College News,
Sports & Events
HEATHERHILL PS STEM HALF DAY
Teachers and students from Keysborough College went to visit Heatherhill primary school for a STEM outreach program to support their science program. We provided an opportunity for our local community to learn more about STEM learning. In the session Keysborough students worked with primary students from grade 3&4 to make catapults and for the students to learn more about forces. The primary school students really enjoyed the program and later in the year went to visit our school for a half day STEM session.
In the half day STEM session students learnt about animals and how they survive in their environment. The primary school students built enclosures for their model animals, made digital greeting cards as well as used microscopes for the first time. The primary school STEM session was supported by our year 10 STEM and year 7 Heatherhill Primary alumni students who helped run the digital card making session as well as other sessions during the day. The primary school teachers and students were very happy with the program and left our Banksia campus with smiles.
TECH FEST
Keysborough hosted its first TECH fest on the 18th of August. Over 60 people attended the night. Parents were shown around our Banksia STEM centre where they completed different activities in each room. On the night there were a number of activities from spheros, VR, Laser cutting and LED card making. There were also a number of year 10 students who supported on the night and helped run the activities.
The parents were very impressed of what our school had to offer and the local primary school students also had a great time where they got to create popcorn robots that could deliver popcorn to customers. They were able to take home their fabulous creations as they got to make cards which glowed as well as creative bracelets where charms which were cut from our very own lazer cutter.
Overall a fun night for both parent and child.
Hoang Huynh - STEM Learning Specialist
LOTE WEEK ACTIVITIES, COMPETITIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Time flies again, everyone! We had our LOTE week from Aug 15th-19th! Our college wide French and Chinese languages students have participated in so many different activities and competitions with our greatest achievements!
The Y7 Chinese students went to China Town on our Chinese Museum excursions for both museum tours and Kung Fu workshops there. Students explored Chinese history and culture in the museum on topics of Chinese immigrants and the Gold Rush, timeline of ancient Chinese dynasties, the First Emperor and Terracotta Warriors in Qin Dynasty, Silk Road in Han Dynasty, Chinese traditional medicines, ancient Chinese mummification, ancient Chinese dresses and poems, etc. Students also learnt Kung Fu movements and practiced different martial arts skills with the instructor there!
The year 7 French students on both campuses attended an incursion with “Philippe et Jacques”, a French music and mime duo. Philippe took us on a musical trip of France, introducing us to the sounds of the pipe and accordion. We sang along to French children’s classics, like “Frère Jacques” and danced the Can Can! Alongside the music, we watched as Jacques was locked into an invisible box, told a story of his horrible time fishing, and made friends with an acrobatic flea. Les profs de français souhaitons remercier tous les élèves pour leur participation !
Lots of fun activities also happened at lunchtime during the LOTE week at both Acacia and Banksia campuses, such as Kung Fu Panda movies, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese fishing games, Chinese jianzi kicking, the Blooket culture competition quiz, etc. What a busy LOTE week! More successfully, we got the best news to say a very big congratulations on our student results in the 2022 VIC Regional Languages Champs, too. We achieved at 33rdoverall in Australia out of 335 schools and came 1st for Chinese in Australia out of 154 schools. Excellent work, LOTE teachers and students!
YEAR 8 FABRICS
This semester 8G has been developing hand sewing skills to adhere fabric together to produce these maazing little creatures, the Students have also learn the art of spatial awarness and sewing on buttons which is an essential life skill.
With all the British Football teams coming to our shores our year 8’s were inspired to produce their own mini soccer ball, in this situation the stitches had to be a lot smaller and then align the shapes correctly.
YEAR 7 GIRLS DISTRICT CHAMPIONS
Congratulations to the Acacia girls Basketball team who won all of their matches at the recent District competition. (6 x 20 minutes matches…the equivalent of three full games all
played in one day. The girls displayed excellent sporting behaviours and had a great time working together. Top scorers were Tia, Tamanna and Lucien. They continue on to Regional finals in Term 4.Well done girls
Mrs Pavlou
YEAR 10 BOUNCE EXCURSION
Thursday of week 8, the year 10 Recreational Pursuits class visited Bounce in Keysborough to experience a unique way of being active and most of all, have fun. Throughout the day, every student had a smile on their face and overcame a fear or two.
Mr Brew
VCAL IN ACTION
This term the VCAL students at Acacia campus have been completing community projects to support a social issue. It has been great to see the range of projects being completed to support our school and local communities such as:
- decorating the new wellbeing room
- plantar boxes in junior school garden
- repainting the fences and benches around Acacia campus
- food and clothes donations for Salvation Army and Back4Kids
- Stepember – 10,000 steps in support of people living with cerebal Palsy
- education support staff appreciation luncheon
- cleaning up graffiti in Keysborough
In VCAL this term we have been focusing on a community issue, our group consisting of Leon, Richard, Jayze, Peter and, Kaituu and I chose to organise an education support staff appreciation luncheon. As part of this project we had to budget and organise food to prepare for this lunch. Part of our project made us travel out of school to collect food at Parkmore Coles, we then got everything ready in a period for lunch. – Tin Nguyen, year 11
My group consisting of Jayden, Say Say, Duy and I have been doing is getting our 10,000 steps up per day for September supporting people with Cerebral Palsy. We have been getting our steps up by playing basketball and getting active by going for walks. We have also assisted Natalie's group with the fence painting in the community garden in junior school. – Koby Seth, year 12
As part of our VCAL project our group consisting of Connor, Noah, Thomas and Ali(me) chose to research and support a community issue, we chose the issue of child displacement and to support the charity known as Backpacks4VICKIDS. The charity donates supplies to displaced children in foster homes and orphanages so we decided to do the same. We presented our project to the staff and received donations from them to build our own backpacks. It was good for a while but we realised just the donations were not going to push us to the end so we volunteered to go on a bus trip to Parkmore Plaza to buy the remaining stuff to provide our input. My favourite part about this whole project was when the teachers would donate because of their enthusiasm. We are in the home stretch now to organise the backpacks. – Ali Alwan, year 11
Ms Jong
YEAR 7 CHINESE MUSEUM AND CHINATOWN EXCURSION - ACACIA CAMPUS
On the 17 of August, the Acacia Year 7 students studying Chinese had a chance to explore the Chinese Museum and Chinatown as part of their cultural learning experience. Upon arrival, we first gathered under the Facing Heaven Archway in Chinatown. We then journey through the Chinese Museum, where many students got a chance to educate themselves on the history of Chinese culture and early immigration to Australia. Inside the Museum, we met a Kung Fu instructor who demonstrated a few basic moves and taught us about Kung Fu’s origin and its mental aspects. After the museum tour, students explored Chinatown and were given time to admire and appreciate the physical appearance and importance of this culturally significant part of Melbourne. The Year 7 students had an engaging day.
Kuenyang Dodeng and Rosalie Cheung 7C
EDUCATION PERFECT CHAMPIONSHIPS
From Wednesday Aug 10th to Friday Aug 12th Keysborough students participated in the 2022 Education Perfect VIC Regional Language Championships. Our school came 1st out of 154 schools in Chinese and ranked 33rd out of 335 schools (all language subjects). Well done to Norman Tang (7E) who received a Certificate of Credit and to all students who took part in the competition.
Ms Zhang
COLLEGE SENIOR BAND PERFORMANCE
AT THE VICTORIAN SCHOOL MUSIC FESTIVAL
On Thursday 25th August, the College Senior Band performed in the Intermediate Section of the Victorian School Music Festival and the band received a Gold Award for their performance. The Festival was held at the Hawthorn Arts Centre and the students relished the opportunity to perform at such a prestigious venue.
The Band was made up of Acacia and Banksia students from Years 9 to 12 and our students performed their musical program to a very high standard.
The students had been preparing for this performance in afterschool rehearsals for over 12 weeks and their dedication to their music practise has been truly impressive.
All the Senior music students did a fantastic job at demonstrating our school values on this excursion by showing respect and encouragement to students from other schools who participated the Festival.
Congratulations to all students (and staff) involved with this amazing performance!
The video of the performance is available on the school intranet: https://intranet.keysboroughsc.vic.edu.au/video/2022VicSchoolMusicFestival/
Mr Kenneth (Senior Band Director)
Upcoming Music Performances for Term 4, 2022:
- Rocktober – lunchtime performances throughout October
- Dandenong Plaza Senior Band Performance – Friday 11th Nov
- Acacia Year 7 Concert – Tuesday 25th October
- Banksia Year 7 Concert – Thursday 28th October
YEAR 12 PYHSICS EXCURSION TO ANSTO
Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, (ANSTO) is the home of Australia’s most significant landmark and national infrastructure for research in medical, imaging etc. Students visited the Synchrotron which produces intense beams of light for use in scientific experiments
Students got the opportunity to conduct practical investigation using Light and lasers so they were able to link their theoretical understanding of dual nature of light and mater to their practical knowledge.
This task was part of their Unit 4 AOS 2 SAC.
Ms Dhillon
YEAR 8 BAND BANKSIA CAMPUS
Earlier this term the Banksia Year 8 Band went to perform at two local primary schools. They entertained and impressed whole school audiences at Wallarano and Keysborough Gardens primary schools with a selection of pop and film music. Some of the band members performed solos and wowed the primary school students with their skills. The band also performed at the Grade 5 Taster Day, which saw them featured on the stage of our Theatre. The students involved in these performances have been fantastic example of student success at our school and have represented the college brilliantly.- Mr Phil Hayter, Music and Band teacher.
Mr Hayter
YEAR 7 FLOURISH GROUP
On 1 September 2022, the Year 7 Flourish Group attended the Melbourne Equine Assisted Counselling service in Pearcedale for a two-hour equine workshop. During the workshop, the students had the opportunity to explore their emotional wellbeing with the assistance of two ponies, two horses and a cat. The students also learnt about mindfulness, empathy and healthy interactions with each other and the animals. The final activity for the day was centred around completing an obstacle course, which they had to do in pairs and lead their horse through a number of challenges. Each student demonstrated excellent communication and leadership skills and worked well as a team.
Ms Dorsett
BOOK WEEK 2022
Book week in the Acacia Junior Library was wild! Students had the opportunity to get involved in a range of fun activities that celebrated the wonder and joy of books. The chance to win one of 5 mega prizes was just the cherry on top. The Book week mystery suitcase was back, challenging students to follow clues and solve tricky puzzles, all in the hope of cracking the code and discovering the treasures within. Mr Dwyer also donned a different book character’s hat each day tasking students to figuring out which book that hat belonged in.
In the Acacia Senior Library, students completed a series of literary quizzes, and put their detective hats on to work out which staff members owned which bookcases! Thanks to all those staff members who participated – students really enjoyed trying to guess which bookcase could possibly belong to who. It was surprisingly tough!
In Banksia libraries, literature quizzes and word games were the order of the day, and of course, dreaming. With eyes open. Keep reading, everyone.
Ms Talbot
YEAR 12 FORMAL
A ‘GLAMorous’ night
After two years on the sidelines, the excited anticipation of the Keysborough College Year 12 Formal came to fruition on Friday 2nd September at The Grand Receptions - Cathies Lane in Wantirna South. With the theme of ‘Glam Gala’, 282 students and staff from across the College enjoyed an evening of scrumptious food, great company, great tunes and fun times.
We would like to acknowledge the hard work of our Year 12 Formal Committee who put in mammoth efforts and committed an insurmountable time to this event. The culmination of their efforts was really special.
Congratulations:
Acacia: Lydia Mccracken-Matthews, Jimmy Webster, Salinna Sem,
Vy Vu, Anton Warnakulasuriya, Emma Dogan and Angie Prak
Banksia: Michelle Seng, Sithisak Sereibott, Rin Sao, Ashley Magnaye,
Ryan Le and Bettina Hok
We would also like to acknowledge and thank staff who attended and our hirers who helped make the occasion special: Plan It Events, A Day to Remember, HM Photos and Fedora Productions; too the venue staff at The Grand Receptions.
Steph Govender & Melissa Naganivatu
College Year 12 TTMs
YEAR 7 STUDENTS IN MAKING CONNECTIONS
On 14th July in Term 3, Year 7 students in their Making Connections classes had the opportunity to start making their own messages and information about cyberbullying. The project was called: My ‘Cyber Pledge Project’. The aim of the project was to help students to define the range of forms cyberbullying takes, demonstrate protective strategies for using iPad/Social Media and identify strategies for dealing with cyberbullying. Students then had to create any form of media such as online posters or videos, that outlines a story of a ‘cyber’ incident that includes steps for protecting ourselves in the future. On the 22nd August, our year 7 Teacher Team Leader, Ms Hoskin, announced the winners of the project and that their works will be showing to grade 6 students who will be in year 7 next year! The winners enjoyed a pizza lunch and are looking forward to their chosen pieces being showcased!
Suzanne and Anna 7E – Banksia Campus
SPORT AT BANKSIA CAMPUS
State Badminton Finals
On Friday, September 9, our Boys and Girls Badminton teams ventured to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre for the School Sport Victoria State Badminton Finals.
Our Girls team (Omamar Omamar, Khuong Phan, Nhu Ngoc Dinh, Julia Soebadio and Eva Khuu) started off with a rapid 6 matches to 0 win over Colac Secondary College, and then followed that up with a 6-0 win over Chairo Christian College. This meant that we were ensured of a semi-finals berth, so it was going to be a battle with Epping SC that would determine who finished on top. The Epping girls were very good from the start, winning 4-2, with our only wins being from our number 2 singles player Khuong (21-10) and our first doubles combination, Khuong and Omamar (21-9). This meant we had to play the best team from the other pool, Alamanda College. They ended up being too strong for our girls, with Omamar being the only player to win her match (21-18). Alamanda then went on to win the final and become Year 8 Girls State Champion.
Our Boys team (Matthew Diep, Arnold Tran, Danny Chau, Daryn Vay, Justin Tran and Pervaiz Muhammad) had a similar day to the Girls team. We raced to a 6-0 win over Balmoral Community College and Chairo Christian College, with our singles players not allowing their opponents to score more than 10 points in any game. Our final pool game was against Epping, and although we won 5-1, it was a much tighter contest in most matches - apart from our #1 Matthew Diep’s demolition of Eppings #1, winning 21-2. Our semi-final clash was against the much-fancied Glen Waverley. Matthew lost 12-21, Arnold won 21-11, Danny won 21-15 and Daryn lost 21-12. Going into the doubles matches, it was 2 matches apiece but we were down by 2 points overall. Matthew and Danny then won their doubles match 21-13 but Arnold and Daryn lost theirs 21-16. Thus, our clash with Glen Waverley was tied at 3 matches all. We were of the belief that we had lost on points until the convenor came over to tell us that we had actually won by one point, 103-102!
This meant that we made the final and had to play Maribyrnong College, which has a badminton academy. It showed, as they raced to a 5-1 win to become State Champions, leaving our boys team second in the state.
Congratulations to both teams (and Andrew Diep for his specialised coaching program), who have trained extremely hard this year. To be the fourth best Girls team and second best Boys team in the State is an achievement that they should be extremely proud of.
Banksia Track and Field Championships
The Banksia Campus held their Track and Field Championships on Friday, August 26th in relatively normal chilly wintery conditions. Attendance and participation was quite high, with the general atmosphere for the whole day being very enthusiastic and jovial. We had six new records set by Kevin Sok (200m), Chetra Hab (Triple Jump), Brandon In (Long Jump), Ammar Ibrahim (Long Jump) and Rebecca McNess (1500m and 200m).
Our champions on the day were:
Junior Male – David Seng and Robinson Pushparasa
Junior Female – Tepy Suon
Intermediate Male – Kevin Sok and Raymond Tang
Intermediate Female – Rebecca McNess and Clianna Russell
Senior Male –Will McNess
Senior Female – Revival Samaeli
Greater Dandenong and District Track and Field Championships
For the first time since the formation of Keysborough College, the Banksia Campus was crowned as District champions in the Greater Dandenong and District Track and Field Championships, held at the Knox Athletics Track on Monday, September 12. We now have 36 students moving forward to the Southern Metropolitan Track and Field Championships next term, and if any of them win there, the State Finals await. Banksia won the Intermediate and Senior Girls competition overall, along with the Junior and Intermediate Boys. Notable achievements were:
Rebecca McNess – the overall U16 Girls Champion
Revival Samaeli – the overall U17 Girls Champion
Arnold Tran - second in the U15 Boys championship
Clianna Russell – second in the U16 Girls championship
Kevin Sok – second in the U16 Boys championship
Chetra Hab – second in the U18-20 Boys championship
Jenny Saard – third in the U18-20 Girls championship
Sela Kea – overall third in the U12-13 Boys championship
Tepy Suon - overall third in the U14 Girls championship
Tobias Chand & Daniel Kamana - equal third in the U15 Boys championship
Congratulations to all of the 82 students who made up the team and put themselves forward to compete against the other local schools. Amazing job!
Mr Wagner
2022 WAKAKIRRI STORY-DANCE FESTIVAL
This year Keysborough College was involved in the 2022 Wakakirri Festival. The Wakakirri Story-Dance Festival is a national program that helps schools develop student engagement and wellbeing through participation in the performing arts. This was an extra-curricular activity that saw students auditioning all the way back in Term 1, with rehearsals continuing throughout the year. All of the student’s hard work and dedication was showcased recently as we attended the performance evening on Tuesday 23rd August at the Frankston Arts Centre.
Our dance was titled ‘Girls will be Women’ and aimed to shine a light on societies expectations and pressures that are placed on women and other individuals to conform to certain roles. We also wanted to show how supporting and building up one another is key in breaking stereotypes. The students did such a wonderful job, that Keysborough Secondary College were nominated for two national awards, including a Human Rights Storytelling Award and an Excellence in Performing Arts Award among many other awards on the night. We were one of 5 secondary schools in the state to be invited to the awards evening, which is a massive testament to our student’s hard work. We performed for the second time at the Clocktower Centre on Wednesday 7th September, which was another massive day and night but equally rewarding. We have enjoyed this experience incredibly, and celebrate our student’s success – Well done to all involved!
Ms Kent-Russell
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
ELC students got right into Athletics Day and they took up opportunity to get involved with gusto. Keo says he enjoyed seeing so many people competing and he joined in and ran the 800m.
Vong and Phengmuy participated on Athletics day and then the District sports day. Vong ran the 200 m and Phengmuy and he joined in the relay….Phengmuy was chuffed to come third in relay at District sports. Ka My got first prize in hurdles in the District sports. It was a bit of a struggle but then I nailed it.
Laysin loved Athletics because he made many friends from other year levels. He says they know each other from playing in the basketball school team.
Lyda learned she should wear her glasses when she runs and she should not have her phone in her pocket either!! She always comes last but doesn’t mind, at all.
Just a few Vox Pop comments from this semester’s ELC students and how they feel being in our school. They feel welcome to join in and enjoy school events.
Ms Vlassopoulos
YEAR 12 SENIOR SCHOOL ACACIA CAMPUS
Formal. Check. GAT. Check. Our last term of official learning. Check! The Year 12’s are so close to the finish line, yet we still have so much work left. Last time we were writing a newsletter item, we had only just begun to plan our Year 12 formal, we didn’t even know about SEAS or what to do in regards to VTAC and we certainly did not have the fear of exams whispering in our ears. We have completed so much this semester already, so instead of focusing on what we are about to do, let us reminisce about all of our combined efforts.
The GAT was over before we even knew it. Although it was a short moment in our week, many of us had feared the time it would roll around. The GAT this year was different from previous years but it was still many of our first times in doing such a test. For those who don’t know, the GAT (General Achievement Test) is much like NAPLAN but all in one day: a test that checks our ability to solve Literacy, Numeracy and other questions. This was a nice taste tester for the exams that begin next term. Except the exams won’t feature E-bikes and tomato clocks… we hope!
Another big event for us Year 12s was the formal. What an amazing night that was! Everyone dressed with such elegance and the dance floor was alive the whole night. A big thanks to everyone involved in planning and setting up for the night. Many teachers had even joined in on the dance floor alongside us students! Throughout the night, many students were given the opportunity to win awards, catch up with our Banksia friends and even have our picture taken by a professional photographer. I know that many students will be remembering the events of this night for a long time to come.
Throughout this term, we completed our SEAS appointment and also VTAC appointment with Ms Tranquille who met with every student individually to help us in selecting our courses. These appointments allows us Year 12 students gain an idea of what Pathway course (whether it be University, TAFE, apprenticeship or full-time employment) we would like to attend after finishing our final year in high school. We are all very grateful for all the teachers and support staff involved with our SEAS appointments, as it cleared up the confusion and helped us strive for success when applying for courses!
Lastly, to the Year 12 students. We are entering our last term at Keysborough College. The term break is coming up so do not forget to rest! We know it has been a tough time, but we also know that with the amazing mindset that everyone has, we can achieve anything. We have all accomplished so much this year and there is no sign of slowing down. Take a well-deserved break over the holidays but also be sure to make time for exam revision and put in effort to attend practice exam sessions that have been arranged for us. Let's all do our very best to study hard so that we can leave the exam room feeling accomplished and proud of our efforts.Never stop shooting for the stars!
Jimmy Webster and Lydia Mccracken-Matthews
Acacia Campus Captains 2022
