Middle School Report

Message from the Director of  Learning

Middle School

 Ms Michelle Collins

We have had another busy start to Term 3 with a focus on future career pathways. We have started the process for our 2025 subject selections and have supported students in their decision making with several events including course transition presentations, a Domain Expo, course selection interviews and our Year 10’s have participated in their Beacon Polish workshops. 

As winter starts to fade, this is an excellent opportunity to pause, reflect, and refocus on the learning habits that support our growth. At Westall, our priority is our students, and we're committed to helping you continuously improve and thrive. We take great pride in our vibrant community and are dedicated to maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment. We're always striving to enhance our teaching practices and strengthen our connections with you.

It was lovely to see so many parents and guardians at our recent Parent/Teacher conferences and this was a great time to reflect on the foundations that help to support learning in the classroom: 

• Being prepared! – Ensure you arrive in full uniform, with all your class materials, and your devices fully charged.
• Being punctual! – Make it a priority to get to school and each class on time.
• Being ready to learn! – Enter each class with a mindset ready to explore, ask questions, and engage fully.

Parents and guardians, please continue to stay in contact with your child’s teachers so that we can all work together to get the best out of the students for the rest of the year. Let's keep up the momentum and finish Term 3 strong!

Year 10 Beacon High Impact ‘Polish’ Program

Our Year 10 students recently had an incredible experience participating in the POLISH - High Impact Program, hosted by the BEACON Foundation. This program gave them the unique opportunity to visit top-performing corporate organisations, where they honed essential job interview skills and engaged in real-world networking.

The feedback from both students and the hosting companies was overwhelmingly positive. Prestigious law firms, leading accounting firms, and major engineering companies were among those that welcomed our students, and they had nothing but praise for the way our students conducted themselves. Their professionalism, communication skills, and active participation in all activities truly impressed everyone.

Students reported that the experience was eye-opening, giving them valuable insights into the challenges they may face in the workforce. We believe these sessions will greatly support them as they navigate their future career paths.

A big congratulations to all the students and staff who took part in these impactful sessions!

Write up from “Work Readiness” program Beacon Foundation

 Here is what our student Margaret Martin had to say about this program.

From experience, most of the employment education held by adolescents at this age – writing resumes and the like – has been developed through a combination of trial and error and internet research. It is for this reason the Beacon Foundation’s Work Readiness program is so beneficial, because not only do we receive a formal coaching in job seeking, but we also have the ability to engage with our learning in an active manner; aspects like the Question-and-Answer panel and mock interviews immediately come to mind, where one can build competence in a risk-free yet exceptionally interactive environment. That degree of reciprocation and feedback, along with many other things, made it very valuable.

Thank you Margaret for echoing what many of our students said.  We thank the Beacon Foundation’s Matt Phyland and Clare for all their support.

Course Selection

We would like to remind you that Year 10 Course Counselling interviews are taking place at the school on Monday 19th August. Classes will be cancelled for the day for students to attend their 15 minute interview. 

It is recommended that parents/guardians attend with their child as the transition from Year 10 to Year 11 is a critical time in a student’s life as a secondary student. For more detailed information on the Year 10 interviews, please see Mr Tickner’s post on Compass.

Year 9 students have completed their course selections interviews in Week 5. Well done to all of the Year 9’s who came prepared and approached their interviews in an enthusiastic manner.

Year 10 Work Experience

We would like to an extend a thank you to all of the local employers who supported our students in last term’s Year 10 Work Experience program. All of our students gained valuable skills working with their employers. Year 10 student Mateo Apit reflected on his work experience placement below:

'During the final week of Term 2, all Year 10 students set off to their designated workplaces to gain new insights and learn more about the work environment in preparation for what’s to come following the end of high school. 

Write up of personal experience by

 Mateo Apit, Year 10

My friend Tianqi and I had our work experience at Bucher Municipal, a company that manufactures cleaning vehicles like sweepers and garbage trucks. As someone with absolutely no experience in having a job, I was extremely anxious and unsure of what was to happen in the 5 days, but having a friend work with me helped me maintain my composure. 

For the first two days, we were led by the engineering and electrical team of the company, of which there were around 9 of them. We were shown the workflow of each engineer as they all had their turn being our guides and briefly explained what they usually do on a daily basis. We were also given hands-on experiences occasionally, like getting to sit inside the driver's seat of a garbage truck, operating its arm, and even exploring the inside of a garbage container! I would be lying if I said I never felt confused and overwhelmed with the information the engineers gave me, but I certainly learnt a lot and had tonnes of fun, as did Tianqi. 

For the next 3 days, we were placed in the sales admin and product departments of the company, as not much more was left to learn in the engineering department. We had different people give us brief yet detailed overviews of marketing and sales, and we were also provided some tasks to do such as composing emails, editing price sheets, and creating an advertisement poster. The week was generally delightful and informative, and it exceeded my expectations. I am unsure if engineering will be my career path but I learned a lot from the experience.' 

- Mateo Apit, Year 10