Acting Assistant Principal's Report 

NAPLAN Testing

Our Yr 7 and Yr 9 students recently completed the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) over the past two weeks. The results of these tests provide feedback on their knowledge and skills in Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy. The testing period began on Tue 10th May and concluded with catch-up sessions Tue 17th May. 

A big thank you to Ms. Holly Palanti (Literacy Assistant) for organising the leading the NAPLAN testing period, Priscilla Hansen (Inclusion Assistant), Alice Paget (Director of Learning Junior School), Tom Tahos (Director of Learning – Middle School) for assisting with the process. On the whole, our students engaged positively and productively in all tests.

Later in the year, you will receive your child’s personal NAPLAN report. The report will describe your child’s particular skills in Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy. The report will also show how your child performed in relation to national minimum standards. These describe the minimum acceptable standards for students across Australia.

For more information about NAPLAN Online, please visit the VCAA website at www.vcaa.vic.edu.au  or the NAPLAN website at www.naplan.edu.au, or feel free to contact me directly at the College.

Open Day

On Tuesday 5th April, Westall SC hosted our annual Open Day for prospective students and families. Those that visited our school experienced a range of wonderful activities and presentations from staff and students which included: live music, sporting demonstrations, flight simulator action, robotics displays, subject presentations, displays and activities, STEM presentations and free food and drink. We were also lucky enough to have St Kilda Football Club come out and run activities under the newly roofed basketball arena.

The school looked amazing and we had a great number of students and families come in and experience Westall in all its glory. The day was a huge success thanks to the efforts of staff and students who volunteered their time to proudly show off what Westall has to offer. A special thanks must go to the students who led families and prospective students around on school tours. The feedback from these families was overwhelmingly positive and a tribute to the enthusiasm, passion and hard work that everyone demonstrated at Open Day. This event contributes to our standing with the local community that Westall is a caring, innovative school that embraces and celebrates individuality and cultural diversity.

A special thanks to Mr. Mark Henderson for managing and promoting this event and Ms. Kristina Vasilakis for organising student leaders to assist. Without their hard work, the success of the event would not have been possible.

Student Progress

Earlier in the term, progress reports for all students were made available to all students and families via Compass. Hopefully, this provided parents and carers with an opportunity to use this feedback as a focus of a discussion with your child about how they are progressing so far this year. Last week, we had our Parent Teacher Interviews and it was great to see so many families take the time to meet with their child’s teachers online. In the days and weeks following, please try to check in with how your child is doing spending time on areas of improvement that have been highlighted by both the progress reports and the interview feedback. Also, don’t forget to check Compass on a weekly basis which provides feedback on work completed, assessments, attendance and general teacher’s observations in all subjects.

‘Discovery Day’ Taster Program

Throughout Terms 2 & 3 we will be hosting our local Primary schools for a Westall Secondary College ‘Discovery Day’. This initiative is to once again showcase our school to our local Grade 4&5 students and provide them with a positive, education experience by accessing some of the wonderful teachers and learning programs that we have to offer. Students will be bussed in and spend the day at Westall experiencing the Westall Way first-hand. They will participate in an EDI lesson, which is the consistent instructional model that is used in all subjects and in all levels throughout the school. Following this, students will experience an AIM High lesson, where students will engage in learning activities that are focussed on their higher-order thinking and problem-solving abilities in a similar way that our AIM High students are challenged in their own subjects at Westall. Following a recess break, the primary school students will be divided up and moved into our iCreate classes, which they have chosen based on their own interests. The program gives the primary school students an experience of what it is to be a Westall student as well as providing a great opportunity for our school to network with local primary schools.

Mr Jason Tickner

Acting Assistant Principal