Western Heights College is a government-funded

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school in

Hamlyn Heights Hamlyn Heights is a residential suburb of Geelong. It located to the west of the city on hills that overlook Corio Bay. It was named after Sidney Hamlyn, a local resident in the 1940s. At the , Hamlyn Heights had a population of 6,293. The ...

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

, Victoria, Australia. The campus adjoins the Vines Road Community Centre which requires the payment of

fees A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead (business), overhead, wages, costs, and Profit (accounting), markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Repub ...

for students enrolled in its courses.

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. 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 Herne Hill () is a district in South London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the London ...

and

respectively. In 2010, the City of Greater Geelong (COGG) appointed

landscape architects A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water managem ...

''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. 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. In 2020 the school opened its high-performance centre to serve its Specialist Sports Program. 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. In 2022 the Victorian Government committed to delivering a $7.5 million competition-grade gymnasium to replace the ageing offsite Quamby avenue basketball gym.

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 The City of Greater Geelong is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and, had a population of 271,057 as of the 2021 Australian census. I ...

in conjunction with the college's management. Western Heights College/Vines Road Community Centre experienced severe flooding in 2016.

Sport

Specialist Sporting Program

Over 530 student are enrolled the Specialist Sporting Program in 2024. Sporting program Directors: * AFL:

Brendan McCartney Brendan McCartney (born 23 October 1960) is the former senior coach of the Western Bulldogs football club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He coached 66 games in 3 seasons before he resigned from the job. He has served as the development ...

* Basketball: Kaleb Sclater, Kris Blicavs * Netball: Susan Meaney * Soccer:

Joey Didulica Joseph Anthony Didulica (; born 14 October 1977) is a former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Australia, he played for the Croatia national team. On 11 October 2011, he ended his career after ongoing neck and head injuries. Club c ...

* Aspiring Athlete Program: Sam Johns

Sporting achievements

Basketball * Winner - U17 Boys Victorian Champions Cup 2023 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. * Alex Harris - Paralympic swimmer *

Bev Francis Beverley "Bev" Francis (born 15 February 1955) is an Australian gym owner and retired professional bodybuilder, powerlifter, and national shot put champion. Early life Beverley Francis was born on 15 February 1955 in Geelong, Vict ...

- World champion power-lifter (Bell Park High School alum) *

- AFL football coach (Bell Park High School alum) * Dan Ryan - Netball player and coach *

Dylan Howard Dylan Howard (born 19 January 1982) is an entertainment journalist and media executive. He is best known for his work as editor-in-chief of the '' National Enquirer'' tabloid between 2014 and 2020, a period in which he oversaw a number of scan ...

- Entertainment journalist and media executive *

James Worpel James Worpel (born 24 January 1999) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early career One of nine siblings growing up in the regional town of Bannockburn ...

- 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 Simone McKinnis is a former Australia netball international and the current head coach of Melbourne Vixens in Suncorp Super Netball. As a player she was a member of the Australia teams that won gold medals at the 1991 and 1995 World Netball Ch ...

- Netball player (Bell Park High School alum)

References

External links

College website
{{Secondary schools in Victoria, state=collapsed Public high schools in Victoria (state) 1984 establishments in Australia Educational institutions established in 1984 Sports schools in Australia