Vaping Committee

Our student Vaping Committee is a specialised group focused on addressing the critical issue of vaping among students within school communities. The primary objective of these meetings is to empower students to have a voice in finding effective solutions to combat vaping and promote a healthier school environment. By involving students and 2 dedicated staff members, Mr. Katavatis and Mr. Gramp, we aim to foster a proactive and student-driven approach to tackling this concern. The committee is meeting fortnightly, and we are currently liaising with the Cancer Council to gain their input and resources. The insights and contributions from this select group will play a crucial role in shaping our strategies and initiatives to ensure a healthy environment, supporting the well-being of all students.

Staff and students will attend Training and development conferences run by the Cancer Council and The Youth Connect Life Education Forum. At the heart of this initiative lies the empowerment of our students. The committee’s primary mission is to provide students with a platform to voice their thoughts, concerns, and creative ideas on combatting vaping. By involving students directly, we hope to tap into their unique perspectives, enabling us to design effective solutions that resonate with their peers. We firmly believe that the best strategies emerge when driven by the very individuals who are affected. The committee’s dedication extends beyond just discussions. Our members will meet fortnightly, ensuring that progress is consistent, and efforts remain aligned with our goals. Additionally, we are proud to announce our collaboration with the Cancer Council. Their valuable insights and resources will prove instrumental in guiding our initiatives and shaping our approach. The partnership demonstrates our commitment to adopting evidence-based strategies, further enhancing our collective ability to make a meaningful impact.

The committee has an excursion scheduled where the members of our vaping committee will have the opportunity to meet with representatives from the Cancer Council. This meeting will focus on voicing improvements that can be made towards educating young people about the risks of vaping, as well as discussing the support available for those affected by this issue. The students will actively engage in brainstorming sessions with their teachers, wellbeing officers, and Cancer Council facilitators to generate ideas and suggestions that can contribute to a more comprehensive awareness campaign.

Together, we can create a school environment that promotes well-being, empowers our students, and sets a positive example for the generations to come.

Kind Regards,

John Katavatis

House Leader, Year 7 Teacher

House Structure Implementation

As part of Our Woodville moving towards a House structure in 2024, students from each House were invited to design a House Shield. During Term 3, the students met with representatives from 4ART Design Company to undertake a design process to identify the key elements of each house and incorporate these into their house shield designs. The workshop produced some high level inventive ideas and some draft designs were pulled together. These draft designs will be presented to our Old Scholars and the School Governing Council, and students and staff for selection of the final Shield design for each house. This process has included deep sort from each student about the values that each house will embody, allowing for greater participation by all students in the school, in-house events, building house spirit.

Term 3 sees the opportunity for students to gain points for their houses through activities run by curriculum areas. Week 2 consisted of activities run by our Visual Arts Faculty which included a range of activities that occurred at recess and lunch times to celebrate the commencement of SALA month and ignite house spirit for Visual Arts inaugural Arts Week House Competition.

There were daily sketch tasks based on the themes of Reach for The Stars and our primary goal is for everyone to have a go and engage in the creative process and have fun.

House Home Group Allocation for 2024.

All families received a letter last term explaining the process to be followed which will see students choosing 2 friends from their house to be in their vertically grouped House class in 2024. Our commitment is for students to be in a House class with friends and supportive peers. Our new year 7s will be grouped with their chosen friends based on conversations with families and our partnership primary school staff. Current students will have the opportunity to nominate 2 students in their year level and house whom they would like to have in their House class in 2024. This will be done via a Google Document in early Term 3. Our House Implementation team will then form House Groups based on these requests.

Pathways Program

Our school believes that students’ positive physical, mental, social and emotional wellbeing underpins their learning. This belief is what drives our vision of wellbeing for every student. Our new House Structure will see House Class teachers stay with one group of students for successive years, it is designed to ensure strong communication and relationships between teachers, students and families in a school of growing numbers. The continuity of House Group relationships over a number of years also facilitates parent confidence in their ability to approach a known person in the school with concerns. A key strand of this relationship building between students and House Group teachers is through our weekly Pathways Program. This year has seen our school partner with the Sebastian Foundation using part of their Open Parachute Program. This clear and documented program for weekly Pathways lessons affords the opportunity for staff and students to share opinions and perspectives on a range of social, emotional and personal development topics from taking a stand against bullying to discussing career pathways.

The Sebastian foundation has enlisted the support of the Adelaide Crows football team as part of this program to work with schools. This will see players from the Adelaide Crows visiting Open Parachute partnering schools to give an insight into their journey as professional athletes focussing the strategies, they have used to overcome life challenges both physical and mental.

Woodville High School headspace Clinic

The Wellbeing Hub has been working closely with the Port Adelaide Headspace and Centacare Clinic to create a new partnership. Starting on the 22nd of August headspace will operate a clinic out of the Wellbeing Hub fortnightly to work exclusively with Woodville High School students who may not have the means or capacity to attend mental health and wellbeing appointments offsite. Headspace is an Australian non-profit organisation for youth mental health established by the Australian Government in 2006. This is a free service which works with and specialises in youth aged between 12-25. Referrals to the clinic will be made strictly by Woodville High School’s Wellbeing Leaders or our Youth Worker. Each case will be assessed and a referral to the onsite clinic or the Port Adelaide clinic will be made based on the circumstances of the case, and the headspace clinician, Qi’s, capacity to take on new clients. For students under 16 referrals can and will only be made with parental or guardian consent. We are very excited to welcome Qi to The Wellbeing Team, and we look forward to working exclusively with her and the headspace team.

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