Out and About

History And The Development Of Indigenous Knowledge And Awareness

In recent times, the History Faculty has set ourselves the challenge of providing our students with more exposure to Indigenous resources within our local area.

Over the past three years, Lionel Lauch from ‘Living Culture’ has presented students in ‘Australian History’ with a rich and highly interesting cultural workshop. Its interactive nature has seen students sampling nutritional native plants as well as learning of their medicinal qualities.

Lionel, who is the nephew of famous Australian singer/songwriter Archie Roach, has also spoken frankly about his stolen generation experience, enabling students to better understand the short and long-term consequences of colonisation.

Finally, his workshop entails instruction in fire making, Marngrook playing, weaponry and hunting as well as didgeridoo playing and healing: a highlight.  Lionel is a master storyteller.

Last term, all our Year 7 groups attended a cultural immersion workshop at Willum Warrain Aboriginal Centre in Hastings. This is an outstanding resource in our local area. Students participate in activities ranging from smoking ceremony to dance. The care and knowledge imparted from elders makes this day both special and unique.

Next month, recently retired Age journalist and renowned novelist and biographer, Martin Flanagan will visit the school to talk to students and teachers about Reconciliation and the importance of History in our lives.

Mr John Russell

History Teacher

Victorian Secondary Schools’ Parliamentary Convention

On Tuesday 3 September, Keelia Ebanks, Michaela Goggin, Perri Hobbs, Matisse Knight, Anastasia Parkhomenko and Louis Robson were invited to attend the Victorian Secondary Schools’ Parliamentary Convention at Parliament House to debate the topic “Should we abolish the Legislative Council in Victoria?”. Together, led by Mrs Cindy Bryant and Mr Isaac Bakker, students researched the pros and cons of both bicameral and unicameral parliamentary systems before concluding that Victoria is best to remain a bicameral system and, therefore, the Legislative Council should not be abolished. The group prepared a two-minute opening address detailing their reasons, which was confidently and professionally delivered by Keelia Ebanks and Louis Robson to Victorian Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Maree Edwards and 100 delegates from schools around Victoria. Students were then separated into interschool discussion groups to further delve into the issue before re-entering parliament and debating the issue in an open ‘Soap Box’ format. Each Frankston High School student volunteered to speak, sharing their own creative arguments for remaining a bicameral parliament. At the end of the day, the issue was decided by vote, with the majority of delegates deciding that the Legislative Council should remain.

As students were gathering their belongings before leaving, I was approached by several organisers of the event and teachers from other schools who commended Frankston High School students for their strong public speaking skills and unique contributions to the event, with one organiser stating that “Frankston High School students were the most well-spoken”. Congratulations to all Frankston High School delegates for representing the school with strong critical thinking and respect for others.

Mr Isaac Bakker

Business Studies 

Netball Champions!

What a bright lookout it is for Frankston High School Netball.

Over 80 players represented the school last season in the Domestic Netball League, playing against strong competition, including Toorak, Peninsula, Flinders and other local schools and clubs.

Our Year 9 Redbacks made it to the finals against Year 10 girls and we really hope they’ll give it one more go next year; they are brilliant!

The Year 9/10 Spiders, being it their first season, really lifted as they played more together and made the finals too, a fantastic effort.

All the Year 7 teams made it to finals, sometimes against all Year 8 teams, and the Year 7/8 Vipers showed everybody how the game should be played, with an exemplary attitude towards the sport, playing for the fun of playing and competing together.

Section 1 Whitetails and Section 2 Dragonflies both saved their best games for the Grand Finals, bringing home a fantastic season as champions!!

Many thanks to Ms Libby Nicol for the Semper training, to Mia Blood, Jade Keane, Lottie Shinkfield and to the dedicated coaches Julie, Lily, Kerri, Shannon, Audrey, Sue, Emma, Juanita and Andrea.

And finally a huge thanks to all the parents for their support of the girls, the teams, the league and Frankston High School sport.

We are very proud of your spirit and great achievements through a long, hard season and wish all the girls best of luck in the summer competition.

Mr Chris Sutcliffe

Netball Coordinator

Soccer News

On Tuesday 10 September the Year 8 girls soccer team competed in the State Finals at the Darebin International Sports Centre. The team played in three group matches against Victory Lutheran College, Trinity Collage Colac and Wonthaggi Secondary College wining all three games, scoring six goals and only conceding once.

The final was against the undefeated sports academy Rowville who were boasting an exceptional side including a junior Matilda. The game was a very close fought battle at an extremely high standard with both teams displaying amazing skill and fair play. After a nil all halftime score line the game ended with Rowville winning one nil, resulting in the team finishing as State Runners Up.

The team played extremely well throughout the whole campaign, not only showing dedication and constant improvement, but also fantastic sportsmanship and representing Frankston High School in an exceptional manner.

Mr Paul Don

Soccer Coordinator