Senior School Report

Message from the 

Director of  Learning 

Senior School 

Mr Denholm Pickering 

As Term 1 draws to a close, you may find yourself counting down the days (or the hours!) to the holidays. For the Year 12s, it’s been a big term coming to grips with completing SACs and ELTs for all subjects; for the Year 11s, adapting to the pace of VCE-level studies is sometimes a challenging transition. Regardless of where you find yourself now, remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel; and the best way to get there is just to keep going. This includes during the holidays – don’t stop studying – make sure you put aside time to complete holidays homework and study for your subjects so that future you will be better prepared once Term 2 begins!

I would like to make a point of expressing my thanks to the senior school community – parents, staff, and students. Communication has been clear and swift which enables feedback to be explicit and effective. The level of support we are able to provide for students increases the more voices they have giving the same advice. Please continue to use Compass and help keep lines of communication open as we continue the journey into Term 2. 

Year 12 Formal

Save the Date – put it in your diary! 

SAC Calendar

By this stage most students will have completed at least one SAC for each of their subjects. Ensure you check the SAC calendar and Compass Learning Tasks to note down the date of your next SAC, as some are scheduled within the first couple of weeks of Term 2. 

Reports

Progress reports will be released in Week 10. These are frequently a better indicator of how a student is travelling, and should be used in conjunction with students marks to determine the academic and behavioural strengths and areas of improvement. 

Attendance and At-Risk Letters

The second round of attendance and at-risk letters will also be sent out in Week 10. If you receive such a letter, please discuss within your family. If you have any questions or would like further support, please contact the school. 

Lockers

Automatic roller doors will be installed over the holidays in the interest of improving property security. This requires all students to take their things home from their lockers in Week 10 and leave bays completely empty so that they can be easily moved. 

Life of an Accountant Incursion

Year 11 and 12 VCE accounting students participated in an incursion on Wednesday, the 19th of March. Past students Morakot Deng and Pheavy Sok returned to inspire our accounting students. Morakot is currently studying for a PhD in accounting at Monash University, and Pheavy has worked as an accountant after graduating from university. Morakot and Pheavy graduated in 2019 and studied accounting at Westall achieving great results in their VCE exams. They shared their journey, accounting pathway options and VCE and exam tips with student students. Our current students actively engaged, asking many questions, including the impact of AI on the accounting profession. We thank Morakot and Pheavy for sharing their story and encouraging our student’s passion in accounting.

Continuing Programs

Study Without Stress

Study Without Stress finished up for Year 12s this week. Hopefully you now have a better understanding of what healthy study habits look like and have been able to incorporate these into your weekly routines. 

Mentoring

The mentoring program will continue into Term 2, where students will have an opportunity to reengage with their mentors and check on the progress of their goals. 

Mr Denholm Pickering

Director of Learning Senior School

Year 12 Legal Studies

On Thursday 13th March, a senior solicitor, Ms Ailsa McVean, from the Office of Public Prosecutions in Victoria came to Westall Secondary College to provide a fascinating talk to our Year 12 Legal Studies class. She spoke to the class about legal procedures in the Victorian criminal justice system, telling students about the practical workings of committal hearings, preparing a case for trial, trials, empanelling a jury, sentencing and a lot more. There was then time for questions, and the students were very active in asking her about her work and her pathway towards legal practice. It was very generous of Ms McVean to take time out of her busy day to speak with our students and we are very grateful to her.

Fiona Bisko

Year 12 Legal Studies

Year 12 English as an Additional Language

International Women’s Day – March Forward 

International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on the 8th of March. This year, we ask you to join us in uniting to March Forward for gender equality.

Year 12 students Erin Groarke and Eva Gvaramiya represented our school at the Monash Business School International Women’s Day event. We had the privilege of hearing from Olympian and Advocate for Education and Inclusion Cathy Freeman OAM. She spoke of the power and importance of believing in yourself. Every morning and every evening, Cathy read one affirmation, ‘I am the world’s greatest athlete’. Cathy never let a 'no' stop her. She worked hard, believed in herself, and achieved her dream. 

We were proud to hear our Year 12 student, Shukria Noori, and her cricket team recognised at this event for their work to march forward women’s rights. Shukria is a member of the Afghanistan Women’s Cricket team, who made history playing an exhibition match in Melbourne in January of this year. 

They are fighting to be recognised by the International Cricket Council and represent their country. Shukria and her team are marching forward, empowering women and creating spaces for them to thrive.

Read their story here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-31/afghan-womens-cricket-team-play-together-for-the-first-time/104876432

Thank you to our teachers, education support staff, principals, parents, carers, and the wider Westall community for educating and empowering the next generation with the love, knowledge, and autonomy to march forward to protect and achieve equality. 

Thank you to Ms Geraldine Borgonha for securing us the opportunity to attend this event. We thank Ms Geraldine for all her hard work creating pathways and believing in our talented young women at Westall. 

Let’s continue to support and uplift each other. How will you March Forward for gender equality?

Find out how we can March Forward together toward equality: https://marchforward2025.com/ 

Together, we can continue to create a world where every woman and girl has equal rights and opportunities to succeed.

“I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman” ~ Helen Reddy

Miss Kristina Vasilakis 

Year 12 Coordinator

 Year 11 Biology Experiments

Experiments have begun! Biology classes are now well and truly underway with the students beginning to enter the labs and conduct their own investigations. This first investigation for the Year 11s was an examination of passive transport and more specifically osmosis and diffusion. Students also took samples from potatoes, stained the samples using iodine, and made their own slides for examination under the school’s light microscopes. 

Science takes a great amount of persistence and hard work as you don’t always get the results you are expecting. Curiosity and the ability to ask a good ‘why’ question are two skills that help students explore the living world around them. The Year 11 and 12 Biology students will be working on refining these skills as we move through the school year. 

Next up for the Year 11s will be rat dissections. Our wonderful lab technician, Jenny Philips, has them in the freezer now ready for our Term 2 lab work! Enjoy your exploring everyone!

Mrs. Fisher 

Science/Biology Teacher

Luna Park Physics Excursion Article

Overview:

Hello! This is Year 12 class of 2025 and this is our reflection of the group experience at Luna Park excursion for VCE Physics Unit 3.

On March 4th, 2025, our physics class went to Luna Park as part of our Area of Study 1 on motion and energy. At the beginning of the day before going into Luna Park, we watched a marvellous ceremonious display of aerobatics by a professional stunt pilot, and it was so cool!

Overall, the experience was thrilling and informative as we got to hang out with our friends while also learning about the real-world applications of Physics. Here are some examples of those applications on the rides we rode on.

Dodgem cars:

This is the first ride we got on. We had a lot of fun driving and crashing into our friends’ cars and watching the chaotic collisions occur. Additionally, the experience was educational as we experienced some Physics concepts in real life such as Newton’s first law as when we crashed, as our bodies kept moving in the forward direction initially until a net unbalanced force from the seatbelt pulled us back. We also learned about application conservation of momentum in real-world collisions.

Speedy Beetles:

This is another ride we got on. This one was one of the scariest ones we got on and we had a very exhilarating time as we screamed wildly in fear due to the rapidly changing speed of the up and down banked tracks. On this ride, we got hands-on experience of changing energy as we observed how our high gravitational potential energy while we were slow at the peak of the ride was quickly converted to high kinetic energy as we rushed quickly down the banked track at the lowest point of the ride.

Ferris Wheel:

This one is a theme park classic! It was the last ride we got on for the day. When we went up to the highest point of the Ferris wheel and the wheel stopped, some of us felt a bit nervous when looking down at the ground due to some of our group having a fear of heights. However, for the most part, the ride felt very calm and relaxing as we got the opportunity to enjoy a scenic view of the whole Luna Park as well as the shores of Saint Kilda. As for the Physics concept, we got a first look at a real-life experience of centripetal motion as the Ferris Wheel can be modelled as a vertical circle. In addition, we also discovered that Ferris Wheel operates using a propulsion mechanism that uses electricity to cause a motor to rotate car tyres which then creates friction to push against the Ferris Wheel and make it spin.

Conclusion:

Overall, our whole day experience at Luna Park was extremely entertaining and enjoyable because we got on a lot of rides and had memorable experiences with our friends, especially in the final year of High School, while also diving deeper into the real-world experience of the Area of Study 1: Motion in VCE Physics Unit 3.

Sophearin (Rin) Prum Moniko

Year 12 Physics student