Walcom Ngarrwa News
13th August 2024
Principal News
Principal News
It has been a pleasure to welcome our School Council team back to the College, for their first meeting in Term 3. School Council is a great opportunity to engage with our parent/carer, student and community representatives around school governance and our ongoing development and through it’s membership council provides a strong voice to support the needs of our community. Unfortunately, our Foundation School Council President, Ashley Coker, has had to tender his resignation from Council due to work commitments. On behalf of our school community, I would like to thank Ash for taking on this role in our inaugural year and for his time and contribution to our College during Semester 1.
I would like to take the opportunity to introduce our new School Council President to the school community and thank, Mr Chris Sutcliffe for stepping into the role of President. Chris brings with him a wealth of school council and community involvement experience and as a member of the Regional Advisory Group for the development of our school, certainly has a deeper understanding of the new school experience. I look forward to working with Chris and supporting his leadership and governance as he steps into the role of School Council President.
We now have an opportunity for an additional parent/carer to join our School Council team. If you would like to discuss what this entails, find out more or jump at this opportunity, please do not hesitate in contacting me.
Bullying No Way!
This week is Bullying No Way Week across Australia and at Walcom Ngarrwa Secondary College, we work hard to make our school inclusive and free from bullying for all.
This year’s theme is: Everyone belongs.
When we feel like we belong, bullying struggles to find a place. It's about embracing who we are, respecting everyone's differences and standing up together against unkindness.
Belonging means we all have a role in preventing bullying. We're encouraged to create a safe place where everyone feels supported and respected, and our voices are heard and valued.
At Walcom Ngarrwa this year’s theme aligns perfectly with our core value of Belonging. Developing a sense of belonging is pivotal to the success of our students as they build connections and community. Belonging not only links our students with our College and to each other, it also equips them with the skills to be successful community members and leaders of tomorrow.
Throughout the week during our belonging sessions, all students will be learning about the impacts of bullying and how to be an upstander. We also have the Proactive Policing Unit attending our school to deliver their workshop called 'Tagged.' In collaboration with the E-Safety Commissioner presentation, their workshop will address the following issues: cyber-bullying, sexting, selfies, digital reputation, role of the bystander, filming fights, hate pages, criminal offences & legal consequences & assistance available.
At Walcom Ngarrwa we all have a role to play in keeping students safe and our school bully free. Please continue the conversations at home about supporting a bully free environment and assisting students to be upstanders. We have also attached an information sheet on Cyberbullying and encourage all parents and carers to discuss this with their children. This can be found here
Year 6-7 Transition
After sending out 225 offers for Year 7 places in 2025, we are eagerly awaiting the news from our feeder primary schools that these offers have been accepted.
In our lead up to 2025, we will be running a number of transition events and activities to support our new families and students joining Walcom Ngarrwa in 2025. These include:
- Year 7 2025 Information Night on Tuesday 27th August, with sessions at 4:00pm and 5:00pm. Families of 2025 Year 7 students can reserve a seat by following this link, https://www.trybooking.com/CTQHQ
- Transition Visits to all of our feeder primary schools. Staff and current students will be visiting our feeder primary schools from September onwards and we are looking forward to meeting all of our Year 7 students before they officially join us in January 2025.
- Statewide Transition Day on Tuesday 10th This will be an exciting opportunity for our 2025 Year 7 students to come and join us on site for the day, to commence their preparations for an amazing start to Year 7.
Languages Program
I would like to thank all of our school community members who took the opportunity to have a voice around our Languages program at Walcom Ngarrwa. It was great to see the voice of students, parents and staff coming through in the responses we received. This information has been shared and discussed by School Council and we will now start the recruitment process to fill these positions. I am pleased to announce that School Council has endorsed the feedback provided, and have selected Spanish as our preferred language other than English.
Council also discussed strategies if we are unable to recruit teachers of Spanish. If we have to face this unfortunate situation, we will look to recruit teachers of Chinese (Mandarin), as this language came in a close second to Spanish as the preferred language.
Parent & Carer Survey
I remind families of The Department of Education Parent Opinion Survey, 2024. A link to this Survey has been shared by the College on behalf of DET. Please complete the Survey provided as your responses assist the College with our continuous development and in supporting our students and families.
Upcoming events
Between now and the end of the year we have many events coming up for students to be involved in and some key dates that families will need to be aware of. Please find detailed below some of the significant dates ahead:
- Book Week Dress Up Day on Friday 23rd August
- Wear it Purple Day on Friday 30th August
- Student / Parent / Teacher Conferences on Monday 7th There will be no scheduled classes on this day. Students are required to attend conferences with their parents/carers on this day. Bookings open soon and further information will be provided through Compass.
At Walcom Ngarrwa we are always looking at how we can improve our practices, our work and our systems. If at any stage you would like to provide feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me and I am more than happy to discuss this further. Partner with us, as we Build Bright Futures for your children and our community.
Have a great week ahead and don’t forget our aim of healthy, happy and curious students.
Important Administration Updates
Important Administration Updates
It is important for the school to have the most updated contact details so we are able to communicate with you about your child. It is also important for not only you, but for those you have listed as your emergancy pick up contacts for your child.
With NAPLAN results being posted home, it is also another reminder to make sure we have your most up to date details on file.
If you have changed any of your contact details, including email address, please click HERE, complete the form and return it to school. This form is also where you can add or remove emergancy contacts.
You can also update your details in Compass. Please click HERE for more information.
Attendance
Did you know that you can lodge your child's absence on Compass?
Please click HERE for information on how!
Absences can be lodged in advance if a family holiday or medical appointment is planned. You can also lodge them on the day.
If you have any questions, or need any help, please come and see us in the office or call us on 03 8000 6688
Positive Impressions
During assembly on Monday, students were awarded with Positive Impressions These are an award, handed out to our students, based on the observations of our Belonging Group teachers. It gives me great pleasure to share with you the following students who have been congratulated.
7A - Heer, for consistently shows the College value of Belonging and Achievement
7B - Luca, for always being prepared to learn and complete his work.
7C - Triniti, for being a friendly student to all and making outstanding effort to engage in her classes.
7D - Ananya, is always prepared for learning and shows an excpetional growth mindset
7E - Ashmeet, for always being an active participant and lending a helping hand.
7F - Gaby, for always being positive and actively participating in class.
7G - Rehit, for always completing his set tasks in classtime.
7H, Blake, for his consistent and enthusiastic approach to attempt all set tasks and challenges.
Year 7 (Coordinator Award) - Sarah, for embracing Numeracy Support and taking on new challenges to assist with her learning.
Teaching and Learning
Week 5 and 6 CATs
Physical Education, Materials Technology and English classes are all coming to the end of their current units of work and students will begin completing CATs during class time. These CATs will be available to view on Compass.
Science Week
This week Walcom Ngarrwa is celebrating Science week and this year’s theme is Species Survival, more than just Sustainability. Students will be exploring the theme in class and with some daily activities and trivia. To find out more about National Science Week, please visit https://www.scienceweek.net.au
Missing books and equipment
We have noticed a number of students are missing the essential equipment required to complete their learning.
This may be due to items being misplaced or depleted.
Please support them to replace any items they require, including pens, workbooks and calculators.
A full booklist can be found here Booklist 2024
Werribee Little Athletics Centre
Werribee Little Athletics is having a free trail day on Saturday September 14th at 9am.
If you are interested in becoming the next futue Olympic Hero all the information on how to register can be found HERE
Victorian Institute of Sport Open Day
VIS OPEN DAY RETURNS IN 2024
Rub shoulders with Australia’s 2024 Olympic and Paralympic heroes
The Victorian Institute of Sport are thrilled to announce that the VIS Open Day will be back this October!
This year’s Open Day will serve as an unofficial welcome home celebration for some of Victoria’s brightest stars as they return from competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games - young Victorians will have the opportunity to rub shoulders with their idols and start dreaming of emulating their incredible feats.
The free event will provide members of the Victorian public the opportunity to meet world class athletes, learn from high performance sport experts, tour through and experience the inner workings of a high performance sport facility.
The event welcomed more than 1000 Victorians of all ages in 2023 and provided a fun, safe and educated experience they will never forget. This year’s event promises to be even bigger with over 15 sporting organisations showcasing their sports and expertise.
When: Wednesday 2 October 2024 (during school holidays)
Where: VIS Headquarters at Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park
Time: 10:00am - 2:00pm
For more information click HERE
Wyndham Region Basketball
Wyndham Region Basketball - Wednesday, August the 7th the Boys and Girls Basketball teams represented the College at the SSV Basketball tournament. Both teams have been training over the past fortnight and have improved their knowledge, skills and game understanding. The boy's team played well as a group, they shared the ball well and played to their team's strengths. As a result, they had two wonderful wins and placed 5th of 12 teams for the day.
Our girl's team where amazing at applying themselves and learning the strategies of the game through their 2 games, they even managed to win their last game, well done girls!
It was great to see many of our parents attend Basketball and support their children, thank you for coming. Finally, a huge thank you to Miss Jolley and Mr V for their coaching and support of our teams.
Student Leadership
Our student leadership team has been immensely busy of late!
We're holding weekly meetings to discuss and plan events such as R-U-Okay day and Wear it Purple. We hosted VICSRC on July the 31st where we delved into our roles and responsibilities as student leaders and how we can be the best student leaders and versions of ourselves. We would like to thank Jake from VICSRC for joining us, we had an amazing time!
On August the 21st, we're once again hosting a Student Leadership Day. We're looking forward to developing our leadership knowledge, understanding and skills.
Smile Patrol - School Dental REMINDER
If you haven't signed your student yet, please get in touch with the team at Smile Patrol
Contact information:
For more information please feel free to contact us.
Email: info@smilepatrol.com.au