Principal's news

Shelford operations update

In facing a longer period of lockdown and remote learning, we are adjusting to a new normal again.

I thank parents profusely for your support of our teachers, programs and school. We are confident that we are engaging students in their learning and supporting them as individuals but please reach out if you wish to talk through any concerns at all. Communication is key.

We have been planning for the following weeks, balancing the desire to continue with classes and keep our students learning on track, with allowing for a break and respite for our students and staff, who find remote learning tiring and, at times, difficult.

A reminder that Friday 20 August is our scheduled mid-term break.

We have also planned two other occasions where our students can take a breath and have some time away from studies if necessary: 

Thursday 26 August 

Periods 5 and 6 – student free

(VCE Unit 3/4 classes may run – teachers will communicate directly with students.)

Tuesday 31 August 

Shelford’s inaugural Follow your Passion Day. 

There will be no scheduled classes for Prep–Year 11.

Students will be able to opt in to activities on Teams this day, which will be run by students and staff, sharing their area of passion with the community and enabling participants to try a new skill. We imagine cooking, crafts, gardening, dance, books, fitness and many other options will be available, as part of this fun day.

(VCE Unit 3/4 classes may run – teachers will communicate directly with students).

Strategic plan

Our current strategic plan has been developed in consultation with the Executive, the Shelford Board and staff and has been shared with the Shelford Parents’ Association. It will be published on our website in the next week and I will provide a link for parents to view. This is a dynamic document that will inform our planning in the short–medium term. We have learnt in recent times that circumstances can alter quickly and we need to be agile and adaptive in our thinking!

Policies update

We have been updating a number of key policies in line with regulatory requirements, changes in standards and for best practice purposes, to ensure that we have a strong framework to work within.

The following policies have recently been revised and updated: Child Safety; Code of Conduct; Anaphylaxis Management; and Complaints and Grievance. These are available on our website for parents to view.

In addition, a number of other policies in relation to Board governance, teaching and learning and student wellbeing have been updated. These will form part of our learning with staff and also be made available to the community through Shelly, our website and in parent webinars and information evenings. A policy is great to have but to be effective, it needs to be a document that is widely known, talked about and understood.

Science Week

Never has the importance of science been more evident than at this time in history, when the work of scientists, in collaboration around the globe, has led to an effective vaccine for COVID-19 to be developed and distributed in a significantly reduced amount of time.

When Mattel announced a barbie doll series honouring six women in health care who have been on the frontlines of the fight against COVID -19, I knew that we had turned a corner in recognising women and their key role in scientific fields, research and enquiry, in popular culture.

We are continuing to recognise the Science Week theme Food: Different by design at Shelford, despite our remote learning, with several activities planned, particularly in the Junior School. We also have a STEM challenge for Year 9, which ties in with this year’s Science Week theme, focusing on Food Science, postponed to a little later this term, when we hope to be back on site.

We are not tokenistic in our support of science though and value it highly at all stages of our learning continuum. Our youngest students learn about the world around them, the planets, and other scientific principles and science is a key focus throughout Years 7 and 8. Along with Food Technology and Digitech, we focus on understanding the world through a scientific lens.

Many of our students take up Science subjects as part of their VCE program and go into the science and engineering areas as part of their further studies. This is an area, along with technology and health care, of enormous potential for growth and employment in the future. 

If we look at some of the key issues of our day: caring for the aged, managing our environment particularly disaster relief, reducing emissions, working to contain biological threats such as coronavirus, securing our future energy requirements, securing sanitary and water requirements in developing countries and elsewhere, vaccinating the developing world, managing scarce resources, developing medical and scientific technology, exploring space – science is at the heart of all of the problems and the solutions. 

The world needs women who are creative, great communicators, collaborators, leaders and committed problem solvers, to see science as a way of changing the world. We nurture this disposition at Shelford and support girls in their passion in this area every day. Every week is Science Week here at Shelford!

Katrina Brennan

Principal

Marketing survey 

Shelford is currently conducting some market research on parental awareness and perceptions within our catchment area. We would appreciate your input as a Shelford parent to compare against the wider audience sample. The short online survey takes about 5 minutes, is entirely anonymous and confidential, and you’ll also have the chance to win a cash prize for participating: https://whichschoolsurvey.questionpro.com