AROUND THE COLLEGE

Year 12 Morning Tea

Friday 21st February during recess was another little moment of celebration for Western Heights Year 12 class of 2020 as they got to enjoy a beautiful morning tea with teachers to celebrate the birthdays of the students in January and February. The Year 11 and 12 Learning Community staff and Ms Taylor provided plenty of delicious snacks including a cheeseboard, homemade sausage rolls, party pies and pasties, some slices and donuts for the ones with a bit of a sweet tooth, a large variety of biscuits and some fruit of course. However, a birthday party is not complete without cake and plenty of fairy bread for the big kids! The event was full of festivities and fun and was enjoyed by all, another great moment for these students in their last year of secondary schooling.

Nathan Platt | 12A

Year 7 Health

In Health classes over the past few weeks the year 7 students have been focussing on their transition to secondary school, the changes that have taken place and how this has made them feel. Many students have highlighted the importance of new friendships and the support of friends to help them along this journey. When they were asked to give tips and advice to next year’s students the overwhelming response was “Don’t Worry, Be yourself & Be friendly”.

Ms Loe & Ms McCarthy

Year 7 Camp

Hi my name is Emily

The sun was beaming and the sand was boiling hot. I couldn’t stop being excited, I was thrilled to go surfing. Inside of me was feeling pretty worried because I was scared I was going to clumsily fall off my surf board, but luckily that didn’t happen. I dived in to the water thinking it would be extremely cold but surprisingly it wasn’t cold it was pretty hot. The waves were really big but that was perfect for surfing. After hours of surfing I finally caught my first wave which was really fun. Sadly surfing was over and we had to get back on the bus. We were all soaking wet and we were all hungry and tired. It took ages to get back to the camp and all my group were worried that we were lost in the middle of nowhere. Back at the camp all of us were starving so we quickly ate lunch and headed straight on the bush walk. We saw heaps of cool things on the bushwalk like the love shack which is a tiny house with a tiny kitchen and a bed inside it. We also saw heaps of really cool living creatures such as bugs and echidna's but once in a while all the girls would scream in terror. After the bushwalk we headed straight to the dining room to get dinner. It was mac and cheese and it was pretty good. To top off the night of we had cake to celebrate Max, Bella and Jaida's 12th birthday. The second day was my favorite.

Hi my name is Eliana

On Friday, sadly the last day at AUS camp, we woke up bright early at 7:30am and quickly got ready and headed to the eating area in the kitchen for breakfast. What I had for breakfast was fruit salad which was amazing. Then if you were in duty group that day you had to clean up and wash the dishes. But thankfully that wasn’t me so I had more time to pack up my stuff and put it in my suitcase. Once we were all ready and we put our suitcase in the little courtyard between the boys and girls sides. Then the staff from Aus camp explained that we will be playing team work games and there will be three teams and four games which the teams will be rotating around until we finish them all. Whatever team has the most points wins. The lucky team that won was called camp cool kids which was my team. Once the games were all over we then headed back to the court yard and had hot dogs, cake and some fruit. Then after that we got our suitcases and loaded them on the bus we then said our thank yous and goodbyes to the awesome staff at Aus Camp and headed back to school.

Hi my name is Indiana

On Wednesday the 5th of February, the year 7's got their suitcases and bags and got ready for camp in Wesley Dale Anglesea. This camp was also ran by the Aus Camp employees Daisy, Jody, Adele, Sam and Renee. They told us about their rules and expectations. We then got a chance to put our bags away in our cabins and get ready for our first activity. We were then lead to our first activity which were bike riding, rock climbing and archery. We really enjoyed all the activities but personally my favourite was rock climbing. After our activities were finished we came back to our cabins and since we had time to spare we got to relax; and also had the choice to play some games outside, my friends and I liked to play volleyball there. For dinner that night we had roast chicken with roast potato and salad and for dessert we had apple and banana cake with custard which was amazing but before we could have dinner and dessert the duty group had to set up the tables then after everybody ate they cleaned the floor and dishes. After that before we went to bed we got the opportunity to watch Moana. After that awesome movie we got ready for bed then our lights were out before the time hit 10.

Thank you for listening.

WHC Swimming Sports

We have a new Champion House…Congratulations Barton!

1st Barton (Blue) 310 points,

2nd Vines (Green) 215 points,

3rd Minerva (Yellow) 168 points,

4th Quamby (Red) 159 points.

Many thanks to all involved in another successful WHC Swimming Sports. It was a great day. It was nice to see so many people having fun participating, just getting wet or cheering on. Congratulations to all the event winners and age group champions (see below). Well done to those who had a go and participated. Thanks to everyone who supported the event.

Age Group Champions:

Jada Bunney, Frances Willson, William McCredden, Rae El Adam, Jackson Willson, Levi Bellin, Quade Kaiser, Tiana Prodanov, Harrison Seeliger, Isobella Wells, Arnold Kaiser.

2020 Whc reads program

Our aim at WHC is to build and sustain a reading culture. This will be achieved through the continued implementation of a whole college reading program.

Research highlights a distinct relationship between independent reading and academic success. (Miller and Moss)

As teenager’s lives become increasingly digital, books compete with the compelling lure of social media, games, smartphones, screen media and schoolwork for teen’s time. Find inspiration, and strategies to encourage teens to read for pleasure. Why?

deal with their increasingly complex world, and understand some of the adult issues they will have to grapple with
know they are not alone – that others may be thinking and feeling the way they do
open lines of communication, particularly if parents, teachers, librarians provide opportunities to discuss what teens are reading
share and see how others have found solutions to problems
develop their vocabulary
broaden their imaginations
improve their writing
deal with the increasing demands of school work
gain confidence when speaking.

Aside from the sheer joy of exercising the imagination, research shows reading improves literacy, social skills, health and learning outcomes. It gives people access to culture and heritage and empowers them to become active citizens, who can contribute to economic and social development.

WHC READS- What does this look like?

Everyone in the college reads for 10 minutes each day 1.40-1.50pm.
Students and staff provide their own reading materials – it does not have to be a novel. Students are encouraged to bring reading materials that is of interest to them.
While this will be reviewed, materials are not to be accessed through notebooks or phones.
As part of our commitment, mentors remind students during homegroup to bring their reading materials and sign their reading log.
To support our reading culture at home parents/carers are asked to:
Remind your sons or daughters to bring reading materials to school for’ WHC READS
Have conversations with their daughters/sons around reading (What are you reading? What is it about? Would you recommend it? etc.)

Inter School Sports - Volleyball

Game 1:

Unfortunately the students lost this game but played very well.

Game 2:

After an inspiring performance from Hugh ‘man of steele’ Steele the senior Volleyball team lost in 3 sets.

8 to 6 in the second game.

David Herbert | Volleyball Coach