Junior School Report
Message from the
Director of Learning -
Alice Paget
A warm welcome to all the Year 7 and 8 students, parents and guardians to the new school year at Westall Secondary College!
The students have seamlessly settled in to the school year, displaying great learning behaviours and adaptability into a new school setting. We are extremely proud of how the students have started and I am very grateful for the wonderful team of teachers we have in the Junior School teachers, creating rich learning opportunities in their respective classes.
To all the new parents at the College, we endeavour to make your child’s transition into secondary schooling, a smooth and positive experience. We hope that the Transition Orientation program at the end of 2021 and the first few weeks of the school year has helped your child to feel comfortable, supported and excited about the year ahead. Over the upcoming two terms, all Year 7 students will be taking part in a Peer Support Program run by our Year 10 Peer Support leaders. They will be running workshops on a range of important topics, such as: secondary school tips, self-care, respectful relationships and cyber-safety.
Pictured above: Year 7 students taking part in their Transition Program at the start of 2021
We have a range of exciting opportunities coming up in the Junior School, including an onsite Junior School Camp at the end of Term 2. More information will be released to students and parents/guardians very shortly. All students will study a range of semester elective subjects in Years 7 and 8 to allow them to explore their passions and interests, including: Music, Digital Technology, Food Technology, Dance/Drama and Woodwork, as well as Weekly Sport and our iCreate elective every Wednesday afternoon.
Your involvement in your child’s education can have a great impact on their schooling. Please support the Junior School team by staying informed through checking your child’s diary and Compass regularly. Please make sure you have bought all the required uniform, textbooks, exercise books and stationery to ensure your child has the best learning opportunities throughout the year. To help with your child’s organisation, we suggest the students have a different exercise book for each subject, a display folder to keep any sheets of paper and a whiteboard/pen/eraser set. Please don’t hesitate to contact the year level coordinators if you are having any issues with this, we are always here to support you. The junior school team would like to wish everyone a successful year ahead!
Junior School Team Leaders
I would like to warmly welcome Hugh Robertson and Pegah Kasiri to Year Level Coordination roles in the Junior School this year. Please don’t hesitate to contact them via email or phone, to help support your child’s education, wellbeing or attendance.
Alice Paget
Director of Learning (Junior School)
Alice.Paget@education.vic.gov.au
Hugh Robertson
Year 7 Coordinator
Hugh.Robertson@education.vic.gov.au
Pegah Kasiri
Year 8 Coordinator
Pegah.Kasiri@education.vic.gov.au
Year 7 Adventure Day
On the 4th February, Year 7 students set out to the Enchanted Adventure Gardens in Arthurs Seat for our Year 7 Adventure Day. It was a great opportunity for the Year 7s to meet new students, build a rapport with their teachers and also step outside of their comfort zone!
Students had a ball tackling the many different challenges for the day, including: tube sliding, tree surfing, initiative and team building activities, zip lining and the mazes. Well done to all students for their bravery, encouragement to their peers and commendable behaviour on the day.
Ms Alice Paget
Director of Learning - Junior School
Year 7 and 8 Sport
Year 7 and 8 students have been tirelessly preparing for the start to their weekly sport competition that begins on the 1st of March for the Year 7s, and the 4th of March for the Year 8s, against McKinnon Secondary School. Students have been given the choice of sports from Volleyball, Tennis and Softball/Baseball.
The format of the weekly inter-school sport has continued from last year for Term 1. Instead of playing every school each term, as per previously, the 8 schools have been divided into two pools of 4 based on proximity. We have been placed in pool ‘B’ alongside McKinnon, Bentleigh, and Brighton. Following the three pool games, a final will then be played between the winner of pool A and the winner of pool B to find the Kingston champion to represent the division at regionals.
We are excited to get back into inter-school sports as most sporting events were cancelled last year due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding COVID-19. Students are eagerly looking forward to competing against the other schools.
In addition, we recently had our swimming carnival last Monday. With Lawson winning the event, followed by Gordon coming in a close second place. We have managed to enter a number of students to represent Westall in the Kingston division.
Good luck to all teams for your upcoming games.
Mr Kristian Gropel
Sport Coordinator