From the Principal and Assistant Principal

Remote Learning

What a strange and challenging year 2020 continues to be! Who would have predicted this time last year, that for Year 7-10 students, they would be learning remotely for what is looking increasingly to be the whole of Term 3? Who would have anticipated that our VCE students would have only attended classes on site for the first few weeks of Term 3.

It must be said that our teachers, students and parents are doing an amazing job working through this difficult period of remote learning. Each lesson begins with a live Google Meet which has been instrumental in enabling students to feel better connected with their teachers and their classmates. Later in this edition, you will see the great many students, across all year levels, who have been acknowledged for their impressive achievements during this period of remote and flexible learning by their teachers.

Interim Reports

Interim reports became available on Compass on Wednesday 2 September.

Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences

Conferences will be held on Thursday 10 September between 12 noon and 7pm. Compass bookings for Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences opened on Thursday 3 September. Classes will run asynchronously on Thursday 10 September to allow teachers to host the conferences and enable students to attend the conferences with their parents.

Please select your interview times carefully and allow 5 minutes between each appointment to ensure adequate time to leave one appointment and then login to your next appointment.

Instructions for Parents making a Parent/Teacher/Student Conference Booking

Open Compass
Click on the Community icon (Two Heads)
Select 2020 Semester 2 Parent Teacher Interviews
Welcome to the P/S/T Conferences booking page
You can either click “Start Booking Now” or Click “Show me how to Book”

Pastoral Care and Student Wellbeing

Student wellbeing and pastoral care continues to be a major focus at WHS, especially during this challenging period.

Indeed we firmly believe that it is equally important to oversee the development of our students academically, emotionally and socially. A bright, academic child who is unhappy is unlikely to shine.

Later in this edition, our Wellbeing Leader, Jo Miller, outlines some of the amazing support programs and information we have been providing. I would like to mention here some of the great work being done by our Wellbeing Team.

Indeed every Wednesday, the Wellbeing Department has been posting information and providing opportunities aimed at helping our students, teachers and parents during this challenging period we all find ourselves in. A plethora of free webinars have been provided for this purpose. Some of which included:

• The Insights Webinar. During this presentation, the presenter shared their experience of mental illness, along with signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety and bi-polar disorder. This presentation aimed to increase mental health literacy, reduce stigma and promote help seeking for young people.
• The Mental Fitness Webinar: In this presentation, students learnt practical positive psychology strategies to help them build mental strength, resilience and endurance. During this interactive presentation, students practiced these strategies which can be used to improve their wellbeing.

For parents and Carers:

• The Navigating your teen’s mental health Webinar: This presentation was for parents and carers of young people. Parents and carers learnt how to spot early warning signs of mental health issues, when and where to seek help and how to support a young person they care about.

What a year to be completing Year 12!
Our Well Being Team, led by Jo Miller and Christena Gazeas recently offered this support to our Year 12 students (and their families):

Life as a Year 12 student was probably already stressful enough, and then along came the coronavirus (COVID-19) to add even more uncertainty. You may be finding the resulting situation really hard to deal with.

You might be worrying about what will happen in the near future (next week, next term) as well as in the distant future (end of the year, 2021, and beyond). As a result, you’re likely experiencing a range of different emotions, including stress, fear, uncertainty, depression, frustration, anger and disappointment.

While these emotions are understandable, they are also very distracting and can have negative impacts on our health and mood. Worrying about the future gets in the way of enjoying and making the most of the present. Luckily, there are some strategies for managing our worries about the future so that we are able to re-focus on and enjoy the present as much as possible.
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Things to remember for Year 12’s during lock-down.

We are all in this together.

It’s completely understandable if you are having a hard time coping with all of the uncertainty right now.

It’s okay to be unsure about what you are going to do next year.

Education departments are working hard to ensure that exams and assessments are fair and clear for all.

It may be difficult to stay calm and focused when the world around you is in chaos, and it’s challenging to accept that we can’t predict the future right now. However, it can help to remember that you are still in control of your own path, and that there are lots of different pathways to study and to work.

Although things will look a little different from how you imagined they would be, or how you had planned, we can usually find our own way to get to where we want to go, even if it takes a little longer than we had first hoped. For now, focus on the things that you can control and trust that, no matter what happens, you’ll be able to cope.

More information on this topic can be found on www.reachout.com

Indeed later in this edition, Jo Miller, our Wellbeing Leader, provides more useful information aimed at assisting all members of our school community.

School Captains offer moral support

Later in this edition, our two amazing school captains, Brooke Bowyer and Caitlyn Bull, both in Year 12, in true leadership style, share their words of encouragement to their peers during this period of remote learning. They have also recently utilised our vibrant official school Facebook Page to further connect with our school community! Well done I say!

The Warrandyte High School Facebook Page

What’s this? You still haven’t checked out and liked out vibrant and awesome Facebook Page? What are you waiting for? Indeed there you will see our two impressive and affable school captains addressing their peers with their words of encouragement. There you will see a whole lot more too! Check it out I say!

2021 – The Expanded Basketball and Football Program

2021 is fast approaching! Exciting News! Due to the outstanding success of the Year 9 Basketball and Football program this year, we are planning to expand next year!

We are offering in 2021 a separate intensive Basketball program and a separate intensive Football Program. Both programs will be open to girls and boys from Year 7 through to and including Year 10. Both programs will have a dedicated, highly proficient external coach. Intensive skill building and training will be key features. It won’t be possible to be in both programs. Which to choose? The dilemma!

Both programs will run the equivalent of 4 times during the school week. At least 300 minutes a week! We are still working out the logistics – in terms of whether it will be one full day a week like this year, or two half days …etc… Our aim is to minimise, if not avoid altogether, taking away from core class time: English, Maths, Science…etc…The cost will be $1750 for the year.

No payment is required at this stage. Full payment will be needed, however, this year, prior to the commencement of the program. Expressions of interest must be lodged with Assistant Principal, Joseph Caruana, via email no later than September 9, 2020.

Once we have a clear indication of how many students from each level are able to participate in this amazing opportunity, we will be better placed to finalise exactly when during the school week this excitement will be happening!
In your expression of interest, please indicate your child’s 2021 Year Level and whether it is for the Football or Basketball Program. If you and your child are happy with either sport – indicate your first and second preference.

If the expressions of interest received exceed the number of places available, this may trigger a selection process which involves an interview. I know, the excitement!

Feel free to email Joseph Caruana with any questions! The extreme excitement!!!!!!

Steve Parkin + Joseph Caruana
Principal + Assistant Principal

Pastoral Care and Wellbeing at WHS

Design Technology

Check out some of the amazing work produced by students recently across the Technology subjects:

Year 7 Design Technology

The Design and manufacture of Face Masks by Grace Jones and Oscar Konynenburg:

Year 11 Design Technology

PROTOTYPE – FOLDING TABLE by Maddison Trewella

Year 9 – Jewellery Technology

Bangle made from paper by Annie Rene

Acknowledging Student positive behavious during remote learning 2.0

Click on the images below to enlarge

Visual Communication

These photos are from the Fork or Forks Task by the Year 10 Photography students

Click on images to enlarge

School Captains of Warrandyte

Dear students of Warrandyte High

I know this remote learning period is becoming a little repetitive but there is not long to go. We will be back at school before you know it. I have heard great things from your teachers, you seem to be on your game as I knew you all would be. Well done guys.

Don’t forget to get outside in the fresh air, and keep a good balance with screen time. I know being at home is hard and frustrating but remember we are all in this together, so keep in touch with each other and your teachers. Remember to continue to check your Google Classroom and Compass at the start of every lesson and don’t hesitate to contact your teachers if you’re having trouble.

They are always willing to help you.

Brooke Bowyer
School Captain 2020

Greetings Warrandyte High School students

Hoping that everyone is well and safe and wearing their masks!
Congratulations to everyone tackling this lockdown as best as we can, it’s a tough time. Also a massive thank you to our teachers; what they’re doing for us is out of this world, it’s great to have these educators during this tough time.

Caitlyn Bull
School Captain 2020