AROUND THE COLLEGE

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC Week was celebrated at Western heights College in week 1 of term 3. The 2026 NAIDOC Week theme was 50 Years of Deadly marking 50 years of the NAIDOC movement in Australia. NAIDOC Week is an important week and WHC planned an interactive and engaging week for all students at the college.

Throughout the week, students and staff could buy delicious lunches and treats from the school canteen like bush burgers, lemon myrtle chicken wraps and outback loaded wedges. Students enjoyed learning First Nations games with Sade and Mr Wintels at lunch where lots of fun was had. Lunchtime art club welcomed Jess and Kasey who taught the students about Aboriginal art and worked with the art club to complete their own artwork. Throughout the week, the bell songs were changed to celebrate NAIDOC Week with songs like My Island Home, songs from Yothu Yindi and the Wilcannia Mob- lots of great songs to celebrate.

Staff enjoyed a morning tea of Kakadu plum and lemon myrtle scones and saltbush sausage rolls all washed down with Blak Brews tea. Shout out Amanda, Kendall and the VM crew for all your help and baking the morning tea! On Tuesday, the school gathered for the NAIDOC Week assembly where we heard from school leaders Lexie, Molly, Sam, Makayla, Gus, Bree and Alex as well as First Nations leaders Will and JJ. JJ celebrated the recent achievements of Aiden, Tahlia and Bailey who have been awarded the 2026 Marrung Scholarship for years 11 and 12. Congratulations you three! We also heard from the student leaders who spoke about deadly individuals such as Nova Peris and Jane Harrison. Thank you to all who researched, presented and helped with the organisation of the NAIDOC Week assembly.

Western Heights College enjoyed the week, and we all look forward to celebrating NAIDOC Week in 2027!

Thank you to all staff and students who helped make the 2026 NAIDOC Week at WHC a great one.

Sista Studios workshop

Victory Passes!

2026 sees the introduction of Victory Passes into our WHC community! Students who display exceptional levels of our College Values; Responsibility, Inclusion & Courage will be granted a Victory Pass! Victory Passes are to be delivered by students to the front Administration office, where they will be entered into a fortnightly draw.

Prizes:

Each Fortnight 2 x passes will be drawn out of each sub-school, with canteen prizes for the winners.

Each Month, the Homegroup with the highest number of passes will receive a special lunch.

Each Term, students with the highest number of passes will be entered into a Major Draw!

Keep up the great work WHC! Keep collecting those VICTORY PASSES! 🏆

Fortnightly Winners:

Year 7-8: Lindsey M

Year 9-10: Alec D

Year 11-12: N/A

Term 2 Winners:

Year 7-8: Isabella Y

Year 9-10: Hamish M

Year 11-12: Makayla

SSV Events

Dear WHC Families,

We often experience difficulties with School Sport Victoria events outside our four pillar sports of AFL, basketball, netball and soccer. Students may initially express interest in participating but then fail to provide consent and payment by the deadline. By this stage, it is often too late to find replacement participants.

Unfortunately, we were required to withdraw two teams last week due to insufficient confirmed participants. SSV has advised that the school may be fined if late withdrawals occur again.

To prevent this, families whose child nominates for an SSV event outside our pillar sports will now be required to provide consent and payment before Western Heights College enters the team into the competition. This applies to sports including:

• Volleyball
• Table tennis
• Badminton
• Tennis
• Cricket
• Softball
• Baseball
• Lawn bowls
• Hockey

Every student who expresses interest in joining a team will be added to the relevant Compass event. Families must then provide consent and payment by the deadline listed on the event. Once the deadline has passed, coaches will confirm whether there are sufficient numbers for the event to proceed and determine the final team selections.

Please note that providing consent and payment does not guarantee selection in the final team. If your child is not selected, any fees paid will be credited to your Compass account and can be applied to a future school event.

If an event does not proceed due to insufficient participants, all families who completed consent and payment by the deadline will also receive a credit to their Compass account. Students who have not provided consent and payment by the deadline will not be considered for selection. Please ensure the process is completed on time so that we can confirm teams with confidence and avoid late withdrawals from SSV competitions.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Kind regards,

Cate Johnson & Michael Dundon

WHC Sports Coordinators