Welcome to Heathmont College, I am proud to introduce our school to you.

Students are at the centre of all that we do here at Heathmont College. We aim to foster student development and growth through a focus on student engagement, empowerment and learning in order to support students to achieve their very best in all that they do.

During these uncertain times, it is vitally important that schools focus on supporting students to develop strategies to navigate the unknowns in the world around them and to build resilience in order to manage uncertainty and challenge. As a lead school in the Maroondah Positive Education Network, Heathmont College aims to do exactly this through developing growth mindsets in our students and our staff and leveraging this to enhance resilience across the school by focusing on student and staff strengths. By developing student skills in managing adversity, we empower them to lead their best lives.

Principals Report

My last report for the term is coming from our Bali tour. Myself, Bu Devathas, 20 students and one of our school parents left for Denpasar on Monday night.

We are currently in Kuta and have today come back after a visit to one of the local high schools where we had a tour of their programs by the students. Luckily for us, it was a vocational college that prepares students for careers in Hospitality, Beauty, Laundry, Cooking and IT so we were treated to some culinary delights and saw several classes in action.

So far, we have enjoyed some great experiences including a dinner on the beach tonight where we were treated to a serenade by some local musicians and then our students got to treat everyone to a performance of the Nutbush. We have also visited a chocolate factory, rice fields, a mosque, and a local marketplace which was a bit of a confronting experience, but I have to say, many of the students rose to the occasion demonstrating exceptional negotiating and bargaining skills.

Hope to share this whole experience with you all when we get back home!

Kind regards,

Kerryn Sandford

“Acknowledgment of Country” by students at Heathmont College

Hello and Wominjeka.

Wominjeka means ‘Welcome’ in Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

On behalf of Heathmont College, we would like to note that since the dawn of time, the sacred land on which our school is situated Always Was and Always Will Be Wurundjeri land. We would like to pay our respects to the traditional custodians who are guardians of this land, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and we acknowledge their Ancestors, Elders, Youth and Children; past, present and those of the future within their community.

We recognise the many diverse and ongoing living cultures of all First Nations people of Australia. It’s with appreciation we see their perseverance, strength and value their deep continuing spiritual connection to Country, Community, Animals, Skies, Stars and Waterways, as they belong to the oldest living culture in the world. The Heathmont College community is dedicated to embracing First Nation’s history and cultures by fostering respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people built on co-operation and trust. We all come from different places though we must work together on this shared learning journey to enrich our understandings and celebrate First Nation’s people and their cultures.

This land was never ceded, it Always Was and Always Will Be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.