Have you ever read the picture story book ‘Just Another Ordinary Day’?

It’s a humorous book about a girl called Amanda who goes about her day as if it is ordinary, when in fact it is anything but! She has fantastic adventures and challenges and manages them all with ease. This really sums up the experiences of our students this year, which although more settled than the past two years definitely still had its challenges.

To say that the experiences of COVID have changed our school community is very true, but in Verney Road style we have capitalised on the positives and wrapped around our families to support them through tough times. Our students yet again grabbed every opportunity and it has been a privilege to see them develop and grow.

We have taken every opportunity to celebrate our students’ achievements.

This year saw the return of our Debutante Ball. What a magical night it was at The Woolshed with 16 of our Year 12 students partnered by Greater Shepparton Secondary College and Notre Dame students.

This year to celebrate the International Day for People with a Disability, in a Verney Road first, we ran a school fete. What a great time this was with show bags, face painting, a range of other stalls and a disco in the Hall. We also participated in further celebrations with Greater Shepparton City Council offering an inclusive sports day. At this event our school designed ‘Moooving Art Cow’ was unveiled with artwork designed by our students. Happily we were also able to have a range of camps and excursions across the school run again this year.

One thing we didn’t see coming at the start of the year was the major flooding of Shepparton, Mooroopna and surrounding towns in November. Although we would have preferred not to face this additional challenge, we have a strong school community that showed its readiness to support our students, families and wider community. Staff whose houses were not inundated or isolated by floods, cooked hundreds of meals, packed hampers, volunteered at relief centres and of course checked in with every family. We then took pride in opening our school again as soon as possible to bring support and routine to those students who could get to school.

Our students are nothing but resilient. I marvel at their capacity to adapt to the changing situations, show joy in being at school and of course maintain their ability to be great learners. What a great year you have had showing us that you exemplify the school’s values of being safe, respectful, resilient and learners.

A huge thank you goes to all of our staff who really are dedicated beyond measure.

I would also like to farewell the following staff; Janine Thorne, Michelle Ryan and Kim Farrell who are retiring after many year of dedicated service to our school; our trainees Bryce Street, Sally Dowling, Macy Bollard, Clarise Gale; Jen Shields who will be starting family leave, Ella Tonks, Andrew Renato and Cindy Beckingham. During the year we also farewelled Paul Cathcart, Zarli Miller, Emma Aitken, Maddie Fairley, Riley Etherington.

Pride in our school continues to grow. Our staff and students have again shown their commitment to learning and their ability to thrive no matter what is thrown at them. Congratulations to our Verney Road School community on a fantastic 2022.

2023 promises to be even bigger and better with our new school’s build set to begin. Perhaps it will begin with ‘just another ordinary day’.

2022 School Magazine