Principal's Message

Welcome to Term 2

Welcome back to Term 2 everyone. After a pretty frantic first week, it’s great to see things settling and the school getting back into a strong routine. There’s been a really positive feel around the place with students reconnecting with their learning, staff hitting their stride, and families continuing to back us. Term 2 is a great chance to build momentum, tidy up our habits, and keep pushing ourselves to improve. Most importantly, it’s a team effort—when we all work together, we get the best out of each other. Really looking forward to a joint effort this term and seeing what we can achieve as a whole school community.

School Fete Easter Extravaganza

Thank you to everyone for their support of the 2026 School Fete.  It worked well in the new areas of the school.   Our fete is only possible with the support of our wonderful school community and the visiting small schools.

Thanks for all your wonderful donations, all of which were greatly appreciated.

A special thanks to all the small businesses, parents, community groups and service organisations for coming along to participate.  There were over twenty different stall and student activities this year!  A huge thanks to all staff members and students for providing the entertainment once again. A super team effort everybody.

Well Done to All Deb Ball Participants

I’d like to take a moment to sincerely thank De De Williams for the incredible job she has done as our dancing instructor once again, 13 years is an amazing achievement. De De, your energy, patience, and passion has brought so much joy and confidence to our students. You haven’t just taught routines, you’ve built confidence, teamwork, and pride in every student involved. We are truly grateful for the impact you’ve made.

I also want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our Wedderburn Parents Association led by Melinda Springthorpe, Jo Winslett and Errin Leach for their organisation of a very successful Deb Ball.    It was an amazing collective effort, the Debs, partners, families, staff members and everyone else involved. It was fantastic to have this event held back again here in Steel Stadium.

A special mention to the many staff members, too many to name individually, and parents who have given up countless hours behind the scenes — your time, effort, and commitment do not go unnoticed. Time is the greatest gift you can give, and we are incredibly grateful that you’ve chosen to share your personal time with our school community.

Thank you everybody for your continued support of Wedderburn P–12 College. There has never been a better time to be in Wedderburn, and to be involved at Wedderburn College.  Thanks once again for an awesome evening. 

ANZAC Day Services

A huge thank you to everyone who attended one of six ANZAC Day services in our local area on Saturday.  A special thanks to all our students and staff volunteers who participated in services, laid wreaths or simply attended.  We were able to support the following services: Wedderburn Dawn Service 6 am, Morning Service at 11 am including a march from the Police station at 10:45 am, Bridgewater 6:00am, Rheola 8:30am, Korong Vale 9:30am and Inglewood 11:30 am.  A great effort by everyone, including our own School ANZAC Service which makes seven ANZAC events.  I have had a lot of positive feedback about our students being involved.  Well done all participants!

Congratulations to our Year 11 Kokoda Scholarship Winners

Albert “Knocker” Hayes Kokoda Scholarship Recipent - Jamie Penrose

Norman “Digger” Letts Scholarship Recipient – Aidan Wingfield

It’s a youth scholarship program for Year 11 students (mainly in Gippsland and other Victorian regions) that funds them to:

• Travel to Papua New Guinea 
• Trek the Kokoda Track (a physically demanding WWII trail) 
• Learn about Australia’s military history, especially the Kokoda campaign 

The program is designed to be educational, leadership-focused, and life-changing.

Successful applicants:

• Complete a multi-day trek (around 8–9 days, ~120–140 km) through jungle terrain 
• Are assigned a local soldier from their region and carry their photo during the trek 
• Visit key battle sites and Bomana War Cemetery to honour fallen soldiers 
• Reflect on the experience and make a personal commitment about their future 

After returning, students often:

• Become “Kokoda ambassadors” for about a year 
• Speak at schools, RSLs, and community events about what they learned

Purpose of the scholarship

The program aims to:

• Teach young Australians about the sacrifices of WWII soldiers 
• Build resilience, leadership, and character 
• Strengthen connection to local history (many soldiers came from regional Victoria) 
• Give students a challenging, perspective-changing experience

Management of COVID-19/Influenza/Colds

We have recently had notification that some students are showing signs of COVID.

We are starting to see an increase in students presenting with flu like symptoms.  If everyone can please maintain high standards of hygiene and continue to wash and sanitise hands.  Looking at the current advice it is recommended that staff members, students or visitors who have symptoms of cold, influenza or COVID-19 do not attend school, or go home as soon as possible after becoming unwell at school. Parents of symptomatic students should be asked to collect their child from school and keep them home until they are no longer symptomatic.

The Department of Health recommends that staff and students who test positive for COVID-19 isolate for a minimum of 5 days and do not attend school until their symptoms resolve.

Industrial Action Term 2

School staff pay and conditions and continuing industrial action Term 2, 2026

As parents and carers know, staff at our school who are members of the Australian Education Union (AEU) have been involved in long-running negotiations with the state government and the Department of Education for improved pay and conditions.

Despite an increased number of ongoing negotiations and the commencement of industrial action, including the statewide full day stop-work last term, there is still no fair offer on the table to address the key issues facing public school staff. Victoria’s public schools remain the lowest funded in the country, teachers are the lowest paid, with education support staff and school leaders underpaid as well. School staff also continue to face significant workload pressures.  Staffing shortages continue to be experienced in public schools across the state. 

As part of the campaign, AEU members will be taking further industrial action, including half-day stopworks on a rolling, region-by-region basis. This means each school will be affected once. We understand this can cause disruption for students and families.  Staff are taking this action because they care deeply about public education and want to see our schools properly funded, and to receive fair pay and conditions, all of which are critical to a prosperous future for Victoria’s public school students.

Union members at Wedderburn College will stop work for half a day on 13/05/2026 (Wednesday Week 4 Term 2) We will continue to keep families informed about any action that may affect our school community.  We will not know how many teachers will take a half day strike however we are expecting from our initial unofficial straw pole is that more staff will likely be participating in the strike action this time around.  School buses will run as normal there will not be a half day pick up.   

Unfortunately Learning conversations that were also scheduled for next week will also be postponed until further notice.  Please reach out to your child's homeroom teacher if you have any questions.    

Our Wedderburn College School Council will not be able to meet while the industrial action is also taking place as all staff representatives are AEU members. 

Ban on  of written comments in student reports 

School reports will look different this semester.

This action relates to AEU members banning all aspects of work related to the provision of written comments on student reports to parents or carers.

Reporting to parents or carers numerical student achievement, satisfactory/not satisfactory information for VCE, and equivalent information for special settings is not included in this ban. 

This action applies to AEU members employed by the Department of Education as a teacher, paraprofessional, education support employee, assistant principal or principal.  Staff who are AEU members will not provide written comments however non union staff members will have to provide written comments. 

These bans will commence at 6.00am on Monday 20 April 2026 and remains in place unless the AEU advises otherwise.