Principal's Message

Welcome back for 2021!

Our first Newsletter for the year is a bumper edition, and I am sure you will enjoy reading through it to understand more about what is happening at our great school. Given the events of 2020, our students are very excited to be back on site for their learning. They are relishing the opportunity to be back in the classroom, together with being able to access the many co-curricular activities on offer.

 

We have been very pleased with the start to the year with staff and students getting on with our Teaching and Learning Program in such a positive and productive manner.  We thank our families for your continued support of our great school.  Parents and carers are encouraged to contact the College on 9561 5811 or at wheelers.hill.sc@edumail.vic.gov.au should you have any queries.

 

It has been wonderful to see so many happy and smiling faces of our students as they walk through the school gates to start the day.  I would like to acknowledge our Year 7 students who have now made the exciting transition from primary to secondary school.  We wish our new Year 7 students all the very best, as well as all of our other students (including our Year 12’s who are in their final year) for what promises to be another exciting year at WHSC in 2021.

 

As a College, we again look forward to everyone best demonstrating our key values of Respect, Creativity and Excellence in 2021, and I thank our dedicated staff for their caring and hard working approach.

VCE Results, 2020 

As posted on Compass in recent times, we were pleased with our Year 12 VCE Results last year.  For example, our median Study Score increased to 29, while a number of subjects achieved some outstanding results.

 

Please read on in this Newsletter for further details of our 2020 Year 12 VCE Results. We congratulate the Year 12 cohort of 2020 on their efforts last year and wish them well for the future.

 

Key Areas at WHSC

We continue to provide excellent opportunities in the four areas important to our College Community: 

  • Academic Excellence in all Learning Areas
  • Performing Arts
  • Sport
  • Student Leadership and Our Community

These Key Areas are synonymous with WHSC and we again look forward to again providing excellent opportunities to all of our students in these Key Areas in 2021.

 

Areas of Focus at WHSC

All schools are on a journey of continuous improvement, and Wheelers Hill is no exception. At WHSC, we are always striving to continuously improve our Teaching and Learning Program to get stronger outcomes for our students.

 

For example, our Areas of Focus at WHSC in 2021 include:

  • Further providing a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
  • Further improvements in our Literacy Results
  • Further improvements in our Numeracy Results
  • Further improvements in our VCE Results
  • The Use of Data to measure and monitor Student Growth

We have clear and detailed Action Plans in each of these Areas of Focus, and we look forward to the work required to make even further gains for our students in these very important areas of our Teaching and Learning Program.

 

Tutor Learning Initiative

The Victorian Government has allocated funds to schools as part of the Tutor Learning Initiative (or TLI).  Due to the pandemic, the TLI seeks to catch up and extend students with their learning.

 

WHSC has received funding and we have hired tutors for 2021 to assist identified students with their Numeracy and Literacy.  Please read on in the Newsletter for more information about the TLI.

 

Community Interest in WHSC

There has been huge interest in our school this year. Historically, we would run College Tours for prospective families every Wednesday morning through Semester One. Such has been the interest in 2021, we have had to provide an additional tour time every Wednesday morning, and an additional tour day entirely on Fridays, to meet the demand. At the time of writing, there are only three available slots still remaining for the entire Term, meaning we are now having to discuss special arrangements with prospective families outside these time slots for College Tours this Term.

 

The interest in our College Tour Program highlights the growing interest in our College.  To learn more about our College Tour Program, together with the enrolment process at WHSC, please visit our College Website.

 

We also expect demand for our annual Open Night to be equally high. Open Night, which will be held on Thursday, April 29th, is a fantastic opportunity for prospective families to learn more about our College. Registrations are now open, and can be secured here.

 

Congratulations To Our 2021 Student Leaders

Student Leadership is one of the areas important to our College Community, and we provide many different leadership opportunities to our students at Wheelers Hill. We congratulate our Student Leaders in 2021, and wish them well with their respective leadership positions.

Student Absences

From a parent/carer's perspective, please use Compass and/or the email below to record your child's absences:  absences@whsc.vic.edu.au  

 

Just a reminder you need to report an absence for your child/children whenever they are: 

  • Absent for one or more days
  • Arriving late to school
  • Leaving school early
  • Leaving during the day and later returning to school

If you are unsure of what to do here, please contact the General Office on 9561 5811 and they will work through the process with you. 

 

WHSC College Council Elections 2021

There were two Department of Education and Training (or DET) vacancies available. After adopting a process, these vacancies have been filled by Andrew Dixon (Assistant Principal) and Pedro Mello (Learning Specialist, STEM; Technology Domain Leader).  There were two student vacancies available, and, after adopting a process, these vacancies have been filled by Chloe K (Year 10) and Feride (Palin) K (Year 10).  We congratulate staff and students on their election to Council. There are four Parent vacancies to fill and we continue to work through the process to fill these vacancies.

 

New Programs: VCAL and ACE

We have two New Programs that have commenced in 2021: 

  • The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (or VCAL) at Year 11
  • The Aspire, Challenge and Enrich Program at Year 7

Both programs have started incredibly well and they have been designed to best meet the needs of students. You can see a gallery of images from our ACE class further in this newsletter.

 

We really have started the year brilliantly and 2021 promises to be another great year at the College. I am very much looking forward to again working with families and staff in what will be another great team effort to get the best outcomes we can for our students in 2021. Be sure to enjoy our first Newsletter for 2021!

 

Mr. Aaron Smith

Principal, Wheelers Hill Secondary College

 

Contact Us

Ph: (03) 9561 5811

Email: wheelers.hill.sc@edumail.vic.gov.au

www.whsc.vic.edu.au

 

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