Senior School
VCE PE Excursion– METS performance
On Monday 27th May the Year 11 and 12 Physical Education classes travelled to Warrandyte High School for a presentation from METS Performance as valuable preparation for their upcoming assessment tasks. It was a great opportunity for our students to have access to and observe elite level fitness testing and procedures made available through Tyler Phillips at METS Performance.
(Tyler is an elite athlete who has competed in seven Ironman competitions.)
Alec Peterson completed the Wingate Test which involved him sprinting on an exercise bike for 30 seconds at maximum intensity. During this time, the resistance on the bike increased and we were able to measure the amount of power Alec could sustain over the time period and monitor his fatigue levels. Another student performed the V02max test on the bike which included data such as his heart rate, breathing rate and blood lactate levels being presented on a screen for the students to observe.
Tyler engaged students through discussion, linking the data collected to relevant key knowledge in the VCE PE Study design including energy systems, acute responses to exercise, fatigue and recovery, training and performance enhancement.
Julian Holland (Year 12 PE teacher)
GTAC Excursion
On Wednesday the 5th of June, the Year 12 Biology class visited the Gene Technology Access Centre (GTAC) in Parkville to participate in their responding to pathogens and generating immunity program.
This is something that Victorian schools work very hard to secure a place in and so to have two programs booked for our students this year is fantastic!
It was an early start with our meeting point being the Don Road bus stop at 7:15am. From there we travelled to the Lilydale train station and after a train and tram ride we finally arrived at GTAC for our 9:30am start.
The students were introduced to their PHD mentors and participated in the interactive introduction activities.
Throughout the day, they were guided through two experiments with their mentors and given the opportunity to work with scientific equipment that is generally only seen in universities and professional laboratories.
Students were required to complete and evaluate the results of their experiments and justify the conclusions they’d developed as a group.
Lunch at Melbourne University gave the students an insight into the type of tertiary environment they might experience after high school and provided an opportunity to discuss their investigation results.
Overall, it was an extremely valuable and busy day, with the students consolidating their knowledge of the immune system and its response to invading pathogens.