Principal Team Editorial

For the past week, students and staff alike have been looking forward to a well-earned break. It’s been a long term and, with so much happening, it would be remiss of me not to pause and reflect on some of the great things we have achieved in the past 11 weeks. As I have been saying since the beginning of the year, we have great students and staff at Wantirna and the Term 2 events listed at the end of this article highlight some of the great extra curricular activities that students experienced this term. 

Buildings & Grounds

In addition to great students and staff, we are fortunate to have great facilities, buildings, and grounds and we look forward to making them even better in 2025! Our new building project is well underway.  I'm sure no one can miss the construction site, which will deliver our school and the wider community a brand-new state of the art double court basketball stadium and performing arts space. This much needed upgrade will undoubtedly be a valued addition to the great spaces our students currently have access to, and we can’t wait until June next year when it will be operational – watch this space!!

In addition to our new stadium and performing arts space, we are fortunate to have plenty of indoor and outdoor areas that students can use before, during and after school. We are a big school with nearly 1500 students and 186 staff and despite having so many people onsite, our students have plenty of different spaces in which to find their place whether they’re kicking a footy on the oval, playing soccer or netball on the COLA (covered outdoor learning area), shooting hoops on the outside basketball courts, rehearsing in the 300 seat Theatre, spending time with friends over lunch in The Orchard, playing board games in the Library or accessing the Senior Centre (Years 9-12) or Mason House (Years 7-8) for further study or quiet time. 

Student-led Improvements

To further improve our buildings and grounds, our students have picked up gardening tools, taken on designer roles and presented visions for improving our spaces, with teachers giving students the opportunity to engage in project-based learning. Through programs such as Connect (social and emotional development programs tailored to student needs) and Vocational Major, our students are engaging in applied learning, as a style of learning that ‘emphasises the relevance of what is being learnt to the "real world".’ 

Furthermore, ‘applied learning is concerned with nurturing and working with students in a holistic manner, taking into account their personal strengths, interests, goals and previous experiences. It also means taking into account differences in preferred learning styles, and ways of learning.’ (VCAA 2006). These ‘hands on learning’ projects are bringing small groups of students together and giving them tangible, real word experiences where they design, make and create projects. Below are some of the projects our students have contributed to this year (including ones that are underway)!

Vocational Major Projects

Pathways Hub Alfresco Study Area (see photo, above): Previously an underused space out the back of Byrne House that wasn’t accessed by students or staff. With a small budget, Vocational Major students were tasked with designing and presenting a vision for the space where Year 12 students could come together to collaborate, study and ‘hang out’ at lunchtimes.

Coffee Van: By the end of the year, Wantirna College will have its very own coffee van that Vocational Major students will operate and be trained in using. Having barista skills will certainly be a much-valued skillset that our students can utilise in jobs and vocations beyond school. We are looking forward to our Coffee Van being a notable feature at upcoming school events later in the year!

Connect Projects

Indigenous Gardens: As part of reconciliation week, our Connect students joined forces with our Marrung Lead and Koorie students to plant native gardens.

Yellow Safety Lines on Steps:Throughout the school our Connect students are making our steps safer by painting yellow safety lines on them.

Garden Beds: Along B-Block students have made garden boxes giving life and colour to the brick walls.

Wellbeing Stairs: The stairs leading to Wellbeing are now adorned in rainbow colours acknowledging we are a safe and inclusive school.

Lunchtime Clubs

To further engage students in developing social connections and fostering interests that are collaborative and face to face, our staff host a range of Lunchtime Clubs such as Lego Club, Tinkers Club, Yarn Club, Minecraft Club, Mindfulness Club, Dungeons & Dragon Club, Book Club, Bible Club, Netball Club and Friyay Games, to name a few…

Every lunchtime we have at least one club running and we encourage students to come along, find like-minded friends and foster social connectedness.

Community Volunteers

This term we have a couple of community volunteers working alongside our students. In some of our Maths classes we have Colin who is lending a helping hand and last year we had Di in the Library offering her help every Wednesday. If you think you might have a skillset that you could contribute, whether it’s in the classroom, working on projects or attending Lunchtime Clubs, we’d love to hear from you! 

We are looking for parents, grandparents, carers or community volunteers who might be interested in supporting students.  If you are interested, please me via the General Office: generaloffice@wantirnacollege.vic.edu.au

Term 2 Highlights

• Work Experience
• Morrisby Testing
• Interschool Sport
• Unit 1 Theatre & 9/10 Drama Performances
• City Experience
• Music Camp, NEVR Concert and Showcase Week
• Year 12 Formal 
• NT Tour
• Parent Forum – Wellbeing focus
• Cross Country (New model: 7-8 compulsory, 9-12 opt in) & EMR 
• ANZAC Day Assembly

As school holidays draw nearer, I’d like to thank staff and students for their hard work and efforts this term. Special shout out to our VCE and VM students who sat the GAT earlier in the week and have made it through a very long term. 

Have a safe and relaxing break. We look forward to seeing students return on Tuesday 16 July (please note that Monday 15 July is a student free day).

Carrie Wallis

Principal