News - Greater Shepparton Secondary College

Details: Published: 02 May 2024

Recently, our College Captains Bella O’Dwyer and Sabri Ibisi attended a Parliamentary Inquiry into Vaping and Tobacco Controls, along with our Executive Principal, Barbara O’Brien.

Bella and Sabri presented information to the Inquiry, based on interviews conducted with students around Shepparton asking:

Do you vape?
How did you start?
Why don’t you quit?
How do you get them?
When did you start?

Through their discussions with students, Bella and Sabri found that:

Two of the students vaped regularly
Three students vaped on occasion.
One student didn’t vape at all and;
All students agreed that they had started experimenting in Year 9, around the ages of 14 to 16 years old.

The inquiry is investigating the financial, health, social and environmental effects of tobacco and e-cigarette use and looking at the causes and consequences of the illicit tobacco and e-cigarette industry in Victoria.

The Committee heard from a range of representatives of law enforcement, education, public health and community services in Shepparton.

Bella said the whole experience was “insightful” and said she found it interesting to see how many young members there were in Parliament.

“It was really interesting to discuss how vaping has affected each school in the area and what representatives from other schools had to say about vaping in their school,” Bella said.

“It’s a big issue among young people so it was interesting to hear how similar GSSC is to other schools, in terms of the issues, we face.”

Bella said she hopes to see harsher laws around the distribution of vapes put in place to help keep students safe.

Photo credit: Parliament Victoria

Details: Published: 23 April 2024

Congratulations to Warrego house for winning this year’s Cross Country.

A huge well done to everyone who competed and congratulations to the following Age Group Champions. Presentations will be made at the next whole school assembly.