Assistant Principal (Years 10-12) Report 

Report from Assistant Principal Jason Tickner

Progress Reports and Parent-Teacher Conferences

Semester 1 Progress Reports for all students will be made available in Compass on Thursday 28th March. As detailed in our previous newsletter, Progress Reports provide a snapshot of your child’s performance in 5 Learning Behaviours, which are a focus at the class level for all teachers and students at Westall SC. Instructions are attached below on how you can access Progress Reports.

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be conducted in the second week of Term, Monday 22nd April. These interviews provide an important opportunity for you to discuss your child’s progress across the 5 Learning Behaviours, and further builds relationships between home and the school. Parents/Carers will receive a Compass notification when the booking portal is open early in the first week of Term 2.

Parent/Carers can access the online booking system using your Compass Username and Password. Teachers can also book students directly into time slots if students know the time that best suits their Parent/Carer.

Instructions on how to make a booking in Compass are also included within the attachment below. If you require any assistance in making the bookings, please contact the school. For assistance with bookings or login issues, please contact the office on 9546 3233.

Maintaining High Attendance

Daily school attendance is important for all children and young people to succeed in education and to ensure they don’t fall behind both socially and developmentally. Children and young people who regularly attend school and complete Year 12, or an equivalent qualification, have better health outcomes, better employment outcomes, and higher incomes across their lives. It is important that children develop habits of regular attendance at an early age.

To minimize disruption to your child’s education, please make all appointments outside school hours and DO NOT book family holidays during the school terms.

Victorian High Ability Program

The Victorian High Ability Program (VHAP) is a key initiative of the DET Student Excellence Program, that provides an enriching learning experience to challenge and extend high-ability students, across the state, in English or mathematics over a 10-week course. This year Westall SC has two students that have been identified in Maths as high achieving through NAPLAN testing results in Yr7. Congratulations to Farhanah Far Ha Nah (8C) and Danika Muhunthan Santiago (8D) who have been taking part in this program throughout Term 1.

Winter Uniform

Families are reminded that all students should be in full winter uniform in Term 2. School ties must be worn, and students are encouraged to wear plain white t-shirts under the school shirt for added warmth. Head scarfs, if worn, must be navy blue. Thank you to all families for your continued support of the college uniform policy.

Ties can now be purchased at the office for $20.

The Sustainable Schoolshop option is also available to families to purchase second-hand uniform at discounted prices:

www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au

Westall Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

For the last 2 weeks our dedicated teachers at Westall have commenced their first of two 7-week PLC cycles. PLCs are teams of teachers within a school who work collaboratively to improve student learning and wellbeing. This Semester our PLC focus is aligned to our school goal of ‘Maximising learning growth for all students’, targeting the effective implementation of our Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) instructional model. Currently teachers are working in domain teams evaluating student learning data and setting goals for the 7-week PLC cycle.

As part of the PLC cycle teachers will also engage in classroom observations providing an opportunity to learn from each other and allow for individualised feedback to improve practice within the classroom. So far, our teachers have actively engaged in the PLC collaborations which will contribute to improved student learning outcomes across the school at every year level. Pictures below are our teachers in action during PLCs.

Mr Jason Tickner

Assistant Principal (Year 10-12)