PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

As we complete week four of this busy term, it is an appropriate time to reflect upon the many events that engage our students in both their learning and their efforts in an array of endeavours.  Our VCE students are at the stage of both consolidating their learning and developing the skills and understanding to succeed in the end of year VCE examinations. At most year levels we commence the process of planning for the successful transition to the next level of study through our course selection and pathways program. I really enjoy watching our students in our community explore that journey to find their own “brilliance” through their pathway planning. Everyone has a “brilliance”, whether it’s a unique quirky sense of humour, a flair for storytelling, a love of sport, a knack for numbers or languages, or the ability to be an excellent listener and friend. We all have different strengths and something special to contribute to our community and sometimes it takes a little exploration (and a lot of courage) to discover what that might be. Term 3 allows us time to explore and to discover what makes you you, and we will continue to enjoy the journey of this exploration that our pathway planning affords during this term. A big thank-you to the parents and carers who have supported our students along this journey of pathways planning for 2024. 

School Review Term 3 Progress

Our college review this term is progressing well. We have 1 more day of field work which will involve more classroom observations by the panel, focus group interviews and opportunities for reflection before finally completing our review report and collaborating with our reviewer to put together our new school strategic plan.

Staff Member Achievement

I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the efforts of one of our teachers,

Gary Beasley, who last week attended a Department of Education event on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate and commemorate teachers who had given 35 years of dedicated service in education. We were very proud that Gary was acknowledged at this event and would add our sincere message of congratulations to Gary who have given so much to the students at Western Heights College he has taught over this considerable timespan. “Beaso” is a much-adored member of staff and we thank him for his ongoing wonderful service.

National Physical Activity and Sport Conference

Last week I was invited to present at the national physical activity and sport conference alongside in the School Sport Engagement Stream of the conference. It was fabulous to engage with Principals from around the country, New Zealand, the UK and Singapore to discuss best practice for physical activity and sport in schools. It was very reassuring to present our school programs in physical activity and sport that are recognised nationally as best practice. Our many staff working in our SSP, PE and Sport programs should be rightfully proud of the outcomes our programs are producing for our community.

Wonderful Sporting Success

Congratulations to all our wonderful students and staff for their efforts in participating and representing our school in multiple sporting opportunities at a local, district, regional and state level in the past fortnight. Again, a more detailed report is available in this newsletter but I also along with our whole community share immense pride in not only the success of our college in these competitions but the way in which our students have competed, shown humility and sportsmanship along the journey. I am super proud of all students and supporting staff for their involvement and very much looking forward to seeing them continue to represent the college in state finals over the next few weeks. Good luck to all and go Western Heights!

We also wish Jack McGough (Year 10) and Kade Witney (Year 7) well for their trips to represent Victoria at the School Sport Australia Basketball and AFL carnivals commencing next week. It was also pleasing to note the success of Taya Delaney who was a part of the Victorious State Navy Team in the U15 Girls School Sport Australia Navy Team. Good luck to Jack and Kade and well-done Taya! We were also very proud to have Ziva Shawcross, Jack Thompson, Meyah Fursland and Bonnie Brown also participate in the championships in the Victorian White Team in the National Championships – we are extremely proud of all our students representing our college and state at a national level.

Learning Conferences Term 3

Learning Conversations are coming up at the end of Term 3. As noted in the Calendar section of our Newsletter, the Term 3 Learning Conferences will be conducted: 

• Thursday 14 September, 11am – 7pm (no timetabled classes)
• Friday 16 September, 9.00am-1pm (No Timetabled classes - Last day of Term 3)

Appointments will be released on compass in the next week.

Second-hand Uniform and Books

The college has created a second-hand uniform and books buy, swap and sell page linked to its Facebook page. Please feel free to like this group for recycled uniform and school materials from within a closed WHC community.

GYE Kokoda Trail

Good luck to Ramzy Barboussas in Year 11 who is this year taking on the Kokoda Track, representing WHC in the Geelong Youth Engagement Program. We wish Ramzy well in his endeavours and we are sure the 7 months of training that he has put into this program will hold him in good stead for this trek. We are proud of you Ramzy and wish you well.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Fiona Taylor

Principal

Child Safety at WHC

Western Heights College is a child safe organisation committed to protecting students from all forms of abuse.

Our College has stringent protocols in place and endeavours at all times to be fully compliant with the Child Safe Standards set out under Ministerial Order 870.

Our College has the following documents and policies in place to achieve compliance with the Standards. All of these documents are available for downloading on our website or contact the school for a copy. 

1.       Commitment to Child Safety

2.       Child Safety Policy

3.       Child Safety Code of Conduct

4.       Child Protection Policy and Procedures

Annual privacy policy reminder for 2023

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.(found on the college's webpage)

Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents and carers on the webpage. This information is also available in 10 community languages:

* Amharic

* Arabic

* Dari

* Gujarati

* Mandarin

* Somali

* Sudanese

* Turkish

* Urdu

* Vietnamese.