Below are details of who to contact for various matters. If you have any wellbeing and/or academic concerns about your child, we want to hear from you.

Phone 5678 7424

Communicating Student Absences / School Bus Bookings / Change of Details (address, etc) / School Fees
admin@villagehighschool.org
5678 7424

Student Wellbeing
Marni Sellens, Mentor
marni@villagehighschool.org

Academic / Concerns
Fiona McKenzie, Principal
fiona@villagehighschool.org

The school day starts at 9:15am and ends at 3:30pm

Download the full VHS 2023 calendar here.

SEMESTER ONE

1 February First day of Cycle 1
23 February Last day of Cycle 1

6 March First day of Cycle
13 March Labour Day - Student Free Day
5 April Last day of Cycle 2

17 April First day of Cycle 3
25 April ANZAC Day - Student Free Day
18 May Last day of Cycle 3

29 May First day of Cycle 4
12 June Queen’s Birthday - Student Free Day
22 June Last day of Cycle 4

SEMESTER TWO

10 & 11 July Family Conferences
12 July First day of Cycle 5
10 August Last day of Cycle 5

21 August First day of Cycle 6
21 September Last day of Cycle 6

2 October First day of Cycle 7
2 November Last day of Cycle 7

13 November First day of Cycle 8
13 December Last day of Cycle 8

14 & 15 December Family Conferences

If your child is going to be absent, send an email to admin@villagehighschool.org or call 5678 7424.

At the start of each year families are contacted to submit their bus booking requests. Eg. Monday to Friday AM & PM; Monday morning am and pm, Wednesday am, Thursday am and pm.

Note that from 2023, families are charged based on their booking. See Bus Fees for more information.

Places may be limited and are allocated on a first come / first served basis.

Exact times and pick-up / drop-off locations are confirmed prior to your child/ren starting school.

Permanent Changes to Bus Bookings

Changes to your bus booking during the year can be made at the end of each term (two cycles), starting the following term. Please email admin@villagehighschool.org before the end of the previous term to request your change. You will receive a reply email to let you know whether the change can be accommodated.

Casual Changes to Bus Bookings

Most buses are fully booked and casual changes are unlikely to be available, however you are welcome to check with us.

More than 24-hours in Advance

• If you want to make a casual change to your bus booking during the year, please email admin@villagehighschool.org at least 24 hours in advance. You will receive a reply email to let you know whether the change can be accommodated.

• If you do not receive a reply prior to the date you want the change to take effect, please call the school on 5678 7424.

Within 24-hours

• If you need to advise the driver that your child won’t be on the bus within 24 hours of your bus booking, text message the bus phone directly. This is particularly important for the morning runs. Phone numbers for buses are below.

• If you want to check whether a seat is available on the afternoon you would like it, please phone the school.

Going Home with Friends

If a student wants to go home with a friend on a different bus, they can check availability with the bus driver in the afternoon, however it is possible the bus may be full. To avoid disappointment, families can email the school more than 24 hours in advance to check availability.

Bus Phone Numbers

Grantville bus (Includes West Creek & Ryanston)
0472 627 631

Phillip Island bus
0472 678 952

Leongatha bus (Includes Outtrim)
0483 143 090

Inverloch bus
0472 739 727

Wonthaggi bus
TBA

Bus pick-up / drop-off times and locations are confirmed prior to your child/ren starting school.

Students need to be at their pick-up location right on (or even a few minutes before) their scheduled pick-up time. If a student is being picked up from outside their house, they need to be waiting outside their house, ready to get on the bus.

If students are not at their pick-up point by the scheduled time the bus driver will not wait for them.

Developing executive skills, including time management and organisation, are a key part of the Village Schools’ philosophy, as is consideration for others. Being on time for the bus is a great opportunity to practice and refine these skills.

Bus fees are in addition to school fees; however, they are offset by the Travel Conveyance Allowance.

The State Government provides a Travel Conveyance Allowance in regional Victoria to assist with covering costs of transporting students to and from school. The applications and payments are submitted and received by VHS and are passed on to parents as a credit to your school fees account. An application form is provided upon enrolment. Families must live more than 4.8kms away from the school to be eligible.

The Allowance typically covers between 40-50% of the bus fees. Families receive the Conveyance Allowance regardless of whether their children use the bus.

The amount of the Allowance is determined by distance from the school. It is important to update your address with the school if you move to ensure your Allowance is accurate.

Bus fees are charged based on your booking. Prior to 2023 families were charged based on the number of times their child used the bus; however, this meant the school did not recover costs when students did not use the bus seat that was reserved for them. This proved unsustainable for the school as the bus service is offered on a cost recovery basis.

Families are invoiced for bus fees at the end of each term once the Conveyance Allowance credit has been applied.

VHS bus fees per trip exclusive of Allowance for 2023:

Cape Woolamai $6.05
Corinella V-line Bus Stop $5.50
Cowes $7.70
Dalyston $2.20
Grantville $5.50
Inverloch $5.50
Kongwak $5.50
Korumburra $6.60
Leongatha $7.70
Leongatha South $7.70
Newhaven $5.50
North Wonthaggi $4.40
Outtrim $6.05
Ryanston (more than 4.8km from VHS) $4.40
Sunset Strip $6.60
West Creek $4.40
Wonthaggi, Lance Creek $4.40

School fees for 2023 are $4,410 per child.

Invoices are sent prior to the start of each term (every two cycles) and payments are due prior to the start of the term.

Statements are sent at the same time as invoices to show your total account balance, your payments, and any credits received.

Credits for the Student Travel Conveyance Allowance (if applicable) and Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund (if applicable) are applied to your account once funds are received and will appear on your statements.

Payment Plans
If you would like a weekly, fortnightly or monthly payment plan for your school fees please request this by emailing admin@villagehighschool.org.

Hardship Policy
The school has a Hardship Policy for families who experience a temporary change to their circumstances. Please email us if you would more information.

Payment plans are available for families who need or prefer to pay fees by installment. They include your school fees, estimated bus fees based on your booking made at the start of the year and the conveyance allowance. If you significantly alter your bus booking during the year, we can review your payment plan at that time. Payment plans are calculated to be paid in full by 30 November.

Weekly, fortnightly or monthly payment plans are available.

It is preferred that families on a payment plan set up an automated direct debit to avoid any missed payments.

If a payment is missed, an email reminder will be sent within two days.

If payment is still not received three days after the reminder, the principal will follow up. 

If reminders are required to be sent consistently during the year, then the payment plan will be ceased, and payment will be required prior to the start of the school terms.

At the end of the school year, you will be invoiced for the Term 4 bus fees less the Conveyance Allowance for the term. Depending on your payment plan, you may have a small credit or have a small amount owing. If you have a small amount owing this will be due before the end of the year.

There are costs incurred by the school if families do not keep to the scheduled payment plans and ongoing follow up is required to ensure fees are paid. For this reason, we reserve the right to withdraw the offer of a payment plan when ongoing follow-up from the school is required. Please let us know if you are having difficulty paying your fees. Proactive communication is important to help avoid your child’s enrolment being suspended or cancelled due to fees not being paid.

For families experiencing temporary financial hardship, we have a Financial Hardship Policy which can be used so please let us know if you find yourself in this situation.

See here for the Fee Payment Plan Flow Chart.

The Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund (CSEF) is a Victorian government annual payment for lower-income families to attend activities like school camps and excursions.

The payment amount for 2023 is $225 for eligible secondary school students. VHS credits this payment directly to your school fees account.

To be eligible, parents/carers must have a Health Care Card or a Pensioner Concession Card. Other conditions apply. Notify the school if you hold a valid Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card and we’ll provide the CSEF application form.

Students need to bring their laptop (and charger) to school every day.

Laptop Set Up

For all new students, we arrange a time with our IT support person to set up the laptop with the applications and security system needed for school.

If a currently enrolled student gets a new laptop, our IT Support person is available at the start of each year to set up the laptop.

If a student gets a new laptop during the year, there is a cost of $25 to set up the laptop for school use. There is no charge if the set up is done at the start of the school year.

Laptop Recommendations

If you are looking to purchase a laptop for school use, see below suggestions.

CPU: New - Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen 3; Secondhand - i3, i5 or i7 7th Generation or above. ie i3-7xxx, i5-7xxx, i7-7xxx
Storage: Solid State Drive(SSD) or NVMe SSD with 120GB space
Memory: 4GB
Operating System: Windows 10 Home
Screen Size: 13in (any smaller and it is difficult to use correctly)

Avoid: Emmc storage (an onboard storage that can't be removed if there is a problem); Mechanical hard drive (makes the computer feel very slow. Be aware of cheap laptops with large storage)

Computers that meet the above specs*:
Asus D515DA 15.6" HD AMD Ryzen 3 3250U - RRP $999
Asus X515EA 15.6" FHD Intel Pentium N6000 - RRP $949
LENOVO V15 15.6" FHD Intel i3-1115G4 - RRP $1099
LENOVO V15 15.6" FHD Intel i5-1135G7 - RRP $1349
LENOVO ThinkBook 13S 13.3" WUXGA Intel i5-1135G7 - RRP $1199
Dell Inspiron 15 AMD Athlon Silver 3050U - RRP $799
Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Intel i5-1135G7 - RRP $1099
Dell Inspiron 15 3000 AMD Ryzen 5 5625U - RRP $1199

*Prices correct as of November 2022

Secondhand Laptop Retailers

www.reboot-it.com.au
www.australiancomputertraders.com.au

Textbooks

VHS supplies any textbooks that are required for classes.

Stationery

In addition to their laptop, students should have a pencil case with items for personal use including pens, pencils, eraser, ruler, and small scissors. The school will provide all exercise books and a fee of $15 will be added to your first invoice of the year.

Students are free to wear clothing of their choice with consideration to appropriate attire for the activities scheduled for their day.

Students bring their own snacks and lunch. We ask students to consider the environment and reduce their use of single use packaging.

A community lunch is provided one day a week, most weeks. This is included in students’ timetables.

If your child requires medication during a camp, a Medication Consent Form and Medical Management Plan must be completed and submitted with the required medication.

Download the Medication Consent Form and Medical Management Plan

Upon enrolment at VHS, parents/guardians/carers and students sign an Enrolment Agreement. Click below to access and download PDF copies of these agreements.

Enrolment Agreement - for Parents / Carers / Guardians

Enrolment Agreement - for Students

We have a public Facebook page on which we post photos and news that will be of interest to the broader community. If you use Facebook, please show your support and ‘like’ our Facebook page.

We also have a private Facebook group (Village High School Community) for currently enrolled families, staff and board members to share school-related information, photos and discussion. The posts in the group are only visible to members of this closed group. If you want to join the group, please click on the above link and click on request to join.