3.54 Million for Capital Works and Upgrades

Recently Warrandyte High School was thrilled to receive the news that as part of the State Budget, we will be receiving 3.54 Million for capital works and upgrades! How exciting!

We will keep you updated regarding this wonderful development which will benefit our entire school community. We are already being told the government’s timeline is to go from announcement to construction in 68 weeks! Now that is exciting!

In this edition you will gain a snapshot of how WHS continues to be a vibrant and nurturing learning environment where we celebrate student achievement and endeavour. Educating the whole child – academically, socially and emotionally is our core business.

S Parkin + J. Caruana
Principal and Assistant Principal

grant for warrandyte hight

Divisional Swimming

Ten eager students recently represented Warrandyte High School and did a fantastic job. All students performed at their best in their individual events. They then combined their talents and made some awesome relay teams.

Students who participated in events included:

Toby Potter – 3rd 50m breaststroke
Teagan Potter – 3rd 50m backstroke
Grace Synhur – 3rd 100m freestyle
Kye Hunter – 3rd 50m breaststroke, 3rd 50m freestyle
Noah Hunter – 2nd 50m breaststroke, 1st 50m butterfly, 1st 50m freestyle
Ben Metcalf – 1st 50m backstroke

It was wonderful to see Warrandyte High students competing at their best and cheering each other on. With Noah Hunter and Ben Metcalf winning their events, both progressed onto the regional swimming competition which is so impressive.

In addition, one student from each group is awarded: “Age Group Champion.” Receiving 1st places and a 2nd place, Noah Hunter was awarded the male 18-20 year old age group champion.

This is a fantastic effort from Noah.

 

Regional Swimming

Recently both Noah Hunter and Ben Metcalf arrived ready to not only represent our school but our division at the regional swimming carnival.

At regional swimming, the best swimmer for each event from the district compete to see who will progress through to the State Swimming Finals. As a result you can image the high level of competition that was evident on the day.

Both Noah and Ben did a fantastic job. Even with an injury, Noah completed his 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle and gave his absolute best. This was exactly the same for Ben who was in an extremely competitive 50m backstroke event where he missed 3rd position by just half a body length.

Both boys should be very proud of their efforts on the day. Warrandyte High is very proud of them. As both boys are in Year 12, I wish to personally thank them for their contribution at many divisional and regional swimming sports over the years.

Congratulations and thank you Noah and Ben.

Katie Cook
Sports Leader

Year 10 Science

Check out this hands on Year 10 Science lesson which involved students recapping their knowledge of cells and the structure of DNA! Chemistry, Psychology, Biology and Physics are popular VCE Science subjects at WHS!

science
science

Taking the Challenge – Olympian guest speakers

Year 9 students in Taking the Challenge have had a range of opportunities to develop an understanding of themselves, assess their values, set goals and hear from some inspiring speakers.

Recently Year 9 students were privileged to hear from two Olympic guest speakers. Olympic running star Linden Hall and Paralympic Gold medallist (para cycling) Carol Cooke. They spoke to our students, sharing their journey from childhood to the Olympics.

Both Carol and Linden told their incredible stories of persistence and resilience to become the best athletes they possibly could be with key focus areas including determination, persistence, overcoming adversity, professionalism, elite thinking, measuring success, creating and using opportunities and team work.

Carol’s story covered her journey of after 41 years of training, 2 countries, 3 sports and one devastating diagnosis, her dream of winning a gold medal came true at the age of 51. She shared her secrets and inspired student to find their inner gold, how to overcome adversity, accept change, find their hidden courage and create a winning mindset to enable them to achieve their own goals.

Linden shared her story of the challenges she faced growing up participating in an individual sport where as a teenager she was not an outstanding athlete, but through her journey of years of commitment and training, she developed into the fastest 1500m athlete in Australian history.

Linden also shared highlights of her career which incuded the excitement of being part of a home Commonwealth Games and the devastation of missing a medal by just 0.23 seconds.

Students came away extremely inspired by both stories and with Carol’s key message that “nothing is impossible if we dare to face our fears and believe in ourselves” and “the greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”

 

Students had the opportunity to ask Carol and Lindon some fantastic questions and also had the rare experience of being able to hold an Olympic Paralympic Gold Medal. Students are also excited to follow both Lindon’s and Carol’s journey as they prepare for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic games.

Katie Cook
Sports Leader

pastoral care

TENNIS – Year 9 and 10

Recently four tennis teams competed for Warrandyte High School as part of our Tennis Program.

Throughout the program and competition, our students developed their skills against similar competition whilst also being highly competitive. In the end Warrandyte finished as winners and runners up which is a tremendous achievement.

All students should be congratulated on their efforts, behaviour and teamwork throughout the competition. It is always so encouraging to hear the positive feedback from the teachers of other schools regarding our wonderful Warrandyte High School students.

Tennis – Year 7 and 8

We had 3 Year 7 teams who recently competed against other schools as part of our Tennis Program. They were accompanied by Year 10 VET Sport and Recreation Leaders who both assisted with coaching and mentoring.

Tennis is always competitive and our students never gave up. It was an exciting learning experience for our students and it was great to see them developing their skills and understanding of the interschool sports scoring system as each game progressed.

I congratulate all Year 7 students on their efforts. Students took on a range of different positions including players, umpires and scorers and represented the school with complete pride. I look forward to seeing them compete further throughout the year.

Year 8 students also represented the school at tennis. For these players hardly any of them had played outside of school. To their credit, they took to the tennis court enthusiastically with a genuine desire to further develop their skills. Being in the B division enabled the students to do this and come away with a couple of wins by the end of the day.

Overall it was an extremely successful first interschool sports day for the Year 8 students.

The entire school community should be proud of their efforts to give 100% and to continually challenge themselves against some tough competition. 

Katie Cook
Sports Leader

tennis

Volleyball Program

Five volleyball teams recently competed for Warrandyte High School against other schools.

Throughout the volleyball competition, games were tightly contested with some great rallies, excellent skill and teamwork being shown.

All 5 Warrandyte High School teams came up against some strong competition and all achieved great success. The Year 10 Girls Team ended up winning the day and progressing through to the regional finals whilst the Year 9 Girls Team also competed strongly in their competition.

On the boys side, of the competition was just as strong with many games going to 3 sets. The mixed Year 9 team played some great Volleyball coming 4th overall in the A division whilst the Year 9 Boys team also played hard and worked as a team to finish 4th in the B competition.

The tightest game of all was the Year 10 Warrandyte A boys who competed with Ashwood in the final. The boys had gone through undefeated and had set themselves up for a tight final where they would need to implement all the skills they had developed. Points went back and forwards with Warrandyte winning the first set 27/25.

The 2nd set was also closely contested however the boys went down 25/23 taking it to a 3rd and final set. With time running out, it was going to be first team to 7 points however as the siren for the end of the game sounded, scores were tied at 7 all. As a result, it went to “golden point.”

The last point was stressful for all those involved with a long rally and lots of opportunities. Unfortunately the boys could not hold onto that last point. It was fantastic to see them so competitive and I am sure they will be out for revenge next year.

YEAR 7 Volleyball

Recently 4 Year 7 Volleyball Teams competed as part of our vibrant Volleyball Program. In addition, the 4 Year 7 teams were accompanied and mentored by Year 10 VET Sport and Recreation students.

Our wonderful group of Year 10 students assisted with coaching, scoring and umpiring. All students did a fantastic job umpiring the games and also managing their teams.

All Year 7 teams did a fantastic job, bringing to life the skills they had been developing and continually challenging themselves to achieve success. Both the Boys and Girls A teams made it through to the semi-finals undefeated leaving them in a position to play off for the grand final.

The Girls A Team had a tightly contested game but ultimately went down to the overall winners on the day – a fantastic effort.

The Boys A Team had a very competitive semi-final which went to a 3rd set and required all players (and the VET Sport and Recreation students who were umpiring) to hold their nerves.

The third set was extremely tight but eventually the boys pulled away and won the game taking them to the grand final.

The boys had developed great teamwork and communication skills to overcome being a player down. In the final the boys displayed an excellent skill level, teamwork, communication and sportsmanship. Unfortunately they could not overcome their competitors in the final. Nonetheless, all players should be congratulated on their efforts. We are so very proud of them!

 

Intermediate Girls EMR Volleyball Finals

Following the success of the Warrandyte High Intermediate Girls Volleyball Team at division, they progressed through to the regional finals.

The 6 girls (Macey Carlin, Ashleigh Deacon, Alyssa Green, Lily Hellier, Emerson Humphris and Abigail McCrabb) were extremely determined to play in the finals.

The girls had been training at lunchtime to fine tune their sets, digs, spikes and serves and were ready to take on whatever came their way on the day.

The first game the girls started a little slow in the first set but fought back hard in the second set to only just lose 25 to 22. Between games the girls regrouped and focused on what they needed to improve upon to take into their next opponents.

The girls came out firing and smashed Doncaster in straight sets. The 3rd and final game was always going to be the toughest. The girls were not intimidated and went into the game with the attitude that as long as they played their best they had nothing to lose. The girls definitely did this pushing the first set to 25-22 and the second set 25-17. The girls finished the day in 3rd position overall and played some fantastic Volleyball.

Congratulations to all the girls involved.

Katie Cook
Sports Leader

volleyball

Five ways to reduce stress right now

A little bit of stress can be useful, but ongoing stress can affect your mental and physical wellbeing. Feeling stressed? Take ten minutes to try one of the activities below and decrease your stress levels.

1. Exercise
Exercise prompts your body to release feel-good hormones like endorphins, which can help you to feel less stressed. Stress can also make you subconsciously tense your muscles, which doing exercise might help to release. It doesn’t have to be a full workout: walk around the block, do 20 star jumps, go for a quick run or find a 10 minute yoga flow on YouTube.

2. Organise
Stress can kick in when you’re feeling overwhelmed by the number of tasks that need to be done or deadlines that must be met. Writing a to-do list can help make stressful tasks seem more manageable, as well as helping you focus on seeing each task through to completion.

Prioritise what must be done first and identify what can be left to a later time or what you might be able to assign to someone else. Be realistic about how much time it will take you to complete each task and build space into your schedule to reward yourself for getting the job done.

3. Breathe
Stress and anxiety can affect how you breathe, which has flow-on effects on how your body and mind feels. Taking a few deep breaths can help slow your breathing and heart rate, relax your muscles and calm your mind.
Follow Anxiety Australia’s guide to slowing down anxious breathing, or head to xhalr.com which has a visual breathing tool to help you easily calm your breath.

4. Take a time out
Stress can affect our emotions and how we behave, as well as our physical and mental health. Stress might make you become irritable or short tempered, easily upset or agitated.

When you start noticing that stress is affecting how you feel or behave, it might be time to step away and spend a few minutes just focusing on yourself. Do something you enjoy like reading a book, listening to music, or find a trusted friend or colleague that you can talk to about how you’re feeling

Time outs don’t have to just be reactive: proactively build some ‘you time’ into your schedule each week, allowing yourself to do something enjoyable whilst looking after your health. Taking a break can help refresh your mind as well as your energy levels.

5. Meditate
If you haven’t tried mindfulness, meditation or relaxation exercises yet, there’s no better time to start. Scientifically proven to help decrease and manage stress, and promote mental wellbeing, these tools are useful for when you’re experiencing stress and as prevention tools in times when you’re feeling well.

There are many programs, websites, books and apps to help you practise these exercises, including the free resources linked below.
This Way Up: Intro to mindfulness course Smiling Mind beyond blue relaxation exercises

Remember to reach out to someone if you need to talk. I will be filling in for Ms Miller as the Wellbeing Leader this term. You can find me in the Wellbeing Office. You can also talk to your teachers, Level Leader or your friends and family. 

Ms McCrory 😊
Wellbeing Leader

SLEEP & WELLBEING

Improving your sleep is one of the most positive and easiest things you can do to improve your health and wellbeing. Teenagers need between 9 & 10 hours of sleep most nights, but many are only getting between 7 & 8 hours. One hour less sleep here & there is not a problem, but ongoing lack of adequate daily sleep leads to a “sleep debt”. This means, the sleep you are missing out on cannot be “made up” Constant lack of sleep can result in, concentration difficulties, shortened attention span, memory problems, poor decision making, lack of energy and changes in mood.

Even 20 – 30 minutes of extra sleep each night on a regular basis will make a big difference to your wellbeing

With small, practical, daily changes sleep patterns can improve.

Do the same bedtime behaviour each night for 4 weeks to make your brain connect this routine with going to sleep.

  • Make a relaxing bedtime routine; have a bath/shower before bedtime, read, listen to soothing music etc.
  • Avoid loud music, homework, computer games, phone scrolling 30 minute before bedtime.
  • Put Aeroplane Mode on phone 30 min before bedtime and overnight: your alarm will still work!
  • The brain’s sleep–wake cycle is largely set by light absorbed through our eyes.
    Limit all screen activity right before bed & keep your room dark at night (wear an eye mask)
    In the morning, expose your eyes to lots of natural light to help wake up your brain.

Technology to help you sleep well.

The iPhone’s “Bedtime” function
This is within the alarm clock app and works on the basis that being consistent with the amount of sleep you get, going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, promotes healthy sleep and positive wellbeing.

Smiling Mind Sleep Meditation: Body Scan – YouTube (8 minutes)
This meditation will help relax your body and mind to prepare you for a good night sleep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxYC_UcQ0PI

Smiling Mind free app-based program
Developed by psychologists to help manage stress and anxiety to improve wellbeing. Mindfulness meditation is about mental health and looking after the mind.
Easy to follow sleep meditations for all ages and abilities.
https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

Talk with someone if you need help with ways to enhance your sleep.

Fiona Keech
Adolescent Health Nurse

 

Student Voice Teams

At Warrandyte High School, the Assistant Principal meets with both the Year 7-9 Student Voice Team and separately with the Year 10-12 Student Voice Team. It is all part of our whole priority to ensure students have input into their learning.

Separate from the SRC (School Representative Council), the Student Voice Teams are all about students working collaboratively with leadership with the aim of empowering students with agency.

The photo here is from a recent Year 10-12 Student Voice meeting.

Year 8 & 9 – E Safety Student Workshops

Warrandyte High School is committed to providing students with the knowledge and skills to keep them safe and happy. On Thursday 10 June the Year 8 and 9 students will attend E safety workshops at school. The workshops are run by the Optus Digital Thumbprint Program and teaches young people how to be safe, responsible, respectful, and have a positive digital reputation. Each workshop is curriculum-aligned, fun and interactive.

The content for each workshop covers the following information:

Year 8 Workshop
Students will explore the importance of respectful relationships online through compelling scenarios and asked to consider their impact when interacting online.
Issues discussed include consent online, image-based abuse, and the tools they have to positively support themselves and their peers.
Key learnings:
Understanding the impact our actions have online.
https://www.smilingmind.com.au/
Learn strategies to seek help for yourself or others.

 

Year 9 workshop
Students will explore the positive way social media has on influencing individuals and society. They will work through scenarios and practice critical thinking skills to see through the traps of online media and problem solve for a safe and healthy online solution.

Key learnings:

  • Understand what fake news is and how it impacts our world
  • How to report harmful content and practice discernment to stay safe and informed online

Please refer to the following links for further information on the workshops and comprehensive parent information and support from E safety, an independent statutory office supported by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
www.digitalthumbprint.com.au
www.esafety.gov.au

Careers Website

Check out the wealth of resources at
https://warrandytehighcareers.com/

Check out also some photos of our current Year 12s when they participated in Work Experience in 2019. Will Covid Restrictions allow Work Experience to proceed this year?

Baseball

Recently, as part of our Interschool Sports Program, Year 7’s travelled to Gilbert Park to play baseball.

The students all did remarkably well. The first game was a little testing. We held our heads high and went to the next game against Ashwood’s A team. We won 5-2! YAY!

Then we played against Heathmont’s B team we won again 6-4. YIPPEE.

Students were very excited they made the finals. We came 4th overall which is an awesome achievement. Special mention to Archie, Meleane, Angus and Izzy for all hitting a home run.

I must commend the team for being good sports and representing the school in a positive manner. When the ball hit an opposition player, our whole team made their way to see if he was ok. Good sportsmanship overall – WELL DONE!

Ms Lamb, Ms Miller

Multicultural Meet a lifeguard Program

We were pleased to invite Ramzi Hussaini from Life Saving Victoria to give a presentation to our EAL (English as an Additional Language) and International students about how to be safe around water.

This program is tailored to suit the cultural and language requirements of second language speakers at school. Students learned about the aquatic environment, the role of lifesavers, swimming between the flags, dangers, rip currents and how to get help when they are in danger.

Students participated in this experience and found it extremely interesting and useful.

Our guest speaker also shared with the students his life experience, from being a language school student to now being a confident presenter. He explained how he acquired his motivation to be a volunteer lifesaving guard, which was quite encouraging.

The students listened carefully and asked many questions. It was a very successful program.

Heidi LUO
International Student Program

Football, Basketball and Soccer

“After some fantastic sporting events earlier in the year, the junior and intermediate girls started Term 2 amazingly at our interschool football day. 

Warrandyte High School set off, down the road to Templestowe Reserve, to put on our best football performance. Although the weather was abysmal, the day was extremely successful with some great scores and skills being shown across all games. 
Congratulations to all junior and intermediate girls who participated in this day. It was great to see you so involved in the game and how much respect you had for each other, the umpires and your opponents.

A shoutout to Georgia D’Amico, Tayah Weeks, Maddy Trewella & Meg Callow for their coaching assistance of the two teams. It was fantastic to see such leadership and guidance of the two teams.”

Martika Milenkovic – Teacher

Intermediate AFL 

Well done to our Intermediate Boys AFL team. What a victory! Recently our team of 24 boys accompanied by our AFL Sports Academy Coach, Hugh Schaeche, competed against a number of schools, playing matches against Templestowe, Ashwood and Heathmont.

The boys were off to a flying start winning their first game 82 to nil. They remained undefeated and went on to win the final against Heathmont to come home with the flag! It was fantastic to see such spectacular sportsmanship and teamwork on the day, everyone played a role within the team which is ultimately what led to our success. 

Special mentions: Brayden Guymer – injured and unable to play, he showed great leadership in assisting Hugh by running messages, drinks and calling encouragement from the sidelines. Ned Welsh – for being our goal umpire for all our matches, which at times wasn’t the most exhilarating job, but he stuck to it. Lachlan Guymer & Kye Hunter – for volunteering to help umpire some matches when we were short staffed. Overall, it was a fantastic day and we can’t wait for the next round in July! Go Warrandyte! 

Ash Degering
Sport Teacher

Senior Basketball

Recently our senior boys and girls teams competed in Basketball at Nunawading Basketball Stadium. The teams each played 2 games, the boys winning their first match by 1 point and were highly competitive in their second match.

Unfortunately, they went down to the overall winners of the day even with Jacob Broad’s sizzling form hitting basket after basket.

Brady Poole owned the boards and Aaron Hewitt cut the key through all the tall timber to score a number of excellent lay-ups. Lachlan Haberfield cleaned up the perimeter like a veteran ball player.

The girls won their first match with Grace Lloyd starring and scoring 14 points. With only 4 starters in their second game it was always going to be a hard fought affair. Meg Callow, Maddie Trewella, Georgia D’Amico and Tayah Weeks gallantly flew the flag but exhaustion finally caught up with them. They monstered their way into great scoring opportunities and managed to relieve their opponents of the ball with annoying monotony.

Our students represented Warrandyte High School exceptionally well and a brilliant day was had by all. Well done to the students for their excellent effort, their respect of the referees and other competitors and their sportsmanship throughout the day.

Ante Sunjo & Chantelle Wilson
Sport Teachers

Senior Boys Soccer

Our senior boys Soccer team battled the extreme weather and 6 other teams on a blustery Tuesday. The boys progressed well through the group rounds with three strong wins, playing excellent team soccer.
Unfortunately, in the grand final our boys succumbed to the overall winner. Despite the poor weather, the boys kept a good attitude throughout the day. Special mention to Robbie in Year 12 who was the coach for the day. 

Tim Jones
Physical Education

NAPLAN

Recently our Year 7 and 9 students participated in the NAPLAN. Over a 3 day period these students completed assessments in the areas of Literacy (Reading and Writing), Language Conventions and Numeracy (both with and without a calculator)

It is be commendable how wonderfully our students engaged with the NAPLAN.