PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
Principals Report 28 March 2022
We are getting close to the end of Term 1 and if you are like me, you’d be scratching your head, wondering where the time has gone. You could say that ‘time flies when you’re having fun’, but somehow, I don’t think that’s the perfect justification. It’s more like ‘I’ve got so much to do”! I think this feeling is heightened now as we continue to complete our first full uninterrupted term of on-site learning since 2019. We are conscious to also reflect on the point that yes, it maybe uninterrupted onsite, but we know that many of our students and families have experienced interruptions due to isolating etc. This has contributed to the sense of “time is flying” and at times tested our stamina. We encourage our students, staff and families to continue to hang in there as we get through the next 2 weeks and arrive at a well-deserved term break.
The return to normality will continue to take time but it has been so great to keep the doors open at WHC this term.
Year 7 Camp
Our Year 7 Camp was conducted on Wednesday to Friday of last week at the Campaspe Camp near Kyneton. It was a great day with all the students attending telling me of their highlights over the 3 days. Students were able to get involved in the high ropes and several great challenges. The feedback from the camp staff and WHC staff was extremely positive, and the school could not be prouder of the students who attended this camp. A big thank you to all of the staff who attended the camp and to Marli McCarthy for facilitating the 3-day experience.
Condolences
The WHC staff and wider community were saddened recently to hear of the passing of the son of our much-loved Canteen Manager Vanessa Hucker. Our heartfelt thoughts and wishes go to Vanessa, her husband Scott, Jordan and the extended Hucker family on the loss of Blake.
Student Absence
Teachers have been receiving many emails from parents/carers, informing the relevant teacher about their child's absence, often due to COVID, and requesting that the staff member email their child some work. Please be aware that all work/lesson plans are posted in Google Classroom by the classroom teacher and the student can check the Compass Classroom page for work requirements/learning tasks/work to be completed.
If further clarification is needed, then the student can contact the teacher directly on Compass or in Google Classroom.
Mobile Phones
A reminder to all students and parents and carers of the school’s mobile phone policy. The policy means phones brought to school must be switched off and stored securely during the school day in the safes provided at the commencement of each day in our daily mentor meetings. The phones are collected at the conclusion of the school day from their mentor teacher at 3.15pm.
The aim of this policy is to provide:
· a safe environment to learn without inappropriate mobile phone use (including cyberbullying) or distractions
· greater opportunities for social interaction and physical activity during recess and lunchtimes.
· The use of technology is important, but the risks and benefits from its use need to be managed.
Students can apply for exemptions for health reasons as the only exception to this policy. Please contact the school on 5277 1177 if you would like to discuss your child exemption to this policy for health reasons.
Be Bold, Be Heard Forum
A group of our Year 8-10 female leaders joined with several schools from across Geelong to attend the first Be Bold, Be Heard forum for 2022 on Wednesday 23 March at GMHBA stadium. The first forum for the year was aimed at bringing the leaders together from each school to discuss attitudes to school and perceptions for female students. The forum provided a chance for each school to share their own school perspective and actions on their 2021 data, to analyse some common themes, workshop what success would look like for each of the schools’ actions and to share how each school can help each other be successful. On the day, the girls heard from many wonderful role models in our community to support them to act in their own schools. We are looking forward to seeing some wonderful projects and actions now take place from these leaders in our school. A big thank-you to MS Sullivan and Ms. O’Hare for supporting the students.
College Council 2022/2023
Monday 21 March saw our Western Heights College members meet for our AGM and our first general meeting for 2022/2023. We will profile our Councillors during our term 2 newsletters. We thank them for their generous time and support of the college.
Following our School Council Annual General Meeting conducted on Monday evening, our office bearers for our current Council are:
School Council President – Tania Briese
School Council Vice President – Christine Baldock
We congratulate both these ladies and wish them well in these roles.
Recent School Councils have been very collaborative, supportive and focused on improving all aspects of the College. I am confident that our current School Council will continue to work on behalf of our entire College community to help us meet the challenges of our quest to continually improve all aspects of college operations. I would like to personally thank all Council members for being so willing to be involved and generous with giving of their time.
Learning Conversations
Our Year 11 and 12 Learning Conversations were conducted on Wednesday 24 March. Appointments are now available for Year 7/10 students and year 11/12 parents/carers who may have been unavailable on Thursday 7 April (4.30pm -7.30pm online google meetings) and Friday 8 April (9am -1pm – onsite face-to-face) conversations
We encourage parents to avail themselves of this important opportunity to meet our teachers to discuss student progress after our recent Learning Task cycles and feedback is complete. All bookings must be made via Compass.
Students are not required to attend school and timetabled classes on Friday 8 April but are encouraged to attend learning conversations with parents and teachers.
If parents are unable to attend personally on the day or are unable to secure a learning conversation with teachers, could I remind all parents that the COMPASS system allows for ongoing communication via email. I will encourage parents to contact any teacher if they have specific concerns/queries regarding the education of their child. Alternatively, parents may contact Learning Community Leaders to arrange meetings and discuss overall performance or other issues.
I will look forward to catching up with many of you at our learning conferences next week,
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 2022
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 colleges 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 nine community languages:
* Amharic
* Arabic
* Dari
* Gujarati
* Mandarin
* Somali
* Sudanese
* Turkish
* Urdu
* Vietnamese.