We st ern Hei g hts Col l ege

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

28 August 2017

P ARENT N EWSLETTER

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

Phone: 5277 1177

www.whc.vic.edu.au

Some of the items

inside this issue

Principal Report 1-2

College News 3-9

Sport News 10

Community News 11-13

Friday 1st September Mufti Day - Footy Colours

Monday 11th September Later Years Ski Camp

Tuesday 12th September Excursion 7B Cyber Cats

Thursday 14th & 15th

September

Melbourne Rehearsals State School Spectacular

THANK-YOU TO OUR STAFF AND COMMUNITY

Western Heights College is always a vibrant centre for learning and engagement but this term has been busier than usual. We have so many staff, students and parents to thank for providing the following opportunities for our students and learners above their usual workload:

Academic Success Award Winners Ceremony for Semester 1, 2017

Pathways Fair for 2018 Year 10/11/12

State Table Tennis Finals

VCAL Expo Day

Year 8 & 9 Parent Info Evening

Staff Professional Development Day

2018 Course Counselling for our Students

Geelong Interschool Chess Competition hosted by Western Heights College

Interschool Sport and Excursions

College Debating Teams

State School Spectacular

I am sure some events have been omitted but in any case big grateful thanks from our entire community.

NAVIGATING A COMPLEX FUTURE:

Students in Year 8 to Years 11 are considering their programs for the following year as they move into the later years of school. It is an exciting time for these students and their families as they explore possibilities and discuss future careers and pathways.

Our aim is to nurture the talents and diverse range of interests of our students to the best of our ability with the intent to build confidence, skills and knowledge for a complex future. A big thank-you to our pathways team and staff for enlightening our students and parents on our opportunities for student learn-ing at Western Heights College for 2018.

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 NA TAY LO R

AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Program 2018

On Wednesday 23 August all our college staff spent the day preparing to implement the AVID Program into our school in 2018. AVID is a global program for schools and is currently run in 40 schools in Australia. Western Heights College will be the first secondary school in Geelong to implement the program. School wide AVID at the secondary level doesn’t mean that all students are enrolled in an AVID Elective class. What it does mean is that all students thrive in an environment where academic expectations are held high; inquiry-based pedagogy and collaboration are evidenced in all classrooms; systems and structures focus on the needs of students; and teachers and school leaders cultivate a culture of college readiness for learning growth and success for all students.

The program aims to: -

Teach skills and behaviours for academic success – teaching learners how to learn and how to

foster curiosity with a particular focus on literacy skills and deep questioning.

Provide intensive support for learners with strong student/teacher relationships.

Create a positive peer group for students.

Develops a sense of hope for personal achievement gained through hard work and determination.

Focus on how to become a good citizen in our community.

Already several of our staff have taken part in the AVID Winter Institute Conference in Newcastle and in December several more staff will attend the AVID Summer Conference in Melbourne to ensure all our staff are prepared to implement an AVID Whole School Approach in 2018.

I will look forward to continuing to update you on our AVID Program Implementation for 2018.

SCHOOL UNIFORM:

It has been very cold recently and it is pleasing to see students wearing multiple layers to stay warm during the school days. However, students are not to wear hoodies under school jumpers or leggings instead of school pants or tracksuit pants to school. I would also like to remind our school community that the sports uniform should only be worn to school on days when students are participating in physical education lessons or sport. Your support with this is most appreciated.

PLANNING FOR 2018:

Over the next few weeks the college is busy planning for 2018. We will be asking your son or daughter about their intentions for their learning for 2018. If you know that your son or daughter is not returning to Western Heights College in 2018 can you contact the College Office to inform us.

Fiona Taylor Principal

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COLLE GE N EWS

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Write a Book in a Day

Year 7

Last Friday, nine Year 7 students were involved in the Write a Book in a Day competition.

This competition, run by The Kids’ Cancer Council, raises money for research into childhood cancers. Our Year 7 team, named The Double Tickers - Quaid Kaiser, Chris Watson, Isabella Couch, Anni Hobbs, Olivia Freeman, Amelie McLean, Melanie Simpson, Sophie Hill and Noah Evans enjoyed their day as writers, spurred on by the knowledge that their hard work would assist children with cancer. The way that the competition works is that the team works together to plan, draft, edit, write, illustrate and bind a 4000 – 5000 word story aimed at children aged 10 to 16 years of age. On the day of the competition, details for each particular story are released, so our team had no prior knowledge of what they would need to include in their story.

The parameters we received for our book were as follows –

Human character 1 – TV star

Human character 2 – Sheep shearer

Non-human character – Shark

Setting – Island

Issue – Parent for a day

Random words – Fuzzy, Zigzagged, Emerald, Awkward, Pillow

Titling their story, Left Behind, The Double Tickers’ story developed into a wonderful book, with stunning illustrations by Olivia, Quaid and Isabella.

Left Behind tells the story of prima-donna TV star, Nicki Boston who is left stranded on a desert island after being sacked from the movie being filmed by her crew. Her better-than-everyone attitude is finally the last straw for Director Daniel! Wandering the island, distraught and in tears, Nicki stumbles into the island’s only other occupant, ocker shearer, Barry “Bazza” Johnson. Barry has a small boat which he agrees to use to take the petulant Nicki back to the mainland in, but before he can, an angry great white shark batters the boat to pieces, leaving them both totally stranded. With the angry great white still causing havoc, and scaring Nicki out of her wits, the hapless pair find an ill baby shark stranded in a rock pool, and are terrified that the much bigger, much nastier shark will harm the baby. They spend a full day and night trying to keep the angry monster away from the baby, until they notice that both sharks have the same markings on their dorsal fins. Realising that the larger shark must be the mother of the stranded baby, and that she is trying to rescue her baby, Nicki and Barry re-unite the two animals. The Great White is so relieved to be reunited with her baby, that she gives Nicki and Barry a ride back to the mainland. Everyone is happy, and Nicki learns her lesson … never again will she be a selfish brat! Submitting their book two minutes before the 8pm deadline, the team thoroughly enjoyed the experience, enthusiastically asking if they could compete again next year.

All books entered in the competition are given to children with cancer to read while in hospital. We hope that our book brightens their day!

Olivia, Quaid, Isabella, Amelie, Sophie, Melanie, Anni, Noah and Chris.

Kerrie Sirotich

Literacy Extension

LITERATURE CIRCLES:

At the start of Term 3, the Year 8 classes started Literature Circles (lit circles). In Lit Circles you have groups of people reading books. People in each group have the same book each week. The year 8’s are required to read a certain number of pages and talk about what they have read and learnt about the book. They are also required to do some activities about it like questioning and visualising, and give positive and negative feedback to each other.

AS PART OF LITERATURE CIRCLES:

The year 8 students are doing a Dossier Task. This task requires us to write an informative piece on the book that we are reading. I am currently reading Trash by Andy Mulligan. It’s a book about three dumpsite boys that live in the Philippines and sort through trash all day until they find something that could change their lives forever.

Bailey Mann-Feldman 8A

COLLE GE NEWS

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OAM AWARDS PRESENTATION:

Last week on Thursday, together with three Hamlyn Banks Primary School students, I attended the OAM Award presentation. We spoke to members of the Order of Australia Association about our experiences at the Grace McKellar Centre and I also shared what I did when I first initiated the program when I was still in primary school. We competed against two other schools and in the end we won, receiving a trophy and $500 for Hamlyn Banks Primary.

GITTC VISIT

Two weeks ago, we took our Year 9 cohort to the Geelong Industry Trade Training Centre so the students could get information about VET Taster courses they could sign up for in 2018. There was a brief informative talk then they toured the facilities, viewing the areas set up for a variety of courses such as, hospitality, automotive, building and construction, hairdressing and make-up. It was an interesting experience for our students and one that will assist them greatly as they start to make choices about their future pathways. Many thanks to Bryan Timms, the VET Co-ordinator at the GITTC for hosting us and to Kerrie Hammond for organising the excursion.

COLLE GE NEWS

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Pathways Fair

The senior ‘Pathways Fair’ evening was supported by our VCE students who were very helpful in the setting up for the night as well as being fantastic ambassadors for the various year 11 and 12 subjects on offer.

A big thankyou from the WHC community for your time and efforts.

COLLE GE NEWS

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The Big Science Competition

Recently a group of our Year 7, 8 and 10 students participated in The Big Science competition. This competition asked questions from a range of Science areas and required more than factual information. Students’ results were compared against national averages and we were delighted to have Zack Harvey, Year 8 receive a High Distinction and Christopher Watson , Year 7 receive a Credit. Congratulations to these students and all other participants who were willing to participate in the competition gain valuable experience in applying their scientific knowledge.

Ms Henry

Science and Mathematics KLA Leader

YEAR 7 STEM:

This term, Year 7 are learning about simple machines. They started the term with Science pracs using ramps, levers and pulleys. They have now progressed to building mechanical devices using Lego Technic and automating these using Edison robots.

COLLE GE NEWS

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On the 18th August, 2017 we hosted a Carnival Day at school to raise money for Encompass Farm where they offer opportunities for people with disabilities. The senior VCAL students go out there every Thursday to help out. There was lots different things to see and do such as games, crafts store, BBQ, and food in the PAF. We were overwhelmed by the amount of support we had and how many people turned up. In total we raised about $330 plus the money from the apple crumble made in term 2. We made a whopping $4,500 to donate to Encompass Farm. We were very fortunate to have invited the people from Encompass Farm and some of them were able to come and enjoyed the fun with us, even to have one of the workers ‘Leo’ who works with us on Thursdays to help us draw the raffle. Many students and teachers were fortunate to win prizes such as Quick-silver wallets, McDonald’s vouchers, lollies and many more prizes. We were also very lucky to have most of the prizes donated. Taylah and I ran the craft store we were also in charge of people getting tickets before going in to play the games, we were so busy. Within the first 10 minutes we had over $60 dollars, I was overwhelmed with how well it was going and how much fun the students were having playing the games. The planning for this event included many meetings to see how everyone was going and what they were up to. We also approached many local business asking for their support and to donate anything they could. Before the event we spent 4 hours setting up and making sure everything was ready for lunch time preparation tasks included, setting up games, cooking food, cleaning the area, making signs, blowing up balloons, figuring out pricing and also telling any passers by what was happening and what time the event would be on. In holding this event we successfully completed many outcomes for our VCAL units. It was also a great experience to be involved in and I really enjoyed it.

By Casey Hunneybell

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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 two.

COLLE GE N EWS

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.

COLLE GE NEWS

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Western Heights College presents

UNDER THE STARS 2017 Year 11&12 School Formal

Capri Receptions 258 Pakington Street Geelong West

Wednesday 6th September 7pm - 11pm Dress Code FORMAL

THE WEDNESDAY BREAKFAST PROGRAM

Western Heights College Breakfast Program

Wednesdays from 8:00am to 8:50am

presented in partnership with

Western Heights Uniting Church via Mission Outreach.

Nominal charges apply.

Toasties, fruit juice pack and fresh fruit cost $1.00 per serve.

This program would not be possible without the long standing

generosity of Brumby’s Bakery Minerva Road & now also North Geelong Food Bank.

SPORT NEW S

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SENIOR BOYS TABLE TENNIS STATE FINALS:

On Tuesday 15 March the Seniors Boys Table Tennis Team travelled to the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre to

participate in the School Sports Victoria Table Tennis State Finals.

The Team Members included: Farzan Karkarai, Lucas Dunipace, Ford Barnes, Nick Puglisi & James Woof.

This was the fourth time since Year 7 that the boys had represented Western Heights College at the State Finals. The boys performed exceptionally well by winning all their pool games to then play in the semi-finals where the teams were equal on rubbers, equal on games won and the match was determined on appoints countback where we lost by 17 points. A fantastic effort and sense of achievement from a group of boys who demonstrated exceptional sportsmanship throughout the whole tournament. Well done!

State Finals Game Results:

Pool Game 1: Western Heights College V Emmanuel College

Forfeit due to non-attendance.

Pool Game 2: Western Heights College V Bendigo Senior Secondary College

Singles: Farzan won 3 games 33points Doubles: Farzan & Lucas won 3 games 33 points

Lucas won 3 games 33 points Ford & Nick won 3 games 36 points

Ford won 3 games 33 points

James won 3 games 33 points

Pool Game 3: Western Heights College V University High School

Singles: Farzan won 3 games 43points Doubles: Farzan & Lucas won 3 games 45 points

Lucas won 3 games 45 points Ford & James won 3 games 39 points

Ford won 3 games 33 points

Nick won 2 games 45 points

Semi-Final : Western Heights College V Wellington Secondary College

Singles: Farzan won 3 games 43points Doubles: Farzan & Lucas won 3 games 48 points

Lucas won 2 games 34 points Ford & James won 0 games 16 points

Ford won 3 games 45 points

Nick won 2 games 44 points

Western Heights College: 230 points V Wellington Secondary College 247 points.

YEAR 8 BOYS TABLE TENNIS:

The team played on Monday 14 August in the Geelong Schools Tournament with some success.

Team Members: Adam Downes, Tyler Michalik, Jayme Sykes, Ben Volpel & Alem Vrbovac.

YEAR 7 BOYS TABLE TENNIS:

The team played on Thursday 17 August in the Geelong Schools Tournament with some success.

Team Members: Branden Waugh, Chris Watson, Tarik Phillips, Quad Kaiser, Lucas Tomaris, Zac Deridisi

& Kasem Potter

COMMUNITY NEWS

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The Humans in Geelong Writing Competition 2017. Kids - ‘Discover your Inner Journalist’

You could win a $100 or $50 JB Hi-Fi Voucher There will be two age categories - High School and Primary School.

First Prize $100 and Second Prize $50 will be awarded to each category.

The stories are to be factual, with a 500 word limit, about an inspiring person in your

local community who is making a difference. It might be a coach, neighbour, friend or

volunteer.

First prize winners will have their stories published in Humans in Geelong

www.humansingeelong.com (subject to editing and gaining permission from the person featured)

Stories are to be emailed with ENTRY in the subject line to humansingee-

long@gmail.com by Friday 15th September. Please state your Full Name, Year Level and

School.

Read a few of Humans in Geelong’s 140+ stories to gain inspiration and Good Luck!

www.humansingeelong.com

Winners are to be announced at the Humans in Geelong Expo

2017

Sunday 8th October at 10am Deakin Waterfront.

Expo Sponsored by:

COMMUNITY NEWS

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SINGLE PARENTS ACTIVE KIDS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

FREE FAMILY FUN DAY

QUARRIES PARK IN CLIFTON HILL 2D C2

SUNDAY 10TH OF SEPTEMBER

STARTING 1 PM

FREE BBQ, ENTERTAINMENT, ACTIVITIES AS WELL AS:

MEMBERSHIP SPECIALS AND MORE.

EVEN IF YOU CAN'T ATTEND THERE ARE PLENTY MORE OPPORTUNITIES, HERE IS A LINK TO OUR VERY ACTIVE

WEBSITE http://www.singleparentsactivekids.org/

LIKE MINDED SINGLE PARENTS TO CHAT WITH, ACTIVE KIDS WANTING TO PLAY WITH YOUR ACTIVE KIDS, WIN

WIN!

“SINGLE DOES NOT MEAN ALONE”

PLEASE RSVP TO info@singleparentsactivekids.org or call Moush on 0430 504 119.

3 x Netball World Champion & Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist JULIE CORLETTO is re-

turning to Geelong to host another Netball Clinic

2017 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER SCHOOL HOLIDAY CLINICS:

TIME: 9am – 3pm

AGES: 7 – 14yrs

COST: $80 per participant

DATE: Friday 6th October VENUE: GEELONG – Kardinia Netball Courts :www.juliecorletto.com/netballclinics

COMMUNITY NEWS

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Please leave donations at the College Administration Building

Before Monday September 4.