Welcome back to the 2019 school year. In particular, I would like to welcome our new students, all Year 7s and a large number of new students in years 8-12. We hope that you settle into our school very quickly and that you make the most of your learning opportunities by attending each day, being ready to learn and striving to achieve your personal best.

We have had a great start this year again with in excess of 80% of our student and parent community coming in to school on Wednesday 30th January to attend our First Day Student Conferences with our Teacher Advisors. This is now the seventh year since we have introduced this process with the aim of these meetings to build a positive relationship between students, staff and parents and ensure that every child is ready to learn and prepared to achieve their personal best. Students had their photos taken and discussed their learning needs with their teacher adviser and parents. It was a very positive process and congratulations to everyone who took part in the program.

YEAR 7 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Abbagail Hill and Xavier Adams are the recipients of the Year7 General Excellence Scholarships for 2019. At assembly last Friday, Abbagail and Xavier were presented with their new iPads from Shepparton High School. Congratulations one again to Abbagail and Xavier.

YEAR 7 MENTORS

A big thank-you to our fantastic mentors who have spent the first week of the school year assisting our new Year 7 students in their commencement of secondary school. Former students Elly Gwynn, Jordyn Smith, Alana Meka and Elisa Rigoni have been fantastic in assisting our new Year 7’s in settling in to their new environment and ensuring the transition from primary to secondary school has been both enjoyable and stress free. These mentors have also been terrific in assisting our Year 7 Team Leaders and teaching staff with meeting the individual needs of our new students.

TEACHER ADVISOR PROGRAM

As you are aware our Teacher Advisor (TA) sessions take place after lunch every day for fourteen minutes. Within this time, we have established a program to assist students and their TA to build relationships, take care of the daily organisational structure of the school e.g. absenteeism, uniform, focused reading time and exploration of topics to assist the students with their wellbeing.

Our first topic is “welcoming” our students back to school with discussion on our core values 'Respect Responsibility and Commitment' and what this means to our school and wider community and students getting to know one another in the TA group. We also work on Career Action Plans where the students all set learning and career goals. We also touch on our Sun Smart Policy (wide brim hats Term 1 and 4) and the effects of the sun to our bodies.

XUNO LEARNING PORTAL

Trouble logging in?

If you have lost your Parent Portal password or have trouble logging in, please either contact the school office on 58214322 or email the school at shepparton.hs@edumail.vic.gov.au. A new password will be emailed home to your address.

Subject Specific - Online Reporting

Over the course of the year, you and your child will be in a position to follow progress in each subject studied through the schools’ online learning portal XUNO. For each subject your child will have at least one assessment task uploaded per term and given feedback on. We hope that reporting on progress more frequently will give you, and your child’s teachers, the opportunity to celebrate your child’s strengths, develop learning plans for improvement, and as well as discuss issues as and when they arise.

SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTIONS 2019

Our school community needs you. School Council helps to set our future directions for our school and I encourage parents to consider becoming involved in some capacity. Elections for School Council will take place in March.

What is a school council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school within statewide guidelines. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the school council?

For most school councils, there are three possible categories of membership:

• A mandated elected Parent category – more than one third of the total members must be from this category. Department of Education and Training (DET) employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not employed at the school.

• A mandated elected DET employee category – members of this category may make up no more than one-third of the total membership of school council. The principal of the school is automatically one of these members.

• An optional Community member category – members are co-opted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members.

Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. The term of office of half the members expires each year, creating vacancies for the annual school council elections.

Why is Parent membership so important?

Parents on school councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school. Those parents who become active on a school council find the involvement satisfying in itself and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the elections, which are held in Term 1 each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might seriously consider

• standing for election as a member of the school council

• encouraging another person to stand for election.

Do I need special experience to be on school council?

No. What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

Nominations

If you decide to stand for election as a parent or community member, a nomination form can be obtained from the General Office. Please return nomination forms to the Principal by Friday 22nd February 2019. Candidates can choose two ways for nomination:

Self-nomination
Nomination by an eligible person i.e. nominated by someone eligible from the same category for which you are able to stand.

Thank you to all members on the current council for the time and effort they have put into their roles as school councillors. The following council member’s two year term has elapsed and they are eligible for re-election. Christy Gray, Betul Tuna. The following parent members were elected last year for a two year term Rebecca Stoll, Steve Christopher and Michelle Lynch.

STUDENT ACCIDENT INSURANCE

Parents are reminded the Department of Education does not provide personal accident insurance for students. Parents and guardians are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including transport costs. We recommend you seek assistance with this matter from your insurance broker or find a suitable personal accident insurer.

Christine Cole Principal

Amy Gallacher Asst Principal

Julie Jerome Asst Principal

Media Report

You may have seen a media report about video footage depicting fights involving students from Shepparton High School and other local schools, which had been posted on social media.

We are committed to supporting our school community and we take conduct like this very seriously. I want to assure you we took appropriate action as soon as the incidents came to our attention and we will work closely with all those affected.

Please contact me directly on 5821 4322 if you have any concerns you would like to discuss.

Christine Cole

Principal

Dates to Remember

Wednesday 14 February Swimming Sports

Tuesday 2nd April Cross Country period 5/6

Wednesday 3rd April P/T Interviews 4-7pm

Thursday 4th April - Staff PD - Student Free Day

Friday 5th April P/T Interviews 10am-1pm

Last Day Term 1

Before & After School

The school provides staff supervision for students arriving before school between 8.35am and 9.00am. After school supervision is provided between 3.16pm and 3.58pm.

Swimming Sports Day!

Thursday 14th February