Student Involvement & Academic News 

HOST FAMILIES FOR INDONESIAN STUDENTS 

For all the Indonesian learners at Dromana, the amazing opportunity to host a student has been brought back! 

We have 15 students who will need a family to host them from the 4th - 11th September, boys and girls. This is a great experience for Indonesian students to build up their language skils, gain a deeper understanding of the culture, and have someone you can visit if you travel to Indonesia!

 If you have questions and are interested in this life changing and epic experience, contact Theresa Stelling on 0419 502 081.

OPEN NIGHT SUCCESS!

Each year the Open Night is a huge event for the college community.  On May 3, 2023, Dromana Secondary College showed parents and students from primary schools across the Peninsula what the school had to offer them. Our Transition Co-Ordinator, Mr Miller, had these insights about the night.

What were potential students able to see?

Students were able to see the success Dromana Secondary College has had for a long time.  They learnt about the academic success we’ve had and the supports we put in place to make sure everything goes right.  They can see all the camps and enhancement programs that we offer.  They can learn a bit about each Domain: what it looks like to be in Maths or Science or English.  They can chat to teachers and students about what a school day looks like.

What is involved in running Open Night?

The big thing about Open Night is that it is a whole school effort.  I took over the role from Ms Mollenkopf, and she’d done quite a lot of the organising for the different things happening on the night.  I worked with the people in charge of the different areas.  I also worked with the students who were making speeches on the night, making sure they knew what they wanted to say and that they felt confident.  Lots of teachers do lots of cool things – I had to make sure they had all the support and resources they needed to showcase all of those things and to make the night really successful.

On the night, how do things work?

There are three parts. The first part is the communication about Open Night to our community, making sure the information is out there. I made sure the primary schools knew about it and it is advertised to parents in their newsletters. 

The second part is the big presentation to all parents in the gym.  This introduces some of the key elements of the college to parents. Setting up the gym involves a lot of logistics such as making sure the band is set up, that the chairs are out and the sound works well.  Mr Marr prepares his speech.

The final part is the tours around the school.  At each Domain area and special area set up around the school, teachers and students worked together to put on a showcases of what we actually do.  There were lots of students involved, with many students giving up their time to come along and share their experiences at school with the parents.

How do you feel it went overall?

The highlight overall is the way we engage our community in what we do here.  The night was really well attended and there was a lot for visitors to see and do.  There were some entertaining highlights in different areas, such as the theatre and the music room which were just amazing.  There were many talented people doing their thing.  The language domain presentation was really student led.  In many areas, when kids and parents came around, it was students who were showing things and talking about things they've done and what’s going on.  It was a really positive event.

Mitchell Weir and Callum Greenan

Year 9 Journalism

KOORIE NEWS: INDIGENOUS PROGRAM

We have had another busy start to the year! Last term, our Indigenous group visited Willum Warrain for a Cultural Tour and a chance for the new Year 7 members to get to know the group. The cultural tour was fantastic- we had a lovely yarn about local culture, ate a bushtucker BBQ and enjoyed some art activities experimenting with dot and line painting with Auntie Sammy.

We also attended the annual Koorie Youth Summit 2023 which was deadly. After an awesome Welcome to country from Bunurong Elders, we mingled with other Indigenous students from local schools, saw Alice Skye perform, watched some inspirational dances from Aboriginal Ant Brothers, participated in yarning circles and worked on a whole group sand art piece.

PARLIAMENTARY CONVENTION

As a result of our Dromana Secondary College LEAP Challenge Day, held in semester 1, selected students who excelled on the day were invited to attend the Victorian Parliamentary Convention. Operated in the Parliament House of Victoria, students of enrolled schools participated in passing a clause through the Legislative Assembly. This clause involved the uproar in popularity of e-cigarette use in Victorian adolescence, and the prominent dilemma these products may have. 

The bill stated the proposal of “e-cigarettes or vapes must be regulated in the same way as alcohol and/or cigarettes”. Students were expected to prepare accordingly with a position statement and an intent knowledge of the ramifications this bill may present if acknowledged and accepted into Victorian law.

Upon arrival, students were shown into the Legislative Assembly, the location of which we were to debate, argue and come to an inevitable conclusion regarding the proposed bill. The appointed Speaker of the house introduced the point to the room, further elaborating on the process of Parliament and how a bill is debated. Certain points that were raised included voicing your agreement for a statement, to which people in the room will say “aye”. 

Additionally, if further examination to the issue is needed, the Assembly may vote to send the bill to a Committee, a board of specialists who provide additional information and seek public opinion to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the proposed bill. The bill was ultimately rejected due to a point raised by students, stating e-cigarettes require harsher restrictions in order to be successfully implemented and create an effect on the society and the economy.

Overall, the Victorian Parliamentary Convention was a special and appreciable experience for all of those involved and provided a new perspective of how the Victorian Government is operated.

Written by Ethan Tangatatutai

STKFC TRAINING FACILITIES EXCURSION

This excursion was organised for the 4 VET SPORT RECREATION classes to consolidate their learning and application for the following VET units of competency:

• WORK EFFECTIVELY IN SPORT, FITNESS & RECREATION ENVIRONMENTS
• PARTICIPATE IN CONDITIONING FOR SPORT
• PROVIDE & MAINTAIN EQUIPMENT FOR ACTIVITIES
• MAINTAIN SPORT, FITNESS AND RECREATION INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE
• PROVIDE QUALITY SERVICE

Through this excursion, students explored the training facilities of the elite AFL/AFLW athletes at RSEA PARK, Moorabbin. Examining training programs; facilities and structures of the sporting organisation. Hannah Priest, captain of the STK AFLW team was conducting our sessions for the day, and conducted training education sessions on Game Day preparations, athlete programs, conducting sessions and training equipment activities, as well as showing us through some of the elite facilities (including high tech ice baths, wellness studios and state of the art recovery facilities) that STKFC caters for their athletes. 

DEBATING

Term 2 has continued to be busy for our debaters, with two more rounds of interschool debating. Our Year 12 team are still currently undefeated for the year, and our Year 11s have also won both of their debates this term. The Year 10s had their first loss of the season but are still top of the ladder, and the Year 9s are continuing to build their skills in the lower grades. This term, the debaters started to encounter secret topics, meaning that teams only get one hour to prepare for their debate and are not allowed to use any electronic devices during preparation time. Topics for this term included “That it should be compulsory to complete 10 hours of community service per year to maintain Australian Citizenship” and “That Science Fiction is good for innovation”. To finish off the term, the Year 9s and 10s did an extra practice debate against each other. All of our debaters have been working hard this term and we are incredibly proud of them. 

YEAR 9 JOURNALISM

As part of year 9 Journalism students interviewed some DSC teachers about their role and events around DSC please find their articles below. 

Year 9 report – Ms Ellin

HARLOW POLETTI & AVA HENHAM 

Miss Ellin is a coordinator and teacher at Dromana Secondary College.  She teaches Health and PE to a range of year levels.  She also is one of the four people who head up Year 9 as a coordinator!  She originally taught at a primary school and was teaching preps when she decided that it wasn’t her calling.  Instead she went to Monash University for four years, studying health and sport for secondary schools. 

Being a coordinator is something Ms Ellin loves. She finds it very rewarding and enjoys building relationships with teachers, students and the community.  The job has its challenges, as it is very different looking after 25 kids in a class to overseeing 300-400 in a year level, but it is a very worthwhile thing to do.

Favourite experiences?

Miss Ellin travelled to Canada and taught groups of kids how to play AFL.  They had never seen the sport before and thought it was the roughest sport they had ever played! She also loves teaching the Year 12 students health and sport classes because it is a course that they have chosen to be in, and the subject might play a part in the career that they want to pursue. This means they are really engaged and some great discussions can be had and important work can be done. 

What things is Ms Ellin most proud of?

Ms Ellin is really proud that the coordinator team works so well together and is very effective. 

She is also very happy with the resources, course work and results that she has built up for VCE Health and Sport.

How does she feel about the job now?

It can be a hard job, particularly when starting out. It can be very tiring.  However, she feels that the good always outweighs the bad, and she loves what she does.

What would she like to happen in the next few years?

Ms Ellin would love to stay as a coordinator for this group, and follow them up into the senior school.  Having gotten to know all the different students, she would love to see which pathways they go into in the future. 

Year 9 report – Mr Gardner

Bella and Kyela

Everyone knows Mr G; he is one of the school’s most well-known teachers. He is a passionate English and media teacher, and you can go to him whenever you need something. He is one of those people who will do whatever he can to help. We interviewed Mr Gardner to find out a bit more about his role in the school and his motivations – this is what we found out.

He thinks the best thing about teaching is:

Mr Gardner’s favourite thing in teaching is the moment when a student finally understands a concept with his help.  It is that special moment when the student realises that they can do something that they couldn’t before.

He was inspired to become a teacher when …

People told him as a child that he should become a teacher.  At a young age, though, teaching really didn’t interest him. Instead he wanted to be a radio host! The led him to study journalism after high school.  However, it wasn’t as enjoyable as he had hoped and so he went on to do further studies in teaching.  He realised that he really wanted to help others learn and to give them as many opportunities as possible.

He has now been teaching for eight years!

He taught at Mornington Secondary College for two years, then two more years at Padua College Mornington.  He has now spent four years at Dromana College.

The most difficult thing about being a teacher?

Teaching is a very full time job.  Six hours are spent at school in class, but more hours at school and at home are spent planning and marking.  It adds up to about twelve hours some days. 

If he wasn’t a teacher?

Mr Gardner would pursue being a radio host, or working in the media.  Running trivia events is an option as well, as this is something that he enjoys doing in his spare time.

He thinks people at school need to remember that …

Kind and caring gestures, no matter how small, end up making school cultures more respectable and school more enjoyable.  Kindness matters.

He takes part in a lot of school events.

He has two favourite events, and it isn’t surprising that they are both camps!  The first one is Year 7 camp, which he attended with the students who are currently in Year 9.  He really enjoyed it – and it was the last bit of fun before covid struck.  The second camp was the Year 9 Central Australia camp, with the current Year 10 group.  He liked this trip because he got to know more of the staff and all of the kids on the trip, and he thoroughly recommends going if you get the chance.

He became a Year 9 Coordinator this year.

Mr Gardner became a coordinator to help students.  He firmly believes the current Year 9s are the best year level and wanted to keep working with them, as well as continuing to work with the teacher team he had worked with at Year 8 level.

He has plans to keep teaching long term.

Teaching is Mr Gardner’s passion.  He’s determined to keep working to help students learn and live to the best of their ability right up until the second he can’t anymore.  ‘Teaching is a part of me.  I wouldn’t do anything else’, he said.

HOLOCAUST STUDY PROGRAM 2023

As part of their studies of the Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust memoir ‘Night’ Year 10 students took part in a program of different learning experiences designed to increase their knowledge and understanding of the events of that time in history.

As part of this three day program, students had the opportunity to attend an excursion to the Jewish Holocaust Museum in Elsternwick, to view artefacts from the time, work with the Museum’s educators and to listen to and interact with a Holocaust survivor.  The scope and impact of the Holocaust was made much more real and personal to students as they viewed material from the time and listened to the survivor’s personal story.

Back at school, students viewed the award winning film ‘Schindler’s List’, which is based on a true story, as well as receiving an overview of the Holocaust through exercises in mapping, the timeline of the Holocaust and the story of Anne Frank.

This was a great opportunity for students to expand their knowledge of this time in history, and the events and tragedies that underpin all Holocaust Literature.  Our students are to be commended for their serious attitude and thoughtful questions.

Year 7 Coordinator - Ms. Rennison.

Mia Stewart and Ava Roberts.

Shannon Rennison is our Year 7 coordinator.  She works in a team with Ms Felsinger, Mr Baxter and Ms Lavery.  We interviewed her about her experiences as a coordinator and working in the school.

Ms Rennison spends her day as a coordinator making sure the Year 7 students have a successful transition into secondary school. 

This includes helping with any problems, making sure uniform is in check and working to reduce bullying.  Her role is important in the lives of the Year 7 students.  She is there to help students if they need her or if something is wrong.

The best part of the job, in Ms Rennison’s eyes, is building relationships with students and seeing them grow from Year 7 through to Year 12.  The job has a lot of challenges, and some of the hardest parts arise from dealing with issues involving social media, as well as when students come to school in the wrong uniform.

Ms Rennison became a teacher, but after five years, she decided she wanted to become a coordinator.  She knew this would give her more involvement in looking after students and guiding them. Last year, the Year 12 group she coordinated were very successful, and that was a great feeling.  She loves being a coordinator and plans to continue being a head of year.

As a staff member, Ms Rennison is extremely happy as she finds the staff very friendly, supportive, and helpful to one another and to the students.  As a whole, she believes the school has an amazing student body – and that makes us the best public school on the Peninsula!