Secondary School

Head of Secondary

Welcome back

As I mentioned in my first parent communication after the recent holiday period, a warm welcome back to Term 3. It has been great to see Secondary students again and hearing about what they got up to during the break. They are the heartbeat of the school and it’s great to hear their laughter and chatter around the place again.

We are only into our second week of term, however so much has happened already. Last Thursday it was lovely to see so many families at our annual Secondary Pathways Expo which launches our 2024 subject selection process for current Years 8-10 students. Teachers put in a lot of effort to prepare their stalls and showcase what subjects and pathway offerings we have here at Bayside in the middle and upper Secondary years. 

This event was then followed up by our Subject Selection 1:1 interview for current Year 9 and 10 students this Monday evening. Important discussions were had with senior teachers to help assist families with their decision making with the aim to positively shape their learning environment and compliment student ability, their interests and future goals in the workplace or further tertiary studies. A final reminder that the online 2024 subject selection process closes this Friday 28th July at 11pm. 

For our Year 12 cohort, they are already part way through their final Unit of study for each of their subjects and only have nine weeks of their schooling journey left at Bayside. They then turn their attention to final preparations for their end of year VCAA examination period which commences with English on Tuesday 24th October. I encourage these students to embrace their final steps together with each other and their teachers. 

Later this term, our VCE Year 12 students will be asked to consider what tertiary courses they wish to apply for next year, whilst our VM students will be aiming to secure a position in their workplace of choice or an apprenticeship.

Finally, I would like to leave you with two Scripture verses that I feel are fitting for this current season where many Secondary students are deep in thought and hopefully seeking wise counsel about the next important steps for their future post 2023. I hope that they are also praying to our Lord and asking Him to reveal what is best for them.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

 

“I am God, your God, who teaches you how to live right and well. I will show you what to do, where to go.” Isaiah 48:17

May God bless each one of you as these decisions are made.

God Bless,

James Kumnick

Head of Secondary

Year 11 Psychology

Year 11 Psychology students have been studying perception and learning about how our brain works with our senses to interpret the world and sometimes fool us. We have been checking to see who in the class is a "super taster" and researching to see if we can tell the flavour of Skittles when blindfolded and holding our noses. 

We have also looked at lots of visual illusions and constructed a mini Ames room which fools you into thinking that people on one side of the room are tiny and on the other side are huge.

Mrs Fiona Ryan

Secondary Teacher

Specialist Maths

In Specialist Mathematics we are studying trigonometry. This topic includes bearings. In bearings we discussed navigation, bearings and birds. We talked about how some birds can not only determine their longitude from the earth’s magnetic field, but they can also determine their latitude by using the magnetic inclination angle of the earth’s magnetic field. 

For example, the Manx Shearwater makes journeys of 6,000 mi (10,000 km) using a true map sense which is an astonishing ten times more accurate than a commercial aircraft inertial navigation system! Spherical geometry is complicated by the fact that on a sphere there are no straight lines, so standard (Euclidean) geometry does not work. 

When creatures are navigating sizeable distances, the calculations are trickier because of the Earth’s globe shape, so these animal navigators must be doing some sort of spherical geometry.

In the class we went through, which would give a better explanation, a Biblical worldview or secular worldview with respect to creation or design especially with the formation of new protein families, which gives a better explanation, design or random changes in the genome?

We went through relevant Bible verses like:

"Even the stork in the heavens knows her times,and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming,but my people know not the rules of the Lord." Jeremiah 8:7 

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?" Job 12: 7-9 

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." Psalm 19:1

Mr Peter Beissman

Secondary Teacher

The Push-Up Challenge 

The Push-Up Challenge ran this year from the  1st to 23rd of June. The aim of the challenge was to do 3,144 push ups during this time, with some people doing it in a team, a percentage of the full quota and/or substituting in some other exercises. 

The goal of the challenge is to build a sense of community, improve people’s health, educate people about mental health through daily facts in the app and raise money for organisations that help people with their mental health and wellbeing.

Our goals this year were:

• to get 50 participants (we had ~30 last year) 
• do at least 100,000 push-ups (last year was just under 50K)
• raise $2,000 (last year just over $1,200)

In reality we SMASHED our goals with:

• over 100 participants sign up (as either an individual or part of a team
• did a bit over 152,000 push-ups- raised just over $9,500 as a team (this puts our team as 3rd in the country and 2nd in the state for education organisations!)

Our team is truly grateful and amazed by the phenomenal support received throughout the challenge! We have such a fantastic community! 

Weights Shed Update

Over the course of the school year, a number of students have made a consistent effort to come to the weight shed and train. One such student is Aiden Snow-Cole in Year 8. He was rewarded for his efforts at the end of last term, deadlifting an impressive 150KG

I look forward to the progress he and many other students will make in their training over Semester 2 and beyond. The weight shed is open for students 3:30-4:30 Monday, lunchtime Tuesday and recess on Thursdays for those interested.

God bless,

Mr Josh Goschnick

Secondary Teacher