Teaching & Learning

Tutoring

The State Government has allocated $250M to  a school tutoring program. CHS are offering both opt-in and in-class tutoring. Selected students are being notified by tutors, and parents wishing to enquire about further information can contact Peter Woodhams at  tutors@coburg.vic.edu.au

Meet some of our tutors below:

Peter Woodhams

Hi all,

I’m Peter and I am here at CHS to support student learning through the Victorian Government Tutors in schools’ program to support students in the wake of the COVID 19 Pandemic. I am a retired secondary school teacher with over 30 yrs. experience, having taught environmental science to VCE level, mathematics to year 10 as well as Philosophy to VCE level. I have been an occasional relief teacher at CHS since 2018 so I may be a relatively known face to many of you. My partner and I have two adult daughters, one studying in Italy and my youngest working in a Primary school. We love to travel, go bush whenever we can and spend time in our insanely productive fruit and vegetable garden. In between times I read, mostly about natural history and science. The picture above is one of my favourite places in Australia, the magnificent Croajingalong National Park in Victoria a remote corner of North East Gippsland. This picture, taken early in the morning on the banks of the Mueller river reflects the tranquillity and timeless nature of this special place.

Lydia Burns

I’m Lydia and I teach English and am one of the tutors at CHS. I’ve always been involved in extracurricular activities within schools, from debating to school camps. On the weekends you can find me completing escape rooms as a way to immerse myself in two of my passions: mental engagement and spending time with my partner and with my brother. Here is a photo of myself with my rescue dog Jackie who is the biggest distraction during remote learning.

Sam McCombe

Hello Coburgians! I’m Sam, and I’m a graduate English and Humanities teacher who will also be involved in the tutoring program. Being new to the school this year, it’s been awesome to come into such a warm and welcoming environment! One of my big passions is getting out on the road. Whether it's around Australia or internationally (when borders are open of course), I’ll always try and combine my love of history and music with new surrounds. This photo was taken on a recent road trip around South Australia during the summer break. Whilst travelling with two friends on the way back from the Flinders Ranges, we stumbled across the house from Midnight Oil’s album ‘Diesel and Dust’ and tried our best to imitate Peter Garrett’s dance moves (I’m on the right). Hopefully we did him justice!

Spanish

Year 8 Spanish

Students are learning all about Spanish, from geography to local languages, and of course, food!

At the start of the term, they planned an ideal trip to Spain and used their growing conversation skills. Students will continue to learn about finding their way around the city and are definitely looking forward to the tapas workshop at the end of the Term. ¡Hasta pronto!

VCE Spanish

As students prepare for their first SAC for their Interpersonal Communication Unit, Year 11 and 12 students participated in an incursion delivered by Mexican actress and performer Laura Hernández. Through this drama workshop on expression, they worked on their improvisation skills, building their confidence and adaptability to different situations.

Noah R: "a useful tip was how to use different tones of our voice when speaking"

Amelia C: "It was good practise to have to respond quickly in a situation"

We wish all the best to VCE students in their first Spanish SAC this term.

Lourdes Garcia Larque and the Languages Team

Science

Hello Coburgians !

Welcome to Coburg Science! In year 7 science my amazing students received their bunsen burner licences! Well done students and we have just completed an experiment on the heating rate of water using the blue flame and orange flame of the bunsen burner. Well done 7E - you are absolutely fabulous !!!! 

My VCE year 12 students are now studying the volume of gases and we have just completed a practical using magnesium and hydrochloric acid to measure the volume of hydrogen gas produced. Great work year 12's! 

The year 11's did the flame test on a series of ionic chlorides identifying the metal cation as responsible for the beautiful coloured resulting flame in their study of ionic compounds Unit 1 AOS 1

Well done year 11's!

Next newsletter I'll report the activities of my year 9 classes!

Many thanks

Lakshmi

Outdoor Education

What a day for it! Beautiful sunshine met the 9OE classes as they rode the Merri Creek trail to Dight's Falls. It was a great ride, with everyone pedalling along nicely. 23kms later and we had returned to school, tired but proud! 

Darren Symons

Foods

The Year 10s have been cooking up a storm in the kitchen this term, this week was San Choy Bau and doesn't it look delicious!

Chantelle Rowland