School News

Halogen Student Leadership Conference

On Monday, twelve of our senior school students attended the Halogen Student Leadership Conference at the Melbourne Convention Centre. The event, part of The National Young Leaders Day, brings together influential leaders from various fields to inspire and empower young people. 

Throughout the day, students engaged in a series of dynamic sessions featuring guest speakers, Q&A opportunities, interactive learning exercises, short videos, and music. The inspiring line up of speakers included Thomas Duncan-Watt, Catherine Laga‘aia, Emma McKeon & Majak Daw. 

Here’s what some of our students had to say about the event, speakers and their favourite moments:

ASHA & EVE 

One of the highlights was listening to Catherine Laga’aia share her journey in landing the role of Moana in the upcoming live-action adaptation set to release in 2026. She opened up about the various challenges she faced during the audition process and how she persevered through them. It was inspiring to hear her talk about her overall experience filming in Hawaii, especially working alongside Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Her story reminded us of the importance of resilience and determination when pursuing our dreams.

SHAYE & LILY

Majak Daw is an Australian rules football player, who was drafted in 2011. He played for North Melbourne, then Melbourne up until 2021. Majak shared his experience with moving to Australia from Sudan. Showing us all what it was like to be the first Sudanese player to compete in the AFL. A beloved player, he faced many major setbacks, from injury to mental health problems. Majak explained there are high expectations for people of color. It was inspiring to listen to someone else's story and have the realization of how tough it can be to succeed in what you're passionate about. 

NATALIE 

Thomas Duncan-Watt: Screenwriter & author known for The Deep, Denish and Knasher and Winston Steinberg. 

"Every master was once a disaster" - Thomas 

Thomas spoke to us about how he continued to fail and fail and fail to be able to succeed and the way he took initiative in getting what he wanted. 

"Every failure is a step closer to success" - Thomas

Emma McKeon: Olympic swimmer with 14 Olympic medals and Australia's most successful Olympian. Emma's bravery and self-belief was what she implored everyone to have as "it is something you can learn". To make things happen and train even if you aren't motivated. She spoke about how nerves are good because they mean you're doing something worthwhile and to set small and big goals/dreams for yourself. 

"You cannot get anywhere on your own" - Emma

TAFE and University Roadshow

Year 11 and 12 students participated in the local TAFE and University roadshow, who visited the school to provide a presentation and Q & A session to students. Students found out more about early entry applications and programs, the importance of year 11 results for these, and items to consider in preparing to attend any TAFE or University course post school. We thank Maxum and Sarah from Charles Sturt University, Renee from La Trobe University and Susan from Wodonga TAFE for bringing the roadshow to our students.

Job Readiness Workshop

Thank you to Mark and Lisa from NELLEN who delivered a Job Readiness workshop to our Year 10 students in HC10. Students participated in activities and conversations which highlighted the importance of recognising personal skills and attributes that employers might seek in future employees, and why these are important when building a personal resume. Students will build on these skills as they progress through HC10 and during work experience placements.