Student News

Barista Certificate, Food Handlers and Silver Service, Customer Service, Bartending skills, RSA 

VCAL and VCE Students participated in and completed their RSA and Food Handlers Certificate’s through the RSA for schools training company. VCAL students also participated in and completed their Barista and Customer Service, Silver Service & Bar Tending Skills courses.  

These courses give our students further employability skills allowing them to obtain employment and leave school with a range of qualifications and certificates to allow them success for their futures.  

The trainer Caroline Duke from RSA for Schools could not speak any more highly about the conduct and dedication the students showed during the training.  

Congratulations to all of the students for achieving their certificates.  

Mrs. Galea & Ms. Galli 

Rowville Community Share Space Donations: 

VCAL students gave back to the community recently by working hard to organise donations for the Rowville Community Share Space. Students organised a notice to be put into the school bulletin (which ran for 6 week) and then went around to classrooms to speak to other students about the donations and when this would be taking place. On collection day, students went around to Homegroups to collect the donations which were then organised into boxes later.   

Late in Term 2, these donations were delivered to Gayle; the founder and organiser of the Rowville Community Share Space. Gayle was very happy to receive these donations from our students and thanked the students for their hard work:  

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you for all of the donations for my share space. It means a lot and the support means I can help more local families or individuals in need. Please also pass on my gratitude to your parents/families for donating. It was a huge donation and I’m overwhelmed with what you all achieved. To the students I met this morning, thank you for lifting and unpacking it all. Hopefully one day next term I can come in and visit you all at school and have a chat to some of you. Have a great holiday break and remember that what you all did will make a difference to other people’s lives. I mean that, it may seem small but it’s huge to someone that has nothing”. Gayle       Mrs. Galea & Ms. Galli 

Sustainability in the Community- Solar Buddy Project 

As part of the Community Connections Program, students in Sustainability in the Community participated in an innovative, STEM, andsocial justice program called Solar Buddy.  This project combined interdisciplinary learning with practical application, has a real-world impact, usescritical and creative thinking, intercultural understanding, teamwork, and global citizenship. 

As a STEM-based program it teaches students of all ages about extreme energy poverty, renewable technologies, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, global citizenship and how a simple solution can haveglobal impact. 

Students assembled the solar lights and wrote letters that are sent to children without access to electricity. Students also held a whole school pyjama day fundraising event to pay for some of the costs of the solar kit. The kits are sent to one of the following countries and students will be notified which country the kits will be 

delivered to. 

• Cambodia 

• Dominican Republic 

• India 

• PNG 

• South Africa 

• Tanzania 

• Timor-Leste 

• Vanuatu                               

VCAL Camp 

On the VCAL Camp, students participated in several fun activities which were aimed at helping students find ways around various challenges. Activities they participated in were: 

• Animal Nursery
• Giant Swing
• Mountain Boarding
• Rock Climbing
• Archery
• Hut Building
• Orienteering
• Night Hike
• Cultural Awareness Activity
• Camp Fire

The camp gave the students the ability to support each other as a team and challenge themselves.  Students also had to identify items at the camp that could be a potential hazard or risk.  There were many laughs in the duration of the camp, however it was great to see the students cheering each other and myself on to complete activities. As well as having fun, this camp allowed students to achieve outcomes from Literacy, Personal Development Skills and Work Related Skills. 

 Below are some student accounts of the camp:  

“Throughout the day we moved into cabins which were very good, they all had their own toilet and shower which, I have never had that at a camp. Also each room had somewhat of a kitchen with a kettle, microwave and a fridge with a TV.  Throughout the day we got dinner, lunch and morning tea which the food was good and I could eat it all with no problems. Then at the end of the day we went on a night hike in to the horse paddock”.  

 “At the end of the second day we had someone come in to talk and show us things that the aboriginal people did and some continue to do now, I thought it was cool how they used certain material to help them start fires faster”  

 “We had to go feed the animals at 5:40pm. Our group ended up being late to dinner as the pig had come with us to the gate and snuck out!! It took our whole class to chase after him and to stop him, it was quite funny”. 

 “We had a night activity which I really enjoyed it was indigenous Australian cultural awareness. I learnt a lot about the indigenous culture”.  

- Abbey Winkworth 

Mrs. Galea & Ms. Galli 

Room Renovation 

The VCAL students have completed their work on the room renovation project in C01. The students had to measure the room and convert these measurements into the volume of paint that was required to paint the classroom. Joshua Fricke contacted Bunnings Warehouse in Springvale to ask whether they would be willing to assist us in the project. Bunnings Warehouse (Springvale

 donated $150 worth of vouchers to WHSC VCAL Program). Bevan Druiven organised the contact for donations of paint from Dulux Australia. 

Dulux provided us with the Primer and Top coat paint required for this project.  

The students worked hard in the last couple of weeks of Term 2 preparing the classroom for painting and then painting the classroom.  

Joshua Fricke, Zach Vallantine and Kurt Anderson measured, designed, organised and built a shelving unit for the front of the classroom. 

I would like to thank the students, Bunnings Warehouse (Springvale) and Dulux Australia for their donations and hard work in completing this project. 

Mrs. Galea & Ms. Galli 

Big Science Competition Results and Junior Science Olympiad 

Last Term we had 29 students participate in the Big Science Competition. The Big Science Competition is a 50 minute, multiple choice competition testing science knowledge, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Questions are set in real-life, contemporary contexts, making them relatable (and interesting)! 

All of the students who participated did a fantastic job but a special mention to the below students who achieved a distinction result! These students, in addition to a handful of other students, were also selected to participate in the next stage of the program, the Junior Science Olympiad. This larger and more challenging stage will further extend our brightest Science students and potentially will get them a place to participate in the Australian Science Olympiads Summer School and even at the International level! 

Well done. 

Mr. Mello 

STEM Learning Specialist 

8ENE6 Norse Myths Comic Strips Collage 

Celebrating the fabulous work of Ms Fei’s Year 8 English class 

The Yr 8s are currently studying Myths and Legends in English and their current focus is Norse Mythology. Each student chose to read a Norse myth they were interested in. They practised skills of summarising and determining important details while reading. Then they turned the myth of their choice into comic strips.

Ms. Graham-Prowse,

Head of Emglish