An active camp program at KWRSC presents students with abundant opportunities to enjoy outdoor adventures, experience new environments, and develop close bonds with classmates and teachers.

Each year level (numbers dependant on any given year) attend a camp. All camp activities and locations are carefully selected to ensure their appropriateness and relevance to foster students’ development. Camps and excursions provide the safe grounds for students to gain first-hand experience in exploring nature and the environment and develop a level of independence, resilience and self-sufficiency. In our Outdoor Education Program, class camps are an important part of the curriculum, tightly interwoven with the rest of the students’ classwork.

The Music Festival is an annual tradition which began in 1968. The festival is a Performing Arts competition where the four Houses each produce singing, dancing, instrumental and musical entertainment items. Most of the House items are prepared by the students themselves with senior students teaching younger students how to sing, dance and perform on stage.

The first Inter-House Music Festival was held on August 21st, 1968, and it was held in the Wattle Theatre which is behind the KWR Bakery – because the school did not have a hall at that time. Each of the four Houses provided four acts: an instrumental solo, a folk group, a vocal solo and a House Choir.

Over the years the format of the festival has changed significantly as the school grew and the performing arts program expanded. Over the 50 years the most popular and repeated songs have come from The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Queen, ABBA and the musical ‘Grease’.

Due to the growth in the instrumental program, there is now a separate Instrumentalists’ competition night. The winners from this night then go on to perform at the main concert.

Upon starting at Koo Wee Rup Secondary College, students are allocated to one of the Four Houses for sports and carnival events.

• Bass
• Flinders
• Mawson
• Sturt

All interested students are given the opportunity to compete in the House Swimming, Cross Country (Y7-9) and Athletics. Winners of these House competitions will advance to Interschool Division Competitions.

These houses are also used to represent our purpose built Learning Communities throughout the school. These houses help students to form a sense of belonging and encourages them to widen out forming new relationships with students across all areas of the college campus during our many school events.

We are very proud of our instrumental program, which is a standout amongst other schools in the area. We offer half period instrumental lessons on a rotating timetable to support student classes. Koo Wee Rup Secondary College works alongside our local primary schools offering music lessons at our College to support and enhance their interest in music.

Opportunities for instrumental music students include:

Senior Band, Junior Band, Beginner Band, Stage Band, Choir, Percussion Ensemble, Piano Trio, Clarinet Ensemble, Production Orchestra, Chamber Ensembles, Rock Groups, and Guitar Ensemble. 

Symphonic concert band instruments include:

Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Oboe, Bassoon, Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Euphonium and Tuba

Other instrumental music lessons include:

Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar,  Bass Guitar, Piano, Singing and Drums.

Music lesson costs and hire:

Whilst students are encouraged to provide their own instruments, our College is well equipped to support lessons and instrument hire for the first 6-12 months. After this time students must provide their own. 

Lessons begin at $100 per term for Drums and $200 per term for Piano, Voice Lessons, Guitar and Bass.

For more information please enquire at music@kwrsc.vic.edu.au

Koo Wee Rup Secondary College provides numerous opportunities for students of all ages to represent the college through the Interschool Sport Program. Students gain many benefits from being involved in sport, including teamwork and leadership skills. Koo Wee Rup Secondary College is a member of the Cardinia Division and is part of the Southern Metropolitan Region with School Sport Victoria (SSV). We compete regularly in Year 7, 8, Intermediate and Senior competitions against other local secondary schools. 

The Sports Program gives students the opportunity to represent the College in a variety of sporting activities throughout the year, including:

• Term 1: Cricket, baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis and swimming
• Term 2: AFL (boys & girls), netball (boys & girls), soccer, badminton and cross country
• Term 3: Basketball, hockey, table tennis and athletics

Success at the Division level sees teams progress through the stages of Regional and State

Pastoral Care aims to engage students in tasks and activities that are targeted to the needs and emotions of adolescents. The Resilience Project forms the basis of this program exploring the concepts of gratitude, empathy, mindfulness and emotional literacy.  Students are provided with the opportunities to explore how these concepts relate to themselves and others around them.

Respectful Relationships Education is embedded throughout the Pastoral Care program. Students are provided with opportunities to develop their social and emotional capabilities through open discussions about respect and equality in all relationships. 

Through the Pastoral Care program students are provided with opportunities to learn historical events that have led to greater reconciliation, inclusion, and diversity in Australia. Key dates on the calendar allow students to recognise these special events and learn about their significance.

• National Day Against Bullying
• Harmony Week
• Anzac Day
• NAIDOC Week
• Wear It Purple Day
• R U Okay? Day
• International Women’s Day

All students at KWRSC are encouraged to reach their potential as leaders and have many opportunities to do so.  In Years 7-10, students can be involved in our Student Voice Teams.  In Years 11 and 12, students can apply to take up one of our many school captains positions.  

These include College Captains, College Vice Captains, House Captains, Performing Arts Captains and Sustainability Captains.  Students involved in leadership roles are supported with opportunities to attend conferences and incursions to develop their leadership skills.  They have the chance to represent the school at many events, including the ANZAC Day march in the city, leading school assemblies and other important events on the College calendar such as the debutante balls and music festival.

The Koo Wee Rup Secondary College Sustainability Action Group was established in 2018 and has grown to approximately 80 students across all year levels. These students are passionate about the sustainability of the College, with a focus on cleaning, conserving, protecting, and reviving our College’s environmental wellbeing. 

As a collective we aim to reduce landfill by educating students in using a variety of bins to help sort out waste throughout the college. They are colour coded and are located all throughout the school to help assist in the reduction of our college waste to landfill:

• Blue - Paper and Cardboard
• Green - Aluminium Cans
• Yellow - Plastic Bottles, Metal Lids, Newspaper, All packaging with a Recyclable Label
• White - Compostable Waste

TIDDALIK

A major focus for our Sustainability Group has been the creation of our wetlands area behind the tennis courts. 2 years ago this area was neglected and overgrown, until our vision came to light. From the initial planning stage to the removal of sheds and weeds, to the importation of rocks and indigenous plants. This once forgotten area has become the talking point of the school.

In collaboration with Westernport Swamp Landcare, an environmental organisation who helps preserve environments and reduce impact of public use, we have been able to build and create a fully thriving ecosystem with different species of native indigenous grasses, plants, and shrubs within the wetlands area.

Over the past year this area has been maintained and cared for by our students. Our wetlands area has adapted to protect the native endangered species of the Growling Grass Frog. In addition we have positively identified 3 other species of frog, as well as the area being home to two turtles, Agent X and Turtle Man. Passionate volunteers come every Friday lunch to help out by pulling out any weeds to help maintain the area. Recently the wetlands area was renamed ‘Tiddalik,’ the word originating from the Indigenous Bunurong Tribes, which identifies with the well known Dream Time story regarding the Giant Frog.