U P C O M I N G E V E N T S :

14 December 2017

WESTERN H EIGH TS COLLEGE

P ARENT N EWSLETTER

Phone: 5277 1177

www.whc.vic.edu.au

Some of the items

inside this issue

Principal Report 1—4

College News 5—11

Community News 12

January 30 Term 1 2018

Year 7,11 and 12 Mentor Meeting.

January 31 Year 8.9 and 10 Mentor Meetings. Normal classes for Year 7, 11 and 12.

February 1

Camp

Monday 5th—Wednesday 7th

Wednesday 7th—Friday 9th

All students Normal Classes.

Year 7 Camp

Year 8 Camp

Year 12 Results

Congratulations to our wonderful group of Year 12 students who recently received their ATAR results.

A special congratulations to Lara Richards for being considered our Dux for 2017, achieving a score of 87.85.

When reflecting on their achievements and results it was important to reflect on the journey and pathway of each student. All students travel a particular individual journey to complete their schooling and when results and reports are released, it is important to not judge final marks, ATAR scores or school reports, but to reflect on each individuals endeavour and persistence. No one else can assess if it was your best, but you. It’s never about society’s expectations but rather the ones you are prepared to put on yourself. As individual learners you decide what sacrifices and learning will be necessary for you to reach your optimum and to be your best. I am very proud to see that a number of our students achieved their personal bests.

Thanks to our College Community

Thanks must go to the ongoing dedication of our staff team at the College. They are to be commended for their efforts and commitment during the year. I continue to be amazed at the incredible opportunities our staff have provided for our students every single day.

In my first 6 months as Principal of the school, I have been truly heartened by the generorosity of spirit, openess and caring nature that our students continually display. I am incredibly proud of our students and been overwhelmed particularly in the last week by lovely phonecalls and emails from members of the community to applaud our students and staff for their presentation and unheralded work in our community.

I would also like to thank the 2017 College Captains who have have been outstanding role models throughout the year. I would like to particularly thank Hannah O’Malley and Phuong Quach for their exceptional leadership throughout 2017.

To all members of the School Council, led by Mr. George Taylor; thank you very much for your efforts and support throughout the year. We thank George as our outgoing College council president for his incredibly supportive leadership of our community over the past 6 years. It has been George’s calmness, leadership skill and ability that has enabled our community to navigate the many challenges, achievements and successes over the years. We wish George well and feel comfort in the knowledge that he will continue to be an avid supporter and advocate of our College for many, many years to come.

F R O M T H E C O L L E G E P R I N C I PA L—F I O N A TAY LO R

FROM T HE COLLE GE PRI NCIPA L CONT INUED.. .

2017 Highlights

We have numerous highlights at the College each year and here are just a few that come to mind:

Deja Vasic and Carly Smith of Year 11 were selected for the Geelong Schools Kokoda Experience and both managed to not only conquer the track but to lead the group through the experience.

Two Year 9 students participated in the highly recognised leadership program Camp Awakenings during Term 3 this year.

The incredible Read a Book In Day team, who were successful in winning the best illustrated book cover in Australia Award, congratulations and well done to all involved and a special thank-you to Ms Sirotich for her involvement.

The ANZAC Day Ceremony held at Western Heights College that commemorated the 102nd Anniversary of the initial landing of

our troops on the shores of ANZAC Cove in 1915 was a moving student led service.

Students and staff from Manifold Heights and Hamlyn Banks Primary Schools were our College guests, and I would like to acknowledge the work of Phuong and Hannah O’Malley, Thomas Slee and Shannon Simpson (Year 12 students), who com-pleted the task as Masters of Ceremony, and were extraordinary in setting the tone for this significant assembly.

Our wonderful students under the leadership of Kerrie Hutchinson again participated and starred in the annual State Schools Spectacular.

Our fantastic sporting carnivals that included Quamby House winning the Swimming and Athletics carnivals and Vines House taking out the Cross Country.

Seven of our wonderful girls participating in the Girls Go Extreme program hosted by the City of Greater Geelong and our wonderful School Nurse Lisa Cooper.

Ben Platt and Quentin Marshall for participating in and excelling in the Plain English Speaking Awards.

Our Mandarin languages program continues to grow in its inaugural year at our College and we are really excited by the opportunities that this continues to present.

Our magnificent Chess Team, so ably mentored by Mr Adrian McCall and their fantastic progression through to a State Final.

The victorious Year 9 Students for their leadership with Hamlyn Banks Primary School in the Order of Australia Medal Awards.

Our Performing Arts Academy and their continuing excellence in their original production of ‘Colour Our World’ and their participation in the GPAC Takeover Program.

Our recent CREATE Art Exhibition.

Our Year 12 Health and Human Development students and their fantastic involvement in the work of our local ZONTA club in creating birthing kits to be sent to remote parts of Africa.

Our table tennis stars in Farzan, Nick, Lucas, Ford and James for their progression and “Forrest Gump” like skills in reaching the State Final of the Table Tennis SSV competition.

Our amazing VCAL Students and their work with the Geelong West Rotary Group, Diversitat Farm, and the many hours of selling produce and wares at local fetes and markets.

Our Ski Trip.

Our inaugural year 11 and 12 Formal.

Welcome and Farewells

Welcome

It is that time of the school year again when we welcome new and returning staff for 2018.

Roger Conron – we welcome Roger back from sabbatical leave in 2017 to take up a position as Year 9/10 Learning Community

Leader and as a classroom teacher in HAPE, VCAL and Science.

Ivan Ludinic – who has been on long service leave for term 4.

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Farewell

We wish the following staff good luck as they complete their contracts at Western Heights College and take up new positions in new

schools. Elyse Borg who has accepted a new position at Hoppers Crossing S.C for 2018. We wish Elyse well in her new position teaching

English in a school very close to her home. Tamika Lee has completed her contract at our college working in the English and Student Lead-

ership areas of the College. We thank her and wish her well. Maree Luckman has completed her contract at our College working in the

English and Humanities areas of the College. We thank her and wish her well. John Foss has completed his contract at our College work-

ing in the Media and VCAL areas of the College. We thank him and wish him well. Tim Sanderson has completed a contract during Term 4

to replace staff that have been on leave. We wish Tim well in his future endeavours. Adrian McCall will take up a position for 12 months

at St Albans S.C teaching Maths and Science. We wish him well with his new position and in moving his family to Melbourne for 12

months. Wendy Climpson will take up a new position in hospitality. Wendy has been managing our canteen since the start of Term 2. We

wish Wendy well. Billy MacDonald and Hope Chernih have completed their one year traineeships working in the College and we wish

them well with their future endeavours.

Arrangements for the commencement of 2018

Term Dates for 2018

Term 1 - 29th January to 29 March

Term 2 - 16th April to June 29th June

Term 3 - 16th July to September 21st

Term 4 - 8th October to 21st December

Term 1 Commencement Dates for Staff and Students:

Monday 29 January - Teachers commence.

Tuesday 30 January - Year 7, 11 and 12 individual mentor teacher “ready to learn” meetings.

Wednesday 31 January - Year 7, 11 and 12 first day of classes Year 8, 9, and 10, individual “ready to learn” mentor teacher meetings.

Thursday 1 February - Year 8, 9 and 10 first day of classes.

‘Ready to Learn’ Mentor Teacher Meetings

Students and their Parents/Carers will have a 10-minute meeting with their child’s Mentor Group Teacher on Tuesday 30th January (Year 7,

11 and 12 Students) and Wednesday 31st January (Year 8/9/10 Students). Students will attend in full college uniform and bring all of their

books and stationary, which they will leave in their locker after the interview. An information pack will be sent to families this week to

provide details about the process and how to book your interview. Some of the material is information for you to keep and some is

required to be returned to the school on “Ready to Learn Day”. Each Parent/Carer will be asked to make a 15-minute appointment for

“Ready to Learn Day” with their child’s Mentor Group Teacher.

Students will need to have attended a “Ready to Learn” interview prior to commencing school in 2018. Page 3

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Arrangements will be made for families if they are still on holidays or have medical reasons for not being able to attend an interview.

The purpose of the interviews is:

To allow the opportunity for all mentor group teachers to meet all of their students with their parent/carer and have a positive

supportive interaction with them.

To ensure that students are fully organised and prepared for learning and are able to meet all of the requirements of a student of

Western Heights College including having the correct uniform and equipment.

Deal with administrative matters in a timely and efficient manner. The “Ready to Learn Day” process will ensure a positive,

smooth and productive start to the school year and will ensure that every student is prepared for learning.

In closing, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a safe and fun holiday break filled with sunshine. To all

our returning students, I look forward to seeing you all back here refreshed and ready to engage in new learning experiences in 2018.

Fiona Taylor Principal

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‘‘Last week the Intermediate (YR 11) VCAL students at Western Heights College were involved in a great program that saw them meet with an

employee from Uniting Care, organise a fundraising event at the school and visit Target in Westfield Geelong to purchase gifts with the money raised. The gifts were then placed under Uniting Care's Christmas Appeal 'Giving Tree', which is located at the entrance of Target. The stu-dents then spent the afternoon navigating their way around Central Geelong using the Christmas Trail map, they had to photograph them-selves at as many points on 'Central Geelong's Christmas Trail' as possible.

The students gained a lot out of this 'Christmas Appeal Unit'. They showed empathy towards those less fortunate than themselves and took positive action to contribute to the appeal. Students demonstrated leadership, creativity and team work at all stages of this project. They contributed in a positive way to their wider community and met outcomes that will help them pass their VCAL subjects in 2018.

RECOUNT OF VCAL CHRISTMAS APPEAL By Joel Gill (Year 11 VCAL student in 2018) Edited by Mrs. Pitman (VCAL Teacher)

As part of our transition into the VCAL program, we decided to plan a fundraiser to go towards the Target/Uniting Care Christmas Appeal. On Monday 3rd December we brainstormed ideas to do with our fundraiser and had some notions on what we were doing. Eril Gliddon also came down from Uniting Care to talk to us about the giving tree and what she does in her job. She also explained what the organisation does for everyone and how much they help people in need. She told us that they were in need of gifts for boys aged between 7 and 10 years, particu-larly sporting gifts and Lego. So our goal was to raise enough money to buy these types of gifts and place them under the giving tree at Tar-get.

On Tuesday we started allocating tasks to people and began work on our products to sell and hung up posters around the school. We organ-ised the sausages, veggie burgers, onion, bread and sauce, created wooden Christmas trees, Christmas cards and decorations to hang as well as cushions and began the 5c drive. Our goal was to collect as many 5c pieces as possible and arrange them in a line from our performing arts building to the library building.

On Wednesday we set up the BBQ and prepared for the fundraiser. Everyone helped out; setting up tables, getting the products down to the PAF and cooking the burgers and sausages. The fundraiser started at 12:50pm and people from around the school came down to have a look. The water balloon throw was a big success, along with the sausage sizzle. We also sold quite a few craft products. At the end of the day we made a total of $180 profit to spend on presents.

On Thursday we went off to central Geelong on an excursion to buy the presents at Target and do two other activities. The first thing we did was buy presents and take photographs of us putting them under the tree. We purchased a scooter, balls for five different sports, a skate-board, two remote controlled cars, a puzzle, a box of building blocks, a water pistols and a rocket ball. It was very satisfying seeing all the pre-sents under the tree that we had purchased with the money we had raised at school the day before. Knowing that these presents would go to children whose parents could not afford these gifts made it all worthwhile.

We then headed off in groups to take pictures at Christmas sites around the Central Geelong Christmas Trail. We had to get pictures at eight-een locations of the twenty nine locations. Using a map to navigate around the city. After we finished getting the pictures, we had to go and find the price of five presents that we wanted for Christmas and then compare the price between three different shops. We stayed in town for the whole school day, and made our way home at around 3:00pm.

Our fundraiser and day in town was a complete success. We had no issues at all and it all went very smoothly. Everyone seemed to be happy with everything and we completed our main goal, to raise money and buy presents for the Uniting Care Christmas Appeal.

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I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE PROJECT

Amber Van Der Vliet and Chloe Matthey

We held a ‘toy drive’ at Amber’s house where friends and family donated toys in honor of Amber’s late Nan, toys were then donated to The Salvation Army We also raised money by holding a Jellybean Guess, baking cookies and holding a raffle. The whole weekend was a success and we felt very proud because we raised $500 for The Salvation Army.

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YEAR 7 DEBATING

During Term 4, Year 7 studied the film Stand By Me. This coming-of-age movie, based on Stephen King’s novella The Body, tells the story of four boys who seek adventure in the woods, looking for a missing teenager's dead body, learning some truths about themselves along the way.

The main theme of this 1987 movie is friendship. Year 7 concluded their study of this film with a debate on the topic ‘That Friendship Brings Out The Best In Us.’

Friends are an important part of our lives, but do friends bring out the best in us? Year 7 enjoyed discovering the pros and cons of this topic, learning a lot about themselves along the way, just like the four boys in the film.

Kerrie Sirotich

Literacy Extension

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COLLE GE NEWS

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WHC has a new Facebook page up and running. The page features news and information about WHC. All staff and students are encouraged to 'Like'!

You can find it at - https://www.facebook.com/Western-Heights-College-105280530165748/

LIBRARY NEWS

Students are asked to return library books to the library before the end of the year.

Colleen Burville

Western Heights College – Library

Boys Uniform items for sale, affordable prices/negotiable (some items never worn) including grey pants, sports tracksuit pants, casual jackets, grey pants, summer shorts, shirts, sports shorts and tops, winter jumpers, Sizes 10 to 14. Please SMS 0448541499 what you need and I will reply with prices and items available.

Kind regards Martina

Breakfast Program

This year a number of volunteers from the Western Heights Uniting Church (headed by Michele Hardy) provided breakfast for our students every Wednesday morning. Each week around 80 students enjoyed their toasties, along with fruit juice and fresh fruit.

Students enjoyed the interaction with the volunteers, as well as an informal chat with teachers.

On behalf of our College community I would like to thank Michele and her team for their hard work. We all look forward to continuing this partnership in 2018.

Leanne Jemmett

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CANTEEN LUNCH ORDERS

The college canteen is open each morning from 8.00am.

Students are advised to call into the canteen before school to place their lunch orders.

This will assist with food preparation and planning and ensure that appropriate stock is available.

A REMINDER TO PARENTS

If you have not already done so, could you please contact us to update any change of

address, mobile and email details. This is

important as it enables us to notify you of any upcoming events and notices regarding your child. Please contact the office on 5277 1177.

PERMISSION FORMS AND PAYMENTS

Please note that all sport/excursion permission forms and payments are to be returned to the College two days before an activity. For planning purposes it is important that this request is met to ensure students do not miss out on these valuable experiences.

COLLEGE ABSENCE LINE

Please phone 5277 1177

to report all student absences

and select option 2

COMMUNITY NEWS

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JUNIOR CASUAL WORK

Dan’s Bakery on Vines Road

any students interested in some junior casual work.

Duties would include:

Cleaning up, dishes, floors etc..

serving customers

Adhoc duties

Anyone interested can call – 5298 3162