Student Involvement & Academic News 

YEAR 7 CAMP 

End of term 1. 

PHILLIP ISLAND ADVENTURE RESORT 

In the last week of Term 1, our Year 7 students set off for Phillip Island for the traditional Year 7 adventure camp. Activities throughout the three days included archery, raft making, surfing and beach time, a giant swing and flying fox, and frisbee golf. And while the weather wasn’t overly hot, the pool was still very popular. 

At night students were able to go ten-pin bowling and watch the penguin parade. Overall it was a great opportunity for students to have some fun and get to know their new classmates and teachers better. An event they will all remember fondly in years to come. 

Well done and thank you to Natalie Rochfort, who did the bulk of organisation, and to all the staff who helped make the camp happen. Thank you to the students for being such a great group, who really made us all very proud with their behaviour and participation.

Liam O'Donnell 

Year 7 Coordinator 

INDIGENOUS PROGRAM 

We have had a busy couple of months! Last term, a large group of our Indigenous students attended the Koorie Youth Summit at Willum Warrain. It was a wonderful day full of culture and connection, creating beautiful pieces of art together and building relationships with students from other schools. 

Our Indigenous student leaders also had the pleasure of attending the KELiS- Koorie Emerging Leader in Schools- conference connecting schools from the Bayside Peninsula area together to build the capacity of Koorie students in leadership skills, cultural connection and advocacy skills. Our current Koorie Captains attended, along with our future Koorie Captains for 2023, and found it most inspiring. 

Our Koorie Captains also enjoyed connecting with the local community by attending the Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony at Red Hill Consolidated School in celebration of opening their new building. 

Olivia Roeding

Marrung Coordinator

YEAR 9 SURF AND TURF 

TREE PLANTING 

Dromana College has received a $5000 grant from Landcare to finish the last piece in our Wildlife Corridor (Baggamah Jarrawun)

Our amazing Year 9 Surf and Turf classes have planted 2000 indigenous plants.

The Green Team, along with select year 7 and 9 students have recently been involved in planting out and improving our wildlife corridor behind the oval with over 2000 indigenous plants.

It has included the propagation of some easy to propagate indigenous plant species by our Year 12 VCAL students, alongside purchased tube stock of indigenous plants. 

The main area that has been replanted is a weak point in the wildlife corridor which was once used as a school vineyard, and was overgrown with weeds. This replanting will link up the woodlands on Harrisons Roadside reserve with the wet heathland beside Old White Hill Road, Dromana. By doing this we hope to encourage more fauna by providing a stronger wild life corridor. 

We have included Eucalypt species that support Koala habitat and diet. These

Eucalypt species are listed as appropriate species for revegetation on the site. For our

students we hope this project will provide students involved with a greater connection to

their surrounding natural environment.

The College has made a commitment to the Bunurong people to create a Wildlife Corridor aimed at restoring some land back to it’s original state of indigenous flora and fauna by linking two significant pockets of native bush at the Northern boundary. 

The Bunurong community consented to the continued use of the names on the condition the correct spelling, pronunciation and meanings are also used by the College. 

Jamie Mudge and Laura Bridgeman

Green Team 

YEAR11 OUTDOOR & ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES CAMP 

GLENELG RIVER 

This camp was the first trip for Year 11 Outdoor & Environmental Study students. The camp consisted of three days are spent on the river canoeing. All food for the trip is prepared by the students on camping stoves, they have to carry all of their gear in barrels in their canoes. 

DEBATING

In Term 2 we have had many successes with our Debating and Public Speaking students. Bonnie Salt of Year 11 progressed to the regional finals of Lions Youth of the Year, where she was highly commended for her performance and qualified for the next round. At the beginning of the school holidays she travelled to Box Hill to compete for the Lions Youth of the Year State Final. She did an excellent job representing the school community and is our first student to make it to the State finals, a significant achievement. She won a $100 gift card, which she donated to charity in honour of her speech on Women’s Rights. 

We also had several of our students advertise the Debating and Public Speaking program at Open Night. Jamila Manser, Jasper Lawrenson and Eliza Sawyer ran the Debating and Public Speaking booth, where they explained to prospective families the benefits of extra-curricular activities such as the Debating team. It was a great opportunity to advertise the success of our program and how it has grown over the years. 

Finally, our debaters have had several more rounds of the DAV Schools Debating Competition. As of now, our D grade (Year 8/9) team and VCE team are undefeated for the year, competing against schools such as Peninsula Grammar, Toorak College and Woodleigh. Our debaters have spoken on topics such as whether the ABC should only show Australian made content, whether a hung Parliament is beneficial, and if we should encourage people who live in disaster prone areas to relocate. We have one more debate in the Regional competition remaining, before we learn if we progress to the State finals. 

Thank you to all of the parents for encouraging your children and supporting them at our events, without your support this would not be possible. 

Grace Bonfadini 

Debating and Public Speaking Coordinator

MATHS 

Maths Olympics is a program that runs each Wednesday lunch time for interested students in Year 7 and 8. Students involved are enrolled into the Senior Division of the Australasian Problem Solving and Mathematical Olympiad and complete five challenging competition papers throughout the year. 

During Term 2 the Maths Olympics Team worked to develop their mathematical knowledge and problem-solving skills. The team completed past competition questions, and shared problem-solving strategies to help them successfully complete paper two and three. Students also explored hands on maths by investigating the Mobius Strip and creating modular origami figures.