PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
Principal’s newsletter article Friday 15 July 2022
Welcome to Term 3
Term 3 has commenced with a terrific amount of high energy and readiness to learn.
It has been a really busy start with lots of learning and extra curricular activities taking place. Congratulations to all students and staff on their positive start to term 3.
Welcome
Welcome to our new students and their families who commenced their learning at WHC at the start of term 3. We also very warmly welcome Ms. Victoria McCaffrey who will be replacing Ms Annette Podbury who is taking leave this term and to Ms. Parisa Raeghesmi, who will commence in the role of the science laboratory technician.
Uniform Reminders
A reminder that all students should only be wearing to school their WHC approved uniform pieces including hoodie, beanies, caps and appropriate shoes. We discussed the importance of wearing appropriate uniform at our assembly on Tuesday. If any student or family needs support in obtaining pieces of uniform, please do not hesitate to contact Jenny Eastwood.
Pathways and 2023 Subject Selection Evening
I am looking forward to our pathways evening taking place next Thursday evening between 6.30pm and 8pm. This will be our first in person evening since 2019 and a wonderful opportunities to not only meet with WHC staff to discuss options but also a number of external providers such Universities, TAFE’s, Head Start Etc. This is a very important evening for all our current Year 9, 10 and 11 students. Thank-you to our Assistant Principal Warwick Lamb and our Pathways evening for organising the evening.
Illness/COVID and maintaining wellness in term 3
As you would be aware, following advice from the Acting Chief Health Officer, the Victorian Government recently announced changes to the pandemic orders.
There will no longer be a mandated vaccination requirement for staff working in mainstream schools. This change will come in from 11.59pm Friday 24 June, so in effect from the start of Term 3 2022.
With almost 100% of school staff now vaccinated across Victoria, this will cause little change to our school.
As part of the changes, from 11.59pm Friday 24 June 2022, parents and carers who have COVID-19 can transport their non-COVID-19 children via private vehicle to their primary or secondary school when an alternative person is not available to assist.This will include school holiday programs held on school grounds.
This means that parents and carers will be able to leave COVID self-isolation to take their non-COVID-19 child to school or school holiday programs via a private vehicle.
The parent or carer must travel directly to and from the school only. They must remain in the vehicle at all times, unless it is reasonably necessary to leave the vehicle to walk the child to and from the entrance of the school safely. They must wear a face mask at all times.
Family members are asked to continue reporting positive COVID-19 cases to both the Department of Health and our own testing portal.
You must also let the school know if your child is a close contact. Students who are close contacts and want to attend should still take 5 RATs over 7 days and wear a face mask whilst indoors if they are aged 8 years or over.
Students should continue to stay home if they are unwell, even if they test negative on a RAT. Three RAT test kits can be collected per student for term 3 from the general office at anytime by students or parents and carers.
There are also measures we can all take to reduce the spread of flu as we enter into the colder months.
I want to reassure you that we are taking this very seriously and continue to follow the expert advice of the Department of Education and Training and Department of Health, to help ensure that our school continues to run effectively.
To help protect our school and the wider community, we ask that unwell students stay home, given the impacts of flu and colds on our school community.
To help reduce the spread of flu, colds and COVID-19, students are being encouraged to;
* wash and sanitise their hands regularly
* avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
* cover their nose and mouth when they cough or sneeze * get tested for COVID-19 if they feel unwell and follow the current Department of Health isolation requirements if a positive result is shown
* if unwell, stay at home until their symptoms pass.
Face masks are available in all schools and can be worn by any staff or students who wish to do so, including those who are medically at risk.
If your child does become sick while at school, please also ensure that we have correct emergency contact details for yourself. This is so we can get hold of you as quickly as possible.
Thank you for your support as we continue to make these adjustments.
Debating Success
Congratulations to our Junior DAV public speaking competition students in Year 9, Ayisha Balogun, Alexandra Whatley and Sarah Ivey. The girls participated in the competition at Maribrynong College late term 2 and all received high commendations for their efforts. Ayisha will now progress to the state final. Congratulations Ayisha.
Semester 1 Student Achievers Celebration Lunch
We are planning to conduct our annual “Semester 1 Students Achievers Celebration” for students who had excelled in their learning last semester on Friday 29 July. Invitations for this event will be emailed to students, parents and carers today. Students and their parents/carers or guests (limit of 2) will be invited to an awards ceremony and 2 course sit down lunch between 12.30pm – 1.30pm. It is super exciting to be able to host this event for the first time since 2019.
Sports Congratulations
Congratulations to the dynamic duo Josh and Jack Unthank for taking out the U16 SSV State Cross Country Championship first and second respectively . We are also very proud of all students who managed to progress through to this stage of competition. A big thank-you to Gary Beasley for driving the students on the bus to the venue.
Congratulations to Ollie Northam who was recently selected to represent the Victorian Country U18 AFL Football Team in the National Championships taking place during the past few weeks in Adelaide, the Gold Coast and this weekend at GMHBA stadium. Go well Ollie.
Well done to our senior girls basketballers who on Tuesday progressed from the SSV local division stage to the Western Metropolitan stage.
We were also thrilled that our year 7 and 8 Girls AFL team defeated Strathmore College in the Western Metro final. The girls will now progress the state quarter final in Ballarat.
Closing remarks
I hope everyone took the time out during the school holidays to have a break, get enough sleep and rest. Term 3 is an incredibly important term for all students but particularly for our Year 12 students as we commence the countdown clock of 12 weeks of learning to go!
Take care everyone,
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 2022
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.