VCE Camp 2022

This year, the VCE Cohort enjoyed a taste of University life at Federation University, Mt Helen Campus. The weather was lovely and the setting quite picturesque. St Andrews VCE students stayed in the university’s student housing.

Many workshops were delivered to students including Study Skills, Acing VCE English, Understanding Study Scores and ATAR and Wellbeing. Activities included Amazing Race, Swimming, Gym (Strength and Conditioning) and a 4km night walk around the perimeter of the university campus.

On the way home, we enjoyed a walk through the beautiful Ballarat Botanical Gardens before getting lunch in Ballarat’s town centre.

Natalie Farmer

VCE Coordinator

Playing with Perception at ArtVo

Year 10 and 11 students enjoyed exploring the ArtVo exhibition on Monday 7th March during their Psychology Unit 1/2 Excursion.

Adele Appleby

Secondary School Teacher

Year 7 Geography

The Year 7 Geography classes conducted a field trip investigation at the site of the Maroondah Reservoir to learn more about the water cycle and how Melbourne's water is managed.

Personally, I had lots of fun walking around and admiring the beauty of what God has created.We learnt about the Maroondah reservoir and why it was built.

Evan

Overall I think the excursion was intresting and brought a new view to nature for me.

Derek

This field trip was an amazing experience, I had so much fun learning about the Maroondah reservoir and testing the waters around. I truly loved the time there.

Joel

On Wednesday 16th of March we went to Maroondah dam. We learnt a lot there about the background of the land and learnt about the Aboriginal tribe Wurundjeri. I really enjoyed the reservoir walk and the beautiful river. I think we all learnt a lot about the reservoir and how its used, and its history.

Edha

When we went to Maroondah Reservoir I was in awe of the towering dam wall that stood in front of me. During the trip, I learnt about how they manage the water in the dam and how it goes through our taps! We also tested the water quality of the water from the stream. I learnt that an old river bed took the dam's place in the past. I enjoyed listening to how the Indigenous used that river to help their survival. I loved the trip to Maroondah Reservoir!

Annabel

I enjoyed exploring and looking at the reservoir and how much thinking was put behind it and how it gets to our homes. It was also really fun testing the water for different things.

Anushka

These are 2 things that I really enjoyed or learned from our field trip at the Maroondah Reservoir.

In our field trip I really enjoyed the part where we would sketch different areas of the reservoir. I learned quite a bit about the water management in the area of the dam wall and the Watts River as well.

Ethan

When we went to Maroondah Reservoir I saw many different types of plants when we stood in front of the dam wall. During our excursion, I learnt how to use some of the water testing equipment. I also liked the new information and facts I learnt on our trip. Amber

Penelope Connolly

Head of Humanities, Secondary School Teacher

Hanging Rock Excursion

On Tuesday 15 March, the Year 8 students went on a Field Study excursion to Hanging Rock to investigate the geological processes that shaped this spectacular landscape. We were blessed with wonderful weather and it was an amazing experience!

Here are some views from students when asked, what they enjoyed about the excursion…

Hanging Rock is a serene and beautiful place. Learning about the history, the formation of the landscape and how weathering and erosion affected the shape and size of the rocks was very interesting. Ethan

Climbing the rocks and looking at the amazing view from the summit. Phoebe

Exploring the different rock formations and learning about the mystery of Hanging Rock. Bonnie

Climbing the rocks to the top and looking down at the view of the surrounding areas was awesome. Emma

Learning about how Hanging Rock was formed, seeing the view from

Eagle’s Nest and looking for evidence of erosion and weathering. Samuel

Learning firsthand about how erosion affects the shapes of the rocks. Roshan

I really enjoyed the different rock formations and learnt many fascinating things about Hanging Rock: the history behind Hanging Rock, how the Aboriginals used the place, their close connection with the site and how Hanging Rock was used in different ways by people over the years. It was such a fun, new and amazing experience! Leah

Observing what erosion could do to the rocks over long periods of time. Layla

I love the beauty of nature at Hanging Rock. Jim

I enjoyed climbing the rocks, looking at all the different rock formations and the view from the summit. Beatrice

Rajes Krishnan

Secondary School Teacher

MEDIA ARTS

Year 10 Media Arts – ‘Photography & Advertising’

Students have been exploring story, communicated through photographic narrative sequences. After reading, discussing, and reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer and God’s deep desire for us to know Him, each student chose a theme, such as ‘longing’, ‘connection in time’, hope’.

Students responded to historical photographic narratives and completed visual, technical, conceptual, and contextual analysis. They applied this understanding to their own narratives, working through the production process (including using Photoshop) with great excitement. Using the fantastic cameras and enjoying the process of learning has been a highlight this term.

As Christian Bligh reflects, “Media this year allowed us to express ourselves through photographic imagery – I have had heaps of fun with my friends and figured out so many new things!”

Year 9 Media Arts – ‘Wise Media & Storytelling’

Students took on the challenge of working both individually and collaboratively to create a coherent promotional campaign to help eradicate Malaria. They considered how a Biblical worldview, loving others as Jesus loved, can push us to use our gifts to help others - to be mission focussed. They made posters and logos, with consistent aesthetics and an overall campaign which stretch through the whole of Term 1. Their work has been outstanding. They grappled with the codes and conventions, the language of media, so that they could effectively communicate to a visually saturated audience. Positioning their chosen audience favourably was a challenge.

Year 8 Media Arts – ‘Cracking the Media Code’

This term has seen students create amazing magazine covers to promote physical, emotional, or spiritual health. Reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer, they chose an area of health to promote, an audience, and followed the production process to create unique, aesthetically consistent, and intentionally marketed magazine covers. They considered audience positioning, their role as producer, the benefit of feedback and critical analysis and how to ‘cope’ when receiving ‘constructive feedback’! These are on display in the IT Room.

Please continue to support your child to try out electives which stretch them and help them develop discernment, preparing them to navigate our ever changing, visually dynamic world. We are very proud of our Media Arts curriculum at St Andrews and look forward to taking it through to VCE Media Arts in the future!

God Bless,

Marina Heading

Visual & Media Arts Teacher

CHINESE LANGUAGE

Lunar New Year

Students finally get to experience what it was truly like on Lunar New Year’s Eve for Chinese people, and in classroom! Year 7-9 can make their own creative dumping, wonton and spring roll using real skin. Second Language Advanced students also wrote some chunlian( 春联)to bring festive to the beginning of the year. Hope all the students have a blessed 2022!

Shuttlecock Kicking Activity

Shuttlecock activity（毽子）is a traditional and common Chinese sport game which was brought to secondary Chinese classroom. Students love to kick with friends.

It is great fun to watch the colourful shuttlecock bouncing in the air and share the joy with each other.

Nikki Miao

Secondary School Teacher

Does Laptop Battery Life Differ for Students Across Other Year Levels?

Sometimes laptop battery life is a real issue at school. It is interesting though, that certain year levels have different responses to their device's battery life.

As I have looked at the battery life data, the upper years levels seem to struggle with battery life more than the lower year levels, but the students anecdotally are all using their laptops the same. So why is battery life different from year level to year level?

One may assume that it is the type of programs that students use. Perhaps one upper-level student is using Photoshop, whilst another is only web-browsing. As I have looked at the data on this, I concluded that the upper levels have missed some battery life training. Perhaps their practices take down battery life.

So, I conducted a study on different students. As I looked at their screens and asked them about their battery life it became clear that there was a strong correlation between their battery life and what apps they had open on their screen.

The below screen shots show two different ways of handling battery life. The screen on the left has a whole lot of apps processing in the background, causing the battery life to be significantly lower. This student found battery life went from fully depleting by period 5 to being less than 10% in a day. In the case of the screen on the right, the battery life would only go down to between 20% and 40% at the end of the day. The student’s laptop that went down to 40% really considered the brightness of her screen to be a main priority.

Food for thought when it comes to saving battery life.

Rolland Hall

Head of Digital Technologies

St Andrews Career Guidance & Pathways Program

At St Andrews we teach our students that each is an individual, created in the image of God with a unique purpose to fulfil as part of a great picture. I am passionate about supporting our students to reach their career goals and ensure they receive all relevant information to help them prepare for the future.

My Career Match Career Profile – Year 10

In Term 1, Year 10 students completed My Career Match Career Profile.

Career Profile matches students’ personality to careers. It’s empowering and gives students knowledge of themselves and what they’re good at, creating a positive experience. Suggested careers are linked to Job Outlook for exploration. Employability skills, people, communication, work ethic, teamwork and problem solving are highlighted.

My Career Match Parent Guide provides advice to parents and guardians based on their child’s personality type and introduces parents on how to best communicate, inspire and create a positive environment at home.

Careers Newsletter

The St Andrews Careers Newsletter is a great resource for our students and parents. I aim to provide information about the latest offerings from universities and TAFEs, upcoming Expos, Open Days and workshops and it is inspiring to hear students’ comments about the programs and workshops they’ve attended.

Irena Yevlahova

Careers Coordinator

SPORT

CSEN Sport - Year 9/10 Winners are Grinners

CSEN Primary Sport - Swimming