As principal, I am proud of our students and staff and their achievements at the school. For a community-oriented school, with small classes, we offer a very broad curriculum and extra-curricular program.

We offer a range of choices for our senior students that include:
• Vocational Education and Training (VET) in schools,
• Australian School-Based Apprenticeships (ASBAs),
• Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), along with a wide range of
• Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) - with a few units undertaken by distance.

We run successful programs for students across Years 7 to 10, including: the Arts; Health, Sport and Physical Education; Japanese; History and Geography; Mathematics; Science; and Technology Studies in the areas of Automotive, Food, Electronics, Information Technology, Textiles, Welding, Wood and more.

We have two well-equipped computer labs, class sets of laptops, interactive whiteboards and computer pods in other parts of the school. Our Library facilities are top-notch, and our integration program supports students with disabilities in their regular classrooms. Our Art and Visual Communication students have produced exciting material, some of which can be seen at our Annual Exhibition. Our music program enables students to learn piano, brass, woodwind and percussion instruments and our Concert Band is well regarded and in demand. Our upgraded Music wing, will be completed this year, along with our newly refurbished Year 7 and 8 Learning Space.

Our students are keen participants in the Rock Eisteddfod and Theatre Restaurant (alternate years); the Advance program for our Future Leaders; our annual Art Exhibition; and our musical concerts. We have a large ECA-Centre with two indoor basketball courts, a drama space and a useful upstairs mezzanine area. Cohuna students are well-known for their sporting prowess, including swimming, athletics, and both summer and winter team sports that they are involved in at house and inter-school level. We have several state champions currently at school across fields such as golf, hockey and clay target shooting. A large group of Year 9 boys are wonderful role models for Grade 2 boys at the local primary school through the "Boys 'n' Books" peer tutoring program, where they go to read to and listen to young readers each week.

Elected representatives from Year 9, 10 and 11 are again participating in the Youth Council this year, and will learn more about the processes of government through this Gannawarra Shire Council initiative.

The Cohuna Secondary College camps program ranges from Billabong Ranch at Echuca - for the incoming Year 7 students - through the Bogong Ski camp, Warrnambool, Tasmania, a Melbourne orientation trip and a Year 12 study camp. Last year a group of Year 9 students went to the United States as part of the Overseas Study Program, funded by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Education (DEECD), and a group of Year 12 students went to Cambodia for an Alternative Schoolies week to help build houses in a need community. Through such experiences our students develop collaboration skills and resilience beyond the formal curriculum.

Year 9 and 10 students participate in community and school projects where they have built a trailer for the Victorian Police, painted a mural on a fence at the Retirement Village, grown a vegetable garden and school, designed the refurbished Red Brick Building space for a Year 9 Centre, and more.

Our two Chaplains are well-respected and highly valued by staff and students alike and our wellbeing program addresses harassment and bullying issues while supporting students through the sometimes difficult trials of adolescence.

This is a caring school that lives up to its vision of striving for excellence in all that we do.

We invite you to find out more about us, by emailing the school at cohuna.sc@edumail.vic.gov.au or phoning 03-5456 2555 for a personalised school tour.

We are proud of our school, and justly so.

Let us excel!

Dr. Gaell Hildebrand
B.Sc., Dip.Ed., B.Ed., M.Ed., Ph.D.