Principal's Report

News from the Principal

Dear Westall Secondary College Community,

What a year it has been! The time has flown by but, we should all be very proud of what we have achieved:

• Rated in the top category of schools. There are 5 categories of performance and only 13% of schools were rated in the highest category. We were one of the few. Our performance is listed as high or very high across NAPLAN, School Climate, Student Engagement, Attendance, Participation and VCE/VCAL results.
• New Wellbeing and International Student Centres planned, designed and ready for opening in 2019.
• New Tennis, Basketball and Netball courts being completed now and will open Day 1, 2019.
• Successful completion of our 4 year school review, having met almost every single target that was set 4 years ago. (Improved NAPLAN results, Improved VCE results, Increased size of the school from 400 students in 2015 to 600 students in 2018, Introduction of greater subject choice, including new Year 9 and 10 electives and our iCreate Program)
• Westall English Language Centre expanded from a Year 7-10 Centre to a Prep-Year 10 Centre. Due to commence enrolling Primary School students in 2019.
• Established a consistent Assessment and Reporting process across all subjects and year levels, 7-10. Rubrics and Common Assessment Tasks all online and reported via Compass in 2019.
• A new website, promotional videos that tripled our following via Facebook.
• Westall Way Learning Behaviours and classroom protocols established, along with our Instructional Model (EDI- Explicit Direct Instruction). Coloured charts and graphics that outline these protocols are on the walls of every single classroom.
• Our biggest Year 7 intake (80 students) attended Orientation Day this year giving us 4 x Year 7 classes in 2019.
• The academic and holistic growth of every student at Westall. Our mantra is “3 in 2”. We aim for 3 years growth for every 2 years of school, and our performance rating shows that this has been achieved for a vast majority of students. Congratulations to every student who has given 100% effort throughout the year.

I would like to again take the opportunity to congratulate our 2018 Year 12 graduates. Results will be released this Friday, 14th December. We wish you all the best in your future endeavours, and hope you stay connected to Westall along your journey. Social media certainly makes that easier to do nowadays.

Our 2019 Year 11 and 12 student cohort have now also finished for the year, so have a safe and relaxing break and we look forward to seeing you all next year. Classes for our 2019 Year 8, 9 and 10 cohorts finish on the 14th December, but, you do have a range of activities at school next week.

Until next time,

Mr. Tristan Lanarus