The Principal, Mr Blaikie with his choice of winners of the Year 7 ‘Wellington Welcomes You’ Design Sprint
Assistant Principal, Mr Dwyer with his choice of winners of the Year 7 ‘Wellington Welcomes You’ Design Sprint
College Council Results
I am delighted to announce the results of our recent Council selection process. As the number of nominations did not exceed the number of positions, an election was not necessary.
I thank new and returning members of Council for supporting our school. The new Council will meet in early March, where elections for Office Bearers will take place.
2023 Annual Implementation Plan – and 2022 Annual Report to the Community
A copy of our Council and DET-approved AIP has been uploaded to the College website. Over the next few weeks, I will be preparing the Annual Report to the Community for the 2022 school year. This will be tabled for endorsement at the April Council meeting, before being submitted to the DET for final approval. Once that has been done, this report will also be uploaded to our website.
Year 7 ‘Wellington Welcomes You’ Design Sprint
As part of the ‘Wellington Welcomes You’ Program at the start of the year, our Year 7 students engaged in the Design Challenge to provide genuine student input into the upcoming renovations of the M Block Deck, Agora Locker Bay and Basketball Courts. The quality and innovation of the presentations from students who had only been at Wellington for two weeks made me incredibly proud. Well done to everyone in this fantastic project! Mr Butler is compiling a catalogue of all the designs and ideas and will incorporate as many as possible into our renovation work. There is a collage of photographs in other parts of the Journal for you to enjoy.
Three Way Conferences – Tuesday April 4
Planning for Three Way Conferences on Tuesday April 4 is now underway. Whilst there is merit in returning to on-site meetings, feedback from staff and parents alike is that these meetings are more efficient when conducted online. We will be using the Microsoft Teams platform, which we are all quite comfortable in using now. Times and booking details will follow in the next week or two.
Car parking, picking up and dropping off around the school
This is a friendly reminder to all parents to exercise extreme care when dropping off or picking up children throughout the day. We are literally a “small village” and at peak times, there are lots of students (and teachers) moving through and within our campus. For the safety of everyone, please take care and follow the instructions of any school signage. I reminded students at today’s assembly to continue vigilance in safe behaviour, especially when crossing at the lights and getting on and off buses. I also remind parents about respecting local parking restrictions and the rights of residents when you park close to the school or pull up to drop off or pick up your children. The Council does and will continue to do periodic local traffic blitzes – especially in Singleton Drive, and across Police Road in front of the shops. Fines are not insignificant when this occurs. We ask our students to “respect the congestion” in the yard – I’m asking parents and families to do the same in our local streets. Thanks for your support.
Hugh Blaikie
Principal
33 new students commenced at Wellington this term, arriving from Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, China and Sri Lanka. Some are living with a parent, some with relatives or family friends and others with a host family. Although it can be very exciting coming to a new country and starting at a new high school, it can also be quite daunting adjusting to living away from home, adapting to a new learning and home environment, making new friends, and speaking a new language. I congratulate our international students on their resilience and appreciate the effort our International Programs leaders, Manith Seng and Chris Doan have made in welcoming these students and helping them with the transition.
We are lucky at Wellington to provide a welcoming environment helping these students to settle in quickly and look forward to students sharing their positive experiences with family and friends back in their home countries.
Ms Connie Tzelepis
Director – International Student Programs
Our Year 7 students have began their journey at Wellington with an exciting Design Challenge! The challenge is a relatively new tradition for our school (this year being its third year), and it invites students to develop new relationships with their peers while exploring the dynamic learning culture of Wellington. This year, the students’ challenge was to develop and plan architectural changes to our M Block decking, along with the Year 7 locker bay.
The Year 7s began their investigation by considering what they would like to see in these spaces, doing a tour of the grounds and critically examining these spaces. From there, they began to ideate and design elements of the buildings and space that they would like to see changed.
The students completed a playbook, which guided them through the process of design thinking, along with 21st century collaborative and critical thinking skills. In addition, they enjoyed their first experiences of Wellington’s amazing instrumental music program, and its talented teachers.
Our Makerspace was open to the Year 7s through the week, where they were able to utilise art and design supplies to match their ideations.
Friday saw the students present their ideas in an expo, with Mr Dwyer, Ms Stergiou, Mr Butler and Mr Blaikie making their way around, listening to the pitches and visiting the stalls. The number of ideas that were presented was absolutely amazing to see, ranging from outdoor study areas, to Zen gardens and café style lounges. 5 groups of students were nominated for prizes and received them from the Principals, however, the designs of all groups have been kept and will be consulted in the design of these new spaces.
Finally, the students reflected on their Design Sprint journey after the expo, considering the highlights and the challenges that they faced through the week. Just a few of the reflections include:
“When participating in this challenge, the most memorable moment was when we were producing our prototype.”
“My highlight of the Wellington Welcomes You challenge was when we found out that Mrs Stergiou had voted us as one of her favourite designs. It felt like that all the work that we had done this week was worth it.”
“I learnt how to use Tinkercad well and learnt how to cooperate with people better. I also improved my ability to pitch my ideas to people.”
“Overall the design competition was a good experience and it helped me build up my confidence.”
“I made some new friends and my confidence grew.”
A massive thank you to the staff of Wellington Secondary College for supporting this program, and allowing our Year 7s to have such an enjoyable, stimulating and collaborative start to the year.
Welcome to Wellington, Year 7!
Jackson Keat
Director of Curriculum
Jessica Wallis
Head of Junior School
Teresa La
Director of STEM
The long-awaited day arrived this week for our Year 12 students, with the presentation of their hoodies and jackets. The group had been challenged by the Senior School Team to ensure that all other elements of school uniform were in place before receiving these much coveted uniform items. The big day arrived on Wednesday and there was much excitement as the students gathered for the presentation and photos before heading home. We have come a long way over the last 20 years from when Year 12s were only allowed to wear their T-shirts for a couple of days prior to leaving for exams at the end of the year.
