2025 Victorian State Schools Spectacular

The 2025 Victorian State Schools Spectacular was held from 11th-13th September at John Cain Arena, showcasing about 5000 public school students from across Victoria. There was singing, dancing, acrobatics and drama, with some incredible principal performers. Twenty of our students have been part of the Mass Choir, learning 13 songs and choreography over the past 8 months. We had two hub rehearsals in Term 2, followed by two larger rehearsals at Melbourne Town Hall with over 1000 students.

The second-last week of Term 3 was Performance Week! On Thursday, we left Chilwell at 7:30am for a full day of rehearsals at John Cain Arena, returning at 7:30pm. It was a tiring day with all the starting and stopping during rehearsals, but it was exciting to see the soloists, orchestra and lights. On Friday, we met at 6:30am and bussed it into Melbourne for the dress rehearsal, returning to school at 6:45pm. Saturday was Show Day! We started at 8:30am and performed two big shows—a matinee and an evening show —with a short dinner break in between.

There was so much talent on stage and there was such a positive vibe flowing through the stadium. Some of our favourite songs were Free From Desire, Think and Turn the Beat Around, though every song sounded amazing.

By the end we were exhausted but buzzing with adrenaline. It was a fantastic experience that taught us how much work goes into a professional performance, and how commitment really pays off.

We’d like to thank Mrs Stephenson, Cassie, Meg, Mrs Jeffreys and our parents for making it all possible. If you’d like to watch the Schools Spectacular, tune in to Channel 7 on Friday 19th December at 7pm.

Angus, Abbie and Georgie, on behalf of the Chilwell VSSS25 Mass Choir members

Debating Rounds 3 & 4

On Wednesday 3rd September, both of our debating teams hosted Wallington Primary School for two impromptu debates here at Chilwell. The topic was ‘That life skills should be taught in primary schools’. Team A was affirmative and Team B was negative. It was our first impromptu debating round, so it was nerve-wracking. However, everyone worked well in their teams during the half hour of preparation and spoke clearly and confidently thanks to all of their preparation and practice. Both Chilwell teams stated their points really well, backed them up with evidence and successfully pulled through with two wins. Alexia was awarded best speaker for Team A and Bonny was awarded best speaker for Team B.

Then on Wednesday 17th September, our Chilwell debaters had their final preliminary impromptu round. Both teams travelled to Christian College Surf Coast. The topic was ‘That we should adopt pets from shelters instead of buying them from breeders’. Team A was negative and Team B was affirmative. This round was much harder than we expected, and Christian College had some strong debaters across both teams. We unfortunately lost both debates by one point. However, congratulations to Olivia who was awarded best speaker for the second debate.

This is the end of the road for Chilwell in the 2025 Barwon Junior Debating Competition. Although Team A won 3 out of their 4 debates, they unfortunately missed out on making the semis by a single point.

Well done to all our debaters and thank you to Mrs Stephenson and Mr Cole for making this opportunity possible for us. You have both supported and prepared us for these debates. Being part of the debating program has been a worthwhile and fun experience that has taught us so much, and we encourage any Year 5s who want to improve their public speaking skills to try out for teams in early 2026.

Alexia and Sienna, on behalf of the 2025 Year 6 Chilwell Primary School Debaters (Isla, Landon, Olivia, Annabeth, Bonny, Humza, Sienna and Alexia)

BioLab Excursion – Grade 6

On Tuesday 9th September, the Grade 6 students travelled to Belmont High School to visit the BioLabs facility to learn about all things Science! We worked in our two class groups and completed a range of fun experiments.

6EH started with a balancing experiment, which involved pairs timing each other on balance boards with eyes open and shut. Then they split into small groups and tested their reaction time using electronic touch boards that were imported from America, which was a lot of fun.

6SW started in groups of three and had to put a whole skeleton together using 3D-printed life-size bones. We did a pretty good job! Then we put on some white lab coats and used isopropyl alcohol and DNA activator to draw out the DNA from mushed-up strawberries in a test tube. We used little hooks to pull the DNA from the mixture and it looked just like slime.

The two classes met for lunch, then swapped over so that we had all completed the same activities. By the end of the day, we had gained a new perspective on the human body and how our different systems work together to help us function. It was a great day out and we would highly recommend visiting BioLabs.

Isla and Max, on behalf of Grade 6

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