Principal’s Welcome
Welcome to the McClelland College website. As a parent of four children, I know the selection of a secondary school is one of the most important decisions you can ever make for your child.
Creating Pathways for Passions
Hello everyone, my name is Amadeo Ferra and I am very proud to say I am the Principal of McClelland College. I started with the school just over ten years ago now and I’m sure anyone who has been associated with us for that long knows how amazing this school has become due to our strong community links, commitment to academic excellence and always putting the students first.
At McClelland, academic achievement and personal development go hand in hand and our academic offerings, as well as extra-curricular activities and opportunities, are second to none. We concentrate on ensuring that every student will receive an engaging, stimulating and high quality education from our highly professional and committed staff, that will prepare them to make the most of their opportunities once they leave school. That’s what we mean by ‘Education by Design’.
Our core values of ‘Community, Ownership and Growth’ reflect our philosophy to extend every individual student so that they achieve the best possible learning outcomes from their time at McClelland. These aren’t just empty words we have published on our website; our values guide everything we do. We have not only a strong focus on achievement and excellence but also an underlying ethos that through teamwork and working hard together we can achieve much more.
How do we do this?
We concentrate on ensuring that every student will receive an engaging, stimulating and high quality education from our highly professional and committed staff that will prepare them to make the most of their opportunities once they leave school. We focus on…
- Not just what they learn but how they learn
- Life skills that extend beyond the classroom
- Rewards for pursuit of passion
- Guidance by industry experts
This starts from day 1…
The Year 7 transition program we run is based around the development of positive relationships between students and between teachers/students to ensure that students feel connected with our school. They have to feel happy and secure in their classroom to be ready to learn.
So, Education by Design means we always offer differentiated learning, encouraging high level thinking and problem solving. We have in place many opportunities for broadening the students’ learning beyond the classroom - in academic extension, leadership, music and sport and through the McClelland Academy Program or MAP which students absolutely love. No other secondary school we are aware of allows students to choose electives in Year 7. At other schools, you won’t choose a subject until you are in Year 9.
So, results our students achieve continue to grow every year and at VCE our Dux last year scored an ATAR of 99.35. Only one student on the Peninsula scored a fraction higher (99.5). That shows you that we are on the right track… and each year an increasing proportion of our students are accessing University courses, even though this has always been high. Last year’s Dux is now studying Civil Engineering with a Dean’s Scholarship, which includes being paid $6000 a year to study! And I am pleased to say that all of our 2017 graduates are currently either studying or working… none are doing nothing. This is why two of my four children are already attending McClelland College!!
Back to Top