Message from our Principal

School Council news

 Our school council recently held its AGM. We were very pleased this year to have three new council members nominated to the school council, all of whom are High School parents: Glenn Fieldew, Allan Thrum and Suzzanne Goldsworthy. Welcome and thank you to Glenn, Allan and Suzzanne. 

Long-serving Council member Ben Hedderman is our new 2026 School Council President. Helen Collins has been president until now and continues on school council as our new treasurer. Special thank you to Helen for her service to the school and to the council as president since 2023.

I would like to extend my sincere thank you and public acknowledgement to outgoing and long-serving school council members Julie Tzaros and Sandy King. Julie and Sandy have been on the school council for my entire time at the school and had served before I arrived - a very significant contribution to Wangaratta High School. 

Stored Responses: A Strategy for Staying Calm Under Pressure

Wangaratta High School is in the second year of a three-year partnership with Real Schools to support our whole-school approach to restorative practice. As part of that partnership, we regularly share ideas and resources with our parent and carer community - because what we do at school works best when it connects with what happens at home.

I have written about stored responses before in previous newsletters -  no hesitation to repeat and amplify the same message. It is one of the most practical tools we have come across and incredibly useful for parents and carers 

We have all been there. You ask your teenager to clean their room and somehow it escalates into a full-blown argument. A friend drama from the day before spills over into the morning in ways you did not expect. Or you get a call from school and before you have even heard the full story, you are already in defensive mode.

These moments tend to catch us off guard - and when that happens, our instinctive brain takes over. This is the limbic system, the part of our brain wired for fight or flight. It is fast, reactive, and not particularly helpful when what the situation actually calls for is a calm, measured response.

The rational part of our brain - the neocortex - is much better equipped to handle these moments. The challenge is that when we are caught off guard, the limbic system tends to get there first.

This is where stored responses come in. A stored response is essentially a pre-planned reaction - something you have already thought through for a situation you know is likely to come up. By having a response ready in advance, you give your neocortex a head start. Instead of reacting in the heat of the moment, you draw on something you have already prepared.

Take the messy bedroom example. The emotionally reactive version might look like raised voices, threats, or grabbing a garbage bag and announcing that everything is going in the bin. The stored response version might look like this: on Friday evening you quietly place a washing basket at the bedroom door, stocked with cleaning products and a simple checklist. When your child asks what it is about, you already know what you are going to say - something calm and matter-of-fact about what needs to be done by Saturday morning, and how good it will feel for everyone to have the weekend free once it is sorted.

Same situation. Very different outcome.

Stored responses do not mean suppressing how you feel. They mean preparing yourself so that when a tough moment arrives, you are not starting from scratch. You have already done the thinking. You know what you want to say, and how you want to say it.

It is a small shift, but it can make a significant difference - both to the immediate moment and to the relationship over time.

Our staff will continue developing these skills alongside our students at the next Real Schools full professional learning day on Friday 24 April, which will be a student-free curriculum day. We look forward to sharing more from that day in future newsletters.

Building Works

I'm fortunate to have regular walk-throughs with the builders to see progress first hand for the full renovation of our Flexible Learning Centre. Works are progressing well on this building, with their work expected to be completed in August 2026. Most pleasing for all is seeing the first parts of the internal walls take shape. After work on this building finishes, the builders move straight to our senior building and courtyard which are also being significantly renovated.

Dave Armstrong

Executive Principal, March 2026