Principal's Message
Welcome back for Term 3!
In our first Newsletter for Term 3, I would like to welcome back our College Community for what promises to be another positive and productive period of teaching and learning at Wheelers Hill Secondary College.
We’ve Got This! Be The Best That You Can Be!
2020 is a year like no other. The situation concerning COVID-19 continues to challenge us all. As a College Community, we have the experience, support, skills, optimism and team work to help each other get through these difficult times.
Our number one priority remains the wellbeing of students, families, staff and the broader community. Importantly, we have an obligation to our students to further their learning outcomes across all areas. The degree of team spirit throughout our College Community remains incredibly strong. I have every confidence that this ‘team spirit’ will continue to help us keep wellbeing as our number one priority, together with ensuring that the learning growth of our students remains a very important part of our ongoing approach.
It is in times like this that our College Motto really rings true. All anyone can expect of one another is ‘To Be The Best That You Can Be’. I know that this will also be true of our wonderful College Community – let’s continue to support one another as much as we can ‘To Be The Best That We Can Be’.
A Return to Remote Teaching and Learning ‘2.0’
We know that all Year levels from Years 7-12 have now returned to Remote Teaching and Learning for this term. We have considered the feedback and experiences from our Remote Teaching and Learning Program in Term 2 in order to make some important changes for Term 3. We are pleased with our new version of Remote Teaching and Learning, ‘2.0’, for Term 3.
One of the most fundamental changes we have made for Term 3 is to have all students follow their timetable as it appears on Compass. All students will now attend each and every class on their timetable across all of their subjects. Year 7-11 students will participate in 45 min lessons, whilst Year 12 students will take in the regular 72 minutes of teaching and learning for each of their lessons.
Our new approach to Remote Teaching and Learning for Term 3 supports a number of key areas including:
- greater continuity of the teaching and learning experience;
- greater connection between students and staff;
- a stronger sense of routine for students;
- an even stronger focus on teaching and learning with an emphasis on further developing student skills and capabilities (ie formative assessment and work).
Already we are receiving positive feedback with the changes that we have made. For example, some of our students are reporting:
- "We are enjoying following the timetable as per Compass for the 45 minute time periods for each lesson."
- "There is more of a routine to our day. We don’t have those same long periods of time between seeing our teachers and other students."
- "We get to connect with our teachers and friends more in Term 3."
- "The 45 min periods for each lesson allows me to move from one class to the next quite easily."
- "Students and teachers seem more comfortable in the use of TEAMS."
We are planning to survey our staff, students and families in the near future to capture and analyse some further feedback to allow us to constantly review our approach to Remote Teaching and Learning. Please contact the College should you have any queries concerning our Remote Teaching and Learning Program ‘2.0’ for this term.
Principal Awards, Semester One, 2020
The Principal's Awards are presented to students at Wheelers Hill Secondary College who demonstrate the values of Creativity, Excellence and Respect. We congratulate our student award winners. Students receiving a Principal's Awards have produced outstanding assessment results, excelled in their Semester Report and been nominated by their teacher for demonstrating all three College values.
College data is carefully analysed and used to select students who are eligible for this award. Given the situation with COVID-19, Principal's Awards were posted in the mail to eligible students and we congratulate these students on their Awards. We are also making arrangements for these Awards to be made available to student recipients electronically.
Our Year 12 Students
2020 is a year like no other. Year 12 studies are a challenge at the best of times let alone what our Year 12 students are having to also work through given the circumstances created by COVID–19.
The Education Minister, Mr. James Merlino announced that every single VCE student will be individually assessed for things such as school closures, long absences, significant increases in family responsibilities as a result of COVID-19 and the impact of COVID-19 on mental health (The Age, 7/8/20).
Mr Merlino went on to say that students will go into their exams "knowing that their final scores and their ATAR ranking will be a fair reflection of their year, and they will not be disadvantaged as a result of COVID-19" (The Age, 7/8/20).
We are awaiting further details from The Department of Education in terms of what might be involved in operationalising these announcements. As a College we stand ready to continue to best support our Year 12 students in their final year of schooling. We will keep our College Community informed of developments.
VCE and School Assessed Coursework
Earlier in the week (see Compass post, 11/8/20) we shared with VCE students, staff and families the process we will use that allows for how School Assessed Coursework will be set, administered, completed and submitted given the circumstances created by COVID-19. Please read on in this Newsletter for further details.
Independent Reading Program, Year 7, 2020
Our Year 7 Individual Reading Program (or IRP) continues to grow from strength to strength with our Year 7 students continuing their participation remotely in the Program this term.
A recent Survey of the Year 7 IRP reveals that students:
- look forward to the Program;
- that they enjoy having dedicated time each day in which to read a book of interest to them;
- and that many are reading more at home.
Importantly, many students understand the purpose of the Program to further improve their grammar and punctuation, together with how they can be better structuring sentences with their writing. We look forward to further reviewing the IRP at the end of the year.
Improved Learning Outcomes in Numeracy
We have viewed some Year 7–10 student data just recently with some very pleasing results coming through that demonstrate student growth in Numeracy this year. We are currently in the process of further reviewing these results where our analysis will be used to further support students.
‘Number Talks’ have been employed by our Mathematics staff at the beginning of lessons. These ‘Number Talks’ allow for students to work through the steps required to solve various mathematical problems. It is a real exercise in challenging the thinking of students as they try to work out what steps that need to establish solutions to maths related problems. Our ‘Number Talks’ program has been very successful in 2020.
Year 7 Enrolments, 2021
The Year 7 Enrolments for 2021 currently show a 30 % increase compared to this time last year. We are very pleased with this result. We are looking forward to welcoming our new Year 7 students and their families for 2021.
Course and Subject Selection Process, 2020 into 2021
We are embarking on the Subject Selection Process with a number of our students and families in preparation for 2021. We have been holding our Course and Subject Selection Information Nights remotely and these events have been well supported by student and families.
Students and families are asked to check our website for further details concerning the Course and Subject Selection process, and students are expected to adhere to the timelines provided with respect to submitting their details associated with their subject and course preferences for 2021. Please contact the College (9561 5811 or wheelers.hill.sc@edumail.vic.gov.au ) should you have any queries.
College Planning, 2021
Planning is very much in underway for 2021. Curriculum, staffing and co-curricular requirements are some key features of our planning moving into next year.
Our 40th Anniversary, 1980 – 2020
Our great school is having its 40th Birthday this year! Notwithstanding the challenges of COVID-19, we would like to mark this very special occasion in some sort of way. Please check our website and Facebook page for some details in terms of how we have started to recognise our 40th year.
If parents and / or students would like to join a special working group to help with our planning to best mark our 40th Anniversary, please contact our Communications Co-ordinator in Jack Richardson for details ( jri@whsc.vic.edu.au ).
I look forward to working with our staff, students and families throughout Semester 2 to further the learning outcomes of all of our students. Stay safe and connected everyone.
As always, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the College on 9561 5811 or wheelers.hill.sc@edumail.vic.gov.au
Thank you and regards,
Mr. Aaron Smith
Principal, Wheelers Hill Secondary College
Contact Us
Ph: (03) 9561 5811
Email: wheelers.hill.sc@edumail.vic.gov.au
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