PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Principals Newsletter Report Friday 15 May 2026

Term 2 is flying – I can’t believe we have just completed week 4. Over the past fortnight, our college community has continued to demonstrate strong commitment to learning, wellbeing, engagement, student leadership and community connection.

Staff Curriculum Day

A reminder to all parents and carers that Friday 5th June is a Staff Curriculum Day and this will be a pupil free day for students. There will be no scheduled or timetabled classes running.

Learning and Achievement – Congratulations

We are proud to congratulate Ash Aulakh in Year 11, who has been shortlisted for the prestigious Lumiere Scholars Essay Award for her essay exploring society’s moral responsibilities in relation to poverty and inequality. Ash’s work was selected from 2,100 global entries across more than 100 countries, reflecting her outstanding academic thinking, research skills and ability to communicate complex ideas clearly.

NBA Rising Stars Invitational Basketball Tournament

A sincere thank you and congratulations to all students and staff involved in the recent NBA Rising Stars Invitational Tournament. Our students represented Western Heights College with pride, teamwork and determination, and we acknowledge the effort, preparation and positive spirit they brought to the experience. Thank you also to the staff who supported, organised and encouraged our students throughout the tournament, helping to provide a valuable and memorable opportunity for all involved. We are very proud of you all.

Year 9 LifeChanger Program

Our Year 9 students have recently participated in the LifeChanger Program, supporting the development of confidence, emotional awareness, resilience, positive relationships and strategies for managing challenges. Student engagement and feedback were highly positive, with many students demonstrating thoughtful reflection and strong participation throughout the sessions.

Year 9 students have also commenced the Geelong Tertiary Futures Program, which introduces students to future education, training and career pathways. This program supports students to build aspirations, explore tertiary and employment options, and develop skills in goal setting, self-awareness and informed decision-making.

Athletics Success

Our students achieved outstanding results at the Division Athletics Carnival, with Western Heights College finishing second overall, winning the Intermediate Boys title, and being recognised as the Most Improved School. Congratulations to all participating students, and thank you to the VCE VM students who assisted with officiating throughout the day 

Olympic Pathways and High-Performance Program Camp

Students from the Olympic Pathways and High-Performance Program participated in a highly successful three-day camp at Strath Creek and the Village Green. The camp focused on leadership, teamwork, resilience, communication, goal setting and high-performance habits, with students demonstrating excellent behaviour, participation and support for one another. A big thank-you to the Phillips Foundation for the grant enabling these students to participate in this program.

VM Program – Mother’s Day Stall

Our VCE VM students successfully organised and operated the annual Mother’s Day Stall, providing students with the opportunity to purchase gifts for mothers, carers and significant family members. This was a positive community initiative and allowed students to further develop teamwork, communication, organisation, customer service and financial management skills.

Outdoor Education Camps

It has been fun listening to our Year 8 and 9 students and their stories returning from their Outdoor Education camps to the Grampians recently. While I heard some horror stories of students forgetting sleeping bags, I also have heard some terrific tales of the learning experience and challenges of the treks in wet weather. A big thank-you to our Outdoor Education Leader Cam Parker and team for providing these experiences for our students.

Women in Sport – Business in Hoops Breakfast

Ayisha Balogun and Molly D’Andria from Year 12, accompanied by me, attended the Geelong Cats Connect in Hoops, Women in Sport Breakfast, where they heard from Abbey Holmes and Sarah Jones about their journeys into sports media. This was a valuable opportunity to celebrate women in sport and connect students with inspiring role models. 

Facilities and college updates

Significant progress continues with the new gymnasium and indoor sporting facilities. The build is advancing well, and once completed, the facility will provide excellent opportunities for physical education, indoor sport, assemblies and broader community use. We are looking forward to a handover towards the end of this month.

Community reminders

Families are reminded that the Department and the College do not provide personal accident insurance, personal property insurance or ambulance cover for students. Parents and carers are responsible for medical treatment, ambulance attendance and transport costs should these be required.

We also continue to ask families to reinforce expectations around respectful student behaviour before and after school, particularly in the Vines Road shopping precinct. Our students are expected to always represent Western Heights College positively within the wider community.

Enjoy your weekend, the lovely autumn weather we are experiencing and take care,

Fiona Taylor

Principal

Child Safety at WHC

Western Heights College is a child safe organisation committed to protecting students from all forms of abuse. Our College has stringent protocols in place and endeavours at all times to be fully compliant with the Child Safe Standards set out under Ministerial Order 870.

Our College has the following documents and policies in place to achieve compliance with the Standards. All of these documents are available for downloading on our website.

1. Commitment to Child Safety

2. Child Safety Policy

3. Child Safety Code of Conduct

4. Child Protection Policy and Procedures

Annual Privacy Policy Reminder for 2025

Our school collects, uses, discloses, and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy (found on the college's webpage).

Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents and carers on the webpage. This information is also available in nine community languages:

          * Amharic

          * Arabic

          * Dari

          * Gujarati

          * Mandarin

          * Somali

          * Sudanese

          * Turkish

          * Urdu

          * Vietnamese