What's Been Happening!

FRENCH CHAMPIONS

BY DANIEL DEMA (FRENCH TEACHER) 

We are so proud of our Year 7-10 students who participated in the Education Perfect Languages Championships this past week, working hard to answer questions in French and gaining points to compete against schools from all over the world. 

As a school, we answered almost 350,000 questions. Thus, we came second in Victoria and Australia for French in our size group. As a first for us, this year we had four students who managed to get to Elite, which means that they got more than 10,000 points. 

Joel H in Year 10 came first in our school for the third time in a row. Not only that, but he is also number 1 in the world for French and 8th for all languages. This is an extraordinary achievement! 

The other students in our school who got the Elite award are Amy G (Y10), Annalise M (Y9) and Lucy T (Y10). 

We would also like to mention Sophie H and Phoebe M who have just started working on this program as Year 7 students, and still managed to finish top 10 in the school. 

Congratulations to all our students for their effort in establishing our school as one of the top performers in this competition!

YEAR 11 VCAL - HUMAN POWERED VEHICLES 

BY GLENN BOOTH (VCAL & HOSPITALITY TEACHER) 

Last week our Year 11 VCAL students were introduced to our HPV (human-powered vehicle) and took it for a test drive with the aim to develop the vehicle, ensure it meets specifications for competition with the plan to enter in the Energy Breakthrough competition in Maryborough in November. As the vehicle is currently just a shell there is a lot to do before then. Our team are excited for this challenge.

SENIOR SCHOOL BAND

BY GLENN BOOTH (VCAL & HOSPITALITY TEACHER) 

Recently, we have created a space for our senior school musicians to form and create a band. On Friday we heard performances from each of these musicians and I was very impressed by their amazing talents, with some of them already being recorded in different ways. 

We are looking forward to being able to showcase these skills in the school community at some stage this year.  With 4 vocalists, 3 guitars, bass, keys and drums this is going to be a lot of fun.

ALL IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE 

BY EMILY ROBERTS (VCE TEACHER) 

Hold on to your seats! On Wednesday 9th March, the Year 12 Physics class went to Luna Park for a Physics Activity Day (PAD).  On PAD days, the park is closed to the general public but open for school groups of VCE Physics students.  PAD days give students the opportunity to 'feel' the forces acting on them on the rides and roller coaster, rather than just doing calculations about them.

Dr Roberts, Miss Ottosson and the five Year 12 Physics students went on almost all of the rides available. We experienced changes in 'g forces' and 'weightlessness' on rides that dropped us quickly from a height or spun us backward, forwards, sideways or upside down, all in the name of science!

On each ride, we used a mobile phone app to collect data.  The app uses the built-in accelerometers on a mobile phone to collect data on the 'g forces' we were experiencing on each ride.

We had a fantastic day, and after we had subjected our stomachs to the sensation of rising, falling, spinning and somersaulting, we all went across the road to Maccas for lunch!  

Disclaimer: No stomach contents were displaced by staff or students during the participation of this excursion. Miracle ;)