SCHOOL OF POSSIBILITIES

Last week, four dedicated and passionate Year 11 students delivered fantastic individual speeches vying for the top job - the 2025 St Anne's College School Captain.

Principal Sue and current School Captain Chiara spoke of the courage and effort by all candidates. 

"A Captain should hold the College to an exceptional standard," Sue said. "We should all listen, consider and vote for who we believe will best shape the year ahead."

𝙃𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙖𝙧 - was inspired by a school captain earlier in her life who was her reasoning to make positive mark in her schooling. 'It's not what I promise, it's what I do now. I wish to make this a safe space which is inspiring, supportive and comforting. Help me, help you.'

𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙖 - passionate and eager to be a successful and positive role model. She would like to be a committed representative voice to drive change, development and growth at the college so all can prosper and flourish.

𝘼𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙠 - spoke with pride and gratitude of his current leadership qualities which have afforded him discipline, dedication and connection with the community. 'People can rely on me and my hard work, I'm here for a chat to listen to your concerns. I would like to see our community volunteering more to gain real life skills for success.'

𝙆𝙤𝙬𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 - wants our community to understand 'it isn't about me becoming a captain, it's about every single one of you (the students). I genuinely care about you all.' She would like to see everyone become the best version of themselves they can be. 'I will represent you, not speak for you. I will make an impact. I will be your voice.'

Voting will commence tomorrow with deliberations to follow. Our candidates have a nervous wait now until our Graduation Mass in October. No matter the outcome, our College is extremely proud you all.

In Unit 2 Psychology students are studying visual and gustatory perception. Students participated in an experiment investigating how we detect the taste of skittles. The experiment consisted of three phases. In the first phase, students attempted to detect the different flavours of the skittles while blindfolded and while blocking their nose. In the second phase, students wore the blindfold only and in the final phase they were able to use both their sense of smell and sight. Students were 100% accurate in detecting flavour in phase 3, not surprisingly. However, students were only marginally more successful in phase 2 compared to phase 1. These results highlight how perception can be influenced by different factors. Maybe this is an experiment you would like to conduct at home? Are you able to correctly detect the flavour of skittles without seeing their colours? 

-Sarah Baglin

Congratulations to Year 11 students Stella and Charlii who helped create a more green environment at the College by planting trees along the school's boundary fence. 

The College would like to extend a huge thank you to Stella and Charlii for their enthusiasm and can-do attitude! 

Our wonderful Year 11s were involved in planning and running R U OK? Day this year. We started early in the morning, offering students cheese toasties for breakfast which were kindly donated by the Shepparton Food Bank to get the conversation flowing. 

Bodhi, Trent and Dion put together a thoughtful video, encouraging us all to check in with our mates throughout the week. 

Recess kicked off with Rylan, Charlie and Noah manning the coffee machines to provide out hard working staff and SOP Students with fresh coffee and hot chocolates, in custom designed cups sporting positive affirmations and kind words designed by Charli, Fatma, Georgia, Tanis and Stella. 

Meanwhile Josh and Jenson were busy running lawn games with the School of Wonder and getting mobbed by the students when they started handing out Merch! The SOW children looked amazing with their R U OK? Day bucket hats, drink bottles, wristbands and toys. 

Charli, Fatma, Georgia, Tanis and Stella gathered students to help plant and water seedlings for the new Community Garden they have been busy preparing - we can't wait for spring to truly swing into gear so we can see some green out there! Once the seeds were all used up, they supported students painting river stones to decorate the garden when it finally comes together.

Finally we had the biggest hit of the day, the free BBQ! Cooper, Dante and Josh were kept busy cooking almost 400 sausages on the BBQ out the front of the school, while Trent, Dion, Charlie, Josh and Bodhi worked on the vegan and halal sausages inside. Once the doors opened, it was all hands on deck serving snags, and we can guarantee nobody went hungry.

This was a great experience for our Year 11 students. Their work ethic and commitment on the day was commendable and it was a massive success overall!

You can view some amazing photos capturing the day on the R U OK? Day page of this il giornale. 

As part of the studies completed in Year 12 Personal Development Skills the students were required to plan, execute and evaluate a project for the community.  The students broke into two main groups - one project was completed by the male students and one project by the female students. This project forms the final part of assessment for their Unit 4 studies and for the year.

Clean-up the lake project

One of the Unit 4 Community Projects for the Year 12 VM class this term was to clean up our local environment. Students chose Victoria Park Lake and the surrounding bush land as the location to target due to its high prominence in town. The students came armed with buckets, long-handled grabbers and gloves to pick up rubbish. Students collected a full garbage bag of rubbish from around Aquamoves and in the bush across the river bridge. Luckily for us, a council vehicle was in the vicinity and they were happy to take our bag of rubbish with them so we didn’t have to lug it around with us! Overall the areas around the lake and along the bush walking track were relatively clean - we assume council must regularly clean this area as it’s a place utilised by many people.   

Something we noticed was the amount of tents pitched in the bush, presumably people who are sleeping rough. This prompted discussion around what it would be like without somewhere to live, how did they get to this point and how we would cope if we were in that situation?  

With a few minutes to spare we had a quick walk through SAM to take in some arts and culture before heading to meet the other group who were shopping for care packs for those in need. 

All in all, it was a good, productive day in our local Shepparton community - what a great place to live! 

Care packages for the homeless project, donated to the Salvation Army

This was completed by Megan, Millie, Emily, Izzy and Cara.  The girls were dropped off at the back of Aquamoves and went to the shops to purchase goods for the care packages. The group had previously contacted the Salvos to see what items they would like. The Salvos said the following items would be beneficial to meeting the needs of the homeless or those who struggle in the Shepparton community: refillable water bottles, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, hand sanitiser, pillows, blankets and non-perishable food items.  The students shopped at Silly Solly’s, Kmart, SPC, Cheap as Chips and Target and bought items for 15 care packages with items that met the needs of the Salvos.  

Each care pack (see pictures below) will have a pillow and blanket, a drink bottle, toothpaste, toothbrush, toothbrush holder, dental floss sticks, face & body wipes, hand sanitizer, soap, cans of spaghetti, baked beans, tuna, peaches, some chocolates, mentos and a shopping bag to carry the goods in.

To complete the project the students originally planned on asking for donations from the members of our school community.  After some discussion and further planning the students decided to make goods to sell and raise the money themselves. The students cooked for and ran two food stalls at lunchtimes to see if they could raise enough money.  The students had a bake sale making choc chip cookies, brownies and cupcakes and made $400. A second event making HSPs and nachos was held with a total of around $300 being raised.

The students really enjoyed themselves and felt a great sense of pride in the fact they were helping members of the community.  The whole class worked together and raised $700 to go towards these care packs.

Planning is well underway for the Year 12 Graduation Dinner to be held at the Woolshed Shepparton on Friday 22 November at 6pm.

We invite whole families to join the graduates at the College from 6pm sharp start until approximately 6.45pm to spend time with the graduates and take photo as a family. Extended families are also welcome. Graduates will then go onto the ceremony at the Woolshed where they are permitted to have two people attend with them

The evening will begin with the graduating students being presented in their Houses to the staff, parents and family members. We will have some introductory speeches followed by some short presentations. We envisage this part of the night will go for approximately 30 mins. Dinner will consist of an entree and main course followed by the graduation cake with berries and ice-cream for dessert. Tickets cost $75.  We are limited to a maximum of 200 guests at the venue. We have 49 students which makes up approximately 147 tickets, leaving 53 for staff and any extras. Each student will be able to purchase 3 tickets - one for themselves plus a ticket for each parent. Families wishing to purchase extra tickets are asked to email one of the SOP Leaders with information in relation to who the extra tickets are for. This will be considered on a needs basis and we appreciate your understanding with this. Allocation of extra tickets will be completed after 21 October when all tickets need to be paid for.

Year 11 and 12 students were invited to attend an informal information session with staff from GV Health to discuss its Gap Year Program this week. Students gathered to ask questions about the program which provides an opportunity for young people in our community to enter a career in healthcare. 

If your child did not start at St Anne’s College in Year 7, we are asking for a school photo of your child from Year 7. These photos can be uploaded electronically (students have been sent the link) or they can be brought into the College and the Communications Team can copy them and return them to you. Thank you for your support. The photos are needed as part of the graduation celebrations for our students.