Student Voice
2024 College Captains' Report
As we wrap up yet another term and year, we have taken the time to not only reflect on the year that has passed but also to tie up any loose ends from 2023 and move on to planning and work for the coming year. We began our term as School Captains with farewelling the class of 2023.
Though a sad day to say goodbye to yet another cohort, it was a fantastic way to send off the year 12s with lots of memories, laughs and hugs all around. Moving into our role has been a very exciting time as we have big shoes to fill, and we would really love to acknowledge all of the past School Captains who have given us a pathway to follow in 2024.
As we have begun planning for 2024, we have had the opportunity to meet with all captains and leaders to develop a plan for our success in 2024. Finally, we would like to once again thank everyone for trusting us to take on the responsibility of School Captain, and we wish you all a fun and restful break.
Greg Acciarito and Genna Windsor
Your 2024 College Captains
College Vice-Captains Report
As we approach the end of another year, we would love to congratulate each one of you for completing your exams and congratulate you further for completing the year. During head start, we noticed that everyone was transitioning well into their new classes and adapting to the new changes that have been set. With the holidays about to begin, please take this time to recharge and reflect on your achievements throughout the terms, to have an even better year in 2024! Once again congrats and we wish all the students, staff, and their families a safe and cheerful school holiday. From your vice school Captains, Kristina, and Harvey.
Kristina Andreev and Harvey Hamilton
Your 2024 College Vice-Captains
S.R.C. Presidents’ Report:
Hi, this is Ana Donnellon and Mackenzie Dickson, your S.R.C. Presidents for 2024. As a Student Council, we hope to make 2024 a year of robust communication, representation, leadership development and student advocacy. To make sure that we can achieve these goals and more, we have a portfolio system. In this coming year, we’ve expanded to six total portfolios that will work on specific tasks throughout the year to maximize our output.
Breakfast Club has been a staple in our school’s community for years now, running every Thursday to help supply free breakfast to any students who may or may not have sufficient resources at home. As of 2024, Breakfast Club will be run by a small portfolio of students under the S.R.C. The objective of this portfolio is to be constantly renovating, reflecting, and resourcing our weekly Breakfast Club, to keep it running as efficiently as possible.
The Student Experience Portfolio is a newly introduced community that will focus primarily on how students engage with their time at the school, developing how we can engage students in education, social interaction, support services, and personal development opportunities. The student experience team is consistently looking for feedback on their work, so if you have a comment on your personal experience be sure to tell us!
The Campaigns Portfolio will be primarily focused on the planning and executing of school-wide fundraisers, events, and activities. In the past, our Campaigns teams have helped set up events such as Harmony Week, MasterChef, Krispy Kreme Fundraiser, and so on. The aim of running these fundraisers is to bring the school community together as one by supporting external organisations. Campaigns will work towards introducing new and improved fundraisers next year, collaborating closely with our other portfolios in hopes of demonstrating our school values through student support and contribution.
The Curriculum Portfolio focuses on student engagement in educational pursuits, such as learning resources, learning objectives, and standards of both teachers and students. In previous years, the curriculum portfolio has worked on models such as LEARNER – giving Insight into personal learning pathways and maximising learning strategies. Recently, you may have seen exam tip posters around the school, and those are the work of this portfolio. Overall, the Curriculum is highly in tune with students' needs and wants within the classroom.
Our Communications Portfolio is based on informing the school about upcoming events, things to look out for, and helpful resources. Their goal is to keep a close connection with the student body, in hopes of bringing the cohort together as one. The portfolio will be seen regularly keeping the poster boards up to date, releasing important talking points up onto the TVs around the school, and making their rounds to the classrooms for in-person announcements. With a Communications Portfolio, every student will be aware of days to diarise and will have plenty of time to plan.
Connection and Wellbeing is a Portfolio of support. With a focus on enacting support for all students within South Oakleigh College, the Portfolio offers support to all students and seeks to connect them to in-campus systems. They also celebrate important initiatives of mental health and support – you’ve likely seen the IDAHOBIT and R U OK Day celebrations this portfolio have run throughout the year, and we hope to keep this ball rolling into the new one! The students within this portfolio are dedicated to helping our student body so never be afraid to talk to a representative!
We are excited to see what the New Year has planned for the S.R.C and can’t wait to grow together into our President roles. See you all in 2024!
Mackenzie Dickson and Ana Donnellon
Your 2024 S.R.C. Presidents
2024 Student Leadership Introductions: Round 2
Sports Prefects Introduction
Hi, I’m Daniel Vine and I will be one of your Sports Prefects for 2024. I am excited to bring my love for sport to SOC, as sports are a huge part of my life. Whether it's the excitement of scoring goals in football, learning discipline and hard work at the gym, or picking up strategy in karate, every sport taught me something valuable. My passion for sports and the constant desire to compete have been the driving forces behind my journey, leading me to where I am today. I'm thrilled to begin a new journey in my life being a 2024 Sports Prefect.
Daniel Vine
Your 2024 Sports Prefect
Hello students and teachers, I'm Akis Galanos and I will be a Sports Prefect for next year. I'm thrilled to be able to take this role as I've been playing sports for as long as I can remember and have experience in playing different sports in many teams. As is obvious I have a big passion for sports, and I would like to take it to the next level. I hope I can set a great role model to the younger year levels as well as spread the love and encouragement for sports. Leadership is a new thing for me but I'm going to try my hardest and I'm confident that I'll be one of the best leaders. I can't wait for next year to see what we can achieve together.
Akis Galanos
Your 2024 Sports Prefect
Global Prefects Introduction
Hi everyone! We are Junghoo Kim and Nathanie Hanadi. We are very honoured and excited to be your 2024 Global Prefect. Fun fact about us, we just stepped foot in Australia this year (2023)! Junghoo is from Korea and Nathanie is from Indonesia.
Outside of school, Nathanie does dance specifically ballet, but she also does other genres of dance. On the other hand, Junghoo is interested in fashion design. Please bear with us as it will be our first time being a Prefect. However, we strive to do our best to provide you with great assistance to make everyone feel included in more fun activities.
Don’t be scared to approach us as we’re easygoing and like to play around. Can’t wait to interact and build amazing memories with all of you next year!
Junghoo Kim and Nathanie Hanadi
Your 2024 Global Prefects
Performing Arts Prefect Introduction
Hi SOC community, I’m Maya and I’m super excited to be returning as your Performing Arts Prefect for another year! 2023 has been an incredibly rewarding year and I look forward to seeing what the performing arts community will achieve in 2024! I hope for more participation and appreciation from everyone who is involved in performing (I promise it’s worth it!) It’s been wonderful to see the community grow into a passionate and supportive environment, and I hope to continue to channel this energy next year.
Maya Noyman
Your 2024 Performing Arts Prefect
Hello! I'm Griffin and I am one of the 2024 Performing Arts Prefects. I play a handful of instruments to varying success but I am super passionate about music and the arts. I am so keen to take on this role and cannot wait to help our thriving arts community grow. See you all next year!
Fin Morgan
Your 2024 Performing Arts Prefect
Hi! I’m Claire and I’m the 2024 Music Prefect. My musical journey started when I was 3 when I was introduced to the violin. During these years, I’ve participated in several orchestras and music programs, including the Melbourne Youth Orchestra and Melbourne Conservatorium Young Artist Academy.
Through these programs, I’ve been invited to play with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, as well as a tour to Bairnsdale with Melbourne Strings. I’ve recently also been accepted into the Australian Youth Orchestra’s 2024 Programs. I’m looking forward to fulfilling this new role in the coming year, and further establishing the Instrumental Program at South Oakleigh.
I hope to introduce initiatives to foster and build an interest in music in the wider school community. Any opportunity to share my love and knowledge of music is one I’d love to take, and I can’t wait to see what the year brings.
Claire Yeung
Your 2024 Performing Arts Prefect
Peer Support Program Update:
With the New Year approaching, we have begun the process of forming the 2024s Year 10 Peer Support Group! Peer Support is a program that is designed to assist the Year 7s with their transition into high school and make the college environment somewhere they feel accepted and welcomed. In the past, our start-of-year Induction Program has been exclusive to the first week of school, whereas in 2024, the program will reach a three-week limit. This maximises the time our Year 10 Leaders and staff have to spend with the younger cohort and gives them more time to settle in.
Throughout the year, Peer Support Leaders will host sessions with the new Year 7s to get to know them, implement our school values (HRRRT), help them with getting around the school, and have fun. Being a part of Peer Support is a great chance for students to gain and build their leadership skills as they approach senior years of high school. We wish the new leaders luck for their work next year and are excited to welcome Year 7s into the college community for 2024!
Mackenzie Dickson and Ana Donnellon
Your 2024 Peer Support Prefects
Fairy Bread Day
On Thursday the 9th of November, South Oakleigh College celebrated Fairy Bread Day, which was run by the Student Representative Council. Fairy bread and jellybeans were given out to students and staff in celebration of the upcoming Semester 2 exams and as a reminder for our community to look after their mental health.
The Student Leadership Team worked very hard to produce enough fairy bread to give out to the entire school, and we had a lot of fun while doing so. Students and staff showed great enthusiasm when receiving the fairy bread resulting in much positive feedback. It was great to reward students on their studies for exams and it was an overall great day!
Yohan Soju
Your Communications & Student Experience Secretary
Student Representative Council
Year 12 Retreat
On Monday the 27th of November through to Wednesday 29th of November, the class of 2024 banded together at our retreat, held at the University of Melbourne. It was a jam-packed three days filled with activities that aimed to contribute to a successful VCE journey. Each day we made our way to and from the venue. Despite some of the rainy weather, this didn’t stop us from creating what would be a successful three days.
To start things off, we had an insightful presentation from Ms Koziaris which revealed to us some lessons on life and the best ways to embark on the final year of our VCE journey with high expectations and a great level of teamwork. As we progressed through the day, our VCE students had a session with two of our guest speakers, Megan Ross (A Psychology Honours Student and Teacher) and Dina Khoweiss (VCE Teacher) from True Coaching and our VCE VM students went through an effective conflict resolution session. True Coaching delivers quality coaching and mentoring for students which promotes independent learning, accountability, and continuous improvement in all aspects of life. Each activity was broken down into bits, exploring how to get the most out of studying for SACS and exams. We looked at the different types of study, passive and active. We were introduced to and encouraged to utilise study techniques that are useful to us and can keep our knowledge in each subject solid. This involved creating S.M.A.R.T. goals which aim to make goals and paths clearer. We also looked at school/life balance to ensure that we were fitting everything in without stress. A huge thank you to Megan Ross and Dina Khoweiss for delivering this successful session. A key highlight from the Monday session was guessing the staff baby photos which hyped everyone up! This was a wrap for day 1, now for day 2!
We dived into our first session, with VCE Students hearing from a passionate, widely known VCE English teacher, VCE assessor and author, Ross Huggard. During this time, our VCE VM students completed an integrated study session. Mr Huggard took us through some valuable insight into the dos and don’ts of completing Unit 3&4 English SACS and sitting the final English exam. We were taken through the study design for next year, and the expectations of each SAC and briefly went through our novel, “My Brilliant Career” from Miles Franklin and sample analysis pieces from past examinations.
This really assisted our cohort to ‘hit the ground running’ on day 1 of term 1 next year. A huge thank you to Mr Huggard for coming in and providing us with his best advice for our final year. The rest of the day was filled with teamwork activities that would create memories for us all. Ms Ferguson our Year 12 leader and Ms Monga our Director of Senior Students ran an activity called “Build the Highest Tower”. The aim was out of newspaper to build the tallest but most stable tower to the roof under time pressure which added the heat! After some time, we did have a couple of towers fall but one being the most stable taking out the win.
As we have been given some tasks to complete during the holidays, there was a focus on allocating enough time for leisure and completing activities in time for day 1 of term 1 next year. As college captains, we hosted a Trivia run on Blooket. It consisted of three sections, SOC/Class of 2024, Pop Culture and Global Knowledge. Everyone was hyped up and really enjoyed hacking each other for crypto (Hacking mode on Blooket). To end the day, our staff hosting a challenge called “The Sally Up Challenge”.
It was so intense reaching the end, with our legs becoming almost cramped and shaking! This was a wrap for day 2, now onto day 3!
We dived into our final day of the retreat with an all-about ATAR talk delivered by Ms Monga and Ms Ferguson. To follow on with this, organised by our principal team, we had 3 SOC alumni students take some time out of their day to share with us their journeys since graduating from South Oakleigh. A huge thank you to them for sharing their journeys and words of wisdom for our cohort. Our second session was dedicated to our English coursework, delivered by Ms Matheson. She ran through “My Brilliant Career” a Roman-a-clef by Miles Franklin. A huge thank you to Ms Matheson for delivering this session and providing us with the best preparation for VCE English 3&4. During this time, our VCE-VM students went through a project planning session, preparing them for next year. Ms Smith our Director of Wellbeing took us through a wellbeing session.
She reiterated the importance of having a clear mind whilst undertaking our final year of studies for secondary schooling. She ran through activities with our year level and referred us to some useful resources to assist us. A huge thank you to Ms Smith for delivering this session. Our year level has a motto for next year, this being “Together We Can”. We also needed to pick a theme song that goes with our year-level values. As our cohort enjoyed guessing staff baby photos, we decided to do a student-run version. We guessed some students' baby photos and for others, we got a bit stuck (No one guessed Greg’s). The perfect ending to our three-day retreat.
Some highlights over the three days were the facilities, the common room with a pool table, table tennis and an indoor mini theatre where we could sit back and chill. The catering provided by the chefs was fantastic, with our lunch being filling and our three-morning menu choices, being, assorted pastries, Portuguese Tarts, and choc brownies to end the three days with a bang! We would like to take this time to thank our principal class, teachers Ms Monga, and Ms Ferguson for the time it took to plan the three-day program, Ms Matheson, Ms Smith, Mr Knee and Mr Myors for their help in hosting and being part of this event. Aldo a very big thank you to our Year 12 cohort of 2024 for coming together for this event
Greg Acciarito and Genna Windsor
Your 2024 College Captains
Welcome to Summer
After a year of bake sales, out-of-uniform days, and fundraisers, the S.R.C. Campaigns Portfolios concluded with one final event; Welcome to Summer! On Thursday 30th November, we held our annual Welcome to Summer fundraiser, which included students coming to school in ‘summer-themed’ clothing and having the opportunity to buy from our sausage sizzle at lunch. For the sale, we sold sausages in bread, falafel, ice cream, soft drinks, icy poles, cookies, and spiders (ice cream with soft drinks).
All funds raised went towards Life Saving Victoria; a not-for-profit organisation that helps reduce aquatic-related death and injury throughout all of Victoria. Their vision is to have all Victorians learn water safety, swimming, and resuscitation and to be provided with safe aquatic environments. The day was a success, with students dressing up in their best summer clothing and bringing in their respective $2. We hope that all South Oakleigh College has enjoyed our various fundraisers throughout the year and can grow as a community as we move on to a new year!
Mackenzie Dickson
Your 2023 Leading Campaigns Representative
Student Representative Council
Salvation Army Food and Toy Drive
After six weeks of bringing in, counting, and processing donations, our Salvation Food and Toy Drive has now ended. Overall, we had over 500 donations go towards the Salvation Army, with Banksia winning the most amount of house points – 209 total donations.
Leaderboard:
- Banksia – 209 donations
- Acacia – 124 donations
- Waratah – 122 donations
- Grevillea – 94 donations
We say a big thank you to all the students, staff and families who brought in donations to support the cause. It means the world to us that so many of you came forward to help out!
Mackenzie Dickson
Your 2023 Leading Campaigns Representative
Student Representative Council
2023 Breakfast Club Update
Over the year our dedicated student leaders have continued to host our weekly Breakfast Club. On Thursday the 7th of December, we hosted one of the biggest events, our Celebratory Breakfast Club. The Celebratory Breakfast Club is one of the most student-loved events with it being just like our normal Breakfast club except with more options on our menu. In our Celebratory Breakfast Club, our menu includes our normal menu, plus; hashbrowns, milkshakes, wraps and more. Overall, the Celebratory Breakfast Club went smoothly, with over 100 students and staff coming down to eat and enjoy some breakfast. I want to thank all students and teachers who have come to help out/supervise any of our Breakfast Clubs, your help was very much appreciated.
If any students would like to ask or you have any questions please get in touch with Mackenzie Dickson (mldic@schools.vic.edu.au) – S.R.C. President, Anastasia Donnellon (adoni@schools.vic.edu.au) – S.R.C. President or myself, Soham Dhital (sdhi15@schools.vic.edu.au) S.R.C. Breakfast Club Liaison.
Soham Dhital
Your 2023 Breakfast Club Liaison and Campaigns Representative
Student Representative Council
2024 Student Leadership Training Day
On Friday the 15th of December, our 2024 Student Leadership Cabinet, House Captains and S.R.C. Representatives all went to Monash University for an introduction to the 2024 Leadership Team.
To start the day, we all sat down and received a brief introduction about the Student Leadership Team including the S.R.C. Portfolios. Throughout the day we did many teambuilding activities including the Leadership Compass, which helped us to find like-minded leaders and helped us to get to know each other more. To conclude the day, we sat down in our portfolios/leadership groups reviewed the work of this year and then started to plan for 2024.
Personally, I really enjoyed the planning as it was very enjoyable to look over the successful year that we had, and how we can make it even better for the next year. Thank you to all the teachers and staff who made this productive and enjoyable day possible.
Soham Dhital
Your 2024 Breakfast Club Secretary
Student Representative Council