Assistant Principal (Years 7-9) Report 

Report from Assistant Principal Alice Paget

Dear Westall Secondary College community,

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all our new students, parents and guardians at the College, especially our new Year 7 students who are starting their journey into secondary school life. It is great to see the students settling back into their school routine and taking opportunities inside and outside the classroom to develop their skills, knowledge and capabilities. 

Recently it has been recognised  by the Department of Education the importance of wellbeing, placing learning and wellbeing at the centre of school improvement. This is a notion we practice at Westall and  are constantly reflecting on ways we can improve in this space. We aim to help build our young people into happy, healthy and resilient learners who can thrive beyond secondary school. This year we are rolling out a new subject, as part of the Curriculum at Year 7 and 8, called Brain Care. Read below to find out more!

Brain Care (Year 7 and 8 Wellbeing Curriculum)

Brain Care aims to build students’ physical, mental, emotional and social health factors, which is strongly linked to their happiness and life satisfaction. Our junior school teachers will be facilitating 2 evidenced based programs:

• Social Stencil: 

A program that teachers practical social concepts and strategies, to build peer relationship skills, and a culture of respect, understanding, care and collaboration. 

• Resilience Project

The resilience project aims to support mental health in the classroom and family home through 3 key pillars that have been proven to cultivate positive emotion: Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness, with emotional Literacy being a foundation skill to practice these strategies. 

Each week on Monday and Tuesday, each year level with begin the day with Brain Care. So far, the students have been self-assessing their healthy habits (sleep, screen free time, movement and nutrition), as well as discussing and learning about listening and collaborating. Stay tuned for updates throughout the year!

NAPLAN

NAPLAN is the National Literacy and Numeracy Assessment that is administered to the Year 7 and 9 students at Westall Secondary College, as part of the state-wide initiative. NAPLAN testing will begin on Wednesday 13th March and conclude on  Monday 25th March. Each student will take part in 4 tests over the week and a half window. 

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time.

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy. 

I have attached a hyperlink here to a NAPLAN information brochure which provides more details regarding the National Assessment Program.                                             

Westall Open Night and School Tours

We would like to welcome all prospective parents and guardians to explore our College, by attending a School Tour and our Open Evening on the 26th March, from 6.00 – 6.45pm. 

School Tours dates:

Term 1:

• Week 7 (March 12th, Tuesday 9.30am)
• Week 8 (March 22nd, Friday 9.30am)
• Week 9 (March 26th, Monday 2.15pm)

Term 2:

• Week 1 (April 18th, Thursday 9.30am)
• Week 2 (April 23rd, Tuesday 2.15pm)-
• Week 3 (May 1st, Wednesday 2.15pm) Watch our iCreate program in action
• Week 4 (May 6th, Monday 9.30am)

Feel free to spread the word to anyone in the area who may be looking for a Secondary school for their child or young person. 

Pencil the date in your calendars and we look forward to seeing you there!

Here is the attachment for the flyer

Wishing you a happy and successful Term 1 for you and your child / young person!

Take care,

Alice Paget

Assistant Principal (Years 7-9)