Quoted By:
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/scared-parents-seek-end-to-violence-and-racism-at-shepparton-school-20210308-p578s7.html
>Koori and ethnic community leaders in Shepparton will meet this week to begin to resolve racial tensions that have triggered a spate of violent incidents at the town’s newly merged secondary college and left some parents afraid to send their children back to school.
>The multicultural school of more than 2000 students is also reckoning with a leaked report, commissioned by Victoria’s Department of Education and Training, that identified a culture of “systemic racism” among its exclusively white teaching staff.
>Greater Shepparton Secondary College acting executive principal Barbara O’Brien addressed the report’s “confronting” findings in a note to staff at the weekend, telling them the school would work with ethnic and Indigenous community leaders to create a more “culturally safe and inclusive environment”.
>Ms O’Brien has also written to parents, pleading with them not to inflame tensions or spread misinformation on social media, following a fight between a large number of students at the school’s Wanganui campus on February 26.
>One boy was taken to hospital with head injuries after that fight and a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old were later arrested by police. Students involved in the affray were also suspended.
>Formed last year from the merger of four high schools, Greater Shepparton Secondary College has almost 600 students from multicultural or Aboriginal backgrounds.
>The school’s students are currently spread across three campuses, but will move next year to a new $121 million campus being built on the site of the former Shepparton High School, which was closed in 2019.
>Colleen Jones, a member of community group Greater Shepparton Voice 4 Choice, which opposes the new school, said the merger had denied families choice about their school.
>Koori and ethnic community leaders in Shepparton will meet this week to begin to resolve racial tensions that have triggered a spate of violent incidents at the town’s newly merged secondary college and left some parents afraid to send their children back to school.
>The multicultural school of more than 2000 students is also reckoning with a leaked report, commissioned by Victoria’s Department of Education and Training, that identified a culture of “systemic racism” among its exclusively white teaching staff.
>Greater Shepparton Secondary College acting executive principal Barbara O’Brien addressed the report’s “confronting” findings in a note to staff at the weekend, telling them the school would work with ethnic and Indigenous community leaders to create a more “culturally safe and inclusive environment”.
>Ms O’Brien has also written to parents, pleading with them not to inflame tensions or spread misinformation on social media, following a fight between a large number of students at the school’s Wanganui campus on February 26.
>One boy was taken to hospital with head injuries after that fight and a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old were later arrested by police. Students involved in the affray were also suspended.
>Formed last year from the merger of four high schools, Greater Shepparton Secondary College has almost 600 students from multicultural or Aboriginal backgrounds.
>The school’s students are currently spread across three campuses, but will move next year to a new $121 million campus being built on the site of the former Shepparton High School, which was closed in 2019.
>Colleen Jones, a member of community group Greater Shepparton Voice 4 Choice, which opposes the new school, said the merger had denied families choice about their school.