WHSC Victorious at the 2019 Monash Division Swimming Sports

The 2019 Monash Division Swimming Sports were held at Aquanation in Ringwood last week (28/2) and Wheelers Hill Secondary College were victorious! On a per capita basis, we were successful in winning the overall competition against a number of schools from our local area.

Congratulations to all of our students and a special mention to our staff in attendance on the day. Well done!

Mandarin at WHSC from 2020

The work of the WHSC Languages Committee has concluded (27/2/19) with the Committee making a recommendation to our Teaching and Learning Committee with respect to the College's Languages Program.

The recommendation tabled with our Teaching and Learning Committee can be found below:

“From 2020, the WHSC Languages Committee recommends that WHSC includes Mandarin and French as the Languages that form part of its Languages Program”.

This recommendation was accepted by the WHSC Teaching and Learning Committee (4/3/19).

Please note that Indonesian will now be dropped from our Languages Program (there will be a period of transition for those students currently studying Indonesian at the school).

Through its work, the Languages Committee determined which language (s) should be a part of our curriculum on the basis of:

- Ongoing relevance with our Global Community

- Having the strongest chance of being studied from Year 7 all the way through to Year 12

- Further improving connections and enrolments from our College Community

There was broad representation on the Languages Committee (students, parents, leadership and staff) and we thank all members for their time and effort over an extended period of time.

We will further announce the changes to our Languages Program at our College Open Night on the 3rd April this year.

WHSC College Council, 2019

We thank those from our College Community that have shown an interest in our College Council for 2019.

After conducting and concluding a process, we can now announce the composition of our WHSC College Council for 2019. The Parent Representative Vacancies (x 4) have been filled by:

- Andrew Doppel

- Brooke Cooke

- Gosia Zastawnik

- Remco Kleinman

The DET Representative Vacancies (x 2) have been filled by:

- Andrew Dixon

- Claire Hanley

The Student Representative Vacancies (x 2) have been filled by:

- Simone Janjua (Year 9)

- Jasmine Kleinman (Year 9)

We congratulate those listed above and thank them in advance for their time, effort and participation on the WHSC College Council for 2019.

The full membership of our College Council for 2019 is as follows:

DET Representatives - Aaron Smith, Judy Anderson, Andrew Dixon, Claire Hanley and Peter Allen

Parent Representatives - Jenny O’Connor, Lorraine Thompson, Christine Gramberg, Sue Stibilj, Steve Kourtis, Andrew Doppel, Brooke Cooke, Gosia Zastawnik, Remco Kleinman

Student Representatives -

Simone Janjua (Year 9), Jasmine Kleinman (Year 9)

*Issy Jones, *Jasmine Sweeney, *Kyle Gwynne, *Ben Segal

*Our College Captains (all in Year 12) and they are Observers on the 2019 College Council

As per our Constituting Order, we are able co-opt Community Members. For 2019, we are able to co-opt x 1 Community Member. As a result, we plan to co-opt a Community Member at the next School Council Meeting in March (20/3/19). It is at this March Meeting of Council that we will form Sub Committees (Resources, Uniform, Education) and establish Office Bearers such as the School Council President, School Council Vice President and Treasurer.

We thank the College Council of 2018 for all of their hard work. Michael Kandanoleon and Lisa Bentley (both Parent Representatives) will both be leaving Council and we acknowledge their participation and contribution over an extended period of time - thank you Michael and Lisa.

Parent Participation at WHSC

We value Parent Participation at our College. From our Second Hand Uniform Shop to our WHSC Parents and Friends Committee, there are opportunities for parents / guardians to get involved with the school.

If parents / guardians would like to get involved, they are welcome to contact me via the General Office to find out more.

STEM at WHSC

STEM (or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is an important part of our curriculum program here at the College.

There are many opportunities provided to students across a number of year levels in the area of STEM. Our new STEM Learning Specialist, Ms. Kim Hewlett, is working with our school community to further grow STEM at the College. Please read on in the Newsletter for a detailed report of STEM at Wheelers Hill Secondary College.

Department of Education and Training (DET) : Student accident insurance, ambulance cover arrangements and private property brought to school

Parents and guardians are reminded that DET does not provide personal accident insurance or ambulance cover for students.

So parents/guardians are reminded that:

- parents / guardians of students, who do not have student accident insurance, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance or transport as well as any other transport costs; and

- parents / guardians can purchase insurance policies from commercial insurers

It is the responsibility of parents / guardians to look into their preferred options in this regard. DET cannot provide advice to parents / guardians on the purchase of individual student accident policy or ambulance cover.

Parents / guardians and students are also reminded that private property brought to school by students or visitors is not insured and DET does not accept responsibility for any loss or damage. This can include mobile phones, calculators, toys, sporting equipment and cars parked on school premises. As DET does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools and has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property, students should be discouraged from bringing any unnecessary or particularly valuable items to school.

Value of the Week - Creativity

Our casting for this year's production, Singing in the Rain, was announced earlier in the week (4/3/19). We congratulate all of our students included in the cast and crew, and we look forward to another high quality performance in 2019.

And finally....

Our College Athletics Carnival will be Monday 18th March, while our 2019 College Open Night has been brought forward this year to Wednesday 3rd April (commencing at 6:00 pm in the Gymnasium and Performing Arts Complex).

Have a great long weekend everyone,

Regards

Aaron Smith

What's Coming Up Next

March

8th

11th

12th

13th

14th

15th

18th