Assistant Principal (Years 10-12) Report 

Report from Assistant Principal Jason Tickner

Course Counselling and 2023 Subject Selection

Throughout Term 3 students in Years 8-11, have undergone course counselling, and completed their program and subject selections for 2024. In week 1 of term, parents were provided with the opportunity to attend a parent information session with our Assistant Principals presenting information regarding program subject information.

Students were also active participants in a Domain Expo where they were able to talk to teachers about programs and subjects that they were interested in, which has helped their 2024 subject selections. Currently, course confirmation panel interviews are occurring for year 8-11 to check whether the subjects that students have chosen meet their academic, and pathway, needs and aspirations.

This process is particularly important for current Year10 students who are making decisions on the direction and make-up of their senior years of school in Years 11 & 12. For this reason, parents have been invited to attend, and take part in Year 10 course confirmation panel interviews which will take place on Monday 14th August. Year 10 classes have been cancelled on the day so that students, and parents can attend these interviews in person, or online via Teams. Year 10 students have be provided with interview times via Microsoft Teams. It is important to support students in making the right decisions and we are confident that the ongoing course counselling activities and supports, are setting students up for success in their chosen programs and subjects for next year.

Once the course counselling process is complete school leadership will then determine what programs and subjects will run in 2023 based on the number of student choice. It is important to make note that subjects with low students uptake may not run, in which case, students will be re-counselled to select alternative programs/subjects by their sub-schools. This process will be finalized by the end of Term 3. Thank you to parents who have been discussing program and subject selections with their children. We appreciate your support as these interactions at home are an incredibly important part of the overall process.

Term 3 Progress Reports and Year 7-10 Parent-Teacher Interviews

Semester 1 Progress reports will be available to parents and students in Week 9, prior to the Year 7-10 Parent-Teacher Interviews scheduled for Wk10 on Tuesday 12th September. 

Year 7-12 classes will run on a reduced timetable on this day, seeing all students finish early. Students should attend parent-teacher interviews with parents as the three-way discussion with student-parent-teacher is always the most powerful and informative. Parents will have the option of attending onsite or via Microsoft Teams. These interviews provide an important opportunity for you and your child to discuss his/her progress and to build communication between parents and the College. Please look out for a Compass notification when the booking portal is open in week 9 of the term. Parents can access the online booking system using your Compass Username and Password. 

For assistance with bookings or login issues, please contact the office on 9546 3233.

Wearing the correct uniform

 to School

Despite repeated information sent our to parents/guardians via Compass and to students at school and via Teams we still have a large number of students who are arriving to school with the incorrect uniform. All students should be wearing the winter uniform everyday to school this term. All teachers have been asked to challenge students in the incorrect uniform each class and in some cases, students have been asked to go home and change once parents have been contacted. The main uniform issues are students choosing to wear black puffer jackets instead of their school jacket, wearing runners with non-sport school uniform, wearing sport uniform at the wrong times and not wearing a tie, which is part of the winter uniform this term. Wearing our school uniform correctly is an important part of being a student at Westall, and we would encourage students and families to support this requirement. 

As always, our junior, middle and senior sub-schools are very supportive of students needing support wear all the items required through initiatives like state schools’ relief. Sub-schools will continue to provide this support, however ultimately the responsibility of attending school in the correct uniform falls on the students themselves, with assistance from home.

Arriving to school on time

A reminder to students and families about the importance of arriving to school in the morning on time and class throughout the day. Feedback from sub-schools indicates that we have a large portion of students who are consistently arriving late to school for Period 1. In some cases, students are not arriving until Period 2 without a valid reason. When we analyse the relationship between student attendance and academic achievement it is very clear. When students attend school regularly they have a greater chance of success in their studies. Being on time to school, and attending regularly is one of the simplest, and most effective behaviours students can implement to ensure success at school. However, to achieve this, students often need support both from school and at home. Our sub-schools will continue to track student attendance and implement a range of holistic strategies which include wellbeing supports, attendance improvement plans and contacting home. To assist from home please ensure that your son/daughter is getting enough sleep the night before school, and assist them to have the correct materials, and uniform ready to go in the morning. These simple supports make a huge difference.

Jason Tickner 

Assistant Principal (Years 10-12)