Message from the Principal 

I wrote to the school community earlier in the yearto express my grave concern for the health and wellbeing of young people with the crisis associated with vaping. Thank you for the messages of support and endorsement. 

I was very pleased to hear last week that the Federal Health Minister announced that the government will be banning all recreational vapes, including single-use vapes that have been marketed and sold illegally to young people.  It was pleasing also that there will be extra investments in providing educational materials about the dangers of vaping, and extra support for those that are dealing with addiction or other misuse issues. It will take some time for the legislation and associated policy changes to make their way through the system, so we must all be vigilant and mindful of the problem amongst us. One change I made is not using any business selling vapes and politely letting them know my concerns.

Thanks to the many parents and carers who were able to make time to meet with their child's teacher last week at our Parent Teacher Interviews. The day was very busy and well attended. I remind you that you can also contact teachers directly via our Compass app - please drop into Reception if you ever need help connecting to this critical tool.

New Campus Fencing

I announced the news in March that the school was very fortunate to secure the support of the Department of Education to fully fund and construct a new full-height fence around the full perimeter of our sprawling site. I have included much of that original announcement here, with some extra details in response to questions and queries since.

It is the biggest fencing project the Department has undertaken in Victoria, which reflects how big our site is!! It will be an attractive, consistent and expertly constructed black 2.1m palisade-style fence (see sample below). The cyclone fencing around our oval will also be upgraded to 4.0m to better limit balls from being kicked off the field. 

Construction is now scheduled to commence around the 22nd May, and is likely to take several months. It will be done in stages, with the Omeara Street end of our campus being first. Please see the section below if you are interested in registering to collect any of the existing fencing that will be available for free.

I have advocated strongly for such an improvement since commencement. Protecting the security and integrity of our campus is critical, and we have a significant duty of care to all our students and staff. Like any workplace, we need to have effective measures in place to ensure we are able to control and monitor who enters and leaves our campus, and this investment by the Department will greatly facilitate that.

Once installed, the campus will operate quite differently during the school day and after hours - but all changes will be focused on ensuring the safe and effective operation of our school. 

We expect to utilise only two pedestrian access points to the campus daily – one pedestrian gate on Phillipson Street (open for school commencement and closure, however locked throughout the day) and on Edwards Street near Reception (that will remain open for the whole school day and be our main entrance). This will significantly improve our campus operations and safety. The staff car park will have electrically controlled automatic gates.

The fencing has been designed to allow the bus interchange to function even if our campus is closed. We do not envisage the Omeara Street gates to open regularly, except for essential services. A full-length fence on Phillipson Street, all the way to the One Mile Creek bridge, will cease any informal and unauthorised thoroughfare during the school day or after hours. It is also pleasing that we can finally stop unauthorised and sometimes unsafe vehicle access to our site, and prevent the consequential damage (either deliberate or accidental) that occurs when vehicles drive on our gardens and ovals. The staff car park will be controlled with motorised gates remaining closed all day.

Excess Fencing Available for Community Salvage

Our entire existing fencing will be removed and disposed of by the appointed contractor. However, we are keen to offer all of the materials to the community for use. We welcome enquiries from organisations or individuals who want to take all or some of the fencing. It will be provided free and ‘as-is’, and there will be some conditions attached to the timing of collection to ensure the project is not disrupted. 

If you are interested, please make contact with your details and the sections of fence that you want to Wangaratta.hs@education.vic.gov.au.

Welcome

This term we welcome Sam Caddey as one of our Visual Arts Teacher and Cosmo Lombardi as our Italian Assistant. We are also extremely fortunate to have 3 student teachers, Katrinia, Brianna and Dave from the University of Melbourne join us for four weeks on placement. Welcome to our team!

Have a great week,

Dave Armstrong

Executive Principal