiatives which have belted the curve balls that have been thrown at all of us over the past two years.

So, at the top of my list of achievements is Anita Zocchi, the Senior leadership team, our outstanding staff and administration teams, who have continued to provide the most positive, safe, secure, and a caring learning environment for our students and our staff at USC in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our people did this because they really care, they have the ability at every level to stay connected with our USC Community and they have personalised every interaction to give our parents and students confidence in the face of the continuing crisis and the many challenges it presents. Close behind this achievement has been the initiative shown by Anita and our leaders to dream of a Year 10 cohort within the school, and then bring this to fruition through carefully constructed Business and Action Plans which had input and buy in at all levels of the school. Indeed, the advent of our Year 10 cohort (numbering 80 students in 2022) has allowed the school to flourish, and more than offset the low international student numbers due to travel restrictions with COVID-19. It has also provided a significant pipeline of future Year 11 and 12 students who will be motivated and well equipped for university life.

I am sure that USC will continue the pathway of capitalising on the excellent infrastructure footprint in the University grounds, at the same time growing our partnership with The University of Adelaide, building our school community and its reputation whist at the same time, supporting the professional learning of staff to deliver high level teaching and learning programs to suit our students. These aspirations are being met and exceeded every year and that is great credit to everyone involved.

I want to once again, say a very sincere thank you to Principal, Anita Zocchi and the senior leadership team for their outstanding leadership in the face of some extraordinary circumstances in 2021. What a committed and talented group we have leading the College! Likewise, to our skilled and experienced teaching and support staff who continue to provide above and beyond for our students this year, the Council and I also want to express our sincere appreciation.

We also acknowledge the strong support and collaboration we continue to have from our partner, The University of Adelaide who are a strong pillar in USC’s success.

To our School Council, I offer my personal thanks for the members’ ongoing support and for their time and wisdom. I have very much enjoyed my time working with the Council and senior staff at USC and count it as one of the highlights of my career. I wish new Council Chair Paul Dalby and the Council itself, much success going forward.

Who could have thought last year at this time what 2020 would bring with it and how it would change the world impact in so many areas of life for us all? COVID-19 has provided many challenges and not least were those related to continuing to provide as best as we could, a safe, secure, and a caring learning environment for our students and our staff at USC in the face of the pandemic.

From the School Council’s perspective we have much admiration for the work that Anita and her senior team and staff who have worked together with our wonderful students to ensure the best possible continuity of learning we could hope for in 2020. This has come about because of our team’s ability at every level to stay connected with our USC Community and to personalise every interaction where possible, in order to give our parents and students confidence in the face of the crisis.

During these difficult last 12 months, Anita and our team’s focus has been targeted to consistent messaging to stay connected with our USC Community in a timely and relevant way and this has never been as important as it is now during this current pandemic. Our staff have worked exceptionally hard during this time. There were many challenges to overcome to ensure we could provide a challenging learning program online to students and the way staff collaborated with each other, shared software available to assist in the delivery of the learning program remotely was a great testament to them and their focus on ensuring the students were supported.

We all came into this New Year back in January 2020 with high expectations of building on our successful inaugural Year 10 classes, which would help secure our Year 11, 12 and 13 offerings into the future. Pleasingly, at time of writing, those expectations are being met as we look positively forward to 2021 with very healthy expected enrolments at all levels, placing the College in a sound position going forward. This is a great result given the low international numbers of students due to travel restrictions with COVID-19.

We continue now on our pathway of capitalising on our excellent infrastructure footprint on the University grounds and supporting the professional learning of staff to deliver high level teaching and learning programs to suit our students.

I want to once again, say a very sincere thank you to Principal, Anita Zocchi, Deputy Principal, Tim Agnew, and their senior team for their outstanding leadership in the face of extraordinary circumstances in 2020. We are fortunate to have such a committed and talented group leading the College and to have navigated the changing landscape that was in such a strategic, yet caring way. This says much about their skill and also their dedication to the aspirations of USC. To our skilled and experienced teaching and support staff who provided above and beyond for our students this year, the Council also expresses its sincere appreciation.

We also acknowledge the strong support and collaboration we continue to have from our partner, The University of Adelaide. To our School Council, I offer my personal thanks for the members’ ongoing support and for their time and wisdom.

Finally, the Council thanks the Year 12 graduates for enriching our school and we wish them all the best as they venture forward in life - hopefully all the better for their time at USC.

Year 2019 has been a year of consolidation for University Senior College in so many areas, but the groundwork undertaken by Principal Anita Zocchi, her Senior Leadership team and the staff (with Council support) over the past 12 months has given all of us an exciting look at the future as we collectively position USC in the educational landscape within South Australia and enhance our reputation nationally and internationally.

A prime example of that positioning (at time of writing this report) is that in 2020, USC is poised to offer three Year 10 classes in our newly refurbished Gawler Place campus following Council’s decision to support the Senior Leadership recommendation in 2018 for the inclusion of Year 10 as an offering at University Senior College.

Our expectations were that we might have one class in Year 10 initially. However the strong demand in the market to assist Year 10 students in developing as independent, resilient and successful learners in a niche learning environment with inspirational teachers is proving to be very attractive for students and parents. The additional benefit of developing a pool of students taking up our Year 11, 12 and 13 offerings cannot be understated in securing the future of USC.

Anita will provide more detail in her Annual Report of this exciting development (along with many others) as we look forward to a rewarding 2020 after many years of consolidating our infrastructure footprint in the University grounds, driving high level teaching and learning programs to suit our students and supporting the professional learning of staff to deliver the best educational outcomes. The highest quality of teaching and learning is a critical advantage and the further development of the USC Teaching & Learning Framework will be an all of staff initiative and focus in 2020.

In 2020 the Council will also support Anita and her team in several other key focus areas including embedding the new Year 10 Program and driving increased diversity of cultural backgrounds of students in the international program through increased international student enrolment from new markets.

In addition, we are working closely with the University of Adelaide to develop the future iteration of our Partner’s Pathway program for entry into the University which will be an important differentiator for USC in the senior education market.

I want to say thank you to Anita, Deputy Principal, Tim Agnew, and their senior team for their outstanding leadership again in 2019. We are fortunate to have such a committed and talented group leading the College. To our skilled and experienced teaching and support staff who provide our students with stimulating learning opportunities, the Council expresses its sincere appreciation.

We also acknowledge the strong support and collaboration we are fortunate to have from our partner, the University of Adelaide. To our School Council I offer my personal thanks for the members’ ongoing support and for their time and wisdom. Finally, the Council thanks the Year 12 graduates for enriching our school with their vitality and presence. We wish our departing students all the best as they venture forward in life - hopefully all the better for their time at USC.

- Brian Cunningham, USC Council Chair