Western Heights College Newsletter

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Principals Newsletter Report (10/5/24)

 

Another busy fortnight of learning and it’s hard to believe we are almost halfway through term 2 and an 11-week term. I trust all our mums and those who are carers or ‘mum’ like figures to our students will enjoy waking up on Sunday morning to some fantastic handmade gifts by our Vocational Major students which were on sale today at lunchtime. Life has been hectic as WHC, and we have so many great things to celebrate.

 

Education Week

 

As we celebrate Education Week from Sunday 13 to Friday 17 May  This year’s theme, Spotlight on STEM, highlights the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in our everyday lives, in the classroom and beyond. Throughout Education Week, students, parents/carers, teachers, and school communities are encouraged to celebrate and share ideas to learn more about the endless possibilities of STEM.

 

This year we will be celebrating education week by a number of activities including Year 11 VCE-VM WRS program students will be participating in an integrated 4 day agriculture project ran by the Geelong Tech School, where they will be immersed in a real world scenario at the Common Ground Project and Boomaroo Nurseries. Students will participate in industry visits that provide different approaches to the future of food production and explore a range of technology options while working through the design process to address challenges linked to the industry culminating in students presenting their outcomes back to the clients. We also have students participating in wonderful science classroom activities and excursions such as metabolic madness at the BioLab in Belmont and a group of students celebrating International Day of Immunology at GTAC in Parkville Melbourne. Our students are highly engaged in STEM and we enjoy celebrating this with our community.

 

Schools are communities and communities are based on relationships. As we celebrate Education Week this year, I want to recognise and express my appreciation for the work done by our staff in our school. This is because it is the relationships and teamwork between teachers, support staff and leaders that are just as important as our individual efforts in enabling us to support the learning and wellbeing of every student in our care every day.

 

Student Travellers on Vline/Public Transport Services

A reminder to students and families of the legal obligation to travel with a valid, in credit, Myki card when travelling on either Vline or PTV trains or buses. I am aware of recent fines to students for travelling without Myki cards and this reflects negatively on our school community. Please do not hesitate to contact the schools well-being team if you need some support in abiding by this law.

 

Year 7 Camp

This week our Year 7 students were lucky to enjoy some fabulous weather and fun in Angelsea for their camp. Students were engaged with several fantastic activities including some high ropes challenges, beach initiatives and aquatic challenges. I’d like to thank Marli McCarthy and Brent Watson for their leadership organisation of the camps and the wonderful group of staff who gave up their time to support these camps to run successfully.

 

Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS) 2024

We value student voice to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and are conducting a survey to find out what your child thinks of your school.

The AtoSS is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist your child’s school to gain an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Students will be asked about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, peer and family relationships, resilience, bullying, mental health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

 

This year the surveys will commence next week.

 

Sport Congratulations

 

Congratulations to our Year 11/12 AFL Boys and Girls who recently won through to the Western Metropolitan SSV finals after winning the Local SSV championships. Congratulations to all students and coaches on this success and to large number of parents and carers who supported our students in these competitions.

 

Well done to all our students who represented our college at the Geelong Division athletics carnival last Friday in great conditions at Landy Field. Special congratulations to Josh Unthank who smashed a long standing U20 Boys 1500m record in a cracking time of 4:19:31 and to Aiden Sharp who obliterated a 100m record in the time of 11.16 secs. We were also successful in winning the senior boys aggregate on the day. Well done all.

 

Take care,

 

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 2024

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.