Principal Team Editorial

As the new substantive Principal of Wantirna College, I’d like to thank staff, students, families and the wider school community for their well wishes and messages of support. I feel very privileged in taking on this role and I’m committed to doing the best job I can, particularly with the support of a great Principal team, Leadership team and staff. 

As I’ve been saying since the beginning of the year, we are doing some great things at Wantirna and this is evidenced by our outstanding NAPLAN and VCE results last year. Our Year 9 students were the first cohort to transition to Developmental Assessment when they started as Year 7s in 2021, and last year, 74% of them achieved strong and exceeding proficiency levels in Reading which was well above the state average and well above similar and network schools. 

It was a similar story with our Year 9 students in Numeracy, with 76% of students achieving strong and exceeding proficiency levels, which again, was well above state, similar and network schools. 

At the other end of the scale, our Year 9 Reading and Numeracy NAPLAN data showed that only 3% of our students needed additional learning support which was significantly lower than state, similar, and network schools.  This suggests that our intervention and support programs are highly effective and are making a real difference in student outcomes. 

Our VCE data significantly improved, with our mean VCE study score jumping from 27 in 2022 to 29 in 2023, which makes us one of the leading academic schools in the outer east Melbourne. 

These outstanding results demonstrate not only the highly academic achievements our students are capable of, but also the highly effective teaching strategies that teachers are using to support students in achieving their very best. 

Vision for Wantirna College

Looking ahead, we are focused on continuing to build on the work we have been doing over the past four years and forging ahead with our progressive approach to learning and teaching. Some key areas of focus will be:

- Developmental rubrics used as learning and teaching tools in every class with the embedding of Maestro to make the rubrics visible, interactive, and monitor and measure leaning growth in real time.

- Support of teachers to continue improving their practice and ensure strategies used in the classroom are effective and targeted to enhance learning. Staff meetings will prioritise professional learning with the focus on HOW we teach and how we respond to student learning needs within the lesson. 

- Continued focus on calm and productive classrooms with consistent learning routines across the College to ensure students are ready to learn, they are punctual to class, have the correct equipment, and are cognitively engaged. 

- High expectations of attendance, learning and behaviour with teachers partnering with families to support our students to reach their full potential.

- Increased Wellbeing and Inclusion programs to support students to better access and engage in learning.

- Continued focus on Respectful Relationships to ensure all students feel safe, supported, valued, and connected irrespective of race, gender, sexuality, or cultural background. 

Other key priorities:

- Construction of our new double court basketball stadium with dance studio and theatre space will begin in the holidays and will be a fantastic addition to the great facilities we already have at Wantirna – we are hoping to have it operational early 2025.

- Expansion of our VET program with the introduction of VET Sport and Recreation offered onsite giving our students greater pathway opportunities. 

With the introduction of the Senior Secondary Reforms including VCE, VM, and VPC, we are leading the way in offering our students multiple VM pathways with the VM Hybrid model and ensuring our students have greater VET pathway opportunities. With this expansion of onsite VET offerings, and with an increase of students wanting to do onsite Building and Construction, we will be looking to expand our onsite VET spaces.

New Building Project Update

I am thrilled to announce that we officially have a builder appointed to our project and construction will commence shortly. After a thorough evaluation process, Building Engineering will deliver the construction of our school upgrade and bring the project to life. Construction is set to begin over the April school holidays and is forecast for completion by Term 3, 2025. For more information regarding the new build, please read the full letter attached (with a couple of pictures!!).

Term One Wrap Up

As Term 1 draws to a close, it would be remiss of me not to reflect on how many great things have been achieved in such a short amount of time – 9 weeks. A big thank you to staff, many of whom go above and beyond in making the following events happen through their commitment to ensuring our students are given every opportunity to have enriching experiences beyond the classroom. Of course, these events occur in and around the great work that happens every day in our classrooms:

• Year 7 Camp
• Year 7 Family Night
• VCE Information Night
• Swimming Carnival
• Parent Forum
• Year 8 Challenge Week
• NAPLAN
• Staff Concert (and 2 weeks of evening Music Soirées)
• Open Night
• Year 9 Mock Interviews/Morrisby Testing
• Student Conferences
• iCan Challenge (Good Friday Appeal Fundraiser)

No wonder everyone is tired!!

Open Night

On Tue 19 March, we held our annual Discovery Night, opening our school to prospective and current families.  Every learning area ran interactive activities with most of our staff and over 50 student leaders on hand to meet, talk with and assist our guests. 

This year we ran a Passport Challenge and we are pleased to announce the following winners of a $50 Westfield voucher - just in time for the school holidays:

• Hailey Van Burren
• Jackson Portbury
• Daniel Papenfuss
• Zoe Armstrong
• Patrick Koedyke
• Angus Rowlands

Missed our Open Night. Here is a snapshot:

I wish our students, staff, families, and the wider school community a safe and restful break – see you all next term.

Carrie Wallis

Principal