Junior School Report

Message from the

Director of Learning -  Junior School

Ms Rebecca Tomkins

Welcome to all our year 7 students and families, and welcome back to all our wonderful year 8s and their families! The Junior School team has had a fantastic first month back getting to know our new students as they settle into their time at Westall Secondary College. We have a group of warm, capable staff in our Junior School this year and I am very grateful to have them all as a part of our team. 

We have had a busy start to the year so far, with the Year 7 alternative program for the first week of school, the Adventure Day and Surf Life Saving program run by Kingston Council. We hope that these programs have made the year 7s feel a part of the school community and feel prepared and excited for their time in secondary school. To help build connections throughout the school, the year 7s are also participating in our Peer Support program, where our year 10 mentors support our new students in adjusting to secondary school. 

We have some exciting events coming up in semester one this year. This includes the Year 8 Global Literacy excursion at the end of March and our Junior School Camp in May. Both students and families will hear more about this soon, but it is something that our Junior School staff are looking forward to already. All students have had the opportunity to study a range of interesting subjects already, including their iCreate electives on Wednesday afternoons and participating in interschool sport once a week.

The Junior School team is dedicated to working with families so our students can achieve their full potential. Family involvement in a child’s education can have an immeasurable impact on their success. Please assist us by checking compass regularly and supporting your student to get to school on time and in uniform. We recommend that students have a workbook for each subject, a laptop and access to the online textbooks through Oxford Digital. All of these items will help with your students’ learning and preparedness for class. Please do not hesitate to contact myself or your student’s year level coordinator if you need assistance in getting any of these items. 

JUNIOR SCHOOL TEAM LEADERS

I would like to introduce our year level coordinators for the Junior School this year: Luciano Murray as the Year 7 Coordinator and Jessika Cichy as the Year 8 Coordinator. Please reach out to your student’s year level coordinator via email or phone to discuss your child’s academic progress, school attendance or wellbeing. 

Rebecca Tomkins

Director of Junior School 

Rebecca.Tomkins@education.vic.gov.au

Luciano Murray

Year 7 Co-ordinator 

Lucanio.Murray@education.vic.gov.au

Jessika Cichy

Year 8 Co-ordinator

Jessika.Cichy@education.vic.gov.au

Year 7 Life Saving

On Wednesday the 22nd of February, students tested the waters at the Mordialloc Beach Life Saving Club. Life savers ran though the essential skills and knowledge that are required to swim safely on our shores. It was great to see our year 7s engaged and having a go at the water-based activities prepared for them, we hope they take those skills with them for life! 

YEAR 7 ADVENTURE DAY

After a delay due to poor weather, our Year 7s were able to experience their first excursion as secondary school students when they attended the Enchanted Adventure Gardens in Arthurs Seat on February 9th. This was a fantastic opportunity for students to have some fun in the sunshine and get to know their peers and teachers. 

The whole staff were very impressed by the way our Year 7 students encouraged and supported one another, especially when some were a little nervous about getting up in the trees for Tree Surfing! Students were able to challenge themselves getting through mazes and race one another on the tube slides. Thank you to all our students who participated on the day and gave things a go! 

Photos: Year 7 students tube sliding and tree surfing on Adventure Day. 

Ms Rebecca Tomkins

Director of Learning - Junior School

Year 8 Chinese 

In week 1’s Year 8 Chinese class, in order to make students engage and keep students’ interest in learning Chinese, we did Chinese traditional writing--Fu card. Fu card is a piece of red paper with a black Chinese character “Fu” on it. Chinese people hang that on the window and door to prevent some bad luck from outside. Students started with red paper and a black marker for writing. After we watched a traditional Chinese writing video, students were very confident in making the Fu card. Therefore, students were highly motivated and willing to know more about Chinese culture. Then we discussed the legend of Chinese New Year and the customs of celebrating Chinese New Year such as playing fireworks and Chinese paper-cutting. 

Well done Year 8s! I am really looking forward to seeing further progress from you in learning Chinese!

Mr Jeffrey Ji

Chinese Teacher