Extended Sporting Absence

Attending school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day.

WHC understands that student-athletes may require absence from school for extended periods due to sporting commitments (training or competition). In this event, parent-carers must gain prior approval and provide advance notice to WHC for any extended absence (More than 3 days).

The advance notice will allow for an approved exemption (at the discretion of the Principal) from school attendance for state, national or international sporting commitments (training or competition). In short, this means it will be a school approved absence, and will not impact your child’s or the school’s attendance record/data.

Parent-Carer Responsibilities – What you need to do:

All absences of more than 3 days should be reported by parents/carers on Compass as an ‘Attendance Note’.

In the attendance note – please select Parent Choice, School Unapproved - if the Principal deems the absence meets the state, national or international sporting commitment criteria, we will adjust this to School Approved.

In the Attendance Note, please outline:

Dates of absence
Reason for absence (Sport / Competition / Location)
Attach any supporting documentation regarding the sporting event (for example: Letter from Sporting Governing body)

WHC will then action the following communication (automatically);

Log on compass (discretionary – as approved absence)
Notify
- Principal: Fiona Taylor for approval
- SSP Leader: Renee Lane
- SSP LCL: Paul Rogers
- Year Level Sub School Leader and Classroom teachers

Year 7-10 Student-Athletes

It is expected that all Year 7-10 student-athletes that are absent for an extended period of time (more than 3 days), notify WHC when representing and competing at a State, National or International level.

The SSP Learning Community Leader: Paul Rogers will help to support you in completing a Student Absence Learning Plan for your core subjects: English and Maths.

It is an expectation of WHC that during your sporting absence, you will complete the designated work within these two subject areas (either prior to leaving or by your return date). Of course, if you wish to obtain work from all subject areas, please feel free to do so.

VCE Student-Athletes

It is crucial for any student-athlete studying a Unit 1-4 subject to notify WHC of extended sporting absence (more than 3 days), where representing and competing at a State, National or International level.

If a VCE student-athlete is absent from a SAC, without an approved exemption (or medical certificate) may receive a score of zero for the SAC, which will have a significant impact on their final Study Score for the subject.

It is expected that all VCE student-athletes that are absent for an extended period of time, communicate with their teacher’s prior to the absence to ensure work completion whilst away. This is non-negotiable.

Absences which are for activities that are student/parent choice and not a recognised requirement of the sport, will not be approved and the absence may impact VCAA requirements for school attendance.

Please Note:

It is the family and student-athletes' responsibility to notify WHC of any upcoming absence in advance.
It is vitally important that all student-athletes regardless of age find out what work is required prior to leaving, during the event or competition (if realistic) and what to do upon their return – so that students can remain up to date and engaged in their learning.

Importance of Attendance

At WHC, it is important that we are clear on our attendance standards and expectations for students in our College. Across the state, it is expected that student attendance is above 90%. School attendance is crucial:

Every day missed impacts academic achievements
Affects social-emotional development (communication, resilience, wellbeing etc)
Future life opportunities (further learning, employment, providing skills, knowledge and values for greater community engagement and participation)
Improved health outcomes
Higher income across the lifespan

Please continue to support us and your child to maintain high levels of attendance at WHC (daily) and please communicate proactively via compass; attendance note, regarding any sporting commitments that may impact your child’s attendance.

Specialist Sports Program News

Student-Athlete News

Aspiring Athlete Program: Blake Gullock

Congratulations to Blake in Year 7 who has been selected in the Obstacle Course Racing National team to compete Internationally:

Obstacle World Championships in Beijing, China in August / September.

It is un unbelievable honour to represent your country and wear the green and gold uniform – especially at such a young age. A huge congratulations Blake and we can’t wait to hear all about your international experience!

High Performance Program: Zahlie and Keppler Snijders

Congratulations to our family of swimmers – Zahlie and Keppler Snijders. Our two little dolphins have just returned from the AIS over the Term 2-3 holidays where they were amongst the top 64 under age swimmers in the country (32 male and 32 female athletes) who were invited to participate in the ‘Next Wave’ camp. This was then 2nd year in a row that Zahlie has been invited to this prestigious camp, with Keppler now a National Backstroke champion earning an invite as a young up and comer.

Keep up the awesome work Snijders!

Basketball Program: Riak Akhuar

Congratulations to Riak Akhuaur who has recently returned home from Turkey as a part of the U/17 National team, competing in the FIBA Men’s World Cup – with a BRONZE Medal! An outstanding achievement from Riak and also our very own Ash Arnott as Assistant Coach. It is only the 6th time in Australia’s history that they have medalled at both Junior and Senior world cups or Olympics… Exciting times ahead for Riak who personally had a wonderful tournament, especially in his defensive game.

We are incredibly proud of you Riak and Ash 😊.

Eli Whiteford

Congratulations to Eli Whiteford who has successfully made the Victorian State Basketball Team, competing in the School Sport Australia tournament at Parkville between July 25-31. Eli, then has a quick turn around to prepare for the Basketball Australia Team competing in Shanghai for the Future Stars Tournament between August 7-18 – an incredible achievement Eli.

We know you work so incredibly hard both on and off the court – so keep doing great things!

Emmanuel Majek and Ragge Abeil

Both Manny and Ragge have recently been selected for the National South Sudanese Team to compete in the U/18 FIBA Afro Basket competition in Egypt. Both students work incredibly hard in the basketball program, they are wonderful role models and are really starting to travel the world within the sport.

We will all be cheering you on Egypt!

AFL Program: Daniel May

A huge congratulations to our very own Daniel May who has just recently finished competing for Vic Country in the AFL National Development Championships (U/16), where he was voted as the ‘Coaches MVP’. This is outstanding recognition for a humble human, who simply goes about his business of improvement daily, weekly and monthly.

We are so proud of the human you are Daniel and can’t wait to continue working with you on your footballing journey.

NETBALL PROGRAM NEWS

It's been a fantastic start to term 3 in the Specialist Netball Program. Excitingly we have commenced training at the new Western Heights Sport and Events Centre; our new gym and base for the SNP which is a fantastic state of the art elite facility and will enable us to remain on site and create diversity between our sessions on court in the gym. It looks amazing and the student athletes are excited.

On Monday our intermediate girls teams headed to Kardinia Park for the SSV divisional rounds. Both our A-Team and B-Team had some great outcomes for the day taking out the Championships in both Divisions. The Intermediate girls will now progress to Western Metropolitan Region Championships next Tuesday at Altona. Our senior netballers will take the court this week on Thursday in the divisional rounds and we're looking forward to seeing these athletes competing in what for some of them, is their final year of netball at Western Heights College.

We wish Jack Te Paa all the best as he heads off this weekend in the team Vic 15 year Boys Netball Team to compete at the Australian Schools championships at the State Netball Centre, our year 9 cohort will be attending the championships to view both the boys and the girls Australian championship competitions which will be a great experience to expose our players to that standard of play. Best wishes Jack.

Results SSV Intermediate Girls SSV

A Division B Division

Game 1 Won v Grovedale 27-10 Game 1 Won vs Surfcoast 21-6

Game2 Won v Bellarine 37-10 Game 2 Won vs Bellarine 20-10

Semi Final Won vs Oberon 24-10 Semi Final Won vs Oberon 17-7

Grand Final Won v Belmont 13-10 Grand Final Won vs Belmont 17-6

SOCCER PROGRAM NEWS

Soccer success continues at Western Heights College. With the conclusion of the World Cup, soccer fever is still running high at Western Heights College.

Our Year 7 and 8 girls continue to shine in every competition they enter, recently winning the Victorian Metro Division. They are now firm favourites to claim the SSV Victorian title.

The Year 8 boys also blitzed the Metro Division and have secured their place in the State Finals. To be crowned the best Year 8 soccer team in Victoria, they will need to overcome the impressive Rowville College in the final series.

Next week, our Under-15 team heads to Albury as representatives of Victoria after a triumphant performance in the Victorian Final against Maribyrnong. There, the team will compete against the strongest country schools from New South Wales. The squad is well prepared and is entering the tournament with plenty of confidence.

In other exciting news, Evie Stosic enjoyed a highly successful training camp with the Emerging Matildas. Coaches at the camp praised her technical ability, tactical awareness and overall decision-making on the ball.

This term we look forward to even more success, with additional senior competitions as well as the Melbourne Victory Cup for both the Senior and Intermediate teams. Without a doubt, we are excited about the prospect of even more silverware making its way into the Western Heights College trophy cabinet.

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