Junior School News

Year 8 excursion to Point Nepean

On Thursday 11th May, the majority of Year 8 went down to Point Nepean National Park. This was so that we could understand the surroundings of our novel, ‘Falling from Grace’. The actual walk we went on was about 10km in total. Although during the walk people were lethargic, bored and sore, no-one gave up or whined. Since the park and Point Nepean were so big, there was so much to explore. There were caves and tunnels where the troops hid out, chilled and slept. There were monuments that made it look very stylish. Beautiful landscapes of cliffs and the ocean. Going to Point Nepean really opened my eyes to understand our novel. I really enjoyed this experience. I just wish I wore better shoes!

By Matthew Dryden, 8B

Salvo's workshop on the homeless

A group of 24 Year 9 students had a great experience last Thursday when we went to the Salvo’s premises in Bourke Street. We learnt a lot about what makes someone homeless and what happens to them.

We learnt that the main reason people become homeless is because of domestic violence; that there are more than 107, 000 homeless people in Australia and that 60% of homeless people develop a mental illness.

Our instructor, Jane, asked us what a homeless person looked like and we answered with, "usually a beard, long hair, dirty, old, torn clothing and sometimes scary". But after she told us a few stories about normal, everyday people like us that didn’t look like what we had described, we realised that you didn’t have to look like that to be a homeless person – it can happen to anyone.

Then we went for a walk around to visit some of the places where the homeless sleep. It was a bit of a shock to see this and to hear about how they survive each day. There are more homeless sleeping ‘rough’ now because there is a housing crisis for these people – just nowhere for them to go.

The best thing we learnt though, was about how hard the outreach workers from the Salvation Army work to look out for these people. They don’t give up on people, even if they slip back into their old ways like drinking or drug taking. They keep helping them and had a lot of successful stories to tell us.

Year 9 Career Expo and Arthurs Seat Walk

On Tuesday the 16th of May all the Year 9s went to Chisholm TAFE in Rosebud for a careers expo. Throughout the institute stalls were set up to show the young students the different pathways that are available. Some of the most popular exhibitions were:

-Monash University

-McDonalds

-The University of Melbourne

-Police Academy

- RMIT University

-Federation University

-Navy / Air Force

-Chisholm TAFE

-Victoria University

-Deakin University

-Whitehouse Institute of Design

What did everyone get out of the day? Well I believe that some of the Year 9s may have become more aware of the steps they have to take to work in a particular occupation or to get into a tertiary course. For example what subjects they may have to choose in Year 10 and how much effort they will need to put into their schooling. It may have also encouraged students to think about participating in part time employment to ready themselves for their chosen field.

After the expo we went to Arthur's Seat National Park for a quick lunch break and for a short walk to the lookouts. In the end it was an excellent opportunity and made many students start to really think about what career path they would like to take.

By Brayden Forsyth 9C

Year 7 Youth Day

On Tuesday 30th May we had our annual Youth Day. As part of the day each class was asked to prepare and present their Anti Bulling campaign as part of our Learning About Me class (Health).

We have all been working very hard to come up with an individualised campaign that addresses the issue of bullying and what we can do as a community member at Patterson River Secondary College to prevent and stop bullying in its many forms.

We had a fantastic judging panel, which included our college principal Mr. Dew, assistant principal Miss Cavey and the amazing year 10 leaders. With the great competition and excellent presentations, it was very close. We would like to congratulate 7G for taking out 3rd place, 7E for coming 2nd and a big congratulations goes to 7C for taking out 1st place, well done.

During period 3 & 4 we had the opportunity to participate in some fun activities which included Outdoor Games, Art Installation and games ran by Frankston & Kingston Council Youth Services.

The whole day was really enjoyable and we look forward to seeing this day continue in the years to come.