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Wellbeing and Engagement 

Shannon Ross

Wellbeing and Engagement

Shannon Ross

 

I would like to warmly welcome all staff, students, parents, guardians and community members back to school for the 2024 year. 

 

 

Role of the Home Group Teacher

 

Who do I call about my child? 

In 2024, your child’s Home Group teacher will be your primary contact. 

You should have met or communicated with them already.

 

The Home Group teacher has 20 minutes EVERY DAY to communicate, get to know, support and encourage your child. This relationship will be the most important one for them in the course of their education each year. 

 

It will assist you to develop a relationship with a member of staff who knows your child well across all aspects of their school life. 

 

Please see below an outline of the home group teacher’s responsibilities for 2024. 

 

Responsibilities

  • Primary contact between school and home 
  • The Home Group teacher is primarily responsible for their students’ overall wellbeing and development, both academic and social. 
  • Building strong relationships with all students in their home group 
  • Using compass to track learning, wellbeing, behaviour and attendance of home group students 
  • Primary prevention and low level intervention and support (for behavioural purposes if needed) in home group
  • Identification of students in home group who may need adjustments to support engagement with learning
  • Identification of behaviours for merits to acknowledge positive and high performing students in home group
  • Contribute to the development of individual education plans and support student learning goals in home group 
  • Conference with students at least once per term to reflect and develop learning goals in home group
  • Explicit teaching of Respectful Relationships, School-Wide Positive Behaviours to home group
  • Support students within their home group with organisation and learning behaviours 

 

 

The most effective method of communication with all staff (who teach each day and across the week) is EMAIL and we ask parents to ensure that they are able to access Compass and aware of how to email through this system. 

 

Parents are still welcome to call the school if they have an inquiry but it may take slightly longer to get a reply/response/answer.

 

 

Attendance

 

Your child’s attendance at school is critical. 

 

“Missing school can have a big impact on students academically and socially. It can affect their test results, including VCE & VCAL, and, just as importantly, it can affect their relationships with other students, and lead to social isolation.

 

There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes.” 

 

‘Department of Education and Training – Every day counts’

 

 

 

 

House Group Launch

 

I am very excited to announce that we are relaunching our House Groups at Woodmans Hill Secondary College. Whilst we have had our houses (green, blue, red and yellow) and we have passionate students come athletic and swimming sports, we are aware that there are students who may not have felt that they belong in their house as their strengths and passions lie in different areas. 

 

In 2024, our house group program will have a variety of activities and competitions which will engage students who are passionate about a range of things: art, maths, chess, science and more! Our goal is to ensure that all students are connected to their house and feel that they belong and can contribute in a positive way. 

 

Our house launch will take place tomorrow afternoon for all students, and in the next newsletter I will be sure to share with all community members our new house names, mascots and leaders. I don’t want to ruin the surprise of our house launch tomorrow! 

 

 

Coping Strategies Year 7 Workshops

 

Our amazing SAMHS (Student Advocacy and Mental Health Team) have been busy rolling out a Coping Strategies Workshop with all of our Year 7 students over the last week. These sessions were designed by our Youth Counsellor Ashton and Mental Health Practitioner Rose with the goal of supporting our new students to adjust to the secondary environment and to learn a variety of positive coping skills that they can add to their toolboxes. These have been warmly received by all students.