Merlino marvels at Greater Shepparton Secondary College

“And that’s exactly what we’re giving them.

“Whatever a student’s passion, it’s going to be met at this school.”

Mr Merlino said he was “blown away” by the design of the new facilities, and the highlight of his day was listening to the reactions of GSSC students who accompanied him on the tour.

During his visit Mr Merlino revealed the newly chosen names for the three ‘neighbourhoods’ at the new campus, a design feature the minister described as creating “a small school environment in a bigger school setting”.

Each GSSC neighbourhood has been gifted the First Nations name of a tree that grows on the banks of the rivers the school’s nine houses are named after: Murray, Ovens, Lachlan, Campaspe, Kiewa, Goulburn, Loddon, Murrumbidgee and Warrego.

One neighbourhood is called Biyala, the river red gum; one is Dharnya, the grey box; and one is be Bayuna, or yellow box.

The naming was managed by the Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group with Yorta Yorta and Bangerang representatives.

A painting by Yorta Yorta artist Tom Day and Bangerang artist Rebecca Atkinson was also unveiled on Thursday, having been created with input from Year 9 students.

“The first thing we did is talk about what does education mean to Shepparton, and to our community,” Ms Atkinson said.

“A lot of descendants are from Cummeragunja [Mission], and a lot of us have family members who attended that school — my dad was one of them.

“That’s not really the point of contact of our first learning, our first learning is traditional learning.”

The painting tells the story of Yorta Yorta and Bangerang peoples past, present and future, with connection to Country and cultural education at the fore.

“It’s an ode to our past, where we’ve come from, a celebration of now, where we are currently, with a mind to the future,” Mr Day said.

“The name of it [the painting] is Ngarri Ngarri, which is the name of the Koori Education Unit as well ... it’s a Yorta Yorta Bangerang word for teaching knowledge.”

Mr Merlino said the artwork sent “a really powerful message” to GSSC students about the importance of celebrating First Nations history.

“But we also back it up in terms of support on the ground in the classrooms,” he said.

Each ‘neighbourhood’ of the new campus has a dedicated space for the six Koori educators at the school, and all GSSC staff will undergo cultural safety training.

Considered the centrepiece of the Victorian Government’s Shepparton Education Plan, the new high school campus is the result of a $140.5 million investment designed to improve educational outcomes for young people in Greater Shepparton.

State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed said the school was “a huge investment in our community”.

“It’s one that I don’t think we could have dreamed of, it is investing in the most important thing that you possibly could in our community — and that’s our young people,” she said.

“We had tired old schools, we’ve now got a state-of-the-art setting for our young people to be educated in, and the opportunities of having all the resources in one place will be truly outstanding.”

Responding to concerns about violent incidents at GSSC campuses in 2021, Mr Merlino said the design and frameworks at the school put wellbeing “at the absolute centre”.

Mr Merlino said every school across the state sometimes dealt with conflict among students.

“There are times where there might be fights between students or things that need some intervention — that happens everywhere,” he said.

“But we've got the best staff and qualified people to engage and support students to get them through it.“