Assistant Principal (Years 7/8) Report 

Report from Assistant Principal Years Yr 7/8

Alice Paget

Dear students, parents and guardians,

This week marks the half-way point of the year and I wanted to congratulate all the students on their hard-work thus far, especially completing their final Common Assessment Tasks for the Semester. Reports are being released next week and I would encourage you to have a conversation at home with your child or young person about their report, including their areas of strength and also opportunities for growth and improvement. 

Over the last month, Grade 6 students have had to make a final decision about their Secondary School choice for next year. I am also excited to announce we have received 76 applications for a Year 7 placement in 2026! I look forward to supporting their Transition into the College with the Junior School team later this year. 

Semester 1 Award Winners:

I would like to congratulate all the junior school students for the way you have approached your studies this Semester. Especially, our Yr7s for the start of your secondary school journey. All junior school students have all shown great determination and a willingness to learn. 

I would like to congratulate all our Semester 1 Award Winners that were acknowledged at our whole school assembly last week. There was 1 student at each year level recognised for Academic Excellence. This award is given to the highest achieving student across the year level, in a range of subjects. Their dedication to their studies and hunger for excellence is truly inspiring. 

We also recognising 1 student for overall Personal Best in each year level. A student who has applied themselves consistently throughout the Semester in their learning behaviours, across multiple subjects. Their hard work, perseverance and demonstration of our school iCARE values is such an asset to our school community. 

Lastly, we recognised the students exceling in their iCARE values and learning behaviours, toping the Westall Way points leader board in their year level.  Westall Way Achievement Award acknowledges students who continue to lead by example. 

Year 7:

Overall Academic Excellence: Alex Le

Overall Personal Best: Ghina Deddy

Westall Way Achievement Award: Brandon Fernandes, William Cheav and Sophia Quach. 

Year 8:

Overall Academic Excellence: Anand Mendbayar

Overall Personal Best: Mylla Tran.

Westall Way Achievement Award: Mylla Tran, Anand Mendbayar and Tony Pham

Congratulations to all our award winners across the College!

Please remember awards are a snapshot in time. There is something special about each and every students at Westall Secondary College. Keep striving, caring for yourself / those around you and giving your personal best!

Brain Care:

Recently it has been recognised by the Department of Education the importance of wellbeing, placing learning and wellbeing at the centre of school improvement. This is a notion we practice at Westall and are constantly reflecting on ways we can improve in this space. We aim to help build our young people into happy, healthy and resilient learners who can thrive beyond secondary school. This year we are in our 2nd year of rolling out a Wellbeing Curriculum at Year 7 and 8, called Brain Care.

So far this Semester in Brain Care students have taken part in a social, emotional learning program to assist them in building strategies to manage relationships. Students have been involved in individual and collaborative activities around the topics of connected listening, emotions, friendships and problem solving. 

Students have learnt and practiced key skills to demonstrate social and emotional learning, such as being caring, problem solving and communicating assertively (as seen in the infographics below).

Next Term we will be turning our focus to the Resilience Project. The resilience project aims to support mental health in the classroom through 3 key pillars that have been proven to cultivate positive emotion: Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness, with emotional Literacy being a foundation skill to practice these strategies.

Course / Subject selection (Year 7-8):

Heading into Semester 2, students will need to start forecasting towards 2026 and making informed decisions about their subject selections and pathways.  I encourage all students to take the time to look into the subject handbooks over the holidays to explore their options for next year. Year 7s, you will need to think about what iCreate you would like to study, whether this be continuing on with the same one or exploring another iCreate subject. Make sure you check out the new iCreate Handbook on the school website. 

Year 8s, you will need to start exploring the Year 9/10 Electives subjects, as you will picking up one of these subjects along with your iCreate subject. I encourage all students to explore these option with their parents and guardians over the holidays and discuss with their teachers upon their return in Semester 2. 

I hope all the students, families and staff have a wonderful holiday break and come back refreshed for Semester 2! 

Until next time, take care. 

Warm regards,

Alice Paget

Assistant Principal (Years 7/8)

Semester One Reports 

A reminder to all students and parents/carers: Semester 1 Reports will be available on Compass at 4pm on Wed, 2nd July. These reports provide a detailed breakdown of student performance in each subject over the semester. They include information on grading of summative assessments, performance in learning behaviours, attendance rates, and outcomes or unit completions in VCE, as well as achieved Victorian Curriculum subject levels (Years 7-10). The reports also serve as a great basis for discussions during the Semester 2 Parent-Teacher conferences next term. Instructions on how to access your child's report are attached below.

2026 Course/Subject Selection 

As we approach the end of Semester 1, this period also signifies the start of 2026 Program/Subject selection process. This is a particularly critical time for our Year 10 students, who will be selecting programs and subjects that will influence their pathway post-secondary schooling.

Over the holiday period it is recommended that all students read through their respective sub-school handbooks to inform themselves on what programs and subjects are available to them in 2026. Sub-school handbooks which include subject information will be made available on the college website and via Compass and Teams. It is critical that parents are also actively involved in this process. Going through sub-school handbooks with your child is an easy way to create this connection. At Year 10, teachers will be recommending students in science and maths subjects, based on their CAT performance throughout Semester 1 in these subjects.

Throughout Term 3 2026 Course/Subject Selection information will also be shared on Compass to assist students and parents to stay up to date with tasks and activities that need to be completed as part of this process.

This year we will once again be running a Course Selection Parent Information Evening on Thursday, 24th of July in the Senior Learning Centre. The session will commence at 6pm and conclude at 7pm.This session is for students and parents of all year levels, however, is particularly relevant for students & parents of Year 9 & 10 who are now selecting subjects that are shaping their educational pathway into their senior years of schooling.

Term 3 Parent-Teacher Interviews 

The second round of Parent-Teacher Interviews will take place in Wk4 of Term 3, on Wednesday 13th August. Parent-Teacher interviews are crucial for fostering effective communication between parents and teachers, ensuring that our students learning needs are being met. The conversations that take place during these meetings allows parents and teachers the opportunity to discuss a child’s academic progress which includes areas needing improvement and areas of celebration. 

Active parent involvement is linked to higher student achievement as the conversations allow parents to engage more deeply with their child’s education, reinforcing learning and support at home. Although our preference is for students and parents to attend in person, our Microsoft Teams platform will allow the flexibility of attending online. Interpreters are also able to be booked and used to facilitate effective communication between parents and teachers. Parent-Teacher portal will not be open until Week 3 of Term 3 with instructions on how to book interviews to be made available via Compass notifications.