AROUND THE COLLEGE

Pathways Evening and Course Counselling

We are heading into the busy and important time of year when students begin to plan their subject selections and pathways into their Senior Secondary studies. To support students and families with these selections, the school will run a Pathways Evening and individual Course Counselling sessions. We encourage all students and families to engage with both these opportunies.

Pathways Evening:

THURSDAY 20 JULY 6pm - 8pm in the PAF Building and RED Building

6.30pm: PAF- Year 10 Infomation Sessions

7pm: VCE Information Session

7.40pm: Vocational Major and Vocational Pathways Certificate Information Session

6pm - 8pm: Expo will be open in the RED Building where students/families can engage with Currciulum Leaders around subject choice as well as external providers including VET providers, Victorian Group Training, universities, Head Start, school-based apprenticeship providers and other providers

Careers Counselling Sessions

15-minute Careers Counselling Sessions are now open to book with our Career and Pathways Team to support subject selection and pathway selection. These will occur on the following days and are bookable from now on Compass:

Year 11 into 12: THURSDAY 27 JULY in the BLUE BUILDING: Please note Year 11s will not have classes on this day
Year 10 into 11: TUESDAY 25 JULY in the PURPLE BUILDING: Please note Year 10s will not have classes on this day
Year 9 into 10: WEDNESDAY 26 JULY in the YELLOW BUILDING: Please note Year 9s will not have classes on this day

Further information, including the updated 2024 Curriculum Handbook, will be provided in the following weeks, as well as reminders, but please flag these important dates. Thank you for your support.

Warwick Lamb, Assistant Principal - Years 10-12/ Teaching, Learning and Curriculum

First Nations - Aspirations Day

During Week 5, WHC students attended Koorie Student Aspirations Day. Here the students heard from First Nations individuals with great life and career experiences. Here is what John and Aiden thought of their great day out:

We went to Geelong Tech School and learnt about programming a character and bringing them to life. The food was exquisite like nothing I have ever seen before. Then we had the GOAT Bricky B give us inspiring raps about Indigenous culture and Bricky B’s life.

John Tattersall, Year 8

We learnt about drones from Chris who owns his own drone company. We also learnt about video game creation from Brett who inspired us to follow our dreams. We had morning tea, and it was exquisite. My favourite part was the GOAT Bricky B who performed Indigenous rap and poems for us at lunch. Overall, I learnt to follow my dreams and stay deadly.

Aiden Hunter, Year 8

Student Voice

The Be Bold Be Heard program, now in its fourth year, involves female students from high schools around Geelong, gathering together to improve student voice and empowering women.

This year, 13 Western Heights girls from Years 9 and 10 are participating within the program, with the help of two female teachers. We have now attended two programs gathering alongside girls from other schools, in which we had the chance to listen to female guest speakers and discuss the issues within our school and our actions towards improvement in these areas.

Since our first session, WHC girls have had regular meetings to analyse further into actions they can take to improve sexism in the school, which was the topic we selected to focus on. We have come up with a survey touching on sexism and thoughts about the school. We hope to get this completed by Year 9s and 10s very soon. After raising awareness of the data we receive, we will plan a special day for students in the middle years.

By Emily Posterino & Aaliyah Posterino

Softball State Finals

Our girls played brilliantly at the Intermediate Softball State Finals last week, taking on the best teams in Victoria. They faced a mighty challenge in their first match of their finals pool, going down to defending champions Brentwood SC. It was great to see our team bounce back from the early disappointment - they went on to win their next two games and place second in their pool. Well done!

We were fortunate to have David Addlem, a national umpire from Geelong, to coach the girls. A big thank you also to John, Travis, Erin and Leanne who came along to support the team.

WHC Cross Country

The WHC Cross Country was held on 16 May this year with the traditional route of “Church Street to Ballarat Road” being taken like previous years. The students headed off after lunch with beautiful blue skies and fantastic weather for the afternoon.

The event was once again ran in three age groupings: Junior Boys and Girls (13/14 years), Intermediate Boys and Girls (15/16 years), and Senior Boys and Girls (17/20 years).

Our individual winners after the race were:

Junior (13-14 Years) Females: Tayah Delaney
Junior (13-14 Years) Males: Luke Grgurevic
Intermediate (15/16 Years) Females: Georgia Tyrrell
Intermediate (15/16 Years) Males: Jackson Unthank
Senior (17-20 Years) Females: Caitlin Charles
Senior (17-20 Years) Males: Jack Wilson

The overall house championship results finished with a close one!

4th position went to Minerva (Yellow), 3rd was Quamby (Red), a tight finish between 2nd and 1st saw Vines (Green) come in as runners up and Barton (Blue) as the victorious house!

Special thanks goes to all staff members who manned the stations and results tables to ensure that the event ran smoothly. Another thanks goes to students who helped out through the afternoon, without this help events such as this are not possible.

Division Cross Country

The annual division cross country was held on the 29 May at the Eastern Gardens in Geelong, This course is renowned for being notoriously cold and today was no exception!

Our Cross Country team was depleted due to other school commitments, with a small group of approximately 20. This did not take away all successes for the day, as we went for quality over quantity.

Some of our highlighted individual success are below:

Josh Unthank: 1st place: 16 Years Boys
Oscar Rixon: 1st place: 15 Years Boys
Jackson Unthank: 2nd place: 16 Years Boys
Najeeb Osman: 2nd place: 14 Years Boys
Taya Delaney: 2nd place: 14 Years Girls
Avah Fursland: 3rd place: 14 Years Girls
Will Charles: 3rd place: 15 Years Boys
Molly D’Andra: 4th place: 15 Years Girls
Sage Losinno: 5th place: 15 Years Boys
Cooper Strutt: 6th place: 13 Years Boys
Hudson Johns: 8th place: 14 Years Boys
Zander Bailey: 10th place: 14 Years Boys
Noah Mills: 12th place: 15 Years Boys
Ryan Ellis: 15th place: 15 Years Boys

Collectively, with our smaller numbers, the grand aggregate was out of reach. But some extra highlights were to come home with the Boys 14 and 15 Years Pennants! A fantastic effort overall!

Joey McArlein, Sports Coordinator

Umpire volunteers

A big thank you to the 18 students across Years 8-10 who volunteered to run an AFL and Soccer competition for the Primary School Lightning Premiership. Everyone did a fantastic job and represented our College values throughout the day!

Welcome to Vines Library

Our library is open daily from 8.30am to 3pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays. We are also open 3pm–7pm on Wednesdays and 9am–12.00 noon on Saturdays.

Students are encouraged to visit the library to borrow books, play chess and other games. The library is also a space where people can sit quietly and practice mindfulness in a warm and safe environment.

Colleen Burville, Library Manager

Canteen orders

New product alert!

Available at Recess

RAISIN TOAST – BUTTERED

ONLY $1.00 PER PIECE

Order now on QKR! or at the Canteen before 8.45am

A reminder that the Canteen will be ORDER ONLY for all main food items, such as salad rolls, sausage rolls, schnitzel burgers etc. The first 10 minutes of recess and lunch will be allocated to collection of food orders only. The canteen will then be open for any additional purchases of drinks, snack items, yogurts, sugar-free icy poles, sorbet etc.

Canteen Menu Term 2