Principal's news

It is great to see our students and staff back on site this term, following what I hope was a restful and enjoyable winter break. 

The Winter Q magazine has arrived, and I am sure you will agree is a testament to the extraordinary opportunities available to our students. 

An undoubted highlight of the year so far was the Junior School Musical, The Lion King, which was a resounding success. I thank the very talented staff involved with this production: Karla Nyhuis for directing; and Jenni Thom and Kelsey Holden, for their respective work with music and choreography. The students were centre stage and they were a delight to work with and to see perform. 

Our teachers are working hard each and every lesson to ensure that students’ academic growth and development continue. COVID-19 and its interruptions have been a challenge and curriculum has been adapted to suit remote learning and the ongoing absences of students and staff. Our teachers are enjoying being onsite and re-establishing relationships, working individually with students and alongside them, and having the class dynamic reinvigorated. I thank them for all the work that they do and for their skill, professionalism and care. 

We are looking forward to a busy and productive Term 3. This week we have the Senior School House Performing Arts on Friday. This is a premier event on the Shelford calendar that has been greatly missed in the last few years. It will make a very welcome return and students have been working incredibly hard to finesse their performances in time. 

In addition, in Term 3 we will celebrate Faith, Science and Book Weeks. The Year 9 STEM challenge will take place in correlation with Science Week. A future insights careers morning will be held and subject information selection evenings and processes will conclude.  

Our Sports staff are busy as ever with the GSV weekly sports of soccer, volleyball and badminton, GSV and SYDSA Athletics carnivals, Year 8 kayaking, JS intensive swimming and Energy Hub. In the Performing Arts, there will be a Band and Strings concert, Choir camp and Choral concert, our inaugural Senior School Play and AMEB music examinations. Much to be looking forward to! 

We will continue to run a series of parent webinars, as well as Parent–Teacher discussions and the Board–SPA–Parents Q&A forum, in order to continue to work together effectively. 

A huge congratulations to our Senior School Coding Club students, who this weekend came first andsecond in the RoboCup competition at Genezanno College. I look forward to reading more about this in our next newsletter. Big appreciation to Ms McKenzie for her ongoing work with this group, and all the students at Shelford, to encourage their interest and passion in all things Science, Technology and Engineering!  

And finally, it is with the greatest pleasure that we also congratulate Shelford’s Senior String Orchestra who gave an extraordinary performance on Monday night at the Victorian School Music Festival and were awarded gold. Our orchestra (Years 7–12) has a number of younger players but was competing in the highest category of this competition. Their teamwork and musicianship was inspiring and we are all very proud of them all. Raina Roy did a superb job in leading and performed her solos within the orchestra brilliantly. I thank Ruth Dixon-Lawrence for her work in leading this ensemble and our strings program and Frank Blakiston for his support. 

Katrina Brennan

Principal