Year 9/10

CHINA TRIP 2018

The 2018 China trip was certainly a once-in-lifetime trip. 17 CESC students and 3 staff were fortunate enough to be part of a thirteen day exciting adventure.

Phoenix, Kaylana, Paige, Roger, Miah, Jake, Riley, Brandon, Anparasan, Hayden, Emily, Alexandria, Mia, Viki, Courtney, Lana and Aurora accompanied by Mr Allender, Mrs Roe and me set off our 13 day experience in China on September 15th. From the start of our journey, these young people were brimming with enthusiasm and joy. There is no doubt about how happy and successful this trip has been. 13 days is a long time, but according to these students, it wasn’t long enough.

The students visited four of China’s vast and populous cities: Beijing, its capital, Xi’an, Suzhou and Shanghai, each with its own history and atmosphere.

After landed in Beijing, we spent our first three days exploring the amazing city. The highlights of Beijing were definitely the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace. The martial arts Kungfu show was absolutely fascinating. Our love for shopping was fulfilled with the Hongqiao Pearl Market as we became confident in our bargaining skills. Travelling to the Great Wall was an unimaginable and incredible experience that will stay with us forever.

We took an overnight train to Xi’an. The next day we had a relaxing morning started with a local classic breakfast-Roujiamo. We visited the Ancient City Wall, Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Small Wild Goose Pagoda. The highlight in Xi’an was definitely the Terracotta Army, a super large collection of life-size terra cotta sculptures in battle formations, reproducing the mega imperial guard troops of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. For dinner, we enjoyed a huge dumpling feast, eating 20 different types of dumplings while watching a traditional Chinese shadow puppet show.

After Xi’an, we went to Suzhou by a high- speed bullet train. We visited the Humble Administrator Garden and Suzhou Museum. Later on the day we had a boat tour on the Suzhou Ancient Grand Canal to see the old buildings and get a feel for the life of the locals. The small town, peaceful and historical, just likes a time machine to take you back to the old era when ancient people communicated mainly by shipping on the waterway.

After the local school visit in Suzhou, we caught a coach two-hour east to the city of Shanghai, a modern metropolis of 20 million people. Once we arrived, we got on the subway and went to Nanjing Road to see the Bund at night, the view along the river was amazing! Every building was lit up with all kinds of lights and there were many historical buildings on the other side of the road. The most exciting part of Shanghai is the Disneyland. As the sixth in the world and the first in mainland China, Shanghai Disneyland Park creates many records among the existing Disney parks. It was undeniably a great day! We loved it. On our last day, we visited the Oriental Pearl Tower. Looking down at Shanghai on a glass floor from 259 metres was a fantastic highlight of the trip.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL NEWS

Welcome to the final term of Year 9! Thus far, we’ve had a smooth start and we’re hoping it continues. Term 4 is traditionally a very busy term and this year is no exception. We’ve had some excursions already, with the main one being for City Experience. It was great to see our Year 9s, who are studying CHALLENGE as a part of the P2S Program, combining it with their City Experience. This saw students attend the Melbourne CBD independently and attend the indoor Rock Climbing Centre. Activities like this prove challenging and need a lot of will power and a growth mindset to have success. Fair to say, students and staff, were quite tired after their active day!

Excitedly, we have our Camp to Halls Gap coming up in Week Six (Wed 14th to Fri 16th Nov). Please complete all documents and pay any outstanding costs if you haven’t already. Students not attending camp are still expected at school, as there are classes running for these students. For students going on camp, we look forward to hearing all about it when you return.

Electives for Year 10 will be confirmed very soon. When this occurs, we will update families with a Course Confirmation date.

Reminders to students and families:

Notes for arriving late or absent. Parents/Guardians can log into Compass to approve. If you’ve misplaced your log in, please contact the school to arrange a replacement. Alternatively, please provide your child with a note, when they arrive to school, especially if they’re late, so it can be approved right away. We require your support with this, as each school is required to answer to the Department for student attendance.

Uniforms- in particular socks. White socks only. No other colours, logos or writing. Socks cannot be rolled down.
No polish or fake nails.
No piercings in the face. If you have any, take them out before entry onto the school grounds.

Thank you to all the students who comply with our school uniform rules and expectations and thank you to the families who provide notes/approvals for attendance. It is greatly appreciated.

Thank you Year 9 students for your smooth start into Term 4!

Year 9 News

Term IV already? There is so much happening in the Orange Building at the moment, it is hard to believe we are nearing the end of Year 9. There is an amazing variety of interesting and exciting activities taking place this term.

As part of the P2S program, students are currently focussing on ‘CHALLENGE’. Our final City Experience for the year will combine the skills learnt navigating the CBD with the challenge of an indoor rock climbing adventure. The events will take place on Tuesday, October 30th (9F, 9G, 9H and 9I) and Wednesday, October 31st (9A, 9B, 9C, 9D).

From the 14th to the 16th of November roughly 80 intrepid students will be heading off to Halls Gap for the Year 9 Adventure Gap. Challenge indeed! For those not making the trip, there will be a full program of class and activities running at school for all three days. Parents are encouraged to ensure their students attend these days.

Year 9 Exams will be held on the 22nd and 23rd of November. Year 9 students will sit Exams for English, Science, Maths and Humanities. Regardless of the intended pathway for your child in 2019, parents are reminded that completion of the Exams is compulsory. Students are reminded to take their preparation and execution of these Exam very seriously. Classroom teachers will be beginning work on this preparation over the next few weeks.

As well as those year level activities we are incredibly proud of the large number of Year 9 students participating in engagement and extension activities, hoping to improve their self-confidence and learning abilities. These programs include Peer Support Training, Aim High Program and Time to Shine.

A final reminder about Summer Uniform. All students should now be in full summer uniform. This includes white socks for both boys and girls. We ask for the support and cooperation from families in ensuring their student has the correct and required uniform. Please contact the Year Level Leaders or your child’s Home Group teacher if this is an issue.

Subjects in the Spotlight

Art and Ceramics

Our Art/Technology Electives this year have included Art and Ceramics. My class has been working on a range of different artwork throughout the entire year. WE have worked at developing our skills in research, planning and publishing artworks. The topic that we have focused on for the entire year has been indigenous Australian dreamtime, culture and symbolism. Throughout the term we have defined and refined our skills and knowledge in sketching/drawing, painting with water colour and acrylic and sculpting clay. To start off our year we composed lovely landscape canvasses. These landscapers had our own dreamtime journey in it without our own symbols in respect of the indigenous Australian symbolism. In Term 2 we took a step in the dark and drew some self-portraits. These portraits were covered in dot painting and surrounded with symbols that represent you as a person.

Still working with the topic of the indigenous, we moved into ceramics for term three. In this project we had to research the first owners of the city of Casey and describe their normal day on walkabout around the area. From there we needed to illustrate eight different pictures and the journey the local people had to take. With our finished plans we transferred that on to clay. Finally, in term 4 we are working in groups to put together a vessel that has all totemic qualities in it. This totem needed to have the eagle (Bunjil) on it and a relevance of identify and symbolism for the entire group. Overall, this year has been fun and educational, I have enjoyed the all lesson and can’t wait to continue doing art in the future.

Ronan E 9D

The Sports Pathway Program – 2018

In 2018 there are two Sports Pathway classes. These classes are designed to enable us to get an understanding about what an athlete does and what they learn about themselves. As someone who is interested in elite sport and is keen to make a living out of it, I am glad I chose this program. I have been able to learn all different sporting components and heaps of strength and conditioning with a personal trainer that comes to school. We have been out on many excursions and found out about the daily life of an elite athlete and trying to exercise like an athlete. It is all about putting yourself to the test and I totally recommend it.

Tristan W – 9H

The Sports Pathway Program has been an amazing experience. Being part of this elite sports program in our school we have been given the opportunity to experience so many new opportunities and meet some fantastic people. Another bonus is all the excursions we have been on. These have included: Melbourne Cable Park, Oliver's Hill Run and Beach Recovery, AMII Park Tour and Tan Track Run, even swimming and bowling at Casey Race. Anyone who chooses this for 2019 will definitely enjoy it (and you get days out of school😀)

Abbie R – 9I

City Experience – Term III – Mixed Adventures

On the 14th of September the year 9s went on City Experience where we separated into groups. There were options from: The Old Melbourne Gaol, Queen Victoria Market, Murder Mystery, MCG Tour, Gaming/Programming, Street Art. As for me, I went to Queen Victoria Market where we had at least 2 hours to spend in the market while we filled out our worksheet to learn about the Market as we went on. We also had free time as well after we completed the worksheet. The market was full of many things ranging from clothes, fresh foods, fast food, etc. There were many things to learn about the market as it had history to it. Afterwards, we made a quick visit to the Old Melbourne Gaol where we took photos outside the Gaol. We took a tour around most parts of Melbourne including Melbourne Central but after that we met up with the rest on the people at Parliament Station and then we took the 2:15 train back to Cranbourne. The day was very exhausting but we gained knowledge about various parts of Melbourne and understanding of the reasons why some of the places were created or what were they used for before. Overall, it was very interesting how other people who went to different places and shared their opinions about their understanding on their city experience. The day was enjoyable and we wish to attend to similar excursions in the future

Bhumika 9B

For City Experience, I went on a Murder Mystery Tour, which was touring the city and certain locations within the city. The people who were doing the tour were to arrive at Flinders Street Station at 9.30am, and were expected to travel there by themselves. When we arrived at the station, we met with a teacher and followed our teacher to where the tour began. Our tour guide was a talkative guy, who had interesting stories to tell us about the dark side of Melbourne. We walked to certain locations, such as the St Paul’s Cathedral, and were told menacing and shocking stories that took place at that certain spot. One story that is still vividly remembered in our heads is the cases of 6 different women who went missing in Melbourne. They were all different age groups, ethnicity and social groups, with no evident connections to one another. Our tour guide also said that all of the witnesses who were there at the time of the kidnappings were killed, leaving the case with no witness or evidence. We heard even more alarming stories as we stopped at unusual areas; the side of a building, in an old library etc. Overall, the tour opened our eyes to the ‘underbelly’ of Melbourne, and how it has some dark secrets of its own. After the highly exhilarating tour, we parted with our tour guide and were in our own little groups to find some food in the city. After finding something to eat, the other City experience groups came together and met up at Parliament station where we were dismissed. We got the choice of staying in the city or catching the next train back to Cranbourne.

Angelena 9A

The ConocoPhillips science experience

On September 24th to 26th, three students in the Year 9 STEM Program: Amanda Sabangan, Raj Singh and Shainon Cunnen, were selected to participate in the ConocoPhillips Science Experience along with other students from several schools around Victoria. Held at the Berwick campus of Federation University, the three-day program involved hands-on activities about wildlife forensics, nursing, psychology, programming, and excursions that were occupied with a variety of challenges the students had to undergo.

On 24th of September, 3 of the year 9 stem students from 9B had a chance to go to a 3-day science experience which was located at the federation university. The first day the students arrived at Federation University and played a game just to get to get to know each other. Then the students went upstairs and had a mini-lesson about how the brain works and the different function of the brain. The students had a break after and were given an opportunity to look at how athletes are assessed and get feedback on their performance. After that, the students learnt how to make Gatorade and actually made their own Gatorade and compared it to a regular homemade drink. The students then had a little break where they got to eat their lunch and relax for a bit. Last period the students did robotics and learnt how robots are programmed. After that, the students programmed robots to go in a straight-line sensor an object picks it up and then continue and turn left and then drop i

Year 10 News

We have commenced our final term for Year 10! Once again, it will be an action-packed term that will keep our students busy right up until their last day of the year. We have already had students participating in a range of fun learning opportunities over the last couple of weeks and there are plenty more to come. Students are also preparing for their end of year exams and are encouraged to commence their study as soon as possible so that they can achieve their best possible results as they finish their years in the Middle-School years at CESC.

Key dates for Term 4 include:

Monday 5th November – Curriculum Day
Tuesday 6th November – Melbourne Cup
Friday 16th November – Lyndon Williams Staff vs Students Soccer Match
Tuesday 20th – Friday 23rd November – Exam Week
Monday 26th – Friday 30th – Feedback Week
Thursday 29th November – Year 10 Celebration Day
Monday 3rd December – Step Up timetable commences
Friday 14th December – Final day for 10s into 11

Term 4 with our Branch Out programs

STEM ISIC Program

This year our 10A students have been undertaking a year long program called the ‘I Sea, I Care’ program, run by the Dolphin Research Institute (DRI) in Hastings. Term 4 has been a busy period for the class who have been involved in completing intertidal surveys at Flinders and presenting their project to the staff from the DRI.

On Monday 8th October, Sue Mason from the DRI came to visit 10A during their Science class to teach them how to develop a research question, develop their hypothesis from this and then run an intertidal survey based on their work. The following Monday the class were taken to the West Head lookout in Flinders to run their surveys and determine whether their predictions were accurate. The students enjoyed visiting the rockpools and observing the organisms that resided within the area.

Following on from the survey session, 10A presented their project to members of the DRI team on Wednesday 24th of October. They had developed a plan to educate their peers about the harm that single use plastic can have on the marine wildlife of Port Phillip Bay, as well as educate them about the organisms that reside there, including seals and dolphins! 10A will finish up their work with the DRI on Monday 26th November, where they will take a boat trip out from Sorrento to observe the dolphins that reside in the bay.

VINE Numeracy

Our 10B students have had a busy start to Term 4, working to complete their final tasks to receive their ‘S’ for their VCAL Foundation Numeracy class. Activities that they have participated in include their Scavenger Hunt around the Hunt Club and their Blindfolds Location task.

As part of their Outcome called Location, students had to work with a partner to develop a Scavenger Hunt that would lead their peers around a section of the Hunt Club, completing tasks along the way. Students had to provide their peers with 8 sets of directions that would lead them in a circuit back to the school. They then spent one session of a double lesson setting up for the Scavenger Hunt, which included leaving items around the Hunt Club to be later discovered by another group from the class. That afternoon, each group received a set of directions to decipher, which would hopefully lead them in the right direction! All of the students in the class worked extremely well to prepare the activity and, once out in the community, represented the school positively. Well done to 10B!

LEAF National Gallery of Victoria excursion

On the 19th of October the Year 10 LEAF class got the opportunity to visit the National Gallery of Victoria. They were involved in a creative writing workshop where they analysed and interpreted artwork. The art they looked at included Pablo Picasso’s ‘Weeping Woman’ and Mark Rothko’s ‘Untitled (Red)’. 10C’s guide, Liz, put together several activities which facilitated their creative thinking. They were encouraged to explore the depths of the artwork by listing their associations with the image and develop this into poetry. Overall, the LEAF class were thankful for the chance to engage with culture and art from new perspectives.

Veronica Guthrie

Year 10 Assistant Team Leader

Year 10 Science and Genetics

This term students are discovering what makes them tall, short, curly haired or straight haired or even why they have freckles. They are learning to answer questions like “Why is that I have my Uncle Bobs’ nose? Why do I look more like my cousin than my sister? In DNA and Genetics we delve into finding out what exactly is DNA and how our biological parents pass on genes that make us who we are. We also explore the realm of stem cells, cloning, vaccinations and GMOs.

The students get to produce their own “offspring” in the CAT when they make their own Vegie Babies and learn how it is random chance that creates a curly haired baby and that it is just one of many possible outcomes.

Here are the results of 10Is mating outcomes.

Lots of Boys in this class with Curly Hair also coming out the Dominant trait.

Indigenous Art Club

On Thursday 18th October, the Indigenous Art Club and 9D, with Miss Georgiou and Mr. Razaai, went to the Royal botanical Gardens of Cranbourne and learnt about the local Aboriginal people, the Boon Wurrung country. Including the tools they used for music, collecting food, hunting and cooking. Students made ochre paint and told their story, tasted several edible plants and fruit, drank natural organic Lemon Myrtle tea and brushed their hair with Banksia plants. Overall students enjoyed their day, despite the rainy weather, and learnt a lot about the relationship between Aboriginal people and the environment