Excursions

da Vinci Decathlon

Students from TCC participated in the da Vinci Decathlon at St Columba School in Week 3. The da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of school students. Students compete in teams of eight across 10 disciplines: Engineering, Mathematics and Chess, Code Breaking, Art and Poetry, Science, English, Ideation, Creative Producers, Cartography and General Knowledge. This year we had 2 teams from Years 7 & 8 compete in the competition and 2 teams from Years 5 & 6.

All teams had a fantastic day and represented the school well. Some highlights from the day were

Year 5 & 6: 1st place in Code Breaking, 2nd & 4th place in Mathematics.

Year 7 & 8: 2nd place in Mathematics, 5th place in Engineering.

The students in attendance were:

Primary: Jesse Glassop, Ethan Platts, Anshul Khadka, Shylah Fahey, Abigail Donaldson, Anya Kunzli, Kaitlyn Burns, Unnie Brisby, Shay Hardie, James Archinal, Casey Sage, Lara Coleman, Elizabeth Archinal, Estie Boshoff, Charlotte Wooldridge, Brianna Brace

Secondary: Calvin Harris, Taylor Donaldson, Lauren O’Neill, Seb Lazzarotto, Justin Colville, Russell Stanley, Olivia Nunez, Isabella Coleman, George Hayes, Tomas Kunzli, Tania Wernicke, Amarah Budden, Jaye Jones, Lilia Kyaw, Alicia Hill, Lilly Kummark

Congratulations to all who participated.

Wingham Beef Week

This was a wonderful opportunity and experience for all of our students who attended.  It was a very BIG week with much to learn and experience!!

Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers who helped to make such a big event happen!

Our award winners were:

Under 12 Years 3rd place - Will Bisley

Under 12 Years 1st place - Harry Green

12 Year to Under 15 Years 2nd place - Taylor Ross-Sampson-Reid & 1st place & Reserve Junior Champion - Chloe Bisley

15 Years to Under 18 Years 3rd place - Nicholas Haynes, 2nd place - Joy Hobson, 1st place & Junior Judging Champion - Kiara Green

Led Steer/Heifer Lightweight: Bambi 1st place paraded by Georgia Lane

Midweight Steer/Heifer: 3rd place was Rosie, paraded by Hannah Bridge, 2nd place was Tonka, paraded by Kiara Green & 1st place was Bandit paraded by Alissa Goode

Under 12 Years 3rd place - Harry Green

12 to Under 15 Years 3rd place - Lucy Connon & 2nd place & Reserve Champion Parader - Chloe Bisley

Special Awards went to:

Most Improved Herdsperson - Sequoia Gillespie

Herdsperson Award for 2018 - Alan Graham

Perseverance Award - Cody Rumming

TCC Cattleman & Enthusiastic Assistant Award - Caleb Haynes

2018 Cattle Show Team Participation Award - Jessica Morris Jackson

The Knox family gave an award for the 'Knox All-rounder' awarded to Georgia Lane

Year 6 Canberra Excursion

Week 1 and they were out of here and had a blast!!!!!

Canberra was so fun, the best part was the snow and the AIS. At the snow we had a snow fight and tobogganed down the hill. At the AIS we kicked the soccer ball, did rock climbing, arm wrestling, watched people play volley ball and saw the swimming pool.

On Thursday we went to see the Governor General and his house. He has a lot of land, he also has a really nice car.

On Friday we went to the zoo and we saw penguins, emus, giraffes, sharks and a great big blue fish and there was a lot more animals as well. On the way home we got to eat McDonald’s for dinner. Then we just watched a movie on the bus.

by Dylan Simpson

It wasn’t very pleasant waking up at 4 o’clock in the morning and being in the bus for 8 hours but I liked the trip.

My favourite part of the Canberra trip was the snow. It was really fun tobogganing and throwing snow balls at each other. I enjoyed racing each other on toboggans. I also liked going to the War Memorial. It was very interesting learning about World War l and World War ll and all of the others. I liked going in the fake trenches.

Questacon was very fun playing all the games. We got to play 2 games of laser tag each. I kept shooting my group leader Steve. He didn’t really like it, but he was still really nice anyway. But to be fair he shot me first.

by Tamika Manuel

Canberra was one of those weeks where you think “it can’t get any better than this” but then the very next day it does. The Museum of Democracy was awesome! But then, of course, the Australian Electoral Education Centre was amazing. On Wednesday the snow was epic. Then we went to Questacon on Thursday and that’s when I thought to myself “No way. It will absolutely never be better.” Then we played laser tag.

The drive down to Canberra was so fun. Izzy and I made comments on the moon as it moved across the sky and joked about every little thing. When we arrived at Canberra I was actually quite disappointed that it had to end. Watching the boys chase seagulls as if they could somehow catch them was amusing though. At the Museum of Democracy I was starting to think “When can we go back on the bus?” But then we watched a video and made lego structures which was even more fun than the bus.

 On Tuesday morning we went to the Mount Ainslie Lookout. I kept looking over at the Australian War Memorial, wondering to myself “what on earth is inside that gigantic dome?!” I soon found out that it was the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a random soldier who was found dead somewhere and nobody knew who he was. He represents all the Australians who died and it makes me sad to know that they didn’t deserve to die young for the sake of their country. I hope they all went to heaven.

My favourite embassy was China’s. I absolutely loved the style of the roofs. Right now I’m trying to recreate the style on houses in Minecraft. At Questacon I learnt so many fascinating things about earthquakes, physics and gravity. I didn’t do the Free Fall because you have to wear an orange suit. Orange is my least favourite colour. At Government House we met the Governor General. He was so nice and polite. There was a cupboard made entirely out of different types of wood, which made it have so many diverse colours. Inside there were like 50 drawers!! We saw a Rolls Royce in the garage. We weren’t allowed to walk on the grass, that’s how epic this place was. At Zone 3 Laser Tag, I always came in the last three positions, but it was my favourite activity of the week.

Friday was calm and quiet in my opinion. We walked around a zoo, fed an emu and ate burgers. We went somewhere called the Pod Playground, which was very fun. On the bus I once again got to laugh my sanity out and we arrived safely back at school.

 When I found out I was in a room with the two most epic friends in the Milky Way, it was the most relieving feeling. Shylah, Izzy and I watched movies, laughed our sanity out and made the most hilarious jokes that we look back at every day. Throughout the 5 days we got closer as friends and I even got along with people I’d never have considered friends.

by Kaitlyn Burns

Students from our school have recently undertaken an educational tour of the national capital. Students have been given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy. The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $30 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Monday

YAWN. My stupid alarm clock goes off right in my ear. I slam my fist on the snooze button and slowly crawl out of bed. I eat my breakfast, pack my bags and drag myself into the car. As we drive to the bus, I slowly nod off, but mum wakes me up. I give her a hug and get on the bus. We travelled for many hours. We watched movies, listened to music and finally we arrive at Canberra. It felt good to get off the bus. We went to the national capital exhibition and built our own museums out of LEGO. Finally, we went to our hotel and went into our rooms. It had a TV and 3 single beds that were so soft, you would sink into the bed itself. We had dinner, played games, changed into pyjamas and then nodded off.

Tuesday

Woke up quite early. Quietly got dressed, had a shower and watched TV until my mates woke up. We went downstairs and had breakfast. Then we got on the bus and went to a lookout on a tall mountain. It was a beautiful sight. After that, we went to the war memorial. We went and looked at all the poor soldiers who suffered for us. I got a trench whistle so I could torture my dog. Just kidding! I got it because my brother would like it. We went to the last post ceremony. It was really awesome and cool. Then we went back to the hotel. We had showers watched TV, changed into clean clothes and had dinner. Then we got on the bus and went to the institute of sport. They showed us where the famous athletes train and prepare for their events. Then we went into Theo's room where you could do sports related activities on screens. It was awesome. Then we went home and went to bed.

Wednesday

Oh my gosh! It's the day we get to go to the snow. I got up in a rush, changed into my snow gear and accidentally woke up my mates. We had breakfast early and headed off. It was a long trip. Finally, we arrived. We got out of the bus. Brr, it is cold. We spent the first half of the day tobogganing off a slope. I kept on falling off the toboggan. Then we had lunch. After we finished we went to a hill and had a snowball fight. It was so fun. Then we got on the bus and stopped at McDonald's for a hot chocolate. Then we went to our cabins and spent a long time in our rooms. We had dinner and then went to bed and felt warm again.

Thursday

Tried to sleep in again but Mr Warner kept on throwing pillows in my face. I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed. I lightened up when I heard Booyong say we were going to Questacon. I ate breakfast and we headed on the bus. It was amazing. We got there and bought things at the gift shop. After that we went exploring around the place. I played air hockey with a robot and made my own pinball machine. It was awesome. After the visit to Questacon, we went to the government house. We met the Governor General and looked at his house. I saw a Rolls Royce in his garage.

Then we went to Parliament House. We saw the Senate and the House of Representatives. We learnt why the Senate is red and why the House of Representatives is green. Then we played a role-playing game pretending we were senators. It was awesome. Then we changed in to dark clothes and went to a laser tagging place. We met the second best laser tagged in the world. Then we played lots of games and had loads of fun. Then we went back to our cabins and had dinner, and then nodded off.

Friday

We woke up and had breakfast. We packed our bags and put them on the bus. We ate brekkie and went to the zoo. We saw lots of cool animals. We saw hyenas, possums, painted dogs and lions. We went into the aquarium and saw sharks. And we saw giant crabs and lobster things. We had lunch and got on the bus and headed home. We watched three movies and stopped at McDonald's for dinner. Then we got back on the bus and headed home. It felt good to go to bed without people throwing pillows at my face. Canberra was amazing. I loved every second of it!

by Jesse Glassop

Incursion - visit from Tinonee Museum

Stage 1 enjoyed a visit from Tinonee Museum volunteers Pam and Jenny. This fitted with our HSIE unit of study and touched on key language, ‘past’ and ‘artefact.’

Years 3 & 4 visit Timbertown 

A great time had by all!!

Year 9 & 10 Visual Arts students at Dragon Studios

On the 4th of July, 15 photographic student enthusiasts ventured down to North Sydney to have an unforgettable set of educational experiences at Dragon Studios. Firstly, students were given an inspiring testimonial by Andrew Pawley who has worked in the video industry for many years. They were then invited to participate in the use of high tech cameras, high speed flash, LED lighting and screen equipment to do some trick photographic shoots. One memorable moment was when a $250K, 8K camera called ‘RED” was used to film a balloon bursting with a ridiculously slow motion capacity. And in a few of the images below, using the same camera, Solomon Wilkes and Erin van der Kaaden can be seen injecting dye into a fish tank and lighting a flame on a piece of black Perspex that was filmed with hyper real clarity.

A big thank you to Maitrix Sumpner-Johnston for sharing the day with us as a valued volunteer and to Mr Alley for driving us all safely there and back.

Catherine Grimwood

Here are some quotes from students who attended on the day.

The day was FABULOUS! Andrew’s story was quite intriguing and, I believe, has inspired many students on their journey to a variety of specific career paths. He encouraged us to find something that we are good at in this world. The day was amazing with ‘heaps’ of instruction on how to use the manual DSLR camera.

It was a fun day! We had a great time learning how to take better photographs using many different angles.

It was an interesting day (well worth the early morning) learning about the technology out there and how to take better photographs.