Senior School Activities

International Students' Lunch

19th February was the Lantern’s Day, last day of celebrating Chinese Spring Festival. Our International Students had a big lunch with our Principals, Year Level Coordinators and some parents.  A huge thank you to our parents who contributed their time and abundant foods for this lunch. The students and staff enjoyed the time very much.

Tara Fang

International Student Coordinator

Sister Paula joins the VCE Literature class for a lesson in 13th Century Catholicism in England

On 4th March, the Year 12 Literature class, currently studying The Anchoress by Robyn Cadwallader was fortunate to have Sister Paula from the St Carmelite Monastery join their lesson. Sister Paula gave the class much-needed insight into monastic life as she herself took a calling at a very young age and has committed herself to the wider community.

Sister Paula’s extensive historical knowledge and commitment to the church helped the class to understand the context in which the book was set and the reasons why the protagonist, Sarah, chose to seclude herself from the outside world and enter a ‘living death’ as an Anchoress in 1255AD England. Both Sister Paula and the fictional character, Sarah, solely devoted themselves to the worship of God. Sister Paula offered great insight into a world that we do not recognise and this supported a deep understanding for our first SAC in Literature.

Sister Paula was able to answer all our questions allowing for a more sustained, in-depth knowledge of the text. Before the external examination at the end of the year, we will reciprocate her generosity and visit her and the nuns at their Monastery in Kew.

Luise Verhoeven

Year 11

VCE Literature Under the Tree

Last week, the Unit 3 Literature class decided to have a change of scenery from our usual classroom environment and relocate to behind the newly renovated PAC to be accompanied by the birds and the early Autumn sunlight. Our change in scenery also meant a change in text after completion of our first SAC where our class excelled in creative responses based on The Anchoress by Robyn Cadwallader along with intense group discussions about each other’s adaptations.

For the past week, we have begun to study Shakespeare’s Othello, by reading and annotating our copies of the play and listening along to a recording of it. During our double on Friday afternoon we brought our texts and highlighters outside and sat under the shade of a tree, sharing ideas among our small class of seven.

Personally, I believe it was extremely beneficial to conduct our lesson outside. If not just for the fresh air, the class was able to spread out and conduct discussions without interruption, as well as have a complete change of our surroundings from the usual classroom environment into the fresh air.

Next Friday, our class is planning on walking the few hundred metres down Booran Rd to ‘Upsy Daisy’ in Glenhuntly, where will share lunch and ideas in the company of Othello. Our Literature double on a Friday afternoon has truly become a sanctuary and something to look forward to for all!

Leah Sandow

Year 11