YEAR 10-12 NEWS

Senior School Update:

Congratulations to all Year 11 and 12 students on the completion of Semester 1 exams. A big effort with over 25 exams running across four days. Well done to all staff and students involved!

Thank you also to all involved in the running of the General Achievement Test (GAT) this week. With over 140 students participating across two tests, it was an excellent effort from all involved. 

The Western Heights College 2025 Pathways Night will take place on Wednesday 24th July, between 6-8:30pm. The night is an important opportunity to hear presentations about the Year 10 and Year 11 Options for 2025 (VCE/VM/VPC and VET), as well browse our provider and subject expo. The night will take place in the Performing Arts Building and in the Red Building. Please see the attached flier for the evening. After the Pathways Night,  the following dedicated course counselling days will take place. These days are important to receive individual course counselling and submit initial course selections. Each session will take place in the Library and families can book a  counselling session through Compass. These bookings are now open 

1. 25th July: Year 9 into 10 Course Counselling Day (Year 9 classes will not be running on this day)
2. 26th July: Year 10 into 11 Course Counselling Day (Year 10 classes will not be running on this day)
3. 29th July: Year 11 into 12 Course Confirmation Day (Year 11 classes will not be running on this day)

All final subject selections will need to be submitted by the 2nd August.  

ART MAKING + EXHIBITING

Year 11 and 12 Art Making and Exhibiting students were out and about on an excursion this week visiting some excellent local exhibitions, including:

'Cutting Through Time—Cressida Campbell, Margaret Preston, and the Japanese Print' - Geelong Gallery (closes this Sunday, go check it out!)

'The Fire Within' - Deakin University Waterfront Library. This exhibition is FREE and open to the public. It features two key artworks - 'Embers of Connection: A Journey Through Fire, Sand and Country' - Lowell Hunter (the salty one) and 'The Earth Above: A Deep Time View of Australia’s Epic History' developed through a collaboration between Deakin Motion Lab and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH).  This exhibition is open until September and is excellent! 

'The Colour Of Water' - Ellie Malin and 'Towards The Blue' Anita Iacovella at BOOM Gallery, both exhibitions close at end of July. 

Students were learning about the roles of public and commercial galleries, curating, exhibition design and the processes involved with preservation and conservation of artworks. Students in year 12 will develop a conservation plan for their own artworks as part of their Unit 4 studies. 

Year 10

Visual Art:

Students made clay sculptures over Term 2 and refined their skills as they explored the clay. Students painted and glossed their sculptures and wrote detailed reflections

Year 11

Art Making and Exhibiting:

Students explored the theme of 'Pop Culture' as used their preferred art form to create a final artwork refining their materials, techniques and processes.

VCE-VM and VPC News

Toastie Challenge

The Year 11 Vocational Major and VPC students took on the third annual Toastie Challenge, where they split up into teams to see who can make the best ‘toasted sandwich’. 

Each team were given a set budget to research, plan and create their menu. Students identified their target audience of selected students and staff.

Students had to create an advertising campaign, recipe cards and budgeting spread sheet as well as complete a comprehensive Occupation Health and Safety check of the kitchen and PAF. 

Congratulations to the winning teams and well done to all of the teams for their organisation, creativity and delicious toasties. 

TRAVEL PODCASTS

This term as part of the Literacy program, the Year 12 VM class have been studying a wide of informative texts based on travel. Students completed a detailed research task on a country of their own choice and used their knowledge to write a group podcast, which they professionally recorded at the Geelong Tech School’s brand-new Podcasting room. Students had a fantastic time learning how to use the facilities, edit their work to produce ‘Podcast masterpieces’. 

Wicked – The Musical 

At the start of June, 40 students travelled to the Regent Theatre in Melbourne to watch Wicked the musical. The students were emersed in a story of friendship and determination as well as marvelling at the amazing set and costumes. At the end of the show, students were lucky enough to participate in a question-and-answer session with the main cast and crew, asking numerous questions about how the production comes to life. The students are all extremely excited to watch Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. 

Year 12 VM Sailing

On Thursday, the 20th of June, my Year 12 class attended a Learn to Sail program at the Royal Geelong Yacht Club. We met as a class in the McAlister Room, where Drew, the main leader of the program, introduced us to the skippers (captains) of the boats and explained how the day would run.

The day started with Drew putting us into groups of four, each with a skipper. I was grouped with Chloe, Issy, Deeanna, and our skipper, Steve. As a class, we all met at the containers to get our life jackets and then made our way to the sailboats. There were six boats plus a safety boat equipped with hypothermia equipment, asthma puffs, and other first aid supplies. Steve walked us through everything on the boat. Chloe started by threading the sails—the mainsail and the front sail, called the jib. Once we got started, Steve explained and showed us how to steer the boat. Issy then took over as helmsman, followed later by Chloe. Deeanna and I were responsible for tightening and loosening the sails using the ropes.

After we had some practice, the six boats lined up for a race. The safety boat gave instructions on when to start and the rules for the race through the walkie-talkie that each skipper had on board. Boat 3, with Julian, Nash, Tyla, Tj, and skipper Imogen, won the first race. We then started a second race in which Skipper Geoff's group cheated by using the motor. They were disqualified but still claimed they had won the race. The group that actually won was Lachie, Cooper, Noah, and Griff. The wind had slowed down during the second race, making it very hard to sail, so some groups used the motor.

Overall, it was a fun day. Even though I was scared at the start, I got over my fears once we were sailing. I would definitely try this again, but next time I would use the motor the whole time.

By Kira Stosic

Students at WHC are encouraged to ‘Call Out’ poor behaviours they may be exposed to, witness, or hear of in our community.

If you hear something that is not right, or feel uncomfortable in our community, we want to hear from you! 

Students are encouraged to email their Year Level address, where concerns will be resolved.