PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

MARCH

A lot can happen in schools over a short period of time.  This is definitely true of Western Heights College as term 1 has catapulted us through a plethora of learning opportunities from sporting events including swimming and athletics, year level excursions, ‘SACs’ for student assessments and various specialist basketball program starting up, open nights, parent check-in evenings, school swimming and athletics day. Life in our great secondary school is always busy and packed chock full of possibilities to grow and develop.

Since school started though, it’s not just our school that has experienced significant events and change.  We are living in interesting and challenging times as the world comes to grips with the outbreak of the COVID-19 and the impact this is having on billions of lives in essentially every country on the planet.  Australia, Victoria and Geelong are not immune to the physical, mental and social effects of this virus.  Australia is well placed to cope with the challenges that this disease will present and, as I write this, there are still very few cases of confirmed COVID-19 in Victoria and one confirmed case in the Geelong area.  However, I want to assure our school community that we are taking the prudent steps to develop contingencies for teaching and learning should we be placed in a scenario where the Department requests that schools be closed for any period of time.  Despite news reports to the contrary, at this stage there is nothing to suggest that schools in Victoria will be significantly impacted on a mass scale, but we are planning for any eventuality to ensure that student learning is not compromised at Western Heights College.  As information and advice is provided to us by the Department of Education, we will act on this accordingly and ensure that our entire school community is informed via a variety of communication methods (SMS, Compass, Facebook, email, etc.).  The advice we have currently received is to encourage and ensure that staff and students are using effective and appropriate hygiene practices.  This includes regular washing of hands with soap (particularly before eating), not sharing food or drinks and coughing or sneezing into your shoulder (and then immediately washing your hands).  Obviously, we are asking everyone to be cautious with respect to any cold or flu-like symptoms they might have and to see a GP and stay away from school while receiving medical advice.  If you could reiterate these points to your child at home, it would be appreciated so that we can work proactively together to minimise risks of virus exposure in our community.

It is a difficult place to exist in an environment of unknowns.  When mass events are cancelled (such as the Grand Prix and possibly other sporting events), it’s natural to feel fearful and anxious.  Our leadership team will take every precaution and respond to health advice immediately to ensure that staff and student’s health and well-being is placed as the number one priority.  Yet there are a number of exciting school events that we will continue to plan for and be involved in because learning and our wider lives can’t stop just because we’re worried about what might be.  We’re really looking forward to our school programs and activities planned for the remainder of the school term.

With two weeks to go until the end of term. I would like to congratulate staff and students on a terrific term 1 for the school year.  Not only have we welcomed into our college a number of year 7 students, but we have also welcomed close to 140 new students and families to our community.  It has been an immensely busy term but a really productive one with many learning and achievements to celebrate.

Student Success

It gives me great pleasure to recently read in the paper the success of students and their families in our community achieving. A big congratulations recently to Stephanie Dyer and her family for their commitment to squash in our community and it was also so wonderful to read about our young people who are so connected to the Geelong West Fire Brigade and their success in recent fire running competitions. Congratulations to our Intermediate girls’ team who also went through undefeated in an invitational school basketball event for schools with a basketball program.  Our boys also tasted some great success with some very competitive games. We are very proud of our students journey within and outside in our community.

Fiona Taylor | Principal