Principal Report
I am pleased to be sharing early some exciting and important announcements about 2023. We are excited to be making further improvements to support the best possible learning and wellbeing for our students.
Capital Works at Wangaratta High School
You may have heard the news during and leading up to the election, that an elected Labour Government would spend $11.7 million towards “upgrades and modernisation” of Wangaratta High School. There was also a subsequent announcement of a new Technical School for Wangaratta. The possibility of both of these are very exciting for the school and for the Wangaratta region. I am obviously very excited too about what might be possible to accelerate the many wonderful opportunities even further for our students and region. For now, there are very limited details, but I will keep the school up to date.
News daily timings for 2023
The 2023 school year commences on Tuesday 31st January for all students, as Monday 30th is a staff Professional Practice Day. Our start and finish times remain the same next year, but we are changing our daily structure to align with other system wide changes around teaching allocations. We will shift from 6 sessions a day to 5 and have an earlier lunch and afternoon recess. We believe that the earlier lunch will serve all students better, but especially those that travel from out of town. We begin these new timings on Monday 12th December in line with activities week. Our new times are:
Homeroom and student diaries
We are implementing a new daily 20 minute Homeroom for all year levels next year. This daily lesson with a consistent homeroom teacher will support increased connection to the school and support a caring and nurturing relationship between students and their homeroom teacher, who has a strong advocacy and care focus. The Homeroom sessions will have a specific curriculum and focus across each days, with Monday and Tuesday focused on learning (diary and academic planning, goal setting, study skills, personal organisation, and digital organisation); Wednesday and Thursday will be centred on social and emotional learning and assemblies (year level or junior/middle/senior assemblies as well as whole school) and Fridays are fun focused, with significant opportunities for student led activities and leadership.
New staffing model to focus on student learning, wellbeing and care
I am pleased to be sharing the news of our intentional expansion of the Year Level Leadership model, expanding from two groupings (Middle and Senior) and two senior staff overseeing, to three groupings Junior, Middle and Senior in 2023. We are very proud of the depth of care in place for our students to support their learning and wellbeing and recognise the positive impact of staff whose roles as student advocates and enablers is a power lever for success and growth at school. These staff will oversee our new Homeroom system.
New student diaries
To complement our new Homeroom system and support student Readiness to Learn we will be issuing all with a Wangaratta High School diary. This will occur on the first day of school in 2023. The diary is to be bought to each class and signed weekly by the parent/carer and Homeroom teacher. It is primarily designed to facilitate personal and learning organisation.
A renewed and reenergised focus on Ready to Learn and Bring Your Own Device
In 2023, Wangaratta High School will be re-invigorating our Bring Your Own Device Program (BYOD) to enhance teaching and learning processes within the classroom. Our rationale behind this decision is to ensure all students have the skills to access opportunities to learn anytime, anywhere, while at the same time understanding how to manage technology to improve their learning.
To do this, students from Year 7 to Year 12 will be asked to bring a suitable, charged device to school each day to support their learning, with teachers increasing the use of in-class technology-based activities to enhance pedagogy.
For parents and carers looking for guidance around which device to purchase, Wangaratta High School has partnered with 'Learning With Technology’ (LWT), who have put together a portal allowing parents to purchase discounted devices that meet all our minimum requirements. Parents can access further information and purchase devices by visiting the following link https://wangarattahs.orderportal.com.au/
For more detailed information on the School’s BYOD policy please click the link below.
WHS - Digital learning policy[98212].pdf
Textbooks and second sales of books and uniform
After more than 30 years of partnership with Wangaratta High School, Edgars Books and News will be closing the business's school textbook / booklist branch.
This sad news has forced WHS to look for a new provider and following an extensive and rigorous search, we are proud to announce that Lilydale Books will be our new student workbook, textbook, and stationary provider in 2023.
Lilydale Books (located in the Yarra Valley), has been providing educational books and stationery for primary and secondary schools Australia wide for over 35 years. They are specialists in Back-to-School booklist services and have extensive experience in educational supplies, digital platforms, curriculum resources and library services.
Their online door-to-door delivery service makes ordering books much more efficient, and we look forward to building this partnership in years to come.
In addition to our new booklist provider, Wangaratta High School have partnered with an online ‘Second-hand textbook seller / provider, ‘The Sustainable School Shop’.
The Sustainable School Shop encourages re-use and re-cycling of school books through innovation and technology, enabling families to sell and / or look for a second-hand items first before buying new.
What can be Advertised, Sold and Traded
Parents and students can sell or buy practically anything that relates student education.
Commonly traded items Textbooks Uniforms (Only items in good condition or better)
For more information, please use link below.
Sustainable School Shop - Second hand Textbooks, Uniforms etc
Have a happy and safe holiday, and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.
Dave Armstrong
Executive Principal