Extending students in the classroom 

Term 1 VHAP Masterclass

Koonung welcomed students from East Doncaster SC for the VHAP Masterclass where students were tasked with a series of Mathematical and English critical and creative thinking tasks. A day where high ability students can come together from neighbouring school to share their experiences, make new friends and collaborate to find solutions to complex problems! A special shout out to Eric, Lucy, Abi and Olivia from Year 8 who helped present in the morning!

CHES Seminar #1 - Year 10 optional electives 

Monday 21 February saw 6 of our Year 10 students heading into CHES (The Centre for Higher Education Studies) in South Yarra as part of their semester long elective choice.

Our student have chosen to study either ‘Research Matters’ or ‘Critical Thinking for Creative Minds’ both of which set a solid foundation for potential future completion of VCE Extended Investigation.

“We did this elective to learn more about how to research and create research question. During seminar one, we learnt how to make research questions and figure out the research problems correctly and i enjoyed the free food at the seminar as well as learning about peoples’ experiences with research matters.” – Anderson Ha 10A

International Flower & Garden Show – Sustainable Scarecrow Competition

Congratulations to Joshua P, Samuel W, Ben F and Derrick W from Year 7 who won the 2025 Koonung Sustainable Scarecrow Competition and had their scarecrow entered into the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show at the Carton Garden. Even though they missed out on taking home a $1000 nursery voucher for the school, we are very impressed with their efforts and use of recycled materials to create The Koonung Crusader!

Kangourou Sans Frontières – Mathematics Competition

Inspired by the AMT’s Australian Mathematics Competition, Kangourou sans Frontières (KSF) is now the largest maths competitions in the world, with more than 6 million participants each year. 

The 75 minute online competition consisted of 30 multiple choice questions covering: basic arithmetic, fractions, ratios, algebra, geometry, measurement, statistics, probability and problem-solving.

We are very proud of all 106 students from years 7-12 who challenged themselves in this competition and look forward to sharing some of our excellent results with you later in the year.

Competitions and Challenges to watch out for in April/May

• Dorethea McKellar Poetry Competition (currently open – please see Compass Newsfeed for more information)
• Bebras Challenge (Maths)
• Science Talent Search
• The Big Science Competition
• Education Perfect Languages Championship
• Geography Competition
• History Competition
• Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Challenge
• Education Perfect ANZ Maths Championship

Lydia Tomic

Mathematics Teacher | Excellence & High Ability Practice Leader