Western Heights College Newsletter

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Principal’s Newsletter Report 21/2/25

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.

 

Year 12 Camp

It was fabulous for our Year 12 students to enjoy their 3-day camp to Federation University in Ballarat. It has been terrific to hear such positive feedback from the camp providers about our cohort of Year 12 students 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 2025

Calls for Nomination - Opens Monday 25 February.  Closes at 4pm, Friday 7th March 2025.

 

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:

Three vacant parent category positions and;

Three vacant DE (employee) positions

 

Nomination forms can be provided in hard copy from reception or downloaded from Compass shortly 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 by removing jumpers and layers in warm weather.

  • Speak up - if you begin to feel unwell, let your teacher know who can support you.

Year 7 2026 Information and Open Night 

This year's Information and Open Night will take place between 5:30pm-8:00pm on Wednesday 26 February 2024. The night will include a formal welcome, presentations 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).

 

Self-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 are not itchy to suit 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 matched 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 2025.

 

If you need some support in obtaining school uniform items, please do not hesitate to contact our college Well-being Coordinator Jorja - Jorja.Mathieson@education.vic.gov.au. She will support any family in need of financial help to obtain pieces of uniform.

 

School Photos 2025

Student School Photos will be taken on Friday 28th February. Information has previously been distributed to parents and carers on Compass but if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school via email - info@whc.vic.edu.au

 

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

 

Fiona Taylor

College 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.

  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 2025

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 college's 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