From the Principal

Welcome to 2022

I would like to welcome back all the families returning to Warrandyte High School in 2022 and extend a very warm welcome to all the families joining us for the first time this year. We are all hoping for a close to normal year. It was wonderful how our Year 7 camp indeed was able to take place. The students loved the experience. Read all about it later in this edition.

I would like to welcome Mitchell Poole (Art/Humanities), Deborah Truin (English), David Mackay (Football Academy Coach), Lexi Ewing (Humanities), Vicky Mason (Food) and Eudora Lao (Mathematics) who have joined our staff this year.

VCE results 2021
It was an extremely challenging year for all students in 2021, none more so than those students who were completing the final year of VCE. I am genuinely in awe of their determination, resilience and perseverance. At the end of the year their efforts were justly rewarded and I am very pleased to be able to congratulate the Year 12 class of 2021 on the excellent results they achieved. These results were the culmination of much effort and commitment by the students across a number of years, and also reflect the contribution of staff and parents to their learning.

In particular, congratulations to Victor Lie (pictured above), the 2021 Dux who achieved an ATAR score of 95.85 and Sotir Stojaovic who was in hot pursuit of our DUX, achieving a tremendous ATAR of 95.7. A pleasing number of students achieved study scores of 40 or better, placing them in the top 8% of all students in that study. What a fantastic result!

School Council Elections
I have posted Compass News Feed articles announcing the upcoming School Council elections and calling for nominations in each of the Parent, DET Employee, and Student categories. Exceedingly soon the outcome of the nomination period will be unveiled.

Sports Academy – our Basketball and AFL Program!
Correct. Warrandyte High School has both a vibrant Sports Academy Basketball Program and an equally thriving Sports Academy AFL Program. Both programs feature students, boys and girls, from Year 7 through to Year 10. Both programs are off to an amazing start again this year! Later in this edition, please read more about this excitement!

Places for 2022 have now closed. Applications for 2023 will open in September this year. To be eligible, students must be enrolled at Warrandyte High School.
The flourishing Warrandyte High School Sports Academy!

School Captains
It is with great pleasure that I am able to introduce our school captains for 2022: Lily Al Algawi and Brandon Robb. Already our school captains have been busy promoting the benefits of joining the Student Voice team to their peers.

Student Voice is very important at Warrandyte High School. Indeed the Student Voice is a platform through which students can discuss, directly with the Principal, matters of importance concerning students’ experience and learning at Warrandyte High School. Later in this edition you can check out an extensive interview with one of our 2022 school captains.

Vertical Home Groups
As part of our pastoral care program, we are launching exceedingly soon our Vertical Home Group initiative. Students from Year 7 through to Year 12 will be in the same home group. This program will happen weekly. Its purpose is to strengthen Student Voice and School Connectedness. We are forever refining our craft here at Warrandyte High.

Joseph Caruana, Acting Principal

Get to know your School Captains

Introducing 2022 School Captain: Brandon Robb

Why do you want to be school captain?
It has been my dream since Year 7. I want to have a positive influence on Warrandyte High School, and I would love for people to try and follow in the footsteps that I am following myself.

What do you hope to achieve in your role? What are your priorities?
To inspire others to want to be school captain; to be a good role model for other students and to be the best person I can be as well as inspire others to be the best person they can be. I want to do this because I was inspired by previous school captains here at Warrandyte High School and by people in older year levels, to be the best person I can be.

How do you intend to go about achieving your priorities?
I’ve watched people who have been school captains before at this school and I want to replicate what they have done. I want to go out and do things that I might not have done before, to be able to learn and adapt. With the help of Lili, my co-captain for this year, I want to become the best school captain duo Warrandyte’s ever seen.

What is your favourite colour?
Blue

Do you prefer hamburgers or pizza?
A Zinger burger from KFC is the best for sure

What are you most passionate about? Why?
I am most passionate about sports; I love being competitive and joining in the fun with my friends. I’d love to try and get as many people involved in inter school sport and sporting events here at Warrandyte High.

What skills do you bring to the role of school captain?
I enjoy meeting and talking to new people

How do you want to be remembered when your period as School Captain ends?
I want to be remembered as someone who had a positive influence on the school, it would be a dream if someone wanted to become the school captain because of what I did.

What do you see are the main priorities facing Year 8 and 9 students?
I think more group-based activities and group work would be very helpful. It would help build better friendships with others and it can make work more enjoyable. I plan to pursue this through the Student Voice Teams which meet regularly with the Principal.

What is your favourite ABBA song?
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!

Do you prefer cats or dogs?
Cats

What’s your advice to students who want to achieve a high ATAR score?
Get into a good routine and plan out your day before you start.

What do you hope to be doing in 2023?
Go to university and get a teaching degree

What is your message to the new students joining WHS in Year 7 in 2022?
Don’t be afraid to ask any teachers and older students if you need any help with anything. And most importantly, enjoy your time!

What has been your favourite high school experience so far at WHS?
Doing the Inter school sports against other schools every year.

In the next edition of Gang Gang, we will get to know the other equally impressive Warrandyte High School Captain of 2022: Lily Al Algawi in an equally informative and probing interview!

Welcome Year 7: A great start to the year!

We welcome our newest members of the school and as you will see in this first edition of Gang Gang a lot of great things have already happened in the first few weeks of the year.

The positive attitude of students is reflected in the following comments by some of our newest school members. At the end of the first week year 7 students shared their reflections (and this was before they had even been on camp!)

‘The first week of high school was really fun. It was kind of hard navigating the school, but I got used to it. I’m really excited for the next six years of high school.’

‘This week I learnt that the food at the canteen is much better than the food at primary school.’

‘My first week of high school was…well…actually very good. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I’ve had a lot of fun, even though I am still getting used to my timetable and finding my classrooms.’

‘I’m looking forward to doing woodwork and more sport.’

‘My first week of high school was super amazing. I was super nervous, but this school is really easy to settle into and the teachers are all super nice.’

‘I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy my time here.’

Year 7 Camp

What an eventful start to the year! With only four days of normal school, the year sevens were off on camp – for some of them, their first camp in three years!

We were off to the Grampians to Roses Gap Recreation Centre, with 47 year 7 students, sixteen year 11 VET REC students and eight staff.

The weather was our first big trial – it was 34 degrees on the first day! But after settling into camp we didn’t let that hinder us. Half of us were off on a little hike (with a nice cooling pool to refresh us at the end) while the other half were out on the low ropes course.

Highlights of the trip include the amazing food, the abseiling, activities in the evenings (run by the incredible Year 11 VET REC students) and the Giant Swing.

Huge thanks must be extended to the VET REC kids and their teachers: Katie Cook and Ash Degering. The year 11 students were there to support our new year 7s and modelled exemplary behaviour while running activities and engaging students who needed a bit more support to complete some of the activities.

A huge thank you must also go to the staff at Roses Gap. The food was exceptional, and they even organised a cake for one of our students to celebrate their birthday! They were enthusiastic, knowledgeable and charismatic.

And finally, a huge thankyou to the Warrandyte High School staff who gave up their time with their own families to help our Year 7s create meaningful and lasting friendships (Katie Cook, Ash Degering, Wes Minster, Nicole Williams, Robbie Gedge, Tim Jones and Ante Sunjo)

It was a fantastic camp and a great start to their high schooling journey!
Fiona Dzur (Year 7/8 Level Leader)

Student comments:

“My favourite thing that I did was probably the Giant Swing. I was very scared while pulling other people up. It got to my turn and I got so scared but I closed my eyes and didn’t look down. I got to the top and just pulled the string although I felt like I was going to pass out it was still fun.” Ava Kelly

“Camp was good. I really liked the abseiling. I did it twice and the giant swing I went to the top.” Chase Messinger

“My favourite part on camp was abseiling. I love climbing down the cliff! I was really scared but when I got down to the bottom I wanted to go again!” Jess McDermott

“I really liked canoeing and abseiling. It was fun!” Joel Denny

“I think my favourite bit of camp was probably relaxing in my cabin with friends and making better friends with them.” Ruby Johnston

“My favourite thing at camp was the crate climbing because I got to do it with Ruby.” Ava McRedmond

Wellbeing News

Secondary School Nursing Program @ Warrandyte High School

I am an Adolescent Health Nurse from the Secondary School Nursing program at the Department of Education & Training and work at Warrandyte High School each Tuesday & Thursday. I work within the school’s Wellbeing Team and have qualifications and experience in general and psychiatric nursing, infection control, sexual and reproductive health, drug and alcohol & narrative therapy.
The role focuses on health promotion initiatives aimed to encourage healthy, informed, safe lifestyle choices and behaviours.
I look forward to meeting everyone, my office is C7, next to the Wellbeing Manager’s office.

Fiona Keech – Adolescent Health Nurse.

W.H.S & Headspace Greensborough

Warrandyte High School and Headspace Greensborough have formed a collaborative partnership to promote student mental health and wellbeing throughout this academic year.

Using the Headspace resource, “7 ways to support a young person’s healthy headspace” each term different topics will be presented to students by Rosemary Teed, Team Leader from the Headspace Community Engagement Team, other headspace staff and school wellbeing staff. The aim of this initiative is to equip students with information and strategies to encourage positive health and wellbeing.

Term one’s session, on Tuesday 15th Feb, focused on identifying and managing stress, positive help seeking, helpful ways to support a friend, and the benefits of good sleep patterns, a healthy diet and some physical activity has on your overall health and happiness.

In the next weeks each student will receive a “Healthy Headspace” journal where their health and wellbeing goals can be documented. The journal is designed to fit into the school’s student planner for frequent reference. In term 2 session students will be asked to review these goals and establish new ones.

Headspace is a FREE and CONFIDENTIAL youth friendly service available for ALL young people, aged between 12-25 years. Its focus is on early involvement and early help seeking. There are no geographical catchment areas, you can go to any headspace centre. They can help with physical & mental health, alcohol and other drugs, vocational and educational support.

Headspace Greensborough
Level 1/78 Main Street, Greensborough VIC 3088
(03) 9433 7200
headspacegreensborough@mindaustralia.org.au
Monday & Thursday – 10am to 6pm & Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday – 9am to 5pm

For further information:
https://headspace.org.au/friends-and-family/7-ways-to-support-young-persons-healthy-headspace/

Fiona Keech – Adolescent Health Nurse At WHS each Tuesday & Thursday
Francesca Formoso – Mental Health Practitioner At WHS each Tuesday & Friday

Year 9 Cyber safety “Think U Know” Session

On Wednesday 23rd February, Senior Constables Verity Newport & Jac Mahood who are the Youth Police Officers from the Manningham & Monash proactive policing units ran a cybersafe session for the Year 9 students.

Think you know is an education program that is specifically run by the Victorian Police. It uses real life examples and scenarios to address online safety.

Topics discussed included:

• Protecting your online profile & reputation.
• Imaged based abuse.
• Grooming.
• Respectful Relationships online.

The aim of this program is to build positive engagement between young people and the police, while providing students with the knowledge and skills for them to be able to make informed decisions to maintain their safety.
During this term the police will be returning to WHS to deliver similar sessions to the Year 7 and 8 students.
www.thinkuknow.org.au

Fiona Keech – Adolescent Health Nurse

Future Focus Day
Year 10, 11 & 12 Wellbeing sessions

To compliment the timetable and goal setting sessions that formed part of preparing the senior students for their academic year, there was a wellbeing session included. The aim of the session was to promote student health and wellbeing, and to equip the students with tips & strategies they could use to encourage positive coping skills. Students were asked to set a personal goal for each of the themes discussed and implement the change into their day.

The sessions were run by wellbeing staff and focused on the following:

Worry & Stress
Identified ways to consider the worries that are in our control and the ones that are not. Students were given strategies on how to address their worries and how to manage their stress responses.

Sleep
Addressed to importance of consistent restful sleep for overall health and wellbeing. Approaches on how to establish a bedtime routine and how to reduce the effects the use of technological devices have on our sleep.

Hydration & Sugar
Focused on the significance of being well hydration for wellbeing and optimal brain functioning. Students were shown how to identify the approximate sugar content in purchased drinks and the benefits of drinking tap water.

Joanne Millar – Wellbeing Leader
Fiona Keech – Adolescent Health Nurse

Careers

Year 12 Destinations
Congratulations to the class of 2021, who showed amazing resilience to get through the two toughest VCE years imaginable.

Almost 60% of our year 12’s received their first preference in applying for a variety of tertiary courses. 84% of students who applied received an offer, and the process is still ongoing.

Courses varied from things like Science to Criminology to Visual Arts and Design, Youth Work, Cybersecurity, Law, Fashion, Surveying and everything in between.

The most popular categories of courses included:

• Creative Arts
• Education
• Engineering and related technologies
• Food, Hospitality and Personal Services
• Health
• Info Tech
• Commerce and Management
• Natural and Physical Sciences
• Society and Culture

Whether students chose to continue in their studies, or take a gap year and work or take up apprentices and traineeships, it’s an exciting time for these folk, and we wish them all the best in whatever they plan to do in 2022.

Year 10 Work Experience
Save these dates Monday June 20 to Friday June 24th!

Year 10 work experience is a very important componenet is student’s future careers journey. Even if you have a part time job already, a variety of successful work experiences will help you enhance your resume and are looked at with interest by future employers.
Positions can be hard to come by and students have already been reminded to start looking and applying for positions.

More information will be posted to Compass, so keep an eye out for tips and reminders.
Year 9 Morrisby Appraisals and Interviews
During Taking the Challenge next month, students in Year 9 will be undertaking the Morrisby appraisal and be given an individual, online interview with a professional Careers advisor. Parents and Guardians will be invited to join the interview – details coming soon!

Warrandyte High Careers Website
Keep an eye on this useful Careers resource. It has lots of links and references for further study, jobs and future pathways. Each week you’ll find the careers Newsletter to browse or download. Students evolving Careers plans are found in the student area, and do-it-yourself forms for resumes and cover letters are there as well.
https://warrandytehighcareers.com/

Claire Bloom – Careers

International Students celebrate Chinese New Year

This year is the Year of Tiger. We celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year by organizing dumplings and fried rice for our international students. Chinese people have had the tradition to eat dumplings in New Year because the shape of dumplings looks like gold or silver ingots, which symbolizes wealth and success. One of our key education partners sent us a tiger cake, which became a highlight of the day. Mr. Caruana gave the red envelops with chocolate coins to our international students and wished them all the best in 2022. The international students really enjoyed the lunch.

Heidi Luo, International Program Coordinator

Top Designs Winner

Congratulations to Warrandyte High School 2021 School Captain, Emma Dodds, who has had her work accepted into the prestigious Top Designs exhibit.
Emma studied VET Creative Digital Media last year, achieving a Certificate 3 in Screen and Media.

One of her assessment tasks was to create a digital animation for a target audience of pre-school students. Along the lines of Sesame Street, Emma was required to create an engaging, educational sequence. Her brief included a number of technical constraints and required her to undertake a defined creative thinking and design process.
With an array of characters, Emma’s Australiana theme certainly met the requirements of the client brief. Emma designed, drew, animated, and voiced a number of interesting objects for her piece.

Each year, around 40-50 of the top works in Year 12 Digital Media are submitted for Top Designs judging, with only a dozen or so making the final cut. Emma’s work will be on display at Melbourne Museum throughout term 2. This is a wonderful achievement for Emma, and Warrandyte High School.

Claire Bloom
VET Creative Digital Media Teacher

Staff Professional Learning

It is not only the students who have hit the ground running with their learning… staff at Warrandyte High School have already engaged in several Professional Learning sessions as they look forward to a year of collaboration and face to face learning. Teachers will work in Professional Learning Communities to focus on key areas of their practice to improve student engagement and learning outcomes. Initially we have looked closely at our literacy and numeracy data from NAPLAN and VCE results to identify strengths and areas for improvement. These findings will inform future professional learning as we work together to develop curriculum and differentiated learning tasks to meet the needs of all our students.

Unfortunately, no photographs to share of the staff engaged in these workshops … only pictures of their pets!

Annual Privacy reminder for 2022

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our website https://www.warrandytehigh.vic.edu.au/our-school/

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in nine community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese