Principal's Page

WHSC Production, 'Singing in the Rain'

What a show!  Better than Broadway!  The 2019 WHSC Production of 'Singing in the Rain' was outstanding! 

The quality of the performance was second to none.  Our students were simply amazing given the high quality dancing, acting and singing on display.  We also recognise those students who formed the wider crew, together with those who were involved in the design team - all of our students are to be celebrated for their outstanding achievements.

It must be acknowledged that the opportunity for students to participate in such a high quality production only occurs through the incredible dedication of the staff involved.  The commitment shown by our staff over an extended period of time was phenomenal and we applaud our staff for their efforts.

Whilst it was a team effort amongst students, staff and indeed our families, we must recognise the superb leadership of our Performing Arts Leading Teacher in Genelle Lentini.  It is through Genelle's inspiring and effective leadership that our College Community were once again privileged to see such an outstanding Production; thank you Genelle and well done.

We also thank our Primary School partners in Wheelers Hill Primary School and Waverley Meadows Primary School.  To include students from both primary schools really added that something special to the Production and our College Community enjoyed having them involved.

Like last year, the feedback again from staff, students and families on this year's Production was just so positive and we are pleased that so many people enjoyed our performance of Singing in the Rain.  Again, we congratulate all those involved in what was a truly wonderful event for our College Community.

Principal Awards, 2019

We have developed a new system of awards called the Principal Awards this year.  These awards seek to recognise student achievement from Semester One, 2019, and the Awards align with our key College Values of Excellence, Creativity and Respect.

Our Principal Awards will be presented to students from across all year levels at a special Whole School Assembly on Monday 19th  August.

DET Student Attitudes to School Survey Data, 2019

The Department of Education (or DET) Student Attitudes to School Survey Data for this year has been made available to schools.  We received some great results from the Data with Differentiated Learning Challenges, Stimulating Learning and School Stage Transitions all further improving from 2018.

Leadership, Staff and our Student Voice Committee will carefully analyse the Data over the coming weeks and suggest strategies to make further improvements in key areas.

DET Pilot Program - Connecting with the Indian Community

DET have allowed interested schools to join with them in a Pilot Program to connect more strongly with the Local Indian Community:

"Victoria is proudly home to Australia's largest Indian population, which contributes significantly to the success of the State.  We benefit greatly from the contributions of our Indian communities as they have established solid bridges between Victoria and India in business, academia, health and science."

"The Department of Education and Training aims, through the Connecting Schools with Indian Communities (CSIC) Pilot Program, to provide schools with funding to facilitate activities which harness the knowledge, experience and culture of their local Indian community."  (DET, April, 2019)

The theme of our work in the Pilot is to connect our school and students in the areas of Business Management and the Performing Arts.  Our Year 11 Business Management Classes for example will be working with a successful local business to further their studies, while some of junior students will be engaged with a local performing arts group.  Both the business and performing arts group are lead by prominent members of the local Indian community.

We are looking forward to our further involvement in the Pilot Program and we will keep our College Community informed of developments as they come to hand.

Planning for 2020

Planning for next year has begun in earnest.  The Course Selection Process will tell us more about what our subject requirements may be for the year ahead, and this will assist us with our plans for staffing our curriculum program in 2020.  We are also expecting a similar Year 7 enrolment for 2020 as what we have had in 2019, and this is a pleasing outcome for the College.

DET and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

PLCs set out to improve student learning.  PLCs identify student needs, and then teachers within these teams develop actions to further the learning growth of students.

We are involved in PLC training with DET this semester.  Many schools have already completed this PLC Training and as a result have implemented PLC Programs within their schools.  PLCs can be used within our school context in the future.

A shared sense of purpose and trust, a strong collaborative approach, the use of data and formative assessments, together with the ability to strongly reflect and review, are some of the characteristics of effective PLCs.

For example, a Y8 Science PLC (a group of say 3 – 5 Year 8 Science Teachers) work together to identify and grow student learning needs.   The PLC has identified that Year 8 students find it difficult to form accurate conclusions as part of experimental reports.  Their consideration of Data has shown that this is an identified area for improvement.

The Y8 PLC would use the DET  Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) Improvement Cycle in their work to meet student learning needs.  The FISO Cycle seeks to:

Evaluate and Diagnose

Prioritise and Set Goals

Develop and Plan

Implement and Monitor

The FISO Improvement Cycle would be used over an extended period of time to monitor and assess improvements (eg over a term or even over a Semester).  The Year 8 Science PLC Group in our example would use moderation, formative assessments, data, observations and other strategies to monitor and measure growth in their identified area for improvement (eg forming accurate conclusions as part of experimental reports).  Pre and post assessments, together with proficiency matrices could also be used to gauge improvement.

The Year 8 Science PLC Group would then meet on a regular basis to monitor the success of their work, and identify areas of their practice and approach to further the growth of student learning.

Above is all but a very brief snapshot of how PLCs can operate.  We will continue with our training in the coming weeks and months.  Our PLC Training Team has been asked to identify an area for improvement for our College using an Inquiry Based Approach whereby the FISO Improvement Cycle (see above) together with other tools and resources will be used.

Our PLC Training Team will keep our College Community informed of our work as part of our involvement in the DET Program.  As part of our training, we need to have completed our work by the 2nd of December this year.  More information will be shared with our College Community throughout the Semester.

Sport - Division Athletics, 27th August

We have a huge contingent of students representing the College at the Division Athletics later this month (27/8).  As a College, we achieve very good results when competing against other schools in a range of sporting activities, not to mention Athletics.

The  Division Athletics Competition is an excellent standard of competition and to have so many students qualify at this level is outstanding for our College.

Sport continues to be a very important part of the College and we are pleased to have such a large team representing us at the Division Athletics - we wish all of our students all the very best with their participation.

Value of the Week - Creativity

All of our students in this year's production of 'Singing in the Rain' have demonstrated one of the College's key values in Creativity.  Whether they were performing, assisting as part of the Crew, or indeed a part of the Design Team, all of our students were incredibly Creative in their approach.  Well done to all of the students involved in this year's Production.

And Finally.........

The Course Selection Information Night for our current Year 8 students will be held on the 15th of August, whilst the WHSC Parents and Friends Committee are keen to promote its Trivia Night on Friday 13th September commencing at 7:00pm at the College (more details of the Trivia Night will be shared with our College Community closer to the time).

Thank you everyone and be sure to have a great weekend

Aaron Smith

Principal