CAPTAIN'S CORNER
SENIOR CAPTAIN
As we near the end of Term 3, the Year 12 VCE cohort is approaching our final SACs. Content for all subjects is wrapping up as we shift from learning new material to revising for our final exams.
Amid the busyness of the end of the year, preparations have begun for the Year 12 assembly and our final weeks at the start of Term 4. This includes the much-anticipated McKinnon Year 12 vs Teachers dance competition, which everyone is very excited about.
Currently, the school is buzzing with many great activities. "Wear It Purple Day" was celebrated on Thursday 29 August, where students and staff were encouraged to wear purple to show support for LGBTQIA+ members.
On Wednesday 28 August, the Winter Concert, the school’s premier concert of the year, was held at Robert Blackwood Hall. This event, the final school concert for the year, required a lot of preparation, including dress rehearsals throughout the day.
Recently, we also celebrated Book Week, which featured many activities. The highlight was the Book Week Dress-Up Day on Friday 23 August, where everyone dressed up as their favorite book characters. There was a competition at the McKinnon Road campus for the best costumes, concluding a fun and festive week.
On Friday 30 August was the school Market Day which is a day for students to set up stalls and sell items coming from a huge range. This is a great opportunity for students to give back to the McKinnon community for a great day.
Jack Sweeney, Year 12
JUNIOR CAPTAIN
Literature as an Elective
To many, the thought of deciphering the old English in which Hamlet has been written seems awfully uninteresting. Although I love the idea of Literature as a subject, I was initially downcast to hear that we would be analysing Shakespeare for our first learning task. Prejudice led me to assume that the early 17th century text, whilst a first for its time, now lacked relevance and was simply overdone. As I delved further into the Literature elective, my views flipped completely.
Already Literature had taken a drastic turn from standard English. We surpassed the strict essay subject structure and narrative arc that had been ingrained into us. We were encouraged to let our words flow freely, with everyone being entitled to their own interpretation of the text. Although some theories were better formulated than others, none were inferior nor incorrect.
The old English tongue Hamlet was written in, merely aided the discomfort felt as you observe Hamlet slip further into an obsessive state of psychosis. Paired with the truly strange retellings we watched and read; this text soon became deeply consuming. So many passages held such obscure descriptions that the most disturbing epiphanies would come from deep discussions with friends. As my teacher stated, ‘Hamlet is a play of questions not answers’.
Unfortunately, people who aren't keen on reading are often hesitant to choose the subjects that branch off English. Being an avid reader is simply not necessary to enjoy the analytical discussions that Literature is about. Whilst a passion for reading certainly helps, there are so many forms of literature we have consumed in the first couple of weeks in this subject.
We watched a majority of the Lion King, skits from performance actors, scenes from a plethora of drama movies, modern text excerpts and of course Shakespeare's plays. These forms of Literature differ so greatly yet we have already examined all due to their undeniable ties to Hamlet.
Literature is not just observing words on a page. Thus far, it has exceeded my expectations immensely.
Eden Sullivan, Year 9