Greater Shepparton Secondary College

In 2019, we called for school name ideas from the Greater Shepparton community for the new secondary school. We ran two consultations throughout the year to work with locals to identify a name that would reflect the school's unique identity.

With your ideas and preferences in mind, Greater Shepparton Secondary College was selected.

Greater Shepparton Secondary College’s contemporary new facilities are designed to improve learning.

The facilities allow the school to offer students broader choices, new learning opportunities and greater wellbeing support and services.

Facilities include:

• 9 ‘houses’ and 3 ‘neighbourhoods’ to promote inclusive, ‘small school’ environments with the learning opportunities and benefits of a larger school
• an Enterprise and Innovation Centre featuring specialist precincts for technology, performing and fine arts and sciences
• student support, wellbeing and careers areas
• a learning resource centre (library), a canteen, tiered assembly area and roof-top garden feature in each neighbourhood
• a gymnasium with two competition-sized basketball and netball courts, fitness and weights room, dance and yoga spaces
• outdoor learning spaces
• a choice of learning settings, general and specialist zones
• VCE study space
• a full-sized oval.

At the school’s inception in 2020, all Year 7s started at McGuire Campus where the learning program has been specifically designed to enhance literacy and numeracy skills and extend critical thinking. Year 9 students started at the Mooroopna Campus, where they studied a specialised curriculum, crafted specifically for their needs.

Shepparton High School students moved to the Wanganui Campus (except Years 7 and 9) while Mooroopna's Years 11 and 12 students moved to either the Wanganui Park Campus or McGuire Campus, depending on subject choice.

Mooroopna Campus Year 8 and 10 students commenced at the Wanganui Campus in 2021.

We will continue to work closely with the campuses and local community to minimise disruption to students and their families during the transition period.

A strong school leadership team is in place to ensure that Greater Shepparton Secondary College remains focused on excellence in teaching and learning for all students.

The leadership team are passionate advocates for education in Shepparton and includes many familiar faces with local knowledge and expertise to ensure students are empowered to learn and achieve.

Please visit the school website for information on the current student and staff leadership team.

Greater Shepparton College’s contemporary new facilities are designed to improve learning.

The facilities allow the school to offer broader choices, new opportunities and better support. They will encourage all students to participate at the school, and support their transition to further education (TAFE or university) and work.

As the college’s flagship building the Enterprise and Innovation Centre provides a central heart for the school and a place to welcome the broader community.

Featuring arts, science, food technology and technology spaces, the centre is one of two highly specialised learning precincts.

The other is the gymnasium with dedicated spaces for physical education, sport, health, fitness and movement.

The Enterprise and Innovation Centre connects to three surrounding ‘neighbourhood’ buildings, supporting their specialist classes for older students. With administration and gathering spaces, the centre also serves as a key link between the school and the Greater Shepparton community, including further education and training providers and employers.

Two thirds of the school site is devoted to outdoor space for recreation, wellbeing and education. This enables learning to take place in many settings, and ensure there are ample indoor and outdoor sports facilities.

A school design shaped by community consultation

The architects have carefully considered feedback from the community consultation in all aspects of the school’s design. They worked through a complex and diverse range of ideas and requirements suggested by students, teachers and other staff from all four schools. Mooroopna Secondary College, McGuire College, Wanganui Park Secondary College and Shepparton High School – as well as education leaders, families, community groups and the Department of Education and Training.

Sense of place

Drawing inspiration from the surrounding Shepparton landscape, the exterior and interior design palette features colours found within the region’s unique mineral geology, agricultural plains, and riverbeds. Material and finishes for the project are from sustainable sources, locally sourced materials, and materials with recycled content wherever possible.

Small school support, big school facilities.

Students experience the first-class sporting, technology, science and arts facilities of a large modern school, with the benefit of learning, socialising and receiving support in ‘house’ communities.

House model is home

A house is a student’s home base for their entire schooling. Each house is a self-contained smaller school with 300 students comprised of 50 from each year level (Years 7-12) and 25 in each class. The house model makes it easier for students to get to know one another and for teachers and support staff to build relationships with students and families.

A typical day

• All students begin each day in their house.
• Years 7-8 students attend all classes in their house, to create a sense of belonging. They learn on the upper levels of the house buildings.
• Older students begin each day in their house, but also attend specialist classes in their neighbourhoods with students from other houses.

Know your neighbours

A group of three houses forms one neighbourhood (900 students in total).

Neighbourhoods help to develop a close-knit community feel and give students opportunities to connect with family members and friends.

Each neighbourhood features:

• student support, wellbeing and careers services
• a canteen
• a learning resource centre (library)
• science, design and technology, food technology, visual arts, media arts, visual communication and design, performing arts (music, dance and drama) and VCAL facilities
• a variety of general learning areas suited to large and small groups, as well as individual learning needs
• shared outdoor learning spaces, including a rooftop terrace with sensory and recreational spaces
• specialist facilities shared between houses and across the whole school
• VCE study space
• tiered seating area for group gatherings, and a gallery for displaying student art and project work.

The school has been designed to respect and honour a diversity of students and teachers and the wider Shepparton community. The design strives to provide for the needs and interests of young people from different backgrounds, learning abilities, rates and styles, including students with special educational needs by offering:

• a range of learning settings and spaces from quiet withdrawal spaces, to individual study areas, one-on-one teaching opportunities, small group collaborative spaces, through to large group settings
• lifts providing access to all areas of all buildings for students and staff with disabilities
• shared facilities within each neighbourhood so every student has access to the same high quality, modern learning environments
• loads of subject choices
• all learners with a choice of learning settings, general and specialist zones
• opportunities for high academic achievement and vocational education pathways
• flexible, simple and intuitive facilities created using Universal Design Principles
• gathering spaces to celebrate cultural diversity and intercultural understanding
• a welcoming central entry to the school and several different entry points to other buildings
• a quality facility that promotes a feeling of pride
• informal social spaces that help students develop personal and social skills.

Acoustics and noise

Acoustic engineers have worked with architects so the design of learning spaces maximises sound quality and minimises noise from adjacent areas. Hearing loop systems throughout the school assist people with hearing devices, and counselling and consultation spaces are located to ensure privacy.

Noise will be controlled by:

• acoustic ceiling tiles
• ceiling baffles and panelling
• high performance wall and ceiling linings and soft furnishings
• grouping the more active spaces together.

The design supports the physical and emotional health and wellbeing of all students by:

• creating a welcoming, safe and stimulating environment
• promoting a feeling of belonging, ownership and being connected through the neighbourhood and house model
• integrating student support services and spaces in houses and neighbourhoods
• pairing each student with a learning mentor to monitor their learning, wellbeing, organisation, goal setting and planning
• incorporating greenery and plants indoors, and creating a variety of inviting landscaped surrounds and places to play or relax outdoors
• providing additional services for families.

To get an idea of how large the school’s 90,060 square metre (sqm) site is, compare it to some well-known Shepparton facilities.

Greater Shepparton Secondary College: 90,060sqm includes:

• Total outdoor space 68,000sqm
• Enterprise & Innovation Centre 5,109sqm
• Typical ‘Neighbourhood’ 5,084sqm
• Gymnasium 2,395sqm

Shepparton Hospital site: 80,000sqm

Shepparton Aquamoves: 4,500sqm

Queens Park: 9,000sqm

To reduce the impact of school traffic for local residents, there is a separate entry for staff parking on the school grounds (including accessible car parking spaces) off Feshti Street.

There is a large bus drop-off zone, also on school land, with capacity for eight buses, and an entry and exit off Hawdon Street. For students and staff who are able to ride their bikes to school, there are two secure storage cages either end of the site and bike hoops next to each house.

The gymnasium features two competition sized basketball and netball courts, fitness and weights room, flexible spaces for dance and yoga, two multipurpose classroom studios, bathrooms, change rooms, kitchenette and first-aid facilities. Outdoor amenities include outdoor hard courts, a full-size oval and a soccer pitch (Ford Reserve).

Around two thirds of the school site is outdoor space. This was achieved by designing buildings that range in height from one to three storeys. Outdoor spaces are important features of the school design, and serve a diversity of social, cultural, recreational and learning uses. Examples include formal and informal sports; performances; community events; exercise; sensory experience; play; opportunities for environmental, sustainability and STEM education; and for everyday enjoyment to enhance the wellbeing of students and staff. The landscaping incorporates native plants and references the rich indigenous history of the area.

All sport and recreation spaces can be available for use by the Greater Shepparton community outside of school hours. Facilities, such as the Enterprise and Innovation Centre and gymnasium, also enable partnerships to be developed with local organisations and services.

The Enterprise and Innovation Centre gives senior students access to a broad range of subjects and career pathways in three specialist precincts – technology, performing and fine arts and sciences.

Scientific pursuits

Building on amenities for multiple science streams offered in the neighbourhoods, VCE science programs in biology, chemistry, environmental science and physics are supported by state-of-the art learning environments.

Artistic endeavours

Students are able to pursue a wide spectrum of performing and visual arts, with specialist music rehearsal spaces for all music genres and band sizes from jazz duos through to a full orchestra, smaller solo practice rooms and a music studio; performance, drama, dance, and physical art spaces; ceramics, digital media and photography spaces.

Hands-on

High-technology design, fabrication and prototyping spaces meet ‘traditional hands-on trades’ with specialist facilities for woodwork, metals and electronics. This equips students for new opportunities and gives them skills geared for local jobs and further training opportunities.

We will build on existing partnerships with educational providers in Greater Shepparton to ensure that students interested in exploring the hospitality sector will be well catered for with the industrial kitchen and hospitality programs.

The Enterprise and Innovation Centre by level

• Level 2: Science, biology, chemistry, physics
• Level 1: Art - ceramics, digital media, photography performing arts, music rehearsal studios, dance and drama spaces.
• Ground floor: Administration, materials technology - woodwork, metals, electronics.

You can access a designed brochure with this information.