Westall Secondary College Newsletter

Middle School Report

Message from the Director of Learning

- Mr. Tom Tahos

I would like to thank all middle school students, families and staff for the great start to the year so far. It is clear that we all are aware of and are following school expectations in areas of:

  • Student attendance and punctuality (getting to class on time),
  • Wearing the correct uniform
  • Coming to class with the correct equipment
  • Completing work tasks at school and at home
  • Following our Westall Way school values and behaviours. 

Keep up the great work!!

 

Remember one of the keys to success is appropriate ways of communicating with others.

That is, the way we speak and interact in person, and online, with each other … remember, being kind does not cost a thing but you will receive so much in return. 

 

I would like to introduce the Middle School Coordinators for 2019:

Year 9 Coordinator

Brett Forsyth

forsyth.brett.s@edumail.vic.gov.au

Year 10 Coordinator

Charles Tran​​​​

tran.charles.c@edumail.vic.gov.aus​​​​

 

If you have any questions regarding Year 9 or Year 10, please feel free to contact the appropriate year level coordinator or myself.

Cyber Safety Presentation

On Friday 15th February, we had the privilege of having one of the, if not the most, experienced and knowledgeable person in the area of cyber-safety in Australia, present to our students.

 

Susan McLean was a Victorian Police officer for 27 years and was the first police officer to deal with cyber-safety.  She has presented to 1000’s of people ranging from school students (both public and independent schools), elite sports athletes, coaches and business companies.

Students were involved in 90 minutes of real life examples, laws, key points and strategies to protect themselves when on-line.  Students and staff were provided with sound and legal advice around the use of various social platforms.

Susan stressed the importance of:

  • Creating strong passwords and never sharing passwords. In her own words “A real friend would never ask for your password”. 
  • Turning off location finders on your device. 
  • Not using inappropriate language when creating an email account/name.
  • Exercising care and thought with posting inappropriate photographs.
  • The fact that anything posted online can only be hidden, never deleted.
  • Avoiding putting up private information, such as address, phone numbers, birthdates, etc.

The presentation also highlighted that importance of being kind to one another, and if something negative happened to you, your family or a friend, the number one thing is to TALK ABOUT IT to your family or your teachers, and SCREEN SAVE the negative communications.

Be safe online everyone.

 

iRead Program

Every Period 4 class (except Wednesdays), Year 9 and 10 students are involved in our i-Read program.  This is where students read for 15 minutes. 

 

Students are encouraged to bring reading material, school appropriate, of their choice. 

 

The i-Read program is made up of two sections:

  1.     15 minutes of private reading time
  2.     1 minute of summarizing what you have read to your peers

Work Experience Program

Year 10 students completed their safe@work online training and assessment module during a workshop last week.  The safe@work module provides valuable information, and training, around Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S).  A person’s safety while at work is the most important element in having a productive work environment.

 

Students will be involved in the ‘Work Experience Program’ from Monday 17th June until Friday 21st June (Week 9, Term Two). All Year 10 students should have either organised their work experience, or, should be in the final stages of securing a place.

Students must complete and return the following important documents by Friday 22nd March to Miss Geraldine Borgonha in the Careers Office:

  • The safe@work General Module
  • The ‘Work experience Arrangement Form’
  • The safe@work Industry Specific Module

Attention 

 

all Year 7 to Year 9 

 

Parents and Guardians

As part of your child’s English/EAL program, students need to buy a workbook that is designed to improve their spelling and writing across the curriculum. It was included in the booklist as ‘additional resources’. We were in negotiation last year to get the best price for our Westall Community, and I am happy to say that we received a discount of $10 off the listed price. The cost of ‘Spelling Through Morphographs’ will now be $25. You or your child can pay for this either by card or cash at the front office, or cash payments can be made to Ms Dewhurst or Ms Bray in the Junior School (Balook Centre).

 

Ms . Samantha Dewhurst

Literacy & EAL Learning Specialist

Bridging EAL Class Newspapers

This term, our Year 9 and 10 EAL students have been working on a variety of different projects in their elective EAL Bridging classes.

 

Ms Good’s class have been writing newspaper articles, with each student choosing their own topic. The topics chosen range from the invention of a new edible water, to the opening of Shanghai Disneyland, to a student’s first experience of Christmas in Australia.

 

The following students’ articles are attached to the newsletter for the school community to read and enjoy:

  • Lujin Alghamdi, Year 9, writing about the threats to the Great Barrier Reef; and
  • Nathan Thongyoo, Year 9, writing about air pollution in Bangkok, Thailand.

Please congratulate these budding journalists and reporters on their great effort!

 

Ms. Laura Good

EAL Teacher