Wellbeing and Engagement

Assistant Principal - Shannon Ross

Thank you, Caitlin Thompson,

At the end of last term, we were very sad to farewell our wonderful Wellbeing hub counsellor Caitlin Thompson from Woodmans Hill Secondary College. Caitlin was hired to replace Saskia was on maternity leave and in her time here made such a difference to the wellbeing of all students. Caitlin was integral in supporting students through multiple periods of remote learning. Caitlin has left to undertake placement for her Masters degree in Psychology. We thank her for her support of our entire Woodmans Hill Community.

Welcome back Saskia!

Saskia Boersma has returned from maternity leave this week. Sas is our Wellbeing Coordinator here at Woodmans Hill and leads our Wellbeing Hub team. She will return part time to begin with and her days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Crazy Ideas College for Year 9 students

This term we are looking for 25 students in Year 9 to participate in the Crazy Ideas College Social Innovators Program. Details about the program can be found below. Junior School staff will be inviting selected students to participate and we strongly recommend that students participate in this fun and engaging program.

Program Design

Learners will be supported to work in teams to design services and products that enrich the lives of their fellow citizens. Students and teachers are provided with the CIC Social Innovation Curriculum and associated resources. The CIC team stages workshops at key points in the process to accelerate idea development and extend the thinking of students. Ideas are promoted online and at key community sites so that young people pollinate their work and attract more people into the conversation. Teams pitch to community leaders with promising ideas identified and advanced.

The CIC Social Innovation Program provides a rich learning experience that harnesses the creativity of your students, enlivens the concept of community service and extends connections beyond the school gate.

Attitudes to School Survey:

As communicated late last week, Woodmans Hill students will be undertaking the Attitudes to School survey over the next 4 weeks.

This survey is critical data for us at Woodmans Hill and helps us build a school where students feel safe and happy, which in turns creates positive learners!

We thank all students in advance for their honest and reflective feedback and look forward to sharing some of this data with our school community when it is released in September.

New Excursion Policy

Information for Parents and Students

This term we have introduced a new Camps, Sports and Excursion policy at Woodmans Hill. This policy has tightened our organisational structures and timelines to ensure the smooth running of all events here at school.

RATIONALE:

To improve organisation of events at Woodmans Hill
To improve communication to students and parents about events, excursions and camps at Woodmans Hill
To ensure that there is a spread of camps, sports and excursions throughout each term, at each years level to avoid too much learning disruption for all students.

KEY POINTS:

Staff are required to meet timelines for approvals of all camps, sports and excursions and these timelines are not flexible
Staff are required to have 80% of attendance notes returned at least 3 days prior for any camp, sporting event or excursion to go ahead
Staff will communicate earlier to families and students about camps, sports and excursions and these will be uploaded to Compass earlier
Staff are now no longer allowed to seek permission on the day via phone calls

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR PARENT/GUARDIANS?

Please ensure that you use Compass to regularly check what is coming up for your child – if they haven’t presented you with a permission form for an event listed – remind them and ask them for it!
Please ensure that you send permission forms back at your earliest convenience to ensure your child’s attendance is noted and to prevent their events being cancelled

Save this number!

Our school uses 0498 464 155 to contact parents/carers as soon as practical on the day on an unexplained student absence. Save this number 0498 464 155 into your phone so you know it is the school contacting you if you receive a text.

Alcohol and other drugs.

Ballarat Community Health