Wurrin News 

Years 8 & 9

8P Friday Challenge

During Term 3, 8P English class decided to run fun Friday Challenges. Students decided on a challenge each week - and the teacher also had to participate in anything the kids chose (within reason)!

Some ideas the students came up with were: make a meme, best handstand or headstand, climb a tree, best cake and crazy hair day - amongst many others. We also discovered that our class education support worker Maxine can sing the whole alphabet with a mouthful of water!

In addition to the fun challenges, 8P students excelled with writing a comparative text analysis of A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (a bit of a tear-jerker) and the Spike Jonze film adaption of Maurice Sendak’s classic Where The Wild Things Are.

The following is an extract from Ethan Bury’s text response:

Both Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendack and directed by Spike Jonz, and the novel A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness feature a young boy on the edge of growing up who has to deal with the reality of his life and try to cope with difficult emotions.

In both texts the monsters that the boys summon are there to help them and teach them lessons in how to accept reality and deal with difficult emotions.  In Where The Wild Things Are the wild things reflect Max’s emotions and personality and Max learns by dealing with the wild things. We see this when they fight and Max calms them down, which he then learns from. This is also seen in A Monster Calls, however instead of wild things the character Conor interacts with a yew tree monster. In A Monster Calls the yew tree monster helps Conor by telling him three stories that teach him lessons but on the fourth story Conor had to speak “his truth” that he wanted his mum to die because he was tired of seeing her suffer. The monster helped Conor to let go and face his nightmare. 

This theme of teaching the boys lessons is a big part of both novels and help build a sense that we all struggle from difficult emotions in life and we all have ways to deal with them. Max’s emotions take the form of The Wild Things and Conor a yew tree monster. 

Clearly seen in both texts A Monster Calls and Where The Wild Things Are, the protagonists use their imaginations to escape reality and vulnerable emotions though dreams that take the character to another land or a monster that tells stories. The boys in both texts use these monsters and dream lands to learn strategies to cope with those emotions.

By Ethan Bury, 8P

Year 9 High Achievers Book Club

A small group of Year 9 students have recently joined a book club for high achievers in Literacy. They are currently reading 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' by Mark Haddon. Students have been enjoying the opportunity to get together via Webex to chat about books and connect with each other during remote learning. We look forward to continuing our club when we can meet face to face!

Every Thursday afternoon a small group of students and two teachers have a Webex meeting for a High Achievers Book Club. We have read a short story and have now started a book, and each time we have a meeting we talk what we think of the book and ask or answer some questions about it. We had a guest speaker, Georgia Williams, from Harper Collins tell us about what it’s like working there and being an editor for publishing books. Georgia explained the process of publishing books and her experience with authors she’s worked with. It was quite interesting and we learnt about some jobs involved with publishing that we didn’t even know about.  The meetings go for about 30 minutes and at the end we decide where we should read up to next. The book club has helped us understand the meaning of books more. 

By Lara Finney, 9G

Applications Open for 2021 School for Student Leadership

Bairnsdale Secondary College has been offered positions for students in Year 9 in 2021 to attend the School for Student Leadership (SSL). In 2021 the College has been offered positions at the Gnurad-Gundidj campus, in Glenormiston (near Warrnambool). Any current Year 8 students who are interested in participating in this term-long leadership program are encouraged to contact Ms Williams at the 8/9 Hub for an application form. While at the SSL, students participate along with students from other schools to develop leadership skills and learn the Victorian Capabilities through outdoor experiential learning activities. It is a fantastic opportunity and all students are encouraged to apply! 

Please contact Ms Williams at the 8/9 Hub or via email at:

 Aislinn.williams@education.vic.gov.au for more information. 

Student Artworks

Some fabulous artwork by Joanna Griffiths 10D and Keyanna Lawrence 9N: