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We congratulate our 2025 Year 12 students upon the successful completion of their final weeks of secondary school at Footscray High School.
The manner in which all students conducted themselves during this time has been outstanding.
VCE students are working hard in preparation for their end of year examinations. VCE exams commence with the Year 12 English exam taking place on Tuesday 28 October. The school community wishes our students well for their upcoming examinations.
As part of the Footscray Learning Precinct (FLP) Footscray High School (FHS) is working with Footscray Primary School (FPS) to develop a CLIL program in the language of Italian. This program will support part of the vision of the FLP which is to ensure a pathway into FHS for students from the Precinct Primary Schools.
CLIL is an educational approach where students learn a subject like humanities through the medium of a foreign or additional language, simultaneously developing their knowledge of both the content and the language itself. The language can be learnt as separate subject and is also integrated into the teaching of another curriculum area, providing more time on task for language acquisition while also teaching the subject matter.
Since FHS already offers Italian as a language and Footscray Primary School has a Bilingual Italian Program, this makes Italian the clear curricular choice and pathway for students transitioning between the two schools.
Jillian English
Principal
On Monday October 13, around seventy students in 14 bands took to the stage at the Kindred Band Room in Yarraville to deliver a marathon 4 hours of music to a packed room.
Beginning with a number of student initiated groups, the night progressed to giving the bands from each senior music class a chance to demonstrate their progress in Semester 2. The night finished off with some lengthy sets from our Year 12’s two weeks out from their final performance exams.
Well done to each band that took the stage, for looking and sounding so professional.
Lelle K, our single FHS representative at the State Athletics held on Monday, 20th of October, ran a fantastic 2nd in the 17 year old Girls 1500m event. FHS is so proud of you, Lelle! Well done!
We are still buzzing from the energy of our Senior Art Show opening at Bluestone Church Arts Space! It was a powerful showcase of the passion and skill of our students, especially our graduating artists. A heartfelt thank you to our amazing students for their inspiring work, and to the parents and our wonderful community for your incredible support and for filling the gallery with such joy. Your presence made it a night to remember!
Recently, we’ve had some gorgeous rowing conditions and beautiful sunrises for early morning rowing. It’s so special to start in the dark and slowly watch the sun pop up behind the city!!
After a year of standout performances, close competition, and building house culture and traditions, we are thrilled to announce our house champion of 2025 is Yaluk! Well done to Yaluk and to students of all houses who took part in events.
The Footscray High School house competition was wholly designed by students, for students, through our Student Leadership Collective of 2024 and ran for the first time this year. The primary aims were to celebrate student success in a wide range of fields, promote connection and community between year levels, and provide more avenues for student leadership. Competition included sports (swimming and athletics carnivals, footy and futsal, volleyball), cultural events (art competition, karaoke, public speaking, speed puzzling), and student suggested events (Mario Kart, the Great Footscray Bake-Off). Even positive behaviours in classrooms attracted house points. Yaluk tallied 3145 points this year, with Wurru-Wurru on their tail with 3066, and Ngamayi collecting 3051.
Our houses were named in collaboration with the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation. Yaluk (green) means river, Wurru-Wurru (blue) means sky, and Ngamayi (yellow) means sun. Our talented art students designed the house crests in a Term 1 art competition.
We are continuing to seek student feedback and ideas to improve our competition in years to come. A key part of this is through our house captains – our 2026 captains were announced early this term. Congratulations to:
Kinnear:
Ngamayi – Georgia S, Poppy C, Renee B
Wurru-Wurru – Cyrus D, Francis C, Seniani C
Yaluk – Caelan A, Flo G, Piper R
Barkly:Ngamayi – Harvey H, Rihanna AWurru -Wurru – Arrow K, Charlie SYaluk – Ka Hii C, Freya H
Pilgrim:Ngamayi – Griffin L, Siena KWurru-Wurru – Gabe M, Olive SYaluk – Jasper S, Tien L
Year 7s across both junior campuses have collaborated to create surrealist murals over the last two weeks. These artworks will create a lasting legacy for Footscray High School to remember the creativity and collaboration of this cohort. Expert facilitators from DYA Australia worked with Year 7 students in half day workshops to guide their practice in portraiture, plaster and painting.
Here are some of the students’ experiences in their own words and samples of the works created.
Abi:
“The mural project was a fun and new creative experience for me. I’ve never done anything like it before, so it gave me the opportunity to try new styles of art. I liked how abstract it was, because it didn’t have to be perfect, so I felt more confident doing it. I love my painting and I wouldn’t have done it any other way”.
Ivy:
“I loved how we used different textures to create our murals. I am really looking forward to seeing my artwork around the school. I feel really proud of what I made, and I love the idea that future students will see it, and maybe be inspired to try it for themselves”.
Tempo Volley is collaborating with the City of Maribyrnong to deliver two upcoming free volleyball programs and we’d love to see Footscray High School students involved and enjoying these community sessions.
1. Active Maribyrnong – Girls Can Volleyball ProgramOne session – Sun 26 OctoberGirls 12-17 years old: [Book Here] (Free)
2. Spring into Summer Series
Four sessions – Sun 16 Nov, 23 Nov, 30 Nov and 6 Dec
Youth Volleyball 6-12 years old: [Book Here] (Free)
Junior Volleyball 12-18 years old: [Book Here] (Free)
The year 10 Food Studies classes visited Footscray Market to explore cost-effective ways to healthily feed a family while on a limited budget. Our students displayed incredible initiative and creativity in their designed solutions, including the use of new-to-them ingredients. Students created cost-effective dishes that followed Australia’s Dietary Guidelines upon returning to school, with access to pantry staples. Way to go, year 10s!
– Year 10 Food Teachers (Brigitta Clifford, Alison Downes, and Kate Letexier)
It’s Term 4, which means we need to start preparing for next year, and that means it’s booklist time!
There will be a few small changes to booklists this year, one of which is the merging of the years 10, 11 and 12 lists into one Senior Booklist for all Kinnear students. We’re hoping this simplifies things as students who are undertaking subjects from a higher year can see all the resources and order from the one list.
We’ve also tried to simplify and consolidate the stationery listings, and there’s now an option to tick one box if you wish to purchase all the items from the General Stationery List. This option will actually work out cheaper than if selecting all of the items individually. There are still separate subject specific lists for Yr 10 and for VCE, but there is now just the one General Stationery List for all senior students, as these are items that will be required for most classes.
We’ve also introduced the EARLY VCE ENGLISH Booklist, which is NOW OPEN for ordering online from the JP Books website.
This list is exclusively for the 2026 texts required in VCE English, English as an Additional Language (EAL) and Literature. Orders for these books can be made online only from now until they close on Friday 7th November. Once ordered these books will be distributed to students in class at the start of course commencement in Week 7 this term. Please note that this early list is only for texts like novels, plays and poetry, and any textbooks, study guides or dictionaries required for these subjects will be included on the soon to be released Senior Booklist.
The Kinnear Senior Booklist, which will include resources for ALL of the 2026 subjects, will open on Monday 10th November. For junior students the year 7, 8 & 9 Booklists will all become available on Monday 1st December. If you have questions specifically about the book or stationery ordering process, please direct them to the friendly staff at JP BOOKS in Yarraville, who do a fantastic job of supplying our booklist resources.
The Class of 2025 Year 12’s have officially finished classes and many are now studiously preparing for their final exams. We want to let the 12’s know that we’re still here to support your study and preparation during the exam period. You’re always welcome to work in the library and, of course, to hit us up for books, pens, paper, stapling, tissues, bad jokes, calculators, et al… You’ve got this!!
Last Friday at their farewell assembly, the library presented two of these graduating students a $25 gift voucher for the Chestnut Tree bookshop, for being outstanding library patrons this year. Kash Sawudi received the campus award for being the Top Borrower out of all three year levels at Kinnear, and Irina Sever was selected above other Year 12s for the Library Award; for just being an exemplary library member, who’s always very respectful, polite and engaged.….and always brings her ID Card!
It was a very difficult task to pick one person from such a great cohort for that Library Award, as so many of you also displayed these characteristics. It has been an absolute pleasure to support you and to have you with us over these past 6 years. On behalf of all of us in the FHS Library team, we wish you all the very best for your future, and we know you will do great things because you’ve shown that you are great young people.
Oh, … . and please don’t forget to return all your library resources before you finish!
From the FHS Library Team
Friends of Footscray High is delighted to announce the three winners of our small grant scheme:
Jessica G (student) – for her proposal to create a mural at the Kinnear campus.Izi I & Pip L (students) – for their idea to buy more automotive spray paint for the bike hub.Dan Sullivan & Jen Bashford (Pilgrim Principals) – for their plan to brighten up a corner of the Pilgrim campus with landscaping.
The winners were announced on Monday, 20 October, at the opening night of the Senior Art Show at Footscray’s Bluestone Art Space. Congratulations!
You could – if you buy a $2 ticket in the Scouts Victoria Raffle! This is our major fundraiser of the year, and all funds raised go directly back into the school. It couldn’t be easier, just buy your tickets online here: https://scoutsvic.raffletix.com.au/footscrayhighschool
Friends of Footscray High is a group of parents, ex-students, teachers, and community members who enjoy staying connected with the school. We raise money throughout the year by running candy bars at events, the Chefs’ Dinner, a silent auction, the Scouts Raffle, and the Election Day sausage sizzle. Funds are channelled back into the school through our small grants scheme. Past successful grant projects have included: microphones for the theatre department, the pizza oven at the farm, trees for the Kinnear campus, heirloom fruit trees, deconstructable and reusable kit electric cars, robots for the science department, tents for outdoor education, an A1 printer for the arts department – and many more great initiatives!
The group also provides:– a way to share school news and updates,
– an informal place for parents to connect, and
– an avenue for parents and students to offer feedback to the school and its leadership.
All parents and carers are welcome to participate in Friends of Footscray High by dropping-in to our monthly meetings, volunteering at events, or by helping in other ways. You don’t even need to help – you can just come meet other parents. Click here for info about Friends of Footscray High, email friendsoffootscrayhighschool@gmail.com, or keep an eye out for our Compass posts.
The final Year 11 2025 ‘Consent Compass’ Workshop was delivered by our valued FHS partner, GenWest. This completed delivery to the whole year level, coordinated throughout the year by FHS Wellbeing & Inclusion Team. The repeated workshops consistently received positive feedback and engagement from both students and teachers.
The GenWest ‘Consent Compass’ workshop was developed with Moonee Valley Legal Service with FHS Wellbeing & Inclusion Team playing an active role in developing and testing the Workshop resources, along with other key stakeholders. FHS has been privileged to have GenWest supporting our Year 10 and 11 students over the past 2 years and we hope to continue this partnership in 2026.
FHS staff gathered at Kinnear Camous after school this week for the Department of Education’s Respectful Relationships training on identifying and responding to family violence, which, as we all know, is a priority for our vigilance and support as a proactive and legally responsive community. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) was promoted with other support and contact services, along with the implementation of relevant FHS and legal policies. The session was coordinated by the FHS Wellbeing & Inclusion Team