AROUND THE COLLEGE
Term 1
SPORTS NEWS
Congratulations to all the successful swimming students who represented their house in the recent school house swimming carnival, held at the Lara Aquatic Centre. These students will form the basis of the Western Heights College Swim team to compete at the Geelong Region Swimming Carnival on Friday 4th March at the Kardinia Swimming Complex.
The next whole school sporting event is the Western Heights College House Athletics carnival on Tuesday 8th of March to be held at Landy Field. I look forward to seeing you all on the start line.
Good luck also to the Senior students who recently signed up to represent the College in Cricket & Volleyball which is on Wednesday 2nd of March. The Term One Intermediate Sports competition is on Friday 18th March which will involve students in Tennis, Volleyball & Baseball. Finally there are students who have also registered to represent the College in Lawn Bowls and Golf in the Western Metro region competitions. Good luck to all competitors.
WHC SWIMMING CARNIVAL
An enjoyable day was had by all students who attended the Lara Aquatic Centre on Friday 18th Feb where Western Heights College held their 2022 Annual House Swimming Carnival. What a lovely rural setting with a real country pool relaxed atmosphere where we have sole use of the complex. Students were very keen to get wet and actively involved in the House Novelty Events which this year included not only pool events but ladn based events to include the non-swimmers in the House Competition. This year these events were aptly organised by the Yr11 VCAL students. All students also enjoyed the challenge of representing their House Colours by competing or cheering against their peers in the traditional swimming events, particularly the House Relays. The AFL Academy staff & students also organised a hotly contested House Volleyball Competition as well to finish off the day’s events. A big thankyou goes out to all the students who participated and tried their best in the events, along with the House Sports Captains who encouraged students to get involved. Also a huge thankyou goes to the Yr11 VCAL and Academy students and the marvellous effort from the WHC staff who made a significant contribution to the day in the various official capacities. Well done and we all look forward to a bigger and better House competition next year.
Congratulations to the Vines (GREEN) house who were the overall House winners from the day. Also a well-deserved congratulations goes to the 2022 Age Group Champions who were successful in their age group.
The results are as follows, which includes the novelty event results:
1st Vines (Red) House 324pts
2nd Quamby (GREEN) House 321pts
3rd Barton (BLUE) House 251pts
4th Minerva (GREEN) House 211pts
Age Group Winners
13 Boys – Finn Hynes-Carnegie (G)
13 Girls – Emelia Ritchie (Y)
14 Boys - Hudson Gray (R)
14 Girls – Alexandra Whatley (R)
15 Boys – Maverick Crocker (G)
15 Girls – Sienna Pupovac (Y)
16 Boys – Zac McKinnis (B)
16 Girls – Johanna Ivey (B)
17 Boys – Levi Bellin (Y)
Blake Hodgeson (R)
17 Girls – Stephanie Whatley (R)
20 Boys – William Gaskin (R)
20 Girls – Mia Arsenijevic (G)
CANTEEN NEWS
Term 1 Menu
YEAR 7
Year 7 Science
Year 7 students put their newly acquired skills with Bunsen burners to use when they were completing their first prac. Students began with a beaker of ice and brought this to the boil. Students measured and recorded the temperature every minute, and then graphed their
results.
Katrina Lynch | Year 7 Science
YEAR 8
What a busy start to the year it has been! We have welcomed so many new faces into the year 8 Learning Community over the past few weeks and all are settling in well. Mentor teachers are continuing to be flexible and welcoming new students into their mentor groups, often on a weekly basis. Year 8 students are so lucky to have such supportive mentor teachers looking after them and I’m really proud of the work they do with the students to ensure they are set up for learning and are following our school values.
We had a wonderful day at the swimming sports last week and look forward to the next sporting event on the calendar, athletics day. Students have been busy practicing their athletics skills in PE classes, getting ready for the big event. The other exciting news is the Year 8 Camp is all booked for Term 2, 18th – 20th May, more information to come on this in the coming weeks.
Louise van Dugteren – Year 8 Learning Community Leader
Year 8 Science
Year 8 students have started the year investigating the elements in Science. Students conducted the hydrogen pop test and filled balloons with helium to obtain a balloon that would sit suspended in the air in a state of equilibrium.
Katrina Lynch | Year 8 Science
YEAR 9
Reminder for students to apply for their USI number or bring a copy of their Medicare card details to school so they can apply for it at school. This is in preparation for the Geelong Tertiary Futures Program preview days, where students will get the opportunity to undertake a introduction course in a career area they maybe interested to study within the future. Some of the introduction courses students will get to select from include: Automotive mechanics, Business, Building and construction, Early Childhood Education, Hairdressing, Hospitality, Information technology, make-up and plumbing.
Ben Cook | Year 9 LCL
YEAR 10
Weekly Focus for week 6
We have had a Friday morning assembly which was focused on respecting diversity and accepting differences in our year 10 community. We are investigating our differences and discussing the key concept of tolerance. These are significant life skills that for many 14-16 year olds and can be potentially overwhelming. HRC classes will support students in developing their understanding and skills over this term.
Football Academy Update
During our football classes we have been learning the true meaning of how to play the game, it's not just about you it's about the team. Talent doesn't get you a long way, it's the work ethic and the drive to become better on the field and off it's about being a leader and encouraging others to do their best whether it's at school or in the classroom. Inside the team have been learning how to read the play and what the AFL players do for their team and the work rate they present to help out the teammates. We have taken what we have seen and created it ourselves when we are playing. For example if the ball has spilled out onto the ground we need to get over and win the ball then widen and lengthen to use the ground and split the defense. In the craftroom we have been learning how to pick up a ground ball, work on our bodywork when versing another opponent and working on our kicking and handballing technique.
Ben Pennisi
Year 10 environmental studies
In year 10 environmental studies we are learning about biomes and preparing for the upcoming camp. The practical side of thing so far include learning about
Trangia stoves, how to properly look after them and set them up. Today we will be cooking on the Trangia stoves for the first time (in pairs). I am paired up with Deanna and we will be cooking honey soy chicken and rice with veggies. The classwork side of things we are learning about biomes and we had to recently submit a poster/PowerPoint about biomes in Australia.
Chloe Baldock
Basketball Academy
In basketball so far, we have learnt, how we can better improve our basketball skills, and going over what we learnt last year. David Herbert had taught us this play (which is something you can do to get a basket or a good shot) which is called smash, gets and punch.
Together as a group we have learnt we have learnt transition offense, and full court defence.
With the help of Kris Blicavs we have done a couple sessions of gym a week, learning how we can properly lift weights and also push ourselves to become better basketball players as well as working on our fitness and conditioning our bodies to be the best basketballers we can be.
Xavier Nelson
Year 10 English
In English for the past four weeks we’ve been reading Scot Gardner's novel, The way we roll. We have written RIQ’s to help us remember what we read, as well as made a quote bank to find important parts in the book for when we start our analytical essay, and recently we started to look at how to structure an analytical essay, we have gone through the six step essay guide as a class to have a better understanding of how to properly do the six steps.
Alex Mosert
Psychology
These past 4 weeks in psychology we have been learning about the psychology of Taking A knee and how it affected America when he took a stand for racism. We are also learning about person perception, social cognition, attribution, stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. There is so much we have learnt this term already and we are looking forward to learning much more.
Natasha Dabkowski
VCE/VCAL
Year 12 BULLETIN
It’s been a great start for our students commencing what will be a big year whether they are in VCAL or VCE. It has been really encouraging to see the commitment and attitude the students have bought into the year.
One focus we will have throughout the year for the 12’s is Leadership and demonstrating leadership through out the college via actions and attitude. By demonstrating these, we can set the standards across the college.
Some of the great things we will be doing in year 12 this term includes:
- VCAL students working in the gardens as part of their Traineeships in Horticulture.
- All year 12 attending Geelong City Bowls club for breakfast and a talk from Alumni Maddie Bradford.
- VCE students will have a visit by Elevate Education to do the “study sensei” course to help prepare them the year.
- School Athletics – dress up day for year 12’s
Obviously, this will be a stressful year for some. But the teachers are here to support students – so if you feel that your child is struggling in anyway – please don’t hesitate to contact any member of the year 12 team.
Most importantly, we want to the students to be here and doing well, and attendance is an important step towards this, as is seeking help.
Doing this will make the year exciting and rewarding!
VCE PSYCHOLOGY
Our VCE Psychology students have been brushing up on their research skills. They have been using lollies to represent groups & were challenged to find a way to choose a representative sample from the mixed lolly population. After a few attempts they figured out that the sample must be chosen randomly from proportionate lolly groups. Not surprisingly, our lolly population dwindled somewhat after the challenge was completed!
Ms Loe
Intermediate VCAL Work-Related Skills
The Intermediate VCAL students have been busy learning about Occupational Health and Safety in readiness for their structured workplace learning placements. Last week students completed a hazard and safety risk assessment of the WHC cooking facilities. Once deemed safe, the students used the Wood Fire Pizza oven to produce beautiful handmade pizzas. Congratulations on a fantastic start to VCAL.
Ms. Dickson
VCAL Work related skills
