'Give us a chance:’ GSSC principal speaks out

Her sister, Denise Howley, heads Bourchier St Primary School, and her brother, Brendan Bicknell, is principal at Guthrie St.

“Education is very important in my family, that's the one thing Mum and Dad always emphasised — live your dreams, and you'll achieve them,” Ms O'Brien said.

Having grown up in Shepparton, Ms O'Brien has a "vested interest" in wanting the super school experiment to work.

Now, after 45 years in the education system, she has been announced as the official executive principal, replacing Genevieve Simpson, after acting in the role this year.

Ms O'Brien will be leading GSSC at its most crucial moment, transitioning thousands of students to the new campus in 2022.

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“I won't deny it's challenging; I've got a lot of support from the department at this point but that won't always be the case,” Ms O'Brien said.

“As we move on to the next site there'll be the expectation that we stand on our own two feet and move forward ourselves.

“One of the anxieties I have about this role is I don't get to spend as much time with the kids as I'd really like . . . That eats away at me a bit, because I love talking to the kids and staff.”

It's a lot of pressure, but few teachers have as much experience navigating Shepparton's complex education system as Ms O'Brien.

After beginning her teaching career at a newly opened school in Sunshine West, she moved back to Shepparton after getting married and has worked in the region ever since.

For 11 years, she taught at Mooroopna Primary School, before heading to Tallygaroopna and later Gowrie St, Wilmot Rd and Grahamvale Primary, where she led the school through a major building project.

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She was then poached by a regional director to front a network of schools across Wangaratta, the King Valley, Yarrawonga and Rutherglen, which readied her to support the merger of Benalla schools into Benalla P-12 College.

Then, when a senior education improvement leader role came up in Shepparton, she applied and returned last year to support the establishment of GSSC.

Ms O'Brien said her time in Benalla "certainly supported" her role in Shepparton.

“The community had similar concerns to what this community has around a lack of choice, around all the kids coming together,” she said.

“There was apprehension around whether it would work, and also around the wellbeing of staff and how fragile they felt, just like parents and students.”

Ms O'Brien could "empathise" with a similar sentiment felt among Shepparton's community regarding change.

“But having lived here and seen education evolve, I could also see the benefits of this happening and how much it will allow the young people of Shepparton to have greater opportunities,” she said.

“There was always talk about what needed to happen to improve education . . . we've got a big population and weren't achieving at the level we should be at.

“It was very apparent there was that dissatisfaction with secondary education, that something needed to change.”

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Ms O'Brien said the super school — the biggest investment in public education in the Goulburn Valley to date — was "an opportunity for that to happen".

“The real vision we have here is to give every Year 12 [student] the opportunity to have a viable pathway, and we can do that because we can offer a broad range of subjects and electives that individual schools wouldn't have,” she said.

“These kids are the future of Shepparton, and we've got to get it right . . . this is Shepparton's biggest chance for the future development of our town.”

To those still apprehensive about the merger, Ms O'Brien had one message: "give us a chance".

“We have our vision for the school and what we want to achieve. We want our kids to be successful and happy as a result of attending GSSC,” she said.

“At the moment we're in this transition phase and there's a lot of unsettled feelings, but because of the structure of the new campus, it will provide a homely feeling.”

Currently, GSSC students are spread across four sites as the new campus is completed.

But once arriving, they'll be broken into three ‘neighbourhoods’ of approximately 800 students from years 7 to 12 — each named in an indigenous language.

From here, students will be further sorted into nine houses named after Goulburn Valley rivers, and smaller home groups with individual learning mentors.

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“It's something I dream about all the time,” Ms O'Brien said of the new campus.

“I would really love that children have a sense of belonging . . . that we have that wellbeing wraparound for every child.”

That's not to say she doesn't have concerns.

Navigating the complex needs of Shepparton's diverse multicultural groups was one area Ms O'Brien was determined to improve on heading into 2022.

“When I was at Wilmot Rd, we had our very first Iraqi family come and we went through a really steep learning curve of how to address their needs,” she said.

“They didn't speak English, dressed differently, ate differently, but they added a real richness to our school.

“We changed our girls’ uniform to allow girls to wear a long dress, changed food in the canteen to be halal and introduced a prayer room . . . From those days I learnt a lot, and that supports me with our multicultural community here. Now, these communities are embedded in Shepparton.”

Ms O'Brien acknowledged diverse communities needed to be "involved in discussions" about how their needs could further be addressed.

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“There's a whole range of people here informing me about all the strengths of the school but where we can take it further, and we have to be mindful of that,” she said.

“Our student voice is our biggest advocate for that . . . they're open about what we can do to create a more inclusive school.

“We're trying to work out the best way to get information to our community . . . there's a lot more we need to do to connect with our cultural groups.”