Camps, excursions and activities. 

Broader Horizons Careers Year 9 Excursion

Our Year 9 students recently took part in the “Broader Horizons” excursion organised by Julie Bourke from the North Central LLEN. The day provided students with the opportunity to explore a range of industries based on their individual career interests.

One group visited BB Harvesting, Nutrien Ag and Donald Steel, where they gained valuable insight into careers in agriculture and trades. Students inspected John Deere headers and learnt about the extensive work involved in maintaining and preparing machinery for the busy harvest season across Queensland and Victoria. They also completed a crop inspection with Heath Griffiths and Kris Dixon from Nutrien Ag, learning more about the role of an Agronomist. At Donald Steel, students had the opportunity to make their own fire shovel while using a range of steel fabrication machinery.

The second group visited The Goodwin Village and the YMCA Donald Children’s Centre to explore careers in health and early childhood education. Students enjoyed playing games and walking with residents at The Goodwin Village before visiting the Children’s Centre to learn about careers in childcare and spend time interacting with the children.

We would like to sincerely thank Julie Bourke, Abby Mulquinny and Mary Ann Sait from the North Central LLEN for organising this fantastic experience. We are also incredibly grateful to BB Harvesting, Nutrien Ag, Donald Steel, The Goodwin Village and the YMCA Donald Children’s Centre for generously giving their time to support and inspire our students.

Year 12 Biology Federation University Excursion

Superheros and Rogue Units - Exploring the roles of immune cells in the laboratory.

The Year 12 Biologists headed off to Fed Uni to undertake some immunology workshops which aligns with Unit 4 Area of Study 1 on Friday 15th May.

Guest speaker Professor Stuart Berzins gave students a foundational snapshot of what is immunity and all the cells involved in the innate and adaptive responses. Professor Berzins currently leads a research group that studies human immune development and immune response against cancer, COVID-19 and other diseases. 

The students then conducted two workshops:

Microscopy: Visualising the immune system in action – cancer and inflammation. In this workshop students observed two different blood cells and using their analytical skills had to deduce which patient blood smear was from a leukemia patient. 

ELIZA: Managing an influenza outbreak. In this workshop students gained an understanding how ELIZA (Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay) works, which is similar to a COVID or pregnancy test. Students were introduced to terms such as antigens and antibodies. After students ran the ELIZA tests they had to then deduce which patients out of the four had been infected with influenza B.