Around The College
Central Australia Trip
The Year 11 Central Australia trip is designed to immerse attendees in the beauty that is outback Australia and expose them to both geographical differences and cultural experiences with our Indigenous Australians. Coupled with this, the trip brings together a group of students who will travel together and develop stronger bonds and problem solve with one another.
On Saturday 22nd June, 95 students and 10 staff departed Brentwood Secondary College for a 15-day trip by coach from Brentwood to Adelaide, then right up the centre of Australia to Darwin. To outline some of the amazing highlights of the trip:
- In Coober Pedy we visited an opal mine deep below the surface and stayed the night underground.
- We saw the magnificence of Uluru, Kata Tjuta and the “red centre”.
- Climbing Kings Canyon was awe inspiring and highlighted the power of how tectonic plates and erosion cause changes in the landscape.
- A visit to the Lilla Community outside of Kings Canyon allowed us a guided walk through the sacred land, enjoyed a traditional welcome to country smoking ceremony, and participation in a dot painting workshop.
- In Alice springs we enjoyed tours of School of the air and the Royal Flying Doctors Service.
- We explored parts of the West MacDonnell Ranges visiting such places as Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm and John Flynnes Gravesite.
The second week was much warmer, with daily temperatures of 30 degrees and time to unwind and explore the country closer. Some highlights of this part of the tour were:
- Kakadu National Park
- Yellow Waters crocodile cruise
- Litchfield National Park
- Beautiful waterfalls and swimming spots
- Learning about aboriginal culture, dreamtime stories, sacred sites
- Exploration of Darwin and watching the sunset at Darwin’s night market
In addition to learning about our country and seeing the magnificence of the land, this journey set students up to find out more about who they are as people (resilience, endurance, team work, communication, skills to camp). The bonds formed between the students, as well as the staff and students are unmeasurable. It will be a connection that is special to those having shared the experience together. I cannot commend the year 11 group enough for how they represented the College whilst on camp and for making the experience one of the best ones I’ve had in my teaching career. I hope they all cherish this experience for some time to come.
Chad Abersteiner, Tour Leader
Aviation News – High Achievers
It was a great day yesterday for one of our aspiring aviation students – Jacob Abercrombie!
Jacob reached new heights yesterday afternoon and successfully completed his first solo flight – Congratulations!
With no instructor on-board, Jacob successfully took the aeroplane off, flew by himself and landed. This is a great achievement and one I’m sure he will never forget.
It is something that takes a lot of skill and responsibility and I’m glad to see Jacob progress in a short period of time to this level. It goes to show you that when you have a dream and work towards something, anything is possible. Well done Jacob!
Subject selections are beginning for transition from Year 9 to Year 10 soon. I encourage any student who has the dream of flying or who aspires to be a pilot to select the aviation course ‘Top Gun’ as a Year 10 subject. Now that Brentwood can run the aviation course in Year 11 and 12, it opens up a positive career path for our students. If you’d like further information, please see Chris Barry or email barry.chris.b@edumail.vic.gov.au
Mr Chris Barry, Aviation Sciences