Warrnambool College

Warrnambool College is a midsize regional school located on the coast of South West Victoria. The school has approximately 950 students and acts as a growing regional centre for the surrounding district.

The student body consists of a cross-section of the Warrnambool community (population about 32,000) as well as drawing widely from the regional hinterland. As a result the school has a mixed set of students with a wide range of abilities, backgrounds and attributes. Warrnambool College caters for this by providing innovative programs suited to the particular needs of the student.

Some of these programs include the Phoenix Program for Year 9 level which promotes independent learning skills through access to technology; Select Entry Accelerated Learning Program (SEALP) for high achieving students offering accelerated learning opportunities; Gifted and Extension Program (GEP) to extend high achieving students at all year levels and an extensive remedial program that supports students with particular learning difficulties. In 2009 Warrnambool College received a Schools First Award through the National Australia Bank for an innovative program involving a partnership with local industries.

Warrnambool College prides itself on its academic achievements where students can reach their potential in a safe, innovative and sustainable learning environment. The school has an experienced staff base that recognise the need to strive to meet the ever changing and growing needs of its students in a rapidly changing economic, environmental and technological world. The school's challenge is to meet that need with an innovative curriculum that engages students and provides them with skills relevant to the local industry base and for their further education.

The school has a GREAN (Green Response Environmental Action Network) Group which promotes environmental and sustainable practices such as tree planting around local waterways and litter management. The GREAN Group also works with groups such as the Warrnambool Environmental Group to assist with activities such as the painting of storm water drain covers and coastal landcare. The College's science students have been involved with the control of 'Bridal Creeper' on eastern coastlines by growing and releasing 'Leaf Hoppers' in the affected areas and monitoring its effect on the weeds spread. In 2011 Warrnambool College hope to offer a new VET course titled "Sustainable and Emerging Technologies" that exposes students to new technologies embedded in the local industrial base that are environmentally responsible and have a sustainable principal.