Wheel Life

On the 17th July wheelchair basketball came to our school. I met Peter who called me his brother. Peter also has a disability like me and is in a wheelchair. I liked being able to participate in basketball and crashing into my friends in their wheelchairs was fun. I got the ball a few times and nearly shot a goal. My favourite part was talking to Peter someone who is in a wheelchair just like me.

By Cooper Campbell

The wheel chair basketball was really good. Peter taught us that you can dream big things and it doesn’t matter if you have a disability. When we played basketball Peter was a gun at it.

By Paddy Mills 8B

On Wednesday the 17th of July we had the wheel chair basketball in the gym. Peter the man who showed us how to do it was very good at speaking about life and what he has gone through.

Peter was quite funny and had good humour. When we played basketball it was fun. I had a lot of fun in the wheelchair and I would 100% do it again. It was hard to shoot the ball but it was fun.

By Linc Chila 8B

On the 17/7 we had a wheel chair basketball event. It was fun to participate in this event and feel like what it is like to be in a wheel chair. There were two teams, we had a lot of fun. I wish we could do it again soon.

By David Molesworth 8B

Year 7 Food Technology

Both Year 7 classes have started off the term, with their first practical lesson a nice healthy snack of dip and vegetables. They are focusing on their knife skills and safety and hygiene in the domestic kitchen

School Dental Van Visit

The School Dental initiative will be visiting Mirboo North Secondary School to provide free dental check-ups and services for students. This service is bulk billed with Medicare for eligible students under the Child Dental Benefits Schedule.

Students will receive either a Free Dental Health screen, or if eligible, free check-up (preventative and general dental health care) in a fully functional dental truck - just like a dental clinic.

Do I need to pay anything? No, Medicare CDBS covers the cost for eligible students via bulk billing. If your child is not eligible, ADHV will do a FREE dental Health Screen. ADHV will check your eligibility before treatment.

For your child to be seen, you will need to fill in the Dental Consent Form and return it to the school signed and as soon as possible. Forms are available at the school office and will be given to all the students over the next few days.

Consent form collection & return deadline: June 14th, 2024

Dental Van Visit week is allocated for the August 5th, 2024*

Please return all forms to the school reception. If you have any questions, please contact school reception, Emma Hughes (School Nurse) or ADHV directly at (03) 9323 9607 or via email at info@adhv.com.au

NAIDOC WEEK

By Cora-Lynn and Zoe – Year 8

On Monday last week in Humanities we did a NAIDOC lesson. At the start of the lesson Mr Simkin gave us a quiz with a twist, all of the answers for the quiz were related to a small indigenous community in far north Queensland. Most students got the answers ‘wrong’ because we didn’t grow up in that community and don’t share the same customs. After the quiz, the class had a discussion about what it would feel like to be told that your cultural knowledge didn’t matter anymore. The class discussed how we would feel if this was happening to us every day. Some students felt that they would be a mix of sad and angry. Mr Simkin showed us some images of aboriginal children who had been taken from their community and explained the impact that this may have on generations.

After that Mr Simkin explained that NAIDOC week is partly about acknowledging these difficult moments from our history but also about celebrating Australia’s indigenous communities. To celebrate, each student provided an interesting fact about indigenous culture, on a sticky note which everyone read out and placed on the board.

As we were getting to the end of the class, the class read about an amazing discovery in a cave in Gippsland. The article was about two firesticks that had been found by archaeologists, one of the sticks was over 12,000 years old. We learnt that 500 GunaiKurnai generations may have been part of rituals involving the artifacts. It was great to celebrate our local history and acknowledge the first Australians in our class.

Enrolments for 2025

Just a reminder that enrolments for Year 7, 2025 have opened, and school tours are available. Enrolments for other year levels are also available. Please contact the school for more information.

Australian Defence Force Academy

Early in the term our visit from ADFA (Australian Defence Force) interested many students, so this upcoming Open Day may be of interest to parents to gain knowledge about ADFA jobs, apprenticeships and university course options. I imagine that travelling to Canberra for an onsite experience may be pushing what people can do, but never fear, there is an online version of the experience day which may interest you to learn more. Registration required | adfcareers.gov.au/events

The ADFA website also has a huge range of resources to help inform potential recruits and their families on what careers are offered and what opportunities present when you sign up so I highly recommend students and families consider visiting: Australian Defence Force Academy - ADF Careers

Absences and Attendance

As the cooler weather brings an array of colds and flu’s, we know students may be getting sick and we prefer not to have contagious symptoms at school. If your child is unwell and not at school, please ensure you contact the office or Year Level Coordinator, email keith.kerstjens@education.vic.gov.au, or alternatively, log into Compass and update the attendance note yourself.

In an ideal world, we would have every student at school every day, but if that’s not possible, please inform the school if your child is going to be away for an extended time, so we can support your student with opportunities to catch up on missed work.

Last Day of Term 2 - Pyjama Day

On the 28th of June, we had a pyjama day with a gold coin donation to raise funds to go towards cerebral palsy which involved many activities like quizzes, who can build the highest tower which were set up by teachers and VOS members. It was a day for students to dress up or quite literally roll out of bed with prizes offered for best pyjamas and/or best dressed. The whole day was organised and run by VOS representatives, from us cooking the sausages at the free sausage sizzle (which also included vegetarian rissoles) to a hot chocolate stand for students to seek out at recess and lunch. The band played in the auditorium at lunchtime; they were awesome! Congratulations to Billy, Thomas, Nathan, Oliver and Brock.

The day concluded with an assembly where raffle tickets were drawn, prizes were given for best dressed and to those that had contributed to helping make the day more fun! The money from the raffle, the gold coin donation and the hot chocolate stand brought us to an outstanding profit of $250.00. This money not only helped us to buy games for Cooper to use but we were also able to donate the rest to the Cerebral Palsy Foundation.

Written by Gabrielle Buissink on behalf of VOS.

Cooper Campbell receiving his board game gifts from VOS, from money raised on the PJ day. Cooper was presented with “Kids against Maturity” – game for developing social skills and the board game, “Hedbanz”. We look forward to playing some games with Cooper at lunchtimes or recess and encourage other students to do the same.

VOS Team

Senior Band

Hello, I’m Brock I play bass guitar for the band Double Helix. We are a 5-man band formed last year, we mostly cover classic rock and are yet to create originals. Recently we have done a couple small gigs in the auditorium which have been great, and we have had a good, fun crowd. Playing in a band is an amazing experience and it is something I’d recommend to anyone who has an interest in music. It’s something that really boosts your confidence and pride in yourself. It’s amazing to play in front of many people and see everyone singing along and having a good time and that’s what we’re all about.

Band members from left to right:

Oliver BRIGGS- Year 11, Billy JENNINGS- Year 11, Nathan BAKER- Year 11, Brock MACKMATTHEWS- Year 9, Thomas WILLIAMS- Year 11

Hydrogen Powered Car Competition

At the beginning of the year a group of Year 10 students began spending their lunchtimes and recesses building and testing a hydrogen powered radio control car. The car contains a hydrogen fuel cell that provides extra charge to the battery, providing extra run time. The project was supported by the Gippsland Tech School, Horizon Educational, and Toyota Australia through the Toyota Community Trust. The project involved several components including training sessions at the Gippsland Tech School on hydrogen power, car design, and data analysis. We also had both video conferences and in person meetings with Kieran Curry, the Education Programs Manager from Horizon Educational, who flew down from the Gold Coast to check on our team’s progress. Throughout all of these events the team received very positive feedback on how they were preparing and their overall conduct.

At 5am on Tuesday July 23 our racing team met at the school and travelled by bus to the Toyota Centre of Excellence (former Toyota factory) in Altona. There we raced against 17 other teams in the Victorian Final, which was a world qualifier. This is a 4-hour endurance race. Although we had several technical difficulties, we placed 11th and made it to the end of the race. The first 3 placings were competitors in their second year of racing and were from NSW. That meant that both 1st place and 4th place, a first year team from Wodonga, will move onto the world final in Anaheim, California, USA.

While we are not heading to the world final our team did receive the Team Spirit award. This is an award where all teams voted on the team they believed showed the best team spirit during the competition. While the team roles changed throughout the race, the main roles were Fletcher Petty (Team Captain and Mechanic), Noah Tetzlaff (Mechanic), Alex Richards (Driver), Mitchell Briscoe and Ashley Stephens (Spotters). We could only take a team of 5 to the finals, but other students who made a significant effort on the project were Jackson Unwin, Brayden McDonald, and Andy Martland. We are already planning our 2025 race and hope to have other students involved.

Sarah Giessler.

Library Jigsaw club

Thanks to all the students who contributed to the completion of the Australian Birds vintage jigsaw in Term 2.

We are now working on a new puzzle. Come and join us any Monday, Wednesday or Friday lunchtime from 1pm.

SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS

In what could arguably be the busiest term of the year in Senior School, the Team have certainly returned with their skates on. The first week back saw introduction to senior school Information Sessions held with our Year 9s and 10s and a presentation from the Australian Defence Force which stepped students into gear thinking about their futures and next few years at school.

The second week of term could only be described as hectic, but we made it through. We saw our Year 9s and 10s head to the BBLLLEN Job Skills Expo in Warragul, where they were able to talk to representatives about career and training opportunities. On the same day, our Year 11’s attended a full day RYDA Road Safety Awareness program in Korumburra, and our Year 12’s took the opportunity to undertake an extra English catch up class, VTAC information session and then came together for their last off-site day as a Year 12 cohort at Wyncity in Morwell putting the books down and having some fun bowling and laser tagging.

Roll on to that evening, we hosted an Apprenticeships Information Q&A session, and our Senior School Information evening which was very well attended. We understand that for many families there is a lot of information to take in, especially if this is your first child coming through the Senior School process. If families require further clarification, please feel free to make an appointment with the Senior Team.

On Thursday this week, we were visited by Deakin University who presented to interested students from Years 9 to 12 about life as a university student, highlighting courses and pathway options to university and giving the chance for students to learn about anything they had queries about.

Lots of interesting One on One Course Counselling and subject selection interviews have been scheduled with every Year 9 to 11 student in the last week and our Year 9s have all undertaken their Morrisby unpack interviews in the last week. This has sparked many great conversations and pathway discussions.

Moving forward, VTAC applications have opened for our Year 12 students who are planning to head to university. We have a number of lunchtime sessions scheduled to assist with this process. Nicole will also be available for appointment to sit one on one to complete the process with assistance if required.

As preparations quickly begin for 2025, our Year 11s will begin the process of their Year 12 jumper purchases in the next few weeks. Behind the scenes huge amounts of work will begin to create subject blockings and timetable manipulation to accommodate student preferences for 2025 courses.

A reminder to students to:

Return their subject selection sheets by Friday 9th August
Students who intend to undertake a VET (TAFE) course in 2025 should be reminded that the EOI must be completed no later than Friday 16th August https://forms.office.com/r/MRPuchrvhr

Community News

Puckapunyal Military Area Open Day