One of the key themes that we come back to consistently in our work of establishing our culture, practices and process at Walcom Ngarrwa Secondary College is our College Mantra of Building Bright Futures.  This mantra underpins our work, philosophy and culture, as we strive to put students at the centre of our decision making and strive to ensure that we are Building Bright Futures for each and every student.

This extremely important work that we are undertaking is unpinned by our College Values of Belonging, Curiosity and Achievement.  At Walcom Ngarrwa Secondary College we aim for these values to be more than just words, but a way of thinking and a way of acting, for all stakeholders around our college.  There is a strong evidence base to suggest that if we build a strong sense of Belonging, whilst inspiring Curiosity, that this will lead to some amazing Achievements, from our students and staff.  With this in mind, we continue to take actions daily, that will contribute both to our mantra and the living of our values by leaders, staff and students.

We have high expectations for our students including an Orderly Learning Environment. We expect high levels of attendance, for our students to be at class on time, and to be well prepared for learning (eg charged laptop, workbooks, etc).  We thank families for continuing to work with the College to help our students to not only be ready to learn but to also demonstrate the values of Belonging, Curiosity and Achievement.

Throughout the year we will continue to remind you that the learning and wellbeing of our students is a priority, and we will work to support student learning growth in 2024.  Our plan for this year highlights the importance of learning growth in Numeracy and Literacy, together with adopting strategies that support strong levels of student attendance.  The research is clear – the more students are at school, the better their outcomes.  Attendance is important and as a college, we understand that sometimes lateness can be outside the control of the student and their family. However, we are seeing an increase in the number and occurrences of students arriving late, due to them staying up too late the night before, to them being disorganised with their uniform or missing the bus to school. During the day, we are trying to manage and promote attendance, with students demonstrating this by being on time to Belonging lessons and each session throughout the day. As shown in the image below, the accumulation of being late over the course of the day or several school days adds up to alarming loss in learning time. The message is simple, to support positive accomplishment and achievement, students need to be healthy, happy and at school every day… and on time. 

Events and Happenings

Each week continues to provide our students, staff and school with events and happenings that are occurring for the first time and marking special significance to our school and community.

One such event was the recent visit by our local Member for Werribee and State Treasurer, Mr Tim Pallas.  Mr Pallas joined our students on Friday 23rd February, for a tour of the school and discussion of their aspirations, hopes and dreams for their own pathways and also the future of our college.  Thank you to our student ambassadors for the visit, Jay, Sierra, Abbey and Flynn, all who did an amazing job.

Another first during the last two weeks, was our first Interschool Sports teams heading off to represent our college at local competitions.  Approximately 40 students represented the College in our Volleyball teams last week and did an amazing job.  Congratulations to all students involved on representing our college and a big thank you to staff members Kayla Johnson and Kelly Jolley for coaching and supervising on the day.

School Council News

The first meeting of our School Council took place on Monday 25th February. We are delighted to welcome the following community members to School Council and look forward to their contributions and support to our ongoing development and support of students.  Like our staff team, School Council are briefed with the mission to Build Bright Futures for our students.

Our 2024 School Council Members are:

• Parent Members – Geoff Griffin, Anna Bugaj, Ashley Coker, Sarah Rochow, Tina Kiri
• Department of Education Members – Clarissa Spencer, Adam Powell, Brad Moyle
• Student Members – Angus Rochow, Hrsh Sevak, Armaan Singh, Braxton McAdam

Congratulations and thank you to the following parent members who have taken on office bearer roles for the year ahead.  Thank you to Ashley Coker, who has taken on the role of President, Sarah Rochow in the role of Vice President, and Tina Kiri in the role of Treasurer.

Parent / Student / Teacher Conferences

Save the Date – Tuesday 16th April

On Tuesday 16th April, parents are invited to accompany students for conferences with our teaching team.  This will be an opportunity to discuss Progress Reports, to be issued at the end of term, as well as discussing student progress, attitude and disposition towards learning.  We encourage all parents to mark this date in their diaries.  Conferences will run between 11:00am and 6:30pm on this day, with no formal classes for students.  Students are expected to attend the conferences with their parents.

Further information, including how to book, will be sent out via Compass in the coming week.

Positive Impressions

As a school, we have provided all our staff with one clear brief, catch our students doing amazing things.  When our staff observe our students living out our values of Belonging, Curiosity and Achievement, students will be recognised with a Positive Impressions Card.  This is something to celebrate and we are extremely proud of our students when we get the opportunity to hand out these cards.  As they come home, please take the opportunity to celebrate these achievements.  Over the week’s ahead we look forward to formally acknowledging our students who are regular leaving our staff with Positive Impressions.

That’s all for this fortnight.  Have a great two week’s ahead and remember, your feedback and improvements are always welcome as we strive towards Building Bright Futures for our students and staff.  Please feel free to contact me via Compass or on the phone at 03 8000 6688.

Brad Moyle

Principal

On Wednesday 28^th February, our year 7 volleyball teams took to Eagle Stadium to battle it out against other schools in the Wyndham district. This is the first team in any sport to represent Walcom Ngarrwa. It was great to see our team in our colours.

Throughout the day all students had the opportunity to engage with and enact on our core values of Belonging, Curiosity and Achievement.

The highlight of the day was seeing the growth in skill across the day, both in the sport itself and as a team. The boys team finished the day as a well-coordinated, functional team that displayed improved skill on the court, at working together and showed great sportsmanship.

Y7 Volley Ball 2024

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Week 4 of term was an opportunity to embrace our school value of Curiosity.

As a major part of this, all students had the opportunity to attend an excursion at the Wyndham Tech School, which is on the grounds of Victoria University.

Students spent the day programming drones using AI, defusing bombs in virtual reality, programming and modelling games and building robots to harvest lettuce.

They also had the chance to meet Pepper and Spot, the resident robots of the tech school.

This provided the opportunity for students to develop their problem solving and design thinking skills whilst exploring the possibilities these technologies hold.

Students came away with some great ideas and questions about how we can harness these technologies at school in the future.

Curiosity Week - Wyndham Tech

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