Principal's Page

Opportunities at WHSC

We pride ourselves on providing the very best opportunities to our students in the areas important to our College Community.  As per our motto, 'Be The Best That You Can Be', we want our students to adhere to the highest of standards to help them achieve their goals and aspirations.

We want our students to achieve excellence across their studies.  We want them to be engaged and show growth with their learning.  We want them to further develop their skills allowing them to every opportunity to access a future study and career path that is important to them.

We also want them to excel in Sport, the Performing Arts, Student Leadership and in other key events and activities throughout the College.  The College Calendar reveals the full extent of the wonderful co-curricular opportunities that we afford our students.  From Sport to the Performing Arts, to Volunteering and Excursions, our students have so many opportunities to engage with as part of their education at WHSC.  We appreciate the hard work of all of our staff in creating these opportunities for our students, together with the support of our families in everything we are doing as a College as part of our classroom and co-curricular programs.

Student Attitudes to School Survey Program, 2019

The Department of Education (or DET) expect all Victorian Government State Schools to administer the Student Attitudes to School Survey Program each year.  All students from all year levels are expected to participate in this Program.

Beginning next week, our students will be answering questions relating to a number of key areas relating to their education and experiences at WHSC.  Please read on more information relating to the Student Attitudes to School Survey Program.

Blazers and Ties at WHSC

Last term we surveyed students, staff and families on their thoughts for the introduction of Blazers and Ties as compulsory uniform items at the College.

The response to the Survey was strong with many people  taking the opportunity to share their opinions.  

The data from the Survey shows that our College Community do not support Blazers and Ties as compulsory uniform items, and this was the response from student, staff and family groups.  As a result, we will not be including the Blazer and Tie as compulsory items on the Uniform List.

College Council does support the Blazer being added as an optional item to the Uniform List as of 2020 (the tie already appears as an optional item) for students and families to consider. 

Blazers and Ties will remain a feature of the College.  For example, Blazers and Ties will be loaned to students as required for key events and activities involving the College (eg special assemblies, representation of the College at key community events, etc).  Furthermore, if families and students want to wear the Blazer and Tie as part of their regular uniform, they have the option to do so from 2020.

We thank our College Community for their feedback on this issues.

The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning

As stated in the last Newsletter (3/5/19), we investigating the implementation of the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (or VCAL) for our College Community.   A number of teams within the College have been discussing recently the possible inception of VCAL at our school.

As mentioned in the last Newsletter (3/5/19):

VCAL can be another option for students.  VCAL is a course that allows for more applied or experiential learning in areas such as Work Related Skills, Numeracy, Literacy and Personal Development.  

VCAL is seen by some students and their families as as a viable and worthwhile course of study.  Many schools currently offer VCAL to their Senior School students as an alternative to the more academic course being the VCE. 

I again invite students and families to contribute to our discussions by sharing any ideas or feedback that they may have about a proposed VCAL Program for our school with the General Office.

Monash Tech Schools Program

We continue to work in partnership with the Monash Tech Schools Program in 2019.  

The Monash Tech Schools 'gives students the skills to succeed in the jobs tomorrow. We develop hands-on learning programs that provide real-world experiences.  Our programs bring together design thinking, prototyping skills and product delivery that allows students to build their technical and interpersonal skills. Each program incorporates industry, tertiary and research know-how and engages our partner school teachers in professional learning (from the Monash Tech Schools Website, May, 2019).'

We now have a number of year levels involved in the Program.  Students travel to the Monash Tech School campus to engage in STEM learning that aims to further develop their skills in this important area of their learning.  The activities and equipment provided to our students as part of their learning can improve student engagement and interest in so much that is STEM. 'Currently three-quarters of occupations require sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills (from the Monash Tech Schools Website, May, 2019), so our ongoing and successful partnership with the Program is critical to our students.  Our Year 8 students are involved with the Monash Tech School Program later this month.

Mid Year Assessments, 2019

Coming up over the next few weeks will be our Mid Year Assessments with staff preparing students accordingly.  For example, at this time of the year our Year 10 and 11 students will be having exams, whilst our Year 12 students will be involved in other forms of assessment.  We encourage our families to continue to support their children as we move towards this significant time of the year.

Value of the Week - Creativity

We had Dance Week recently with a number of students from across many year levels participating in a number of workshops with trained instructors.  Our students really enjoyed the experience allowing them the opportunity to express their creative talents.

And Finally..........

Please be reminded that our College has partnered with Bunnings (Notting Hill Store) for a fundraising opportunity on Saturday 8th of June. 

The WHSC Parents and Friends Committee is again calling on families to volunteer on the day to help out with a Sausage Sizzle at the venue.   

This is a great fundraising opportunity for the College so if you can help (eg a 2 hour time slot) on the day, please contact the General Office,

Aaron Smith

Principal