Secondary School

Building Character

ANZAC Day conjures up all sorts of different emotions and thought processes for each one of us in Australia and New Zealand. Last Wednesday, Bayside held an Anzac Day commemorative service on North Campus in front of the shrine and flags located on the grassy slope outside N Block. Attended by a small group of students, teachers, and parents, this remembrance time was also broadcast over the school’s sound system on both North and South campuses for all onsite to hear.

Bathed in sunshine, we listened to a short history about the significance of this war and how it positively shaped our future, thus enabling us to have the life that we live today in this country. All service elements were shared together, the Laying of Wreath, Ode of Remembrance, the Last Post, a Minute silence, the Final Rouse, and Raising of Flags, followed by singing our National Anthem. We also thanked God for His sovereignty. As I stood and listened, I couldn’t help but dwell on many of the character traits observed by the soldiers who served - courage, determination, sacrifice, selflessness, commitment, and teamwork to name a few.

As Christians, we are reminded in the Bible about the importance of developing our character when looking through the lens of how to demonstrate appropriate ‘agape’ love to others. (Agape love is described as selfless, sacrificial, or unconditional love. It is also given the highest honour of the four types of love described in the Bible). Two verses from Chapter 13 in the book of Corinthians says: 

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Being frank, you would be hard pressed to find a person who wasn’t on a lifelong journey striving to better themselves as an individual, no matter what age. So how does this Scripture verse help guide us to build our character? Well, the answer is quite simple. We need to pay particular attention to the negative character traits outlined with the aim to avoid displaying such behaviours as we engage with others on a daily basis. 

At Bayside, we encourage our students to consider and adopt these Biblical traits; however, why should this encouragement stop at our young people? As the adults in our school community – parents and teachers, we should be the one’s consistently modelling positive behaviour traits that are character building for the next generation. 

As we dive deeper into Term Two, I encourage the whole Bayside community to spend time contemplating the wisdom in these two verses as we all seek to build our own character for the betterment of others as we engage together. My late mother-in-law often reminded the family to practice the ‘three P’s’ – patience, persistence, and perseverance each day to help us to develop our character. I don’t think that she was far off in her wisdom. May God bless each one of us on our character-building journey as we seek His help to be the salt and light of this world.

James Kumnick, Head of Secondary

SIS Swim Team

SIS Secondary Swimming 2023 

Congratulations to all the students that attended the interschool swimming carnival on Wednesday 3 May. It was great to have our school represented by such fantastic students. All the students competed well on the day, with multiple students swimming extra events and often outside of their age group. We had some great individual results as well as a much-improved overall school result. 

A big thank you to Mr Siede and Miss Scouller for their help on the day. The team consisted of the following students: 

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

Year 10

Whole School Cross Country

A reminder that Whole School Cross Country Carnival is coming up on Tuesday 9 May. All year levels will be participating in this event at different times. Students are expected to wear either their PE uniform or house colours. 

Lego Masters Incursion

Years 7 and 8 students participated in the Lego Masters Incursion with Lego Masters contestant Ryan. Students enjoyed the challenge of operating Lego Robots and using coding to have the robots perform movements and challenges. They were able to successfully have the bot move in a shape and collect a bug when responding to colour positions on the map.

VCE Art Excursion

On Monday 1 May, the VCE Art, Media, Design Technology and Visual Communication students travelled into the city to see the Top Arts and Top Design exhibition. These exhibitions showcase some of the top student work in the state for 2022. 

Students also got the opportunity to view some of the city's famous street art laneways and view the Australian Art collection of the NGV. It was a fantastic opportunity for students to get inspiration for their own folios and we look forward to seeing what they produce over the course of the year.

Science Talent Search

Any students from Years 7-10 who are interested in participating in the Science Talent Search this year needs to get in touch with Mrs Ulli Austermann ASAP as the entry deadline is looming. You do not have to have anything ready, just an idea of what category you will be entering into.

Trades Skills Centre Cafe

The North Campus Cafe has a new winter menu with hot meals available every Thursday! 

• Pasta Napoletana (Vegetarian) $4.00
• Nachos with Salsa and Cheese $3.00 and $50c for extra toppings (Sour cream and Guacamole available)
• Fried Dim Sims $1.50
• Chicken Nuggets 6 for $3.00 
• Nuggets and Small Chips $5 
• Brownies $2.50
• As well as our staples - sausage rolls, donuts, party pies and hot chips

The Cafe is open every Thursday from 10:30am to 1:30pm and serve to the public as well as Year 10-12 students staff.

North Campus Campground

Year 11 & 12 VCE VM students are rebuilding the North Campus campground area. They will run day camp activities later this year with Grade 5 & 6 students and host ELC classes for fun activities. 

The students worked hard to move the existing campground to protect numerous Eucalypts, which have sprouted from seed and are in the process of building new seats and a fire pit. This will be an ongoing project for the VCE VM students. 

A huge thank you goes to Justin Mason and Ben Kelly for their support and James Siede for his vision and leadership with this wonderful initiative.

VCE OES Risk activity

The VCE Outdoor Environmental Studies (OES) class has recently studied real and perceived risk as a part of their course. They designed an obstacle course near the dam and completed it with full vision before doing the same blindfolded. 

Students had to guide one another and we were then able to discuss the concepts of what feels scary and risky. This translates to real situations when we may be terrified during an activity (outdoor abseiling or sea kayaking in rough conditions) where the real risk may be quite low.

Mr Ken Berry, VCE VM Coordinator