Around the Campuses
VCAL News
On Wednesday 2nd March, the Year 11 VCAL students participated in a Food Handling Course at the Senior Campus. All students involved enjoyed the day and gained a valuable qualification. Check out the photos below!
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GTAC Excursion - VCE Biology
On February 11th, the Units 1 & 2 Biology classes went on an excursion to GTAC (Gene Technology Access Centre) in the city. The purpose of this excursion was to utilise technology such as compound and fluorescence microscopes to enhance our knowledge of cell structure and functions. The students began with a warm up exercise, identifying the different structures of the cell and their definitions. Afterwards, we were tasked with two main investigations. The first of which was to identify how the single-celled organism paramecium lives. What we discovered was that the paramecium is able to digest the
yeast through its lysosomes. The second investigation was to apply microscopy to diagnose disease. In this investigation, we were to identify a set of healthy cells and a set of diseased cells. Through our observations of the two sets of cells we were told to discuss what could be the cause of the disease. This excursion was incredibly insightful, allowing us to use the knowledge that we have learnt in our previous classes and apply our understanding.
Alessandrea Cabuyadao (10G)
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Year 10 Deep Learning History
This term students learned about the Ziggurats in Ancient Mesopotamia.
In our History class this semester, we have been learning about Ancient Mesopotamia and the various civilisations and empires that existed at the time. An integral part of the investigation of these civilisations is how religion influenced the lifestyle of the citizens of these city-states. The Ziggurat was a temple built in every city-state that was elevated nearly 300ft off the ground and was also around 300ft by 300ft in size. Prior to building our own paper Ziggurats, I couldn’t really imagine how it must’ve looked like in the city-states. This crafting task helped me understand how monumental these temples were and how important they were to the citizens of Mesopotamia.
Ariana Haque
In our History class we have learned about Mesopotamian history. Ziggurats were a monumental part of developing a civilisation, with intricate details and features. As it was a temple that was believed to be closer to the Heavens and Gods. While creating the Ziggurat, I could imagine that it was an extensive process that had required many people to create a temple that was believed to reward them all. It would tend to 2-7 levels that would each serve a different purpose, with a shrine to a dedicated God. A Ziggurat would be located in the centre of the city, built to maintain and honour the Gods and the local religion.
Olivia Kovanidis
Throughout our history class this semester so far, we have gained knowledge about Mesopotamia and their citizens. We have learnt about the different empires and how they ruled their city, the different civilisations that correlate with Mesopotamia and how they influenced us now in the modern era. Depicted in the photo, our class have made ziggurat temples that were present during the Mesopotamian era. We did multiple researches and learnt how they were constructed and what they were used for.
Vivian Lengyuen
The project was fun, it helps me understand the process the ancient Mesopotamian did while building the Ziggurat (bottom to top). While building the ziggurat I noticed that the structure was similar to a pyramid from Egypt except a bit more flat. Learning about the ziggurat is important because it’s an important part of ancient civilizations as a temple of their gods.
Elnathan Santos
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Homeland Calling Incursion
This term, Year 9 students enjoyed participating in workshops with staff from Western Edge Youth Arts on Homeland Calling, a book that they are studying in English. The workshops helped students gain a deeper understanding of the text and characters.
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VCE Season of Excellence Top Talks Excursion
This term students in Years 10, 11, and 12 Extended Investigation attended the VCE
Season of Excellence Top Talks event at the State Library of Victoria. There, students listened as four high-performing students from the Extended Investigation subject in 2021 gave their speeches to the audience, detailing a wide variety of research topics. This allowed our students to see what makes for a strong oral presentation in Extended Investigation.
Following this, students visited the University of Melbourne, participating in a campus tour. Everyone had a great day!
Mr Troy
Extended Investigations Teacher
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Congratulations!
Congratulations to the Senior Tennis Team who made it through to the Western Metro Region competition recently! Well done and thanks to Mr Squeo for his coaching and support.
