Western Heights College is a government-funded co-educational secondary school in Hamlyn Heights, Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The campus adjoins the Vines Road Community Centre which requires the payment of fees 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 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. 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 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:

Sporting achievements

Basketball Australian Rules Football Soccer:

Notable alumni

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