Western Heights College Newsletter

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Principal’s Newsletter Report 21/5/25

With Term 2 well underway, our students are certainly well immersed in their studies and engaged in many other activities that form the richness of life for students at Western Heights College.

 

As we head towards the end point of semester 1, a time where assessments begin to increase, particularly for our Senior School students, I felt it timely to reiterate the importance we place on forming a strong partnership with our families. We know that when schools and families work together, students benefit from the consistent systems of support that nurture both their academic and personal growth. These are the foundations that allow our young people to thrive.

 

Fundamental to a strong partnership is communication. We are deeply committed to fostering open communication, mutual respect and shared responsibility with our families so that our students have the best possible school experience and the greatest foundation for successful futures. The school experience for parents can feel very different once their child reaches secondary school. While there may not be the same opportunities for conversations at the school gate or the classroom door, we encourage all families to engage with the many mechanisms in place to ensure our families are kept well informed about their child’s education at WHC.

 

I would like to remind families that proactively taking the time each week to log into Compass is crucial to strengthening our partnership. Engaging in this way allows our families to gain greater awareness of the learning that is taking place. Compass provides an avenue for you to view upcoming assessment tasks, assessment results and feedback.

 

Being informed about topics being covered in class can provide a valuable opportunity to engage in positive conversations about learning at home whether this be by sharing understandings, interests, opinions or perhaps encouraging an open mindset and suggesting strategies if the learning is presenting challenges. All teachers can be contacted via Compass and are happy to communicate with parents. We are working in partnership with you and have the same goal, supporting the learning and wellbeing of our students.

 

As a college we also use our fortnightly newsletter and Compass newsfeed to share information regarding upcoming events and other important information. We do ask that our families check their newsfeeds weekly. We do filter the information so that you only receive newsfeeds that are relevant to you (based on your child’s year level/s). While I appreciate that we can all become overwhelmed at times with numerous emails and online platforms, we do ask that you check in weekly so that you are fully informed and can reach out if you require further information or support.

 

We will continue to work with our families to identify other avenues for connection to strengthen the crucial lines of communication between school and home.

 

The GAT Exam

GAT (General Achievement Test) will this year be conducted on Tuesday 17 June for all students completing a Unit 3/4 VCE subject and for Senior Vocational Major students. 

 

e-Scooter use by students

We encourage our students to use active modes of transport to and from school. It’s important to always reinforce traffic safety messages from Victoria Police regarding this, to maintain safety of students in their transition to and from school. Most importantly, you must be 16 years and over only to legally ride an e-scooter in Victoria.

 

Victoria Police guidelines on e-scooters is below.

 

You can legally ride an e-scooter in Victoria if you:

  • ride on:

    • shared-use paths (not on footpaths), or

    • roads that have a speed limit up to 60km/h

  • are at least 16 years old

  • wear a helmet

  • do not travel more than 20km/h

  • do not use your mobile phone

  • do not carry a passenger (dinking).

A Legal e-scooter definition

A legal e-scooter is defined as a vehicle that:

  • is designed for use by one person

  • has a maximum speed of 25 km/h when ridden on level ground

  • transports a person while the person is standing or seated

  • has two wheels (one in front of the other)

  • has a footboard between the front and rear wheels

  • is steered by a handlebar

  • does not weigh more than 45kg

  • is propelled by a motor, or by the person pushing one foot against the ground.

An e-scooter that falls outside the scope of this definition is considered an unregistered motor vehicle and is liable to penalties.

 

A non-powered scooter can be ridden to school by anyone, if a helmet is worn and you supply your own lock to lock your scooter up on the school provided racks outside the staff room.

If you have any questions about e-scooters, please contact me here on 5277 1177.

 

Welcome back David

This week we look forward to welcoming back David Herbert for the Centre of Excellence in Canberra. David was our inaugural Basketball Program Coach. It is terrific to have him part of our college community again.

 

Farewell and good luck

Selma Dalipi has recently received a promotion to a position and will be commencing in a new school on the 23rd of May. Selma has been an education support staff member for 21 years at Western Heights College. We wish her every success in this new role and thank her for her contribution to our school community.

 

Professional Learning Day Staff (Pupil Free Day)

Friday 6th June will be a professional learning day for all staff; this will be a pupil free day with no timetabled classes.

 

Whole School Cross Country

Last Thursday we were greeted with beautiful weather for our House Cross Country which took place around the school grounds. It was terrific to see the excellent participation levels from all students and many staff. Thanks to Campbell Bishop our Sports Coordinator for his organisation.

 

Enjoy the next fortnight,

Fiona Taylor

College 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