Principal Team Editorial

Farewell Year 12's

Last week, we wished our Year 12 students farewell in style. Every year the Year 12 Celebration Day goes from strength to strength as we strive to make this final day a special day, not just for our students, but also their families. With over 170 families attending the morning tea and formal assembly, we were reminded of how important strong connections between parents and the school are as we strive to strengthen this partnership and support our students in achieving the best possible outcomes. 

The highlight for me, last Friday, was undoubtedly the guard of honour that teachers and parents formed at the conclusion of the assembly and having our students followed by their parents metaphorically ‘exiting’ the school. It was lovely seeing the smiles and tears on the faces of our students and families as they took their time to mark the occasion with photos and hugs. The involvement of our families on Celebration Day is something we are really proud of and we look forward to continuing this tradition in years to come. 

'A strong partnership between home and school is critical to students achieving successful learning and wellbeing outcomes.'

Year 7 2025 Transition

As we farewelled our exiting families, we welcomed new families at our Grade 6 into Year 7 Transition Information evening. Many families attend this online session and we look forward to building this connection further with all incoming families at the e formal information session on the Monday 9 November, the evening prior to Orientation Day, and then again early in Term one next year for Year 7 Family Night. 

Parent Info Sessions

This Term, parents have had the opportunity to attend Parent Information sessions on Digital Habits of Teens and become more informed about how to support their children to develop positive online habits. Our young people face unprecedented challenges and pressures of a virtual world that many parents and older people have no idea about. Parent Info sessions are tailored to inform parents about what these online challenges and pressures are, and also give parents strategies to support their children in developing positive digital habits.  I strongly encourage all families to attend Parent Info sessions provided by the College.

Project Update

Our School Council were privileged on Tuesday to be taken on a tour of our half-finished gym and performing arts facility. The project is on schedule and ready for completion by the end of Term one next year. Plans are well underway in preparing for the move; Our PE, Dance and Drama staff will move office spaces to the bottom of the school and our fitness centre will relocate to F9. We can’t wait to have our students use this state-of-the-art facility, it’s been a long time coming and they deserve it! 

Parent Forum - Strategic Plan 2005-2008

Our Parent Forum on Tue 19 November will be focused on the school Strategic Plan for the next four years. Last term, we had a our four-yearly school review which was an opportunity to look deeply into what is working well and what areas need improvement. I’m looking forward to sharing the findings of the Review at our next Parent Forum and discussing what some of the changes we are making for next year are. As a staff, we value feedback from our parents and are always looking for opportunities for reflection so we can continue to improve and achieve great outcomes for students. With our recent school events such as Transition evening and Celebration Day, we’ve had significant parent engagement and we’d love to strengthen this partnership futher at our upcoming Parent Forum. 

We hope to see many of you there. Please follow this link to RSVP for catering purposes:

https://forms.office.com/r/HZrvD4JGW0

Do The Right Thing

And finally, our Do The Right Thing campaign video competition is in it's final weeks. The last day to submit a video entry is Friday 8 Novebmer (end of Week 5). Check out some entries from this week! 

The competition is open to all Wantirna College students and staff. Winners will be announced in Week 6 and there is a $50 voucher up for grabs for each member of the winning team! Full details available on Teams

Carrie Wallis

Principal