All students from the Early Learning Centre up to Year 9 at Westbourne learn a second language, with the option to continue to VCE level in either of the languages on offer; German and Japanese. Learning a second language not only gives benefits in many fields of employment, it also teaches us a lot about communication with other people from other cultures, and we even learn a lot about our own language through the study of another.

At Westbourne we offer students many real opportunities to use their language abilities. We have Sister schools in both Germany and Japan, giving students the chance to write to a penfriend by email and also to take part in school trips or to host students when they visit us each year.

Our languages programs are well resourced with dedicated German and Japanese rooms, and frequent use is made of the available technology. We encourage students to take part in our overseas trips as well as other Student Exchange Programs, and the school offers three part scholarships each year for Year 11 students to attend both our German and Japanese Sister School for 2 months over the Christmas break.