Our new Adventure Playground

Our Year 12 students are in the thick of their VCE exams, putting in the hard work that comes with this important stage of their journey. True to the ‘Wang High Way’, they marked their final days with just the right mix of good humour, energy, and a bit of silliness. 

It’s always a pleasure to see them come together and enjoy these moments as a cohort, bringing their unique spark to these traditions.

We’re proud of how our students have embraced this time with positivity and respect, knowing they can celebrate responsibly. It’s heartening to see that trust reflected in the way they’ve conducted themselves—something that speaks to the strong culture of respect they’ve helped create here at Wangaratta High School.

To our Year 12s, we’re behind you all the way. Best of luck with the remaining exams, and know that we’re proud of all you’ve achieved this year.

Adventure Playground

The release of our newsletter, originally scheduled for last Friday, was delayed to align with the completion of our new Adventure Playground. The skilled builders finished their work on Tuesday afternoon, and the playground will be available to students as soon as the construction fence is removed in the next day or so.

This is a wonderful outcome of student voice and agency, that came about after I entrusted our 2023/2024 student leaders to work with our students on how to spend a $15,000 granmt we recieved to support more active play and learning. I promised them, that as long as the process took into account a range of perspectives from students, I would allow them to choose what the money was spent with. A few great options surfaced, but the students overwhelmingly chose an adventure playground. We did however know that the grant money would only be enough to fund a small portion.

Concurrently, the source of the original grant, Active Schools, became aware of how good the consultation process was, that they came on board to support the girls even further and then invited them to apply for a further $30,000 grant. The girls applied and were successful. The story is told well in the video below.

Since then, it has taken some time to navigate the usual complexities of planning and compliance. Our goal is to have everything operational before the students complete their schooling. They are currently in their Year 12 exams, and we look forward to a more formal opening once they finish.