Senior School Update

The Senior School continues to be a busy place with many opportunities and activities on offer for our students.  

Year 7 Camp 

Last week, the Year 7 students embarked on an enriching camp to Marysville, where they had the invaluable chance to explore their individual growth and strengthen their group dynamics. Enhancing this experience, three dedicated Year 10 Peer Support leaders joined the camp, collaborating with the Year 7s to successfully navigate various activities and tackle group challenges. The highlight of the final evening was undoubtedly the talent show, where students and teachers alike showcased their impressive array of skills, creating memorable moments for all involved. 

International Women’s Day (IWD) - Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress. 

This year’s theme Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress brings to the fore the importance that women's economic empowerment is central to a gender equal world. When women are given equal opportunities to learn, earn and lead – entire communities thrive.  

On IWD myself and two of the Year 12 students were incredibly fortunate to be invited to Westpac’s International Women’s Day lunch with guest speaker Dr Sonja Hood, the current CEO of Community Hubs Australia and the President of the North Melbourne Football Club. During her address Sonja shared the important work her Community Hub team are doing nationally to encourage social cohesion and support migrant and 

refugee families, especially women, to connect, share and learn.  Additionally, Sonja shared her endeavours at the North Melbourne Football Club, where she is actively working to address the gender pay gap and enhance equity among female and male players and coaching staff. 

We held our International Women's Day whole school assembly this week, where our Student Voice and Diversity Prefects took the lead in hosting a panel discussion involving students and staff. They addressed questions aligned with this year's theme, creating an engaging and insightful session for everyone involved.  

Parliamentarians 

Recently each home group voted for their 2024 class Parliamentarian. Parliamentarians are expected to take an active interest, participate fully in the life of the Year level and school and be a role model to their peers. They meet regularly as the Student Parliament, with the Student Voice Captain, and members of Shelford leadership to discuss issues and implement improvements in the experience of students at school. Each Parliamentarian received their badge last week in year level assemblies and will be presented to the Senior School in the last assembly for the term. It is with great pleasure I announce the 2024 Parliamentarians: 

We look forward to the work they will achieve this year as the Student Parliament. 

NAPLAN 

This week our Year 7 and 9 students complete their online NAPLAN testing for 2024. The NAPLAN tests offer our students the opportunity to take part in ‘low-stakes’ assessments on their knowledge and skills in Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy.  

Later in the year you will receive your child’s personal NAPLAN report. The report will describe your child’s particular skills in Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy. The report will also show how your child performed in relation to national minimum standards. These describe the minimum standards for students across Australia. 

Rowing Events 

We wish our rowers all the best as they make the final preparations for two major events of the season: Head of School Girls (HOSG) and Nationals. All Shelford students and families are warmly invited to come and support the rowers for our final HOSG this coming weekend in Geelong. The Rowing Captains have prepared a ‘fact sheet’ for the day which includes location, parking and what to bring with you. You can find it here:

Upcoming Senior School Dates