The Ovens Murray Public Health Unit (OMPHU) is monitoring a significant increase in pertussis (whooping cough) cases in our region this year, particularly among school-aged children.

Who is at risk?

In Victoria and NSW, there have been over 10 times the number of pertussis cases in 2024 than for the whole of 2023. Children aged 9-12 years account for nearly 40% of all notified cases. Anyone can get pertussis. Infants less than 6 months of age are at greatest risk of severe disease, hospitalisation, and death. These infants are too young to be fully immunised. Many infants who get pertussis catch it from older children and adults who might not even know they are infected.

What is pertussis (whooping cough)?

Pertussis is a contagious respiratory infection that can cause very serious illness. The disease begins like a cold and then the characteristic cough (ā€˜whoopingā€™ sound) develops. This cough may last up to 3 months, even after antibiotic treatment is completed and the person is no longer infectious. Symptoms may be indistinguishable from other respiratory infections, especially in its early stages. Testing to confirm a pertussis infection can be conducted by a GP.

What should families do?

• Whooping cough needs to be diagnosed and treated immediately. Seek medical attention for any of these symptoms:
  • a severe cough which that may occur in bouts. The child may appear well between episodes of coughing.
  • characteristic ‘whooping’ sound when they breath in.
  • vomiting at the end of a bout of coughing.
  • the child stops breathing for periods of time and may go blue.
• Doctors might diagnose whooping cough by checking symptoms, doing a swab of the nose and throat, or by taking a blood test.
• Doctors may prescribe antibiotics, which can help reduce the seriousness of symptoms and the ability to spread the infection to others.
• Keep unwell children home from childcare or school for 21 days after the onset of cough, or until they have received 5 days of appropriate antibiotic treatment.
• Ensure that all family members are up to date with immunisations and follow good hygiene practices. If unsure, discuss this with an immunisation provider, such a GP.
• If anyone has a cough or respiratory symptoms, take particular care to stay away from babies.

Students should note that if they have applied for special consideration, the exam times will remain the same however the venues may vary. We encourage students to contact their teacher for a specific venue.

On Arrival

• You should arrive 15min before your scheduled exam, ensure you know where youā€™re seated on seating plans (these are outside the venue of your exam, posted on MS Teams and on the notice board near main stairs outside the library)
• You should not bring bags, phones, earphones, electrical devises, smart watches (there are clocks within the venue) or any other personal items.

What to bring

• All students may wear casual clothing- suggest you wear layers in case you find the venue hot/cold. Closed in shoes, no thongs.
• Pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers etc in a clear plastic pencil case or plastic pocket without any labels or markings.
• Water bottles are to be CLEAR only ā€“ no labels, no sports or Tupperware bottles.
• Student IDs or drivers license with photo.

Wednesday 9th October: Red and Green House
Wednesday 16th October: Yellow and Blue house

Year 10 students will experience a day at La Trobe University with the AW Educational Partnerships Program. Students will experience University style learning and culture, and also hear from current LTU students on what their experience of university life. Wodonga TAFE team will take students on a guided tour of TAFE and students will have an Amazing Race around Wodonga La Trobe campus.

Students are to make their own way to La Trobe University,133 Mc Koy St, no staff supervision before 8.30am. Bus travellers will be transported from WSSC NLT 9am, students will depart La Trobe at 2.30pm, bus travellers will be transported back at school.

If parents or guardians do not provide consent for their child to attend on the School Portal Mobile App, they will be required to attend normal classes.

For more information about this event, please contact our Careers and Pathways team.

If you’re an empty nester or at least have a spare bedroom, there are a few good reasons to consider becoming a homestay parent/s:

• Make a strong cultural connection with an international family (usually from Vietnam or China). Many homestay parents end up visiting the family of their homestay student in their home country and have an experience much richer than being a tourist.
• Enjoy a special connection with a high school student from another country and become their “Aussie Parent,” helping them find their way in Australia.
• Receive payment at the Victorian Department of Education approved rate.
• Potential international students will attend WSSC for two weeks during July and August 2024. If you are considering becoming a homestay host, this is a good introduction. We seek homestay hosts to provide an initial two-week placement during this July/August visit.

Freeman host family with their homestay students.

Who can be a homestay family?

Testimony

Hear from Leanne Freeman about their experience as a homestay host.
We hosted 2 international male students for a little over three years. In this time we saw them grow from dependant immature boys to young independent adult men. As well as supporting them through schooling, we also encouraged them to get involved with the community, which saw them volunteer for different roles through our local church. This gave them experience and confidence to take into the future. We also supported them through part-time jobs and even taught one student to drive and to get his P’s.

We consider them part of our family and are still in contact with them to this day. We highly recommend hosting students as it’s a very rewarding role.

Register your interest

Call 02 6043 7500 or email Heni Williams WIH@wssc.vic.edu.au to find out more information about our Homestay program and International students.

VCAA GAT 2024 – Information for Students

*NB: Students will be notified of their venue via a notification on the school portal prior to the day.

GAT Times

The GAT is split in to two sections:

Section A: 9:00am – 11:15am

Section B: 1:15pm – 3:00pm

Who Sits the GAT?

Section A Only

• Students enrolled in VCE Vocational Major (VM) Unit 3/4 who are not enrolled in any VCE or scored VCE VET Unit 3/4 subjects

Both Sections A and B

• Students enrolled in one or more VCE or scored VCE VET Unit 3

All trial GAT students will sit both Sections A and B.

What is the GAT?

The General Achievement Test (GAT) is a pen-and-paper test of general knowledge and skills taken by students in the course of completing their senior secondary studies.

The GAT plays an important role in the quality assurance of VCE assessments and also provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate they meet the Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Standards expected at a senior secondary level.

No special study is needed. Past study of subjects like English, Mathematics, Science and History prepares students for the GAT by building their general knowledge and skills in writing, numeracy and reasoning.

Dear Families,
Ā鶹“«Ć½ has partnered with local service providers to deliver an innovative project as a pilot in our school. The Wodonga Project is a structured way for our school to work with services to provide additional support and offer opportunities to our students.

The Wodonga Project is led by Junction Support Services in partnership with many other local organisations including Gateway Health, headspace Albury Wodonga, Upper Murray Family Care, the North East Local Learning and Employment Network, Albury Wodonga Health and Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service. Ā鶹“«Ć½ has been working closely with these organisations for several years, as well as talking to members of the community, to develop the Project.

A key component of The Wodonga Project is a yearly survey that all students at our school will complete, usually in Term 1, called the Australian Index of Adolescent Development (AIAD).

The 2024 AIAD Survey is scheduled at Ā鶹“«Ć½ in Term 2, Week 8 on the 6th June during the school day.

What is involved in the survey?

The survey will take about 20-30 minutes to complete and will be administered by the school during normal school hours. Teachers will be present when students complete the survey.
The survey asks some questions about the student and their life and relationships at home, at school and outside of school. It also asks for identifying information including name, gender, date of birth.

No one at school, in Wodonga or in the Government sees the survey answers.

Once a student completes their survey, they will place it in a confidential envelope, which will be collected by a staff member of Junction Support Services. The surveys are packed and sent to Upstream Australia, who oversee the secure processing of the surveys, the management of the data on students and the preparation of reports. The surveys are processed by a computer to generate the data.

The results are analysed and sent back to The Wodonga Project. Initially identified (based on the survey results) Year 10 students will be provided with additional supports and opportunities by the Wodonga Project team. No one except The Wodonga Project staff and school wellbeing staff see this list on a needs-to-know basis. Based on this list, a member of The Wodonga Project team will contact identified Year 10 students to have a conversation with them about possible support. Students can decide whether they would like to participate in The Wodonga Project, or not. Wherever possible, families will be contacted as well.

Year 11 and 12 survey results will also be analysed for themes. The school will receive a profile of their student body as a whole. This profile does not identify individual students. We will use the survey and pilot outcomes as evidence to try to secure long term project funding for all public school students in Wodonga from Year 7 to Year 12.

The AIAD will also help us to understand how effective The Wodonga Project has been in supporting students year-to-year. The overall results may be reported or published publicly; however students will never be identified in this process – it is about overall numbers and effectiveness.

Participation in The Wodonga Project

We hope that everyone participates in The Wodonga Project because we think itā€™s a really positive opportunity for young people. Ā鶹“«Ć½ encourages all students to complete the AIAD survey as it provides valuable information about how we can best support all students as well as identify young people who may need some additional help. But participation is not compulsory:
Click here to download the opt-out form

• Parents/carers can opt out of their student participating by completing the above form and sending it back to school, or by calling the school on the number provided (additional details below).
• Students can decide not to complete the survey, at the time of the survey.
• Students can say no to participating in The Wodonga Project if they are contacted.
• If a student is participating in The Wodonga Project, they can withdraw at any point.
• There are no consequences for deciding not to participate.

Students will complete surveys on Thursday 6th June 2024 at the school.
If parents/carers return the opt out note by Friday 31st May 2024, their child will not undertake the survey.
If parents/carers return the opt out note after this date, their childā€™s survey will be removed from processing and destroyed.
Opt out notes must be returned by Friday 31st May 2024 for surveys to be removed from processing.
Click here to download the opt-out form

What exactly does the survey tell us?

High school is a complicated time in a young personā€™s life. The Wodonga Project is all about helping young people and families to work through the more difficult times, supporting them to stay on track to becoming a thriving adult.
The survey results provide us with an indication that a young person may be experiencing something in one or more of the following areas:

• Stress or some kind of complication at home and/or school, or generally in life.
• The types of relationships and connections that a young person has in their family, school, and community.
• If a young person is currently engaging in behaviours that could be considered ā€˜risk takingā€™ (remember, they wonā€™t get into trouble from providing this information and the results donā€™t detail anything specific about these behaviours).
• If a young person is currently experiencing, or is at risk of developing, a mental health concern.

Once we receive the results, The Wodonga Project will speak with the young person to confirm whether the indicators were accurate. The results are used only to tell us who might benefit from the support offered as part of The Wodonga Project.

Experience of these factors can range in severity. Sometimes, they can lead to more severe outcomes like homelessness and school disengagement ā€“ but that doesnā€™t need to happen.
We know that if we have the opportunity to support young people earlier on, before things become really serious, the chances of a severe outcome are significantly reduced. Thatā€™s why we are a part of The Wodonga Project.

Some notes about data

The data collection process will comply with Information Privacy Principles (IPP) and Health Privacy Principles (HPP). The University of South Australiaā€™s internal data management processes are drawn from and consistent with the Australia Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research as well as the Universityā€™s own Ownership and Retention of Data policy.
The data will be held for 15 years in line with The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2018). It will be used to evaluate the ongoing effectiveness of The Wodonga Project.

Additionally, the AIAD data and Wodonga Project client records will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of The Wodonga Project.

Students who have and have not participated in The Wodonga Project may also be contacted about voluntary participation in this evaluation.

Contact information
If you would like to speak with someone about The Wodonga Project or if you would like to seek some support, please contact:

Lana Melbourne
Director Wellbeing and Pathways
Phone: (02) 6043 7500, Direct: (02) 6048 7671, Mobile: 0429 420 706

Dear Parent / Caregiver / Guardian,

This letter is to inform you about the 2024 Student Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS), which will be administered to all government school students in Years 4 to 12.

About the survey

The AtoSS is a voluntary annual student survey offered by the Department of Education to assist schools and the department to gain an understanding of students’ perceptions and experience of school. We value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and will be asking your child about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, peer relationships, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

ORIMA Research Pty Ltd has been contracted by the department to administer the online survey and will provide support to schools throughout the survey period via a telephone hotline and email.

This year, the survey will be conducted at your school from 6th May until 14th June.

What are the benefits?

Young people enjoy having a say! This survey has been running for nearly 20 years and is invaluable in helping schools understand student views to plan programs and activities to improve your child’s schooling experience. The survey responses also help the Department of Education understand how studentā€™s learning experiences can be improved.

What are the risks?

While we do not anticipate many risks of participation, some students may find some of the survey questions personal and sensitive in nature. Should you agree for your child to participate, they are still free to skip questions or to withdraw at any stage if the survey makes them upset or uncomfortable. A teacher will be present during the survey to support students.

The questions are selected from validated survey instruments used in Australia and around the world, are strength-based, and tailored for each year level group.

What will my child be asked to do?

Your child will be invited to complete the survey online during class time using a purpose built secure online survey tool. It is important to note that we are not in any way ā€œtestingā€ your child. Please note:

• Student participation in the survey is voluntary and students may withdraw at any time.
• The survey is available in a variety of different versions to enable all students to participate.
• The survey will take around 20-45 minutes to complete.

How is my childā€™s confidentiality protected?

Your child will be provided with a unique login to complete the survey from their teacher. The student login is an assigned identifier that will be used by the department to link data for analysis and research purposes only. Identifiable information, such as student name or Victorian Student Number (VSN) is not used for linking datasets. Some student demographic data (i.e. year level, gender, age, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status) is derived from department-held administrative records and is linked to the individual student login ID during survey set up work to support survey administration.

ORIMA Research will only use student personal information for research purposes to facilitate the administration and data collection of the Attitudes to School Survey. To ensure the confidentiality of your childā€™s responses is protected at all times, personally identifiable data will not be recorded in the survey response file that ORIMA Research provides to the department. All data is stored on servers located in Australia and access is restricted to staff who are working on the project.

All information collected about your child will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Data and Protection Act 2014 (Vic), the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) and the Public Records Act 1973 (Vic), as well as the Departmentā€™s . Please note that consistent with the above legislation and our policy, there are instances where we may be required by law to share information provided by your child. For example, where there is a threat to your childā€™s health and safety.

How will results be reported?

Aggregated state-wide survey data will be used to report on initiatives and may also be used in public discussions of issues relating to student engagement and wellbeing. An example of how survey data has been previously used includes reporting levels of student engagement in the Performance Summary in the Annual Report to the School Community.

The survey results will also be reported back to the school in aggregate form throughout the survey period. Data or results about individual students will not be shared with schools. All survey data that is made available in reports are for groups of students only so that no individual student can be identified. Where there are low numbers of students, the data will be suppressed so that the school cannot view the results for that group.

Your school may share the results of the survey with parents and carers.

Options for participation

Participation in this survey is voluntary. If you do not wish for your child to do the survey, please opt out via email to your school: wodonga.senior.sc@education.vic.gov.au before the survey commences on 13/05/2024.

Student personal information will be shared with ORIMA Research to facilitate survey preparations prior to this opt out process. If you opt your child out of participating, then your school will ensure that your child is not provided with access to the survey. Student details will be deleted by ORIMA Research at the conclusion of the survey.

If your school does not receive a Refusal of Consent email before the survey commencement date, as above, this will be taken as your consent for your child to participate in the 2024 Attitudes to School Survey. However, as noted above the survey is voluntary: even with your consent, your child can choose to skip questions or withdraw at any time.

Further information about this survey, including the questions your child will be asked to answer, please visit the departmentā€™s .

If you would like more information, please speak to your childā€™s teacher, or contact the department at school.surveys@education.vic.gov.au.

Speaking to young people about tragic news events
Young people become more attuned to the events of the world, as they connect with the news and social media. In order to help young people navigate and understand these events, you can prepare for conversations in the following ways:

• Prepare for the conversation beforehand.
• Make the time to hold discussions.
• Use curiosity to begin the conversation ‘how do you feel about…’, ‘do you have any questions about…’
• Listen actively and without judgement.
• Answer honestly and reassure them they are safe.
• Have dedicated for ‘no news’ and ‘no social media’ time to switch off from the events. Engage in other activities together.
• Help seek for external services if needed.
• 1800 55 1800
• 13 22 89
• Contacting the WSSC Wellbeing Team

Resources for parents/carers

• Kids Health:
• Raising Children:
• Embark Behavioural Health:

Please look out for yourselves and each other, and contact the WSSC Wellbeing Team if you are concerned about the mental health of a young person.

Vern Hilditch
Executive Principal

• Click here to download the self-nomination form for the parent member category
• Click here to download the nomination for the parent member category

For further information and to submit your nomination form, please contact College Business Manager John McVean MVJ@www.wssc.vic.edu.au by Monday February 26th 2024.

School Council Student Nominations

Are you a student at our College and would like to participate in our School Council? Please submit your enquiry to College Business Manager John McVean MVJ@www.wssc.vic.edu.au by Monday February 26th 2024.

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 broad direction of a school, in accordance with Ministerial Order 1280 Constitution of Government School Councils, and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. 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 primary school councils, there are several possible categories of membership:

• A mandated elected parent member category ā€“ more than one-third of the total members must be from this category. Department employees can be parent members at their childā€™s school as long as they are not engaged in work at the school.
• A mandated elected school employee member category ā€“ 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 ā€“ members are co-opted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. Department employees are not eligible to be community members.
• A small number of school councils have nominee members.

For all schools with a Year 7 and above cohort, there is an additional category of membership:

• A mandated elected student member category, two positions. 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 and a range of experiences and knowledge that can help inform and shape the direction of the school. Those parents who become active on a school council find their involvement satisfying and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

Do I need special experience to be on school council?

Each member brings their own valuable life skills and knowledge to the role. However, councillors may need to develop skills and acquire knowledge in areas that are unfamiliar to them. It is important to have an interest in your childā€™s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the schoolā€™s future.

• Click here to download the self-nomination form for the parent member category
• Click here to download the nomination for the parent member category

As you may be aware, a local community member was tragically killed in a road accident whilst undertaking their role as a crossing guard in the Wodonga area close to our school. We are informing you of this event so that you may speak with your child about this tragic death, as it is in our local media and some of our students may have had regular interactions with the person involved.

Although your children may be affected by the death of this person, it would be best for school routine to continue as normally as possible and students should continue to attend regularly. Reactions of community members will vary and may include crying, not wanting to talk about their feelings about this tragic loss or wanting to discuss it, wanting to be alone, experiencing difficulty in concentrating and in sleeping. It is common for students of this age to want to be with their friends when faced with such challenging experiences.

Attached is an information sheet that identifies common reactions and ways in which you can support your child during difficult times.

Should you or your child feel the need for professional help or additional support, the following organisations can be accessed:

• LifeLine 13 11 14
• Gateway Health
• General Counselling services
  • Wodonga 02 6022 8888
  • Wangaratta 03 5723 2000
  • Myrtleford 03 5731 3500
• Head to Health support 1800 595 212
• Beyond Blue

Additional resources

• Information on Grief and loss
• Beyond Blue Grief and Loss factsheet

Alternatively, please contact me or the student wellbeing coordinator, Lana Melbourne who will be able to assist you. The Department psychologists and social work team are available to provide support if required, if you would like to meet with the psychologist/social worker contact can be made through the student wellbeing coordinator or on 02 6043 7500.

Yours sincerely,
Vern Hilditch
Executive Principal