WELLINGTON JOURNAL – EDITION 9

Upcoming Dates

• July 30 – Sustainability Bake Sale
• August 2 – Year 12 Formal
• August 17 – Edutest Exam
• August 20 – Whole School Athletics Carnival
• August 26-August 30 – Production Week, Dental Van Visit

Welcome back for Term 3. I hope that you had a relaxing break and had many opportunities to take some time for yourself.

NAPLAN Results
NAPLAN results for Year 7 and 9 students have been mailed during the week. If you have not received your child’s report by the end of next, please contact the school.

I am delighted that our results continue to be outstanding when compared to the State, the Network and our Similar School’s grouping. Below is a quick snapshot of two measures that illustrate this:

Subject Selections

I wish to thank everyone involved in the subject selection process as we continue to plan our program for 2025. An enormous amount of work goes on behind the scenes with ultimate student success usually depending on wise and sensible choices from Year 9 all the way to Year 12. Mr Coles, Ms Huffer and the course counselling team have spent hours working with students and families unpacking these decisions. It does not matter if students do not have a complete picture of their ultimate pathway at this point. However, if they choose subjects based on interest, ability and keeping potential future pathway options open, then they will have set themselves up for the best possible chance of future success.

Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey

This annual survey is conducted by Orima research, and this year it will be open to all families.  I would encourage as many families as possible to complete this survey as it is a great opportunity to have your say.  The results will assist us in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions on school climate, student behaviour and student engagement, which will be used for future planning and development of programs and initiatives at the College.  The survey will be available from Monday July 29 to Friday August 30.  More details, including how to complete the survey will be posted on Compass next week.   

Annual Report
The Annual Report will be presented to School Council and community members on Tuesday August 6. This will be held online via Microsoft Teams. If you would like to attend the presentation of the report, please send your name, email address, phone number and students name to our Business Manager, Sharon Graham (sharon.graham@education.vic.gov.au) and the meeting invite will be emailed to you closer to the date.

College Production

Rehearsals for our Annual production are certainly ramping up and I know that the cast and crew are really looking forward to opening night on Wednesday August 28 and the remaining nightly shows during the rest of the week. This year’s show is The SpongeBob Musical. Our students would love to see you there. 

More details on how to purchase tickets will be available in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out on Compass.

Mr Chris Knight
Principal

Senior Girls Excursion to Melbourne City Training Facility

On Thursday June 27, our Senior Girls Football Squad had an incredible opportunity to visit Melbourne City’s brand-new training facility in Casey Cranbourne. This excursion was designed to inspire and educate our students, offering them a glimpse into the professional world of soccer and the various career opportunities it presents.

Tour and Training Session

The day began with an exclusive tour of the state-of-the-art Melbourne City Training Facility, where our students marvelled at the advanced equipment and infrastructure supporting the team’s training and development. They also participated in a high-energy training session on the pristine training grounds, guided by professional trainers.

Behind the Scenes and Inspiring Talks

Students went behind the scenes in the sports rehab and recovery areas, gaining insights into the crucial aspects of athlete care. A highlight of the visit was a one-on-one question and answer session with a female first-team player, who shared her journey to professional sport, offering inspiration and practical advice. Additionally, a talk from a female professional in the business side of the club highlighted the diverse roles women can pursue in the sports industry.

Values and Community Connection

This experience aligns perfectly with Wellington’s values of Caring, Striving, Learning within our sporting program. It provided our students with a fantastic opportunity to make connections with like-minded individuals and teams within the broader community. The excursion left a lasting impression, motivating our girls to pursue their dreams with renewed vigor and confidence. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the Melbourne City Football Club for their hospitality and for providing such a valuable experience to our students.

Mrs Brooke Moon
HPE Curriculum Leader
& Mr Tom Wyldes
Sports Coordinator

Student Leadership Workshop
Wheelers Hill Secondary College & Forest Hill Secondary College

On Wednesday June 26, Wellington Secondary College hosted a forum, inviting Wheelers Hill Secondary College and Forest Hill Secondary College to come talk about leadership. This partnership between the schools’ student leaders began in 2023. After an initial catch up, each school chose a topic to present for the other schools.

Wheelers Hill SC talked about ways to go through stressful situations, including an activity involving a situation, behaviour and impact (also known as SBI) which we had to consider certain activities that effect certain stake holders, such as a Year 12 student, principal, business owner and teacher. We had to distribute communication strategies and discus/role play.

Next was Forest Hill SC, they talked about involvement for their leaders and attendance in general. Forest Hill found that they had trouble getting people to go to their leader meetings. Their activity included us writing ways to help with making people go to meetings and making the meetings more enjoyable. A lot of the ideas included changing their time of the meeting, and bringing friends to meetings. The activity was very useful for everyone that came because it gave us all ideas on ways to get the leaders to come and join in on the meetings.

When it was our turn, Ajuni Ghai (11D) and Shavin Sivabalaseelan (11J) lead the workshop. This looked at strategies to increase student participation in events. We had two scenarios in which we had to write what where the concerns about the specific scenario, and then we had to think of the potential solutions for them. For example; the majority of students enjoy watching sports and supporting the players instead of actually playing. Then we wrote down a cause, such as not many people enjoy the sports, or it’s embarrassing. The solution would be playing sports that most people enjoy and maybe having the teachers play the sport.

My favourite part was getting to know the people from other schools and talking to them about both our issues and their issues that they have in their school to then work on them as teams.

Chloe Mutch
9G – SRC Executive

Year 7 Battle of the Bands

In Year 7 Classroom Music this semester, we hosted our regular “Battle of the Bands” between all the Year 7 Music classes. Each class chooses a song to rehearse and perform for the other Year 7 groups at a Gala performance at the end of the semester. The students have to work out who plays which instruments, who is singing as well as any costumes or dancing involved. It is a very large task and involves a lot of cooperation and teamwork.

While each group performed incredibly well at the Gala, there could only be one winner. The judges ruled that 7H (performing a ‘Save Your Tears’ and ‘Cupid’ medley) was the victors, while 7F (performing ‘Call Me Maybe’) was runner up!
Well done to 7H, 7B, 7D, 7F, & 7J for their wonderful performances!

Mr Tray Driscoll
Music Teacher

Language Week

As part of the activities for Languages Week this week, we had a Wushu demonstration by one of the teachers.  Wushu (武术; pinyin: wǔshù), sometimes also known as gongfu or Kungfu, is traditional Chinese martial arts.  Wushu is also the original martial art – jiujitsu, aikido, judo, karate, and many others can trace their origins to China and Wushu. 

Students learned a little about the history and culture of Wushu during the presentation. They were shown some empty hand forms, and also some different sword forms!  It was great to see the students engaging with other cultures and asking questions about the sport and its history.

Ms Hayley Dickinson

Tree planting

On June 27, nineteen Sustainability Champion students planted 150 tubestock indigenous plants in the school oval space with the help and guidance of teachers Ms Amaral and Mr Serin, Monash City Council Biodiversity Champion Ms Anna Mezzetti, and Bunnings Activities Organiser Ms Bonnie Young. These plants were donated by Monash City Council. We have now created a new Biodiversity Garden with grey tussock-grass, Dianella grass, Kangaroo grass, Knobby-club-rush, Austral-Indigo, Common Correa, Black She-oak, Blackwood and Acacia species.

Bunnings donated two bird baths to our school, one which will be placed in the new Biodiversity Garden.  This is an important addition to our plan to increase the biodiversity of our school, as animals will have a continuous supply of water to quench their needs. Students will be reminded to take extra care around that area to allow for the best chance of plant survival, because we will all benefit from their healthy growth as the poster explains.

Ms. Bruna Amaral
Science Teacher / Sustainability Officer