Principal's Report 2024
Just a few weeks ago, a spontaneous, joyful concert broke out in the yard with students from a number of year levels singing along accompanied by an instrumental music student on guitar. What an uplifting sound and sight. It filled me with hope.
Moments like this are a breath of fresh air when the news media is overflowing with reports of the rising youth crime rate and critical articles about how schools and teachers are failing students.
Our small school reflects recent recommendations to government and has classes of 15 students, individual tutoring, a social worker, a compliance officer to deal with the paperwork and very experienced, talented teachers and yet we remain concerned about student progress.
But there are other powerful forces at work here.
A revolution occurred in the last 20 years, driven by tech companies, and one that is stealing children’s attention and exposing them to a dark underside of life in their own bedrooms. The result is exhausted, stressed young people struggling to learn.
Many of our students, across all year levels, are finding it difficult to pay attention. Some lay their heads on the desk, others are so sleep deprived that they end up catching up on sleep in the sick bay, something that not too long ago happened like clockwork every night rather than during school hours. Occasionally students are too tired to get up in the morning at all. Gaming and social media has filled the hours where once existed sleep.
Fighting off the urge to sleep has the immediate impact of inability to pay attention, marked by changes in behaviour, and the outcome is the further inability to absorb new learning. The obvious result is that if a child has gaps in learning no effort individual teachers make will be very effective when sleep deprivation is a constant. Teachers are doing their best in an altered world.
The impact of loss of attention also means sustained reading is increasingly an effort for many children and young people. During our 30 minutes of sustained reading each day, some students, who use iPhones, claim not to be able to read. Clearly, the hours of screen reading they do is more akin to rapid scanning and seems to have contributed to the loss of enjoyment in reading in a slower, deeper and more meaningful way.
It goes without saying that stressed children cannot learn well. Children and young people are now at risk of exposure to bullying, pornography, coercive control from 'boyfriends' in other states or even other countries, white supremacists and other hate groups, conspiracy theories and misogynistic hatred on social media platforms for hours every night in their own bedrooms. At an important time of life, where forging identity is a crucial task for young people, it is hard to imagine the deep confusion, anger and hurt that the content of social media platforms must cause.
Parents are concerned about their children’s use of devices and lack of sleep. Sometimes they call us for help with this and the best we can do is to suggest they take the device off the child at bedtime. As any parent of a teenager will know, this is easier said than done, especially when social media habits have become ingrained. It also ignores the fact that we are all in the grip of tech companies that do not possess a moral compass, that devise ever more catchy ways to seize attention for their continued profit, and have no qualms about turning children’s lives and attention into products.
Every morning, our students routinely hand their phones in at the office. This a gift of time and attention that we give our students for six hours each day. But not everyone sees it that way. Last year we enrolled a student who was bullied at a previous school. This student refused to hand her phone in and subsequently she returned to the previous school where she was being bullied but could keep the iPhone on her all day. Such is the power of social media platforms.
We urgently need to start paying attention to the damage powerful tech companies are doing to children's learning. Parents, teachers and the general community must come together and demand governments act against tech companies that use children as a commodity with not one thought for their wellbeing, their sleep and their learning. Why should such lawless platforms be free of government legislation? And why are educators themselves not speaking up more about the loss of attention and the impact on learning caused by social media platforms?
The tech billionaires know full well what they have deliberately done. They know that by stealing attention they will break our social fabric. They know the kind of society their unscrupulous methods have driven and they fear for their own safety. Why else would they be planning on heading for the hills or the deserts to be guarded in bunkers rather than fix the problems they have knowingly created and have within their power to resolve.
Unless we want a society that looks and sounds like the science fiction film, Idiocracy, we all need to start paying attention, stop blaming falling educational standards solely on schools and force the tech billionaires to take responsibility for their actions.
In the meantime, there is hope to be found in creativity; music, art, literature, the sciences, and where kindness remains, it too, gives us hope. I'm hoping for another spontaneous student concert full of the warmth and spirit of goodwill of the first.
Bronwyn Rose
Principal
Assistant Principal's Report 2024
The last half of 2023 and first half of 2024 have been quite hectic particularly in regards to trialling and providing new and exciting curriculum subjects at Junior levels (such as media studies, film studies, drama and a music program involving students learning the ukulele and guitar).
At Senior level (10,11 and 12), we gave students a range of VET, VCE and VCE-VM subjects, allowing them to choose, to a large extent, subjects they were interested in and which also necessitated the production of individualised timetables for all Year 10 and 11 students.
In 2024 we have been able to offer, and run, VCE-VM literacy, numeracy, Work related skills, Personal Development Skills, VCE English, Psychology and Art Making and Exhibiting (photography) as well as VCE VET Certificate II in Cookery, Certificate III in IT, and Certificate III in Community Services. Of particular interest is Kerry Short teaching his VCE photography students to produce great photographs with the antiquated pin hole camera, and also teaching the students how to use the dark room to develop negatives
In 2025 we will be once again be offering the Diploma of Community Services as there is currently a sufficient number of students who wish to study in this area to make a viable class.
Our usual camping program has gone ahead this year, with tours to Japan, Central Australia, Cairns and the snow at Mount Bulla in the snow season. These camps are addition to the usual overnight camps for each year level.
Then, of course, there are the many and varied incursions and day excursions such as the Science day for Year 9, the Murray Valley Adventures day for Year 10, the drama excursion to Bendigo to see Macbeth and the Year 7 trip to Melbourne to participate in circus activities.
Staff have worked particularly hard this year to update and document their subject and year level curriculum to the current revised curriculums especially in regards to the 7 – 10 Australian Curriculum.
A huge thank also goes to staff who have all worked as hard as ever to provide our students with care, kindness and enjoyable learning experiences whilst still working within the curriculum guidelines.
I also need to thank the office staff, in particular Kylie and Irene, who seem to have made slaves of us all without us really realising it. Our obedience to them is unquestioning.
Rosemary Hocking
Assistant Principal
Chairperson’s Report 2024
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” - Henry Ford
Here we go again … another year has swiftly passed us by at Shepparton ACE Secondary College. Looking back on another year I would like to the focus for my report to be around the staff as they are what keeps the school open.
I commend the staff at Shepparton ACE Secondary College for their tireless dedication and commitment to the school and the students as a whole. There are serious shortages of teachers across the state that puts immense pressure on schools, but ACE continues to persevere through this and remain united.
Working in a school can often be tireless and thankless but you, the staff, step up each day to teach, plan curriculum, plan and facilitate activities and excursions, manage student behaviour and ensure all policies and procedures are being adhered to. I would like to thank those that step up and take combined classes (albeit reluctantly), coming in as a CRT, collaborating as a group, all to ensure the smooth running of the school so that the learners may learn.
The office ladies are vital to the success of the school. They are the central hub, the all-seeing eye that provide invaluable information, support and snacks that make the teaching staff’s job easier. Their daily work is like a race track with the duties they perform; they have an endless list of jobs to do, phone calls to make and receive, data and information to import/export all whilst answering staff and student question. It’s a fast-paced position with additional duties randomly coming at them. Like the staff, I appreciate the hard work you all do in being the beating heart of the school.
A cohesive working environment is essential to one’s mental health and productivity. ACE is a small teaching school with a big heart. It is always exciting to hear the College spoken about or referred to in a positive manner from those unfamiliar with how a small Independent school works.
I warmly welcome four-legged staff member ‘Bonnie’ to the College and although I am yet to meet her, I hope she is getting lots of pats and love from the staff and students along with a snack or two and a pup cup during coffee breaks.
Hearing LaTrobe University include the College in it’s ‘Professional Experience Cohort Model’ this year was extremely satisfying. Knowing that ACE is now on the radar as a contender for LaTrobe’s Pre-service teachers due to the support you all offered the eight Pre-service teachers. A positive experience for Pre-service teachers means that they are more likely to enter the profession and promote ACE in a positive manner, the Pre-service teachers will always remember their rounds at ACE and that is due to the wonderful and safe experience you as the staff provided them.
I wish you all the very best for the next financial year.
Georgie Schofield
Chairperson
Just a few weeks ago, a spontaneous, joyful concert broke out in the yard with students from a number of year levels singing along accompanied by an instrumental music student on guitar. What an uplifting sound and sight. It filled me with hope.
Moments like this are a breath of fresh air when the news media is overflowing with reports of the rising youth crime rate and critical articles about how schools and teachers are failing students.
Our small school reflects recent recommendations to government and has classes of 15 students, individual tutoring, a social worker, a compliance officer to deal with the paperwork and very experienced, talented teachers and yet we remain concerned about student progress.
But there are other powerful forces at work here.
A revolution occurred in the last 20 years, driven by tech companies, and one that is stealing children’s attention and exposing them to a dark underside of life in their own bedrooms. The result is exhausted, stressed young people struggling to learn.
Many of our students, across all year levels, are finding it difficult to pay attention. Some lay their heads on the desk, others are so sleep deprived that they end up catching up on sleep in the sick bay, something that not too long ago happened like clockwork every night rather than during school hours. Occasionally students are too tired to get up in the morning at all. Gaming and social media has filled the hours where once existed sleep.
Fighting off the urge to sleep has the immediate impact of inability to pay attention, marked by changes in behaviour, and the outcome is the further inability to absorb new learning. The obvious result is that if a child has gaps in learning no effort individual teachers make will be very effective when sleep deprivation is a constant. Teachers are doing their best in an altered world.
The impact of loss of attention also means sustained reading is increasingly an effort for many children and young people. During our 30 minutes of sustained reading each day, some students, who use iPhones, claim not to be able to read. Clearly, the hours of screen reading they do is more akin to rapid scanning and seems to have contributed to the loss of enjoyment in reading in a slower, deeper and more meaningful way.
It goes without saying that stressed children cannot learn well. Children and young people are now at risk of exposure to bullying, pornography, coercive control from 'boyfriends' in other states or even other countries, white supremacists and other hate groups, conspiracy theories and misogynistic hatred on social media platforms for hours every night in their own bedrooms. At an important time of life, where forging identity is a crucial task for young people, it is hard to imagine the deep confusion, anger and hurt that the content of social media platforms must cause.
Parents are concerned about their children’s use of devices and lack of sleep. Sometimes they call us for help with this and the best we can do is to suggest they take the device off the child at bedtime. As any parent of a teenager will know, this is easier said than done, especially when social media habits have become ingrained. It also ignores the fact that we are all in the grip of tech companies that do not possess a moral compass, that devise ever more catchy ways to seize attention for their continued profit, and have no qualms about turning children’s lives and attention into products.
Every morning, our students routinely hand their phones in at the office. This a gift of time and attention that we give our students for six hours each day. But not everyone sees it that way. Last year we enrolled a student who was bullied at a previous school. This student refused to hand her phone in and subsequently she returned to the previous school where she was being bullied but could keep the iPhone on her all day. Such is the power of social media platforms.
We urgently need to start paying attention to the damage powerful tech companies are doing to children's learning. Parents, teachers and the general community must come together and demand governments act against tech companies that use children as a commodity with not one thought for their wellbeing, their sleep and their learning. Why should such lawless platforms be free of government legislation? And why are educators themselves not speaking up more about the loss of attention and the impact on learning caused by social media platforms?
The tech billionaires know full well what they have deliberately done. They know that by stealing attention they will break our social fabric. They know the kind of society their unscrupulous methods have driven and they fear for their own safety. Why else would they be planning on heading for the hills or the deserts to be guarded in bunkers rather than fix the problems they have knowingly created and have within their power to resolve.
Unless we want a society that looks and sounds like the science fiction film, Idiocracy, we all need to start paying attention, stop blaming falling educational standards solely on schools and force the tech billionaires to take responsibility for their actions.
In the meantime, there is hope to be found in creativity; music, art, literature, the sciences, and where kindness remains, it too, gives us hope. I'm hoping for another spontaneous student concert full of the warmth and spirit of goodwill of the first.
Bronwyn Rose
Principal
Assistant Principal's Report 2024
The last half of 2023 and first half of 2024 have been quite hectic particularly in regards to trialling and providing new and exciting curriculum subjects at Junior levels (such as media studies, film studies, drama and a music program involving students learning the ukulele and guitar).
At Senior level (10,11 and 12), we gave students a range of VET, VCE and VCE-VM subjects, allowing them to choose, to a large extent, subjects they were interested in and which also necessitated the production of individualised timetables for all Year 10 and 11 students.
In 2024 we have been able to offer, and run, VCE-VM literacy, numeracy, Work related skills, Personal Development Skills, VCE English, Psychology and Art Making and Exhibiting (photography) as well as VCE VET Certificate II in Cookery, Certificate III in IT, and Certificate III in Community Services. Of particular interest is Kerry Short teaching his VCE photography students to produce great photographs with the antiquated pin hole camera, and also teaching the students how to use the dark room to develop negatives
In 2025 we will be once again be offering the Diploma of Community Services as there is currently a sufficient number of students who wish to study in this area to make a viable class.
Our usual camping program has gone ahead this year, with tours to Japan, Central Australia, Cairns and the snow at Mount Bulla in the snow season. These camps are addition to the usual overnight camps for each year level.
Then, of course, there are the many and varied incursions and day excursions such as the Science day for Year 9, the Murray Valley Adventures day for Year 10, the drama excursion to Bendigo to see Macbeth and the Year 7 trip to Melbourne to participate in circus activities.
Staff have worked particularly hard this year to update and document their subject and year level curriculum to the current revised curriculums especially in regards to the 7 – 10 Australian Curriculum.
A huge thank also goes to staff who have all worked as hard as ever to provide our students with care, kindness and enjoyable learning experiences whilst still working within the curriculum guidelines.
I also need to thank the office staff, in particular Kylie and Irene, who seem to have made slaves of us all without us really realising it. Our obedience to them is unquestioning.
Rosemary Hocking
Assistant Principal
Chairperson’s Report 2024
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” - Henry Ford
Here we go again … another year has swiftly passed us by at Shepparton ACE Secondary College. Looking back on another year I would like to the focus for my report to be around the staff as they are what keeps the school open.
I commend the staff at Shepparton ACE Secondary College for their tireless dedication and commitment to the school and the students as a whole. There are serious shortages of teachers across the state that puts immense pressure on schools, but ACE continues to persevere through this and remain united.
Working in a school can often be tireless and thankless but you, the staff, step up each day to teach, plan curriculum, plan and facilitate activities and excursions, manage student behaviour and ensure all policies and procedures are being adhered to. I would like to thank those that step up and take combined classes (albeit reluctantly), coming in as a CRT, collaborating as a group, all to ensure the smooth running of the school so that the learners may learn.
The office ladies are vital to the success of the school. They are the central hub, the all-seeing eye that provide invaluable information, support and snacks that make the teaching staff’s job easier. Their daily work is like a race track with the duties they perform; they have an endless list of jobs to do, phone calls to make and receive, data and information to import/export all whilst answering staff and student question. It’s a fast-paced position with additional duties randomly coming at them. Like the staff, I appreciate the hard work you all do in being the beating heart of the school.
A cohesive working environment is essential to one’s mental health and productivity. ACE is a small teaching school with a big heart. It is always exciting to hear the College spoken about or referred to in a positive manner from those unfamiliar with how a small Independent school works.
I warmly welcome four-legged staff member ‘Bonnie’ to the College and although I am yet to meet her, I hope she is getting lots of pats and love from the staff and students along with a snack or two and a pup cup during coffee breaks.
Hearing LaTrobe University include the College in it’s ‘Professional Experience Cohort Model’ this year was extremely satisfying. Knowing that ACE is now on the radar as a contender for LaTrobe’s Pre-service teachers due to the support you all offered the eight Pre-service teachers. A positive experience for Pre-service teachers means that they are more likely to enter the profession and promote ACE in a positive manner, the Pre-service teachers will always remember their rounds at ACE and that is due to the wonderful and safe experience you as the staff provided them.
I wish you all the very best for the next financial year.
Georgie Schofield
Chairperson
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