The school has named Sheri Parkhouse as its new executive principal.
Ms Parkhouse, who has been in the role, on a temporary basis, for the past nine months, said she was looking forward to growing the school and making the most of all the opportunities she could.
“I’m a big believer in wanting to love where I work,” she said.
“So, when I was at Wang, I loved driving in and loved going to work, and I had that same feeling when I came to Benalla P12.
“I just really enjoy coming to work. It puts a smile on my face.”
She said one of the best things about Benalla P-12 College was that it had three campuses.
“It’s a real community school, so it embraces everybody — it’s inclusive,” she said.
Ms Parkhouse said the redevelopment of the Faithfull St Campus had turned it into a wonderful facility, and she planned to look at updating the school’s other campuses.
“They’re a bit more traditional, I guess,” she said.
“So it is part of my future plan is to start updating our primary campuses as well.
“I’m also looking to increase our numbers, and building the school back to where it used to be.
“It used to be a really big school. It was the choice of the community.
“At the moment I don’t think we’re there, but I would like to get us back there.”
Ms Parkhouse said an important part of that was keeping a connection to the community.
“Kids have got to be part of the community,” she said.
“They network, and they meet people that support them all the way through to adulthood and into the future.”
She said there were many opportunities to offer local students the best education they could get.
“I plan in the future to start offering agriculture,” she said.
“We don’t currently, but hopefully, we will. We’ve got great space to be able to do that.
“There’s also opportunities in early childhood (education).
“So, we’ll be offering the VET early childhood, that will come into place next year.
“It will provide opportunities to continue to engage the kids.”
Ms Parkhouse said one of Benalla P-12 College’s greatest assets was the local volunteers who came in for a variety of reasons.
“Organisations like Tomorrow Today play an important role, and we appreciate all our volunteers so much,” she said.
Ms Parkhouse began her teaching career at Wodonga Senior Secondary College, before taking up an assistant principal role at Wangaratta High School.
“I was there for three years as assistant principal,” she said.
“And it just so happened I was going to be here for two weeks, filling in for holidays for the executive principal that was here, and now I’m here permanently.”
She said she was excited to move forward in the role at Benalla P-12.
“We’re in a really great place to do some great work with our young people, engage our community, and to get stronger,” she said.
“And we’ll continue to provide those opportunities for our young people.”
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