Secondary School News

Book Week 2023: Read, Grow, Inspire

This year’s Book Week theme Read, Grow, Inspire was celebrated in the English learning area in Week 5 with an array of competitions and activities that celebrated the impact books and reading can have in our lives; from those we study in the classroom to those that have been inspirational to us in our early years. 

The Year 9 Emerging Writers class were inspired by young adult fiction author Deb Fitzpatrick in their Writers’ Workshop to produce narratives with engaging characters and storylines that related to their own experiences. The Year 9 English students reflected on the books that they admired by writing their favourite book on leaf, symbolising how this contributed to their ‘growth’ and love of books. Each leaf was added to our ‘Book Tree’ displayed in The Commons for all to admire.

The importance of reading in the lives of our teachers was part of our Teachers Read Too! Competition where students were encouraged to guess who the teacher reader was behind the book with a suite of disguises used to hide their identity. Thanks to Mr Heatherly, Ms Virgo, Chaplain Justine, Ms Fisher and Mrs Rogers for embracing out Teachers Read Too! Competition. Clearly Dr Seuss books were a popular choice, considering their timeless themes.

To celebrate Book Week, students also eagerly searched for hidden Reading Gnomes scattered throughout the School so they could lay claim to a wonderful book prize for their efforts. Congratulations to the winners of our competitions and to all those who actively engaged and enjoyed the activities that were a part of celebrating this year’s Book Week theme Read, Grow, Inspire.   

Thank you to the English Department and the Library Resource Centre for their promotion of Book Week for our students.

Year 12 Outdoor Recreation: Bibbulmun Track

On Tuesday 28 August, Year 12 Certificate II Outdoor Recreation students completed a 13 kilometres hike on the Bibbulmun Track. The hike helped students complete the following two units; Navigate in a tracked environment and Bushwalking.

Mr Quentin Hess was impressed with the students’ efforts as they climbed over two mountains, Mt Cuthbert and Mt Vincent with ease. Mr Hess was also particularly proud of the students’ fitness, skills and organisation.

Mathematics Week 2023

This week we celebrated Mathematics Week with our theme “ Maths is the Universal Language”  The week started on a great note with Mathematics Department staff getting into the spirit of things by wearing ‘Team Maths’ t-shirts that reflected the significant symbols and numbers that reflect their passion for this subject.

All students embraced the challenges of the competitions and activities run in class during the week, such as: Strike, The Mean game and the “Times Table” challenge. Some staff were brave enough to take on the students and test their times table skills – watch this space for the winner to be announced!

Classes also worked in teams to compete in the Maths Week Quiz, using logic and language to solve problems, learning not to accept the first answer they think of. Team “Personal Computers” from Year 9 came out clear winners with great teamwork demonstrated by Saskia Sullivan, Pearl Sijo, Sandeli Ratnayake and Claire Bydder. 

Dr Abo Nar’s students celebrated the theme by performing a “Maths Rap” at lunchtime and were cheered on by their fans. Students explored the connection between language and Mathematics through their created songs. 

In addition, this week was a great opportunity to launch our Year 8 New Metrics project in partnership with the University of Melbourne - Investigating Volume. Students worked in groups and shared their predictions, discovered ways to verify and check these predictions and report on their findings. 

It has been a positive and engaging week in the Mathematics Department. Well done to all for a great celebration of all things Mathematics! Thank you to the Mathematics Department for their efforts to provide these terrific Maths initiatives for our students to enjoy.

Kathryn Paul

Dean of Teaching and Learning

Inter-House Athletics Carnival

Secondary School students enjoyed a day at Ern Clark Athletics Track competing in the Inter-House Athletics Carnival. The day commenced with the traditional ‘march past,’ with each House dressing up in costumes displaying their House colours, whilst marching or dancing to a themed song. Charter House began the march with their Queen theme song. Hale House followed displaying their best Moana costumes. Scott House proudly paraded their bright yellow Pac-Man costumes and Ramsden House finished the march with a Spartan theme.

The events were off to a flying start with the 200 metres sprint race encouraging all students to cheer loudly for their Houses and peers. The day was filled with liveliness and good spirit amongst all students, staff and parents. The Carnival concluded with another fantastic tradition, the Wollaston’s Sprint. This is a 100 metres sprint race between the fastest competitors across the day from each House. Congratulations to Devlin Flockhart (Scott) and Tatenda Dhube (Ramsden) who came equal first for the Boys and Olivia Dodds (Scott) for winning the Girls Wollaston’s Sprint race. 

Across the Pre-Carnival and Carnival days, there were 10 records broken which is an outstanding achievement, including; Aimee Trent U13 Girls Shotput, Elisha Daah U13 Boys Shotput, Sophie Colley U14 Girls 400m, Serah Waqanivavalagi U16 Girls Discus, Javelin and Shotput; Noah Bailey U16 Boys 1500m, Mia Colley OPEN Girls 1500m, Olivia Dodds OPEN Girls 200m and 400m. 

Congratulations to the following Champions and Runners' Up:

U13 Champion Girl:  Aimee Trent

U13 Runner Up Girl: Miyah Noordzy

U13 Champion Boy:  Elisha Daah

U13 Runner Up Boy: Leyton Nagle

U14 Champion Girl:  Sophie Colley

U14 Runner Up Girl: Melody Nagle

U14 Champion Boy:  Louis Trueman

U14 Runner Up Boy: Neil Johns

U15 Champion Girl:  Renata Ngoy

U15 Runner Up Girl: Lucy Power

U15 Champion Boy:  Abdul Sesay

U15 Runner Up Boy: Mitchell Davey

U16 Champion Girl:  Serah Waqanivavalagi

U16 Runner Up Girl: Charlotte Truman

U16 Champion Boy:  Kyan Maharjan

U16 Runner Up Boy: Devlin Flockhart

OPEN Champion Girl:  Olivia Trueman

OPEN Runner Up Girl: Olivia Dodds

OPEN Champion Boy:  Braydn Cuff

OPEN Runner Up Boy: Jay Lander

Congratulations to Hale House who took out the winning House Cup. Hale also received the House Spirit Cup for their excellent enthusiasm displayed across the day. 

Kylie Virgo

Dean of Pastoral Care