PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Next week we will be halfway through term 1 and officially starting to hit the groove in terms of settling into the new school year. It has been a very busy fortnight of learning with some fantastic activities, announcements, some challenges with illness and absence with some key excursions occurring for the year.

The Resilience Project

It was terrific on Tuesday morning to announce our new partnership with GMHBA and The Geelong FC to deliver the whole school Resilience Project to all our students in Year 7-12 for 2024- 2025. The Resilience Project, powered by GMHBA with support from GFC, will see almost 2,000 students from Western Heights College, Newcomb Primary School, Whittington Primary School, Lara Primary School, and Geelong East Primary School, embark on a two-year program learning the principles of GEM (Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness) and Emotional Literacy. Western Heights College is the only secondary school in Geelong that will be part of this project. It will join 10% of schools across our country who are already invested in this data evidenced program. The benefits for students who have already participated in the program, showed improved confidence, self-esteem and ability to express emotions. We will look forward to introducing the program over the next 2 years into our college.

Year 12 Camp

It was fabulous to join our Year 12 students on Tuesday evening as they enjoyed their 3-day camp to Federation University in Ballarat. It is always one of my favourite things presenting our Year 12 students with their Year 12 badge for the school year and to see our students enjoy themselves, connect with each other, and learn essential study skills which will set them up for success across the course of the year. They are a fantastic group of young adults who I can’t wait to see thrive this year.

School Council Elections 2024

Calls for Nomination - Opens Monday 26 February.  Closes at 4pm, Friday 8th March 2024.

One of the challenges of secondary schools is gaining involvement of parents. After significant time spent in school-based activities in primary schools, it is not uncommon for parents to step back from similar activities at secondary school. In recent years parent involvement and interest in our School Council has been increasing. We hope to continue this growth of engagement.

There is a call for nominations for parent and DE Employee categories.

In the 2024 School Council Elections there are:

Four vacant parent category positions and; -

One vacant DE (employee) positions

Nominations forms can be provided in hard copy from reception or downloaded from this newsletter and emailed to info@whc.vic.edu.au by the closing date. 

Students travelling to and from school.

This week we have reminded all our students of the expectations we have on them as part of our school, to behave responsibly in our community on the way to and from school. This includes following traffic rules on bikes and scooters, behaviour on country and public buses, and on trains. When in school uniform students are easily identifiable and we have high expectations of them when wearing school uniform representing our school or when travelling to and from school. Parental support in reminding students of these expectations will be appreciated.

Warm Weather Adjustments

With the recent warm weather and some warmer days predicted for next week. We encourage all students to do the following to ensure they stay well during warm weather; -

• Hydrate - with water before, during and after school, especially if you are participating in PE, AAP or the SSP program.
• Avoid standing or sitting in hot environments at lunchtime and recess. At lunchtime, both today and tomorrow, there will be designated classrooms by your Learning Community Leader in each building for you to sit quietly and eat your lunch. We also encourage you to use any of the shaded outdoor areas in the yard.
• Stay cool and remove jumpers and layers in warm weather.
• Speak up - if you begin to feel unwell, let your teacher know who can support you.

Staying Well

In the past fortnight we have had a high number of students and staff unfortunately fall ill with colds, flu, COVID-19 and stomach bugs. To ensure our students and staff continued wellness, we have established the hand sanitising stations at the doors to every learning community, ensured all air purifiers are switched on, and accessed outdoor learning spaces where possible. We have also reinforced the importance of hand hygiene, before, and after eating food. COVID tests are also available for students to collect if needed from school in the administration office.

Year 7 2025 Information and Open Night 

This year's Information and Open Night will take place between 6:00-8:00pm on Wednesday 28 February 2024. The night will include a formal welcome and presentation about WHC and the learning/curriculum programs available (including the Accelerate Program for High Ability Students and the Specialist Sports Program - AFL/Basketball/Netball/Soccer 

Guided tours of the facilities and grounds will also be provided - offering plenty of opportunity for prospective students, parents, and carers to ask questions and understand the year 7 2025 enrolment timelines and process.

We look forward to welcoming all guests to our Information and Open Evening to discover more about our WHC college community.

Uniform Expectations

We have noticed a huge improvement in uniform this year and wanted to thank the community for their support. We do sometimes receive feedback about our focus on the uniform and want to reassure our families that our care for students is paramount and our care for their learning growth is our focus. We can and do hold that as a focus at the same time as upholding the high expectations for uniform that our community expects from us.

Our uniform is inclusive, comfortable, gender neutral and looks great. It can be layered for warmth and has fabric choices for students that aren’t itchy and suits every student’s individual’s needs. The other great thing about our uniform is that when it is pieced together (academic or sport) based on student comfort and needs, it essentially looks the same no matter how it is pieced together.

The sports uniform is recommended to be worn on sport and physical education days as our facilities for changing at school are not easily accessed over at our Quamby facility. Sport and PE could be timetabled up to 3 days per week for students in Year 7-10 and every day for students in the specialist sports program. Our everyday academic uniform is recommended for non-sport days and is often required for excursions, representative activities such as public speaking, school visits, forums, Anzac Day services etc.

I am looking forward to our students continuing to wear our uniform with pride in 2024.

If you need some support in obtaining school uniform items, please do not hesitate to contact Jenny Eastwood in our college well-being team by phoning 5277 1177. She will support any family in need of financial help to obtain pieces of uniform.

School Photos 2024

Student School Photos will be taken on Friday 1st March. Information has previously been distributed to parents and carers on compass but if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Ricki O’Shannessy (Assistant Principal) at the school on 5277 117.

We have a busy few weeks ahead of us, take care and keep smiling,

Fiona Taylor

Principal

Child Safety at WHC

Western Heights College is a child safe organisation committed to protecting students from all forms of abuse.

Our College has stringent protocols in place and endeavours at all times to be fully compliant with the Child Safe Standards set out under Ministerial Order 870.

Our College has the following documents and policies in place to achieve compliance with the Standards. All of these documents are available for downloading on our website or contact the school for a copy. 

1. Commitment to Child Safety
2. Child Safety Policy
3. Child Safety Code of Conduct
4. Child Protection Policy and Procedures

Annual privacy policy reminder for 2024

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.(found on the colleges webpage)

Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents and carers on the webpage. This information is also available in nine community languages:

* Amharic

* Arabic

* Dari

* Gujarati

* Mandarin

* Somali

* Sudanese

* Turkish

* Urdu

* Vietnamese.