We are once again visiting Flexible and Remote Learning (FRL) as our community continues to respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

At the end of 2019 we would never have believed that 2020 would unfold this way if someone had of told us of the year ahead.  However, events around the world have thrown all of us a bit of a curve ball in 2020. If nothing else, these evets have shown us just how resilient, adaptable and agile we can be as individuals, teams and organisations. 

Over the last eight months our school community and the individuals that make it up have demonstrated the ability to not only manage change but to make the most of the situation and to pivot and adapt practices. 

During Term 2, students, staff and parent/carers demonstrated the capacity to succeed with Flexible and  Remote Learning and we are confident that with this second round of FRL we will again see a significant number of success stories as we work towards a new normal and enhance our capacity to support all students, no matter what the circumstances.

Our staff team have been working diligently over the last few days to allow us to start Flexible and Remote Learning on Wednesday 5^th August. 

The result of this is a slightly different approach to FLR 2.0 than what we saw in Term 2.  The success of our students and your children during this time is heavily reliant upon us all working together as a team and communicating the expectations, the successes and the challenges. 

As such we ask that students and parents are regularly checking COMPASS as our main communication tool.   

COMPASS also allows parents the opportunity to communicate directly with our teachers. 

Throughout the Term, teaching and learning will be delivered via Google Classroom, WebEx and other tools,  directly to students. 

COMPASS will contain the details of this learning and the commitments required of students directly to parents.  If at any stage you are unsure, please contact your child’s teacher, either via COMPASS email or telephoning the school.

We encourage you to draw on the successes that we experienced in Flexible and Remote Learning during Term 2 and draw strength from the fact that we know we can do this and support our students through this difficult time.  

Please try to stay positive, calm and remind your children that everything will be alright, we are doing this to ensure the safety of our community and so that we can return to normal schooling as soon as we can.

We thank our school community for their support and flexibility in this time of change and look forward to welcoming students back on campus as soon as we can.

The annual Middle Years Arts and Technology Exhibition was displayed from the 13-17th July in the M Building.

The Arts and Technology Exhibition is a fantastic way for students to celebrate success and their personal accomplish. Exhibits create opportunities for students to see their work in a new context. The students are involved in the curating and designing of the exhibition space and event, leading to new perspectives and ways of experiencing the arts, designs and technology. They express a sense of pride in their accomplishment in the work they have created, because knowing their work will end up on public display increases the students’ engagement and sense purpose.

Shane Castricum

Arts & Digital Technology Area Leader

We have a new school sign which was installed by Bryce from Sign Effects. Bryce is an ex – Wangaratta High School student and it was great to have him back on site to help with our new sign.

Our corporate sponsors sign reflects all our wonderful sponsors for this term. A big thank you to all the businesses that support our school.

On Thursday 16th July Year 12 students attended a virtual motivational workshop with Success Integrated.

The session provided tips to:

• help students overcome the ‘hitting the wall’ syndrome by recharging their emotional batteries, refocusing & becoming productive for the remainder of the year
• motivate senior school students to set goals, become well organised & believe in their ability to achieve their best academically

The session aimed to motivate & build student resilience at this critical time of year.

The B.E.S.T acronym helps to remember the key points

 Belief: to raise your expectations & learning confidence to perform at your best in school & life

 Excellence: systems to manage yourselves, your time & your workload efficiently

 Study: a tool kit of highly effective & easily implementable study techniques to measurably maximise your grades

 Toughness: a variety of strategies to help students become resilient in the face of adversity & bounce back from setbacks

The Symphonic Band (consisting of students in Year 10-12) rehearse weekly on Mondays after school until 4:45pm and are followed by the Stage Band that rehearse until 5:45pm.

The students are now rehearsing  in the main body of the PAC to enable more space between performers. Students sanitise their hands before and after rehearsal and all music stands and chairs at the completion of each rehearsal (the stands and chairs from this week will now be done by the COVID Cleaning Team).

It has been very challenging providing students with a performance focus during these times that we are all experiencing, but it has provided us with an opportunity to make changes to repertoire choices.

The students are working on some new pieces of music and have recently started learning an entire new repertoire of Christmas carol arrangements.

The short term plan is for every band to be preparing for a streamed recording for parents & friends to be able to experience some of what the bands have been working on.

We are investigating future performance opportunities and will do our best to be at our best and be ready when the opportunities to perform are permitted or we will think 'outside the square' to provide the best outcome for our students.

Bands Manager 

Chris Keast

On Monday, the Prefect Team held a meeting with Tim McCurdy MLA to discuss our goal of creating a study space dedicated to senior students to help them through their VCE and VCAL journeys. After much discussion, the prefect team is in the process of creating plans for both short- and long-term goals to be achieved and come into action as soon as possible. With Mr McCurdy’s help we are now coming up with strategies to plan effectively and get the ball rolling. We want to thank Mr McCurdy for coming to speak with us, and for encouraging the student voice of Wangaratta High School to continue to be heard. We would appreciate hearing from the student body and ask for their continued support to make this goal a reality. We would also like to remind students to come and talk to the prefects if they have any suggestions to help us achieve our goal of a ‘VCE/VCAL study space’ as this will become a space that eventually benefits everyone.

Thanks Asha and Shevanti

The Prefect Team 

Lisa Norris has taken over the MacqLit program from 20th July to support our students to read. The program is based on extensive research from Macquarie University and has been proven to increase word reading and spelling accuracy.

Ms Norris is excited to take over this program after her exceptional work in the administration team.

For more information on the program please contact Lisa Norris on 5723 0500 or Lisa.Norris3@education.vic.gov.au

.

What is your role at WHS?

I am the District Bus coordinator.

How long have you been at WHS?

1 1/2 weeks!

Where did you go to High School?

Wade High School Griffith NSW—our uniform was brown and yellow.

What was the best thing you did during the holidays?

Exploring Eurobin Falls with my family.

Did you learn anything new during lockdown?

I learnt how important it is to stay connected with family and friends. And sometimes slowing down is a good thing! 

Do you have any pets?

Two dogs Ziggy and Nemo.

What is your favourite food?

Gnocchi ragu.

What do you like to do outside of school?

Reading, camping and playing with my children.

The Wangaratta High School newsletter was named Korrumbeia in 1952—that makes this newsletter 68 years old!  Korrumbeia is a Victorian aboriginal term meaning restful river/creek (Kurrabi; creek, Umina; rest, Beeia; river).

This is a reference to the Ovens and King Rivers merging in Wangaratta, and the fact that WHS houses are named after local waterways.

The Victorian Collections has over 600 items from Wangaratta High School including some of the first computers used at the school and yearbooks back to 1989. Check it out today Victoriancollections.net.au