Middle School

Year 9 MyLeader - Dialogue in The Dark 

The MyLeader excursion to Dialogue in the dark, was, to say the least, an impactful team-building exercise. Dialogue in The Dark is an experience like no others, where you enter a pitch-black assortment of rooms and hallways, ‘blind’. The whole time you are navigating around the darkness blinded, you are experiencing ‘Melbourne’, in simulation form of course. The hallways and rooms are littered with Sights of Melbourne and memorabilia such as public transport, the MCG, markets and even roads.

Dialogue in The Dark is a team building exercise more than anything. As you navigate through the streets and roads of Melbourne sightless, your ability to speak up, listen and communicate come into play. It’s interesting to see how people handled the loss of their eyes for a short while and it really showed us who was willing to speak up and lead, especially in this new, rather confronting situation.

Ultimately, Dialogue in The Dark is here to raise awareness and draw attention to how people with vision impairments conduct themselves in everyday life. Despite this, Dialogue in The Dark stands as one of the best team building experiences we have participated in as a group of young leaders.

Oliver D. 9E

On Wednesday, March 13, the year 9 peer leaders went on an excursion to Dialogue in the Dark. Dialogue in the Dark is to familiarise one’s self with an experience similar to a blind person’s regular day in Melbourne City. Some simulations that were experienced in the facility was being toured through a re-created scene in the Victorian Market, the MCG ticket stall, and public transport systems, specifically being a train, completely in the dark. Whoever, one of the most enriching scenarios was exploring a family home, with no vision. This experience affected the year 9 Peer Leaders greatly. Some quotes taken from them were;

“It was a wonderful experience to hear the stories of someone who struggles every day from being blind, and to be guided by them.”

” The experience was quite an eye-opener, as I never realised how much of a true struggle a blind person experience.”

To conclude, Dialogue in the Dark was a wonderful experience. Not only was it enjoyable, but it made students aware of the struggles other people face.

Noah, Blake and Aaron

On Wednesday, March 13, the Year 9 MyLeader class went to The Docklands to participate in Dialogue in the Dark. Dialogue in the Dark is an organisation that originated in Germany, and gives participants the confronting experience of being vision impaired. We spent an hour and fifteen minutes being led around by a guide who was vision impaired themselves. The group experienced a simulated Melbourne-which included Birrarung Marr, Queen Victoria Market, the MCG and a tram ride around the city, before experiencing what it would be like in a house. We felt overwhelmed when the experience began, but as the hour progressed, we started to feel more confident in our surroundings and used our other senses. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed Dialogue in the Dark, and we would like to thank our guides, Mr Trewella, Amy and the excursion leaders.

Hannah and Emily

MYSELF Showcase

This week the MYSELF Program performed their Term 1 Showcase to the Year 9 Level. Each unit elective created a 10-minute presentation which displayed their learning, activities and excursions from within Term 1 to demonstrate all of the amazing opportunities their peers will have throughout 2019 in the MYSELF Program.

As a part of this showcase, we held the very first ‘Above and Beyond Myself’ award. This award is peer-nominated, where each class has the opportunity to nominate a student who has displayed personal and social behaviours ‘above and beyond’ the requirements of the program. Factors such as working effectively in teams, managing challenging situations and personal resilience are significant factors within this award. More importantly, demonstrating personal qualities which show empathy for understanding others, supporting diversity and being a positive member of the community all encompass what the recipient of this award will possess each term.

The Myself Term 1 ‘Above and Beyond Myself’ Award Recipient is Jacob Van Winkle (photo attached) for his outstanding ability to demonstrate initiative and support the needs and values of all students within his MyFuture Class. Congratulations to Jacob on demonstrating such positive behaviours and earning his nomination for this award.

Jacob, alongside the recipients in future terms, will be presented with a certificate of this award at the Middle School Presentation Evening later this year.

Well done to Jacob, and well done to every student who engaged in the MYSELF showcase so positively.

Darcy Price

MYSELF Program Coordinator

Werribee Zoo Excursion

Last week the students in year 8 went on an excursion to Werribee Zoo. It was a very educational and enjoyable experience where we learned about the different landscapes that Werribee showcased. Our day initiated with an introduction by the Werribee staff, in which they informed us about what we were going to learn and introduced themselves. We started off, studying the grassland. Our director Fiona taught us about the history behind the grassland that we were standing behind. She informed us about the dangers of what would happen if our grasslands kept dying using a diagram.

Next, in order, we had an amazing opportunity to learn about the orange-bellied parrot. Fiona educated us about how there is only forty orange belied parrots left in the wild and told us their plan of helping nurture the parrots and how they are helping them breed. We had an extraordinary opportunity to actually meet the bird and to try Lomandra Longifolia. This is a herb found in South Australia used to clean teeth, make baskets and trap fish. We then moved on to the safari bus ride. This was the activity that many students were looking forward to in which we went on a safari bus to view the different landscapes that Werribee showed. During the ride, we all learned many facts about each animal we passed from our director. We then had our own time to explore the zoo.  The excursion the Werribee Zoo was a phenomenal experience which everyone enjoyed, it taught us about the different landscapes and about the animals at the zoo.

Tanvi R. 8F

Year 7 Melbourne Zoo Excursion

On Tuesday the 19th of March all year 7’s when to the Melbourne Zoo. Our day started with going to the seals where a zookeeper was going to talk to us. Our zookeeper’s name was Hillary and she told as about 10 different animals and gave us 2 questions that had to be answered at the end of the day. The questions were “Which of the 10 animals will you lend your voice to?” and “Why is the animal important?”.

After the talk with Hillary, we had roughly an hour to explore the zoo before another talk with a zookeeper. I went to see the elephants, orangutans, and the tiger. We then went to the zookeeper talk and got to touch a little tortoise and learn about CHIPP. CHIPP stands for climate change, habitat destruction, introduced species, pollution, and poaching. These are the ways that animals can become endangered or even extinct.

After a few more hours of exploring the zoo we all sadly had to go onto the bus and back to school. Overall, I thoroughly enjoy the zoo and my favourite part was getting the opportunity to roam around the zoo with my friends. If I could I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Tilly H 7A