Western Heights College

Western Heights College is a government-funded co-educational secondary school in Hamlyn Heights, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

Western Heights College
Location
Hamlyn Heights , Victoria , 3215 Australia
Coordinates	38°07′32″S 144°20′03″E
Information
Type	Secondary, co-ed [1]
Established	1985
Status	Open
Principal	Fiona Taylor
Teaching staff	70 (2023)
Employees	53
Years offered	7–12
Enrolment	1000-1050 (2024)
Campuses	Western Heights, Vines Road
Campus type	Suburban
Houses	Minerva (yellow), Quamby (red), Vines (green), Barton (blue)
Colour(s)	Blue and orange
Website	www.whc.vic.edu.au

The campus adjoins the Vines Road Community Centre which requires the payment of fees for students enrolled in its courses.^[1][2]

History

The college was created in 1985 from the merger of three existing secondary schools: Geelong West Technical School, Bell Park High School, and Bell Park Secondary College.^[3][4]

For some time, Western Heights College had three campuses: the Junior Years Campus (formerly Minerva campus and Barton Campus) for years 7, 8 and 9, and 10. the Senior Years Campus (formerly Quamby Campus) for years, 11 and 12, located in the suburbs of Herne Hill and Hamlyn Heights respectively.

In 2010, the City of Greater Geelong (COGG) appointed landscape architects Capacity Consulting to "develop a Master Plan for Hamlyn Park Recreation Reserve which incorporated new facilities at the Vines Road Education Redevelopment Project – incorporating Western Heights College". The new facilities included sports grounds and netball courts with Stage 2 including a basketball stadium.^[5]

In 2011, the school began relocating to a single location on Vines Road, formerly the site of the Department of Human Services Barwon South Western Regional Office and, before that, the Geelong Teachers' College. The Barton campus closed at the end of the 2008, and the completion of stage one allowed Years 7 to 9 to start school at the new site at the beginning of July 2011.^[6]

In 2020 the school opened its high-performance centre to serve its Specialist Sports Program.^[7]

In 2020 the school started its Specialist Sporting Program for basketball. In 2021, AFL was introduced. Further sports programs were introduced; Netball (2022), Soccer (2023) and an Aspiring Athlete Program in 2024.^[8]

In 2022 the Victorian Government committed to delivering a $7.5 million competition-grade gymnasium to replace the ageing offsite Quamby avenue basketball gym.^[9]

Community College

When the school was opened the college had pioneered "learning communities" of 100 to 120 students - a step away from the traditional arrangements of classrooms.

The college shares community facilities with the public. These facilities include: Community Library, Vines Road Community Centre itself, Seniors Club and sporting. These facilities are owned and co-managed by the City of Greater Geelong in conjunction with the college's management.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Western Heights College/Vines Road Community Centre experienced severe flooding in 2016.^[14]

Sport

Specialist Sporting Program

Over 530 student are enrolled the Specialist Sporting Program in 2024.

Sporting program Directors:^[15]

• AFL: Brendan McCartney
• Basketball: Kaleb Sclater, Kris Blicavs
• Netball: Susan Meaney
• Soccer: Joey Didulica
• Aspiring Athlete Program: Sam Johns

Sporting achievements

Basketball

• Winner - U17 Boys Victorian Champions Cup 2023^[16]

Australian Rules Football

• Winners - Senior Boys (Division 1) School Sport Victoria 2024
• Runners-up - Boys Intermediate (Yr. 10)(Division 1), Herald-Sun Shield 2024
• Runners-up - Girls Intermediate, School Sport Victoria 2024

Soccer:

• Winners - U15 Boys Victorian State Championship 2024

Notable alumni

Includes Alumni from merged foundation schools, Bell Park High School, Bell Park Secondary College, and Geelong West Tech.^[17]

• Alex Harris - Paralympic swimmer
• Bev Francis - World champion power-lifter (Bell Park High School alum)
• Brendan McCartney - AFL football coach (Bell Park High School alum)
• Dan Ryan - Netball player and coach
• Dylan Howard - Entertainment journalist and media executive
• James Worpel - AFL footballer
• Jeff Sykes - 1978 World Rowing Championships bronze medallist (Geelong West Tech School alumni)
• Lea Waters AM - Psychologist
• Nathan Herbert - Basketball player
• Simone McKinnis - Netball player (Bell Park High School alum)