Teaching & Learning

VM Zoo Community Project Excursion

On Tuesday the 30th of July, the Year 11 and 12 VM students attended a community project session at the Melbourne Zoo. The Year 12s visited the Wild Sea exhibit to learn about how to create a community project that will benefit the environment in Warrandyte. They contributed a lot of fantastic ideas and will continue working on these in their Personal Development classes. The Year 11s also spent time in the Wild Sea exhibit talking about stakeholders in conservation issues and how community groups can respond to environmental problems. The Zoo teacher asked the students to act out a scenario about an injured comorant using props, and the students committed to their roles. The students also enjoyed learning about issues connected to the Gorilla rainforest and the Australian bush exhibits. 

VCE English Excursion - The Hellenic Museum and 'Oedipus the King' performance.

On Thursday the 1st of August, the VCE English students went into Melbourne CBD to expand their knowledge of their text 'Oedipus the King.' We first visited the Hellenic Museum to learn more about Ancient Greek culture and history. The students enjoyed seeing the incredible statues and ancient artefacts, such as jewellery and weapons. We then went to the Malthouse Theatre to see a performance of the play. A small group of actors gave a modern interpretation of the play, wearing suits and using mobile phones as the Greek Chorus. The actors then gave a workshop where they performed the same scenes multiple times with different interpretations. The students asked great questions and contributed well to the workshop. Thank you to Miss McCarthy and Ms Vingerhoets for organising the day.

Medieval Day - Year 8 Humanities Incursion 

Recently the Year 8s had the opportunity to have a real-life knight come and visit us at Warrandyte High School. The Year 8s got dressed up in different Medieval outfits and practised their bowing when learning about the social hierarchy. They participated in three different dances (a problem-solving dance, a dance for peasants, and a dance for the aristocracy). The day was finished off with a tournament where everyone had the opportunity to spar and parry with our knight. Most of the students gave it a go, but despite our best efforts, no one managed to vanquish our knight!

Here's what the kids thought:

• ‘I liked the sword fighting!’
• ‘The dancing was fun, the sword fighting was interesting’
• ‘We got to feel the weight of the armour knights wore. It was really heavy!’

Romeo and Juliet - Year 10 English Incursion 

Shakespeare is always easier to understand when you see it acted out! So, we took the opportunity to organise the 'Australian Shakespeare Company' to come and perform some of the key scenes for our Year 10s. Our students spent an hour with the actors, watching key scenes and asking questions.

Trails of Discovery - Beyond the Classroom 

The 'Beyond the Classroom' Trail has been very busy this term! We have been focusing on responsibility in our school and our local community. Some of our Year 9 and 10 girls have opted to paint their bathroom - and the results have been fantastic! Some of our Year 8s and 9s have implemented a 'Breakfast Club' and have had great success: Biddick's Bakery in Warrandyte now donates food every Tuesday morning, and we have an ongoing plethora of food to feed the starving hoards! Our kitchen garden at the back of the science buildings, has never looked better and two of our students have been volunteering at the 'Now and Not Yet Cafe' in Warrandyte, engaging with the community and learning the ins and outs of food service. Other students have been working with Landcare, weeding onion weed, and planting natives down by the creek n Gold Memorial Road, while supervised by a friendly Kookaburra who was very interested in the worms we found. Finally, we've also been cooking for CareNet, whipping up yummy Minestrone soup that is frozen and then picked up by CareNet to distribute to less fortunate people in our area. What a term! But so many productive things happening, and so many connections made with our local community!