Secondary Life

Creative Arts Week (CAW)

Vivienne Stapleton - Director of Christian Foundations/Food Studies Teacher

As I write, House performances are in full swing, much of this week having been spent cutting, painting, gluing and shaping scenery, props and backdrops, not to mention writing scripts and composing music. Watch this space for a full report on the week's activities at the start of next term.

But the week started, as always, with food. This year's Disney theme provided a wealth of inspiration for our cake creators. From the enchanting world of Alice in Wonderland to the tropical paradise of Moana, from grinning Cheshire cats to beautiful princesses, these classic films offer an incredible array of visually stunning, delectable possibilities. Once again, our students produced cakes of such intricate, technical brilliance that they had us all in awe!

Fifty Year 7 to 12 students entered the doors of the Food Studies room Monday morning, carefully manoeuvring cakes of various shapes and sizes. Cakes were entered into the Junior (Years 7 to 9) and Senior (Years 10 to 12) categories. Judges had the challenging task of comparing an array of fondant moulded, buttercream piped, structurally engineered creations. 

Everyone is to be congratulated on their time and efforts which started CAW off with a huge buzz of excitement and anticipation. Many thanks to our parents who also deserve congratulations. No doubt there was a lot of kitchen space dedicated to icing sugar and food colouring, not to mention transporting delicate cakes to school in one piece! 

Senior cake winners

1st Georgia Bonda

2nd Lucia Zhang

3rd Talitha McCulloch

Special mentions to Sarah Price, Sophie Waters and Kate Northfield

Junior cake winners

1st Emma-Rose Roberts

2nd Alfie Onley

3rd Kayley, Jacinta and Annie from Year 7

Special mentions to Claire Gruber and Ari Baldwin

Engineering Award 

Arielle Harding and Gia Dredge

Music In Focus

Janine Power - Music Administrator

It has been a busy and exciting term in the Music department. We commenced the term with a performance by the Senior Big band at the lunchbox concert – in preparation for “Generations in Jazz”.  An exciting (albeit wet) weekend at Generations in Jazz, Mount Gambier, saw 90 students compete in seven different big band and choir divisions, culminating in some very positive results including first place for our Altonatives choir. 

On Sunday 28 May our woodwind students competed in the annual State-wide Victorian Flute Guild Ensemble Competition. Taking part were two Primary ensembles and four Secondary ensembles, with groups winning 2nd and 3rd places throughout. Flute duets and trios also participated, as well as the new Intermediate Woodwinds ensemble for years 7/8.

Later in the term we enjoyed wonderful performances from our VCE Unit 1 and 3 students held in the Community Hub – a more formal occasion as part of their assessment and preparation for the Unit 4 exam at the end of the year.

Wednesday 7 June saw the Winter Strings concert presented by all four string ensembles and our three chimes ensembles.  The evening was a celebration of the work of these ensembles with over 150 student performers and an audience of some 300 parents and friends.

Individually over 50 students this term undertook AMEB and ANZCA instrumental exams.

Our Inspiration Days took place during rehearsals in week 6 and 8. Senior and Intermediate Concert bands performed for their counterparts in the Junior and IBP training band.  It was encouraging and exciting for the students to see that most of the Senior concert band had begun their musical journey in the Instrumental bands program and have since progressed to the point of being a valued member of the premier concert band at DCC.

Term 3 promises to be just as busy – check out the timetable on Schoolbox Music News.

Colourbration Alpaca Show

Tilly Perry - Year 10 Student

On the 10th of June, nine Donvale students took a trip to Bendigo to participate in Colourbration, an annual alpaca show that celebrates the wide variety of alpaca colouring. The event was held in a large pavilion at the Bendigo showgrounds and was attended by people from around Australia. 

Students took part in the Youth Paraders event, something they had been practising hard for over several weeks at alpaca training. The competition comprised two categories - Stockmanship and Showmanship.

Stockmanship is where the parader guides their alpaca around an obstacle course in a particular order, while in Showmanship the parader is judged on their ability to show their alpaca and follow a series of instructions. 

All the students involved in Colourbration had a lot of fun and gained invaluable experience from this amazing event, with every DCC student placing for either Stockmanship or Showmanship.

Everyone should be very proud of all the hard work they put into the competition.