Assistant Principal (Years 7/8) Report 

Report from Assistant Principal Years Yr 7/8

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. 

This year we will continue our Wellbeing teaching and learning across all year levels, with tailored programs running in each sub-school. We have Brain Care in Year 7 and 8 (including the Resilience Project and Social Stencil), Bio-dash in Year 9 and 10 and Study without Stress in Year 11 and 12. We aim to help build our young people into happy, healthy and resilient learners who can thrive beyond secondary school. 

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 (Year 7)

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 (Year 7 and Year 8)

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 Friday, each year level take part in Brain Care. So far, the students have been self-assessing their healthy habits (sleep, screen free time, movement and socialisation), as well as discussing and learning about listening, collaborating, the importance of sleep/sleep hygiene and emotional literacy. 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 11th March and conclude on Tuesday 17th March (catch up sessions for absent students will take place on 18th March to the 20th 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.

Support can be arranged for students with disabilities, if the student regularly uses similar support for classroom assessment tasks. Exemptions may be granted to students with significant intellectual disabilities and to students who have been learning English for less than one year. If your child is eligible for support due to disability or exemption, you should discuss this with their teacher prior to the tests. Parental consent is required before any support due to disability or exemption is granted.

Please contact Alice Paget- Year 7 (alice.paget@education,vic.gov.au) 

or Lyndal Yardas- Year 9 (lyndal.yardas@education.vic.gov.au)

if you wish to arrange support or exemptions for your child or young person.

Naplan tests are delivered in an online format using school computers. I have outlined the test schedule below (based on the form group and year level of the student):

Later in the year you will receive your child’s personal NAPLAN report. The report will describe your child’s particular skills in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

The information you receive as a result of your child’s participation in the NAPLAN tests will be valuable in helping you to assess your child’s progress in literacy and numeracy.

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

I would like to wish all students the best with their NAPLAN tests and to strive for their personal best. 

Westall Open Night and School Tours

We would like to welcome all prospective parents and guardians to explore our College, by attending our Open Evening on the 31st March, from 6.00 – 6.45pm in the Senior Learning Centre.

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!

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

Ms Alice Paget

Assistant Principal (Years 7/8)