Middle Years News

Middle Years Team

I want to start by congratulating all members of the Koonung community on a very successful 2022. This has been our first “normal” school year since 2019 and I applaud the staff, students and families on the resilience and positive attitudes they have displayed throughout this year.

In true Koonung style, the tail end of the year has been incredibly busy. We have seen our Year 7 students complete their first year of High School, the Year 8s completed their Healthy Minds learning, and the Year 9s have completed their first round of exams, AND completed their journeys as Middle School students! We wish them all the best as they start their journeys in Senior School.

Finally, I would like to extend my congratulations to all the Middle School award winners who were celebrated at our recent Presentation Evening who achieved excellent results this year. Congratulations on your excellent work this year.

I want to thank each and every student for their contributions and work they have undertaken this year. I hope each one of you takes the time throughout the upcoming break to rest, reset, relax and refocus for 2023.

Introducing the 2023 Middle School Team

The Middle Years Team will undertake a significant change of structure in 2023, as members of the 2022 team move on to new and exciting challenges.

The team for 2023 will consist of:

Mat Delaney – Director of Learning: Middle School
Regan Garner – Middle Years Administrator
Lauren Hughes – Year 7 Coordinator
Kirby Sens – Year 8 Coordinator
Sharyn Paspa – Year 9 Coordinator
Stuart Kofoed – Middle Years Culture
Trevor Vanden Driesen – Middle Years Support

I want to thank the outgoing members of the Middle Years Team – Ms Chelsea Thomas, Mr Peter Scott, Ms Kate O’Keefe and Mr David Kennedy for their tireless work and contributions and support to the student programs across the year. Best of luck in your new ventures, be they at Koonung or further afield!

Introducing your 2023 Middle Years Captains

The Middle School Captaincy role is an integral role to our Middle School program, and the selected Captains represent the voice and views of the Middle Years students in the wider school sphere. I want to thank and congratulate the 2022 Captains – Joana Goi, Brendan Tjioe, Ella Peterson and Lily Louis for their work and contributions here, and welcome the 2023 Middle Years Captains – Jude Crouch, Latitia Moar, Olive Porcaro and Aliyah R-Shakeel. I’m excited to see what this team will achieve in 2023.

Outgoing 2022 captains

2023 Middle Years Captains

Orientation Day

On Tuesday 13 December we welcomed our 2023 Year 7 cohort to Koonung for their Orientation Day. It was a fun filled day, with students interacting with their future peers and teachers. A highlight of the day was definitely the lunchtime activities, organised by our 2023 School Captaincy Team, where students were able to participate in dodgeball, basketball, board game, drama games and a huge range of fun and engaging activities to help the future Year 7s build their peer connections.

The Year 8 and 9 peer mentors did an outstanding job in making the future Year 7s feel welcome! Well done to all!

Mat Delaney

Director of Learning: Middle School

Mathew.delaney@education.vic.gov.au

Science Talent Search 2022

The Science Talent Search (STS) is an annual, school-based science competition open to all primary and secondary students in Victoria, Australia.

The 2022 Science Talent Search theme was “GLASS – MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE”.

Koonung Secondary College students in Years 7 – 9 were encouraged to participate in the competition. Four students entered the competition representing all three year levels and all four students achieved a minor bursary, monetary award.

The Koonung Secondary College 2022 entries were:

Students submitted their projects in July and Presentation Day was in August. In November the four students received their certificates, bursaries and medals.

Reflections from two of the students are included below:

“The Science Talent Search was a great experience to be a part of. The competition gave me an opportunity to expand my knowledge in areas that I never would have gone to research had it not been for this year’s topic of glass. For our presentation we worked through the handbook and checked off the criteria that our video production needed. I learnt a lot about time management in this competition and how important it is to stick to a timeline. One of the biggest challenges was fitting all of the information about refraction into a 5-minute clip but we did it in the end and it definitely paid off. I would also like to acknowledge Yas Eladatnia for her contributions in some of the video’s graphics.” (Kian Shafaie 8D)

AND

“I’m Thomas Booth, in 7D. You might think I’m a science geek because I entered this competition, but it isn’t true. The truth is that I was bribed to do it by my mum and after hearing there were cash prizes, I was all in. The story itself wasn’t that difficult to write but it was the editing part that was tricky. I chose to write a story because I’m a creative type of guy and I don’t do well with making posters etc. The research required for this task was a major part of this competition as it is all about science, so facts had to be used correctly in the story. What did I write about though? I wrote about glass eating microbes that come from volcanic action at the bottom of the sea. The question was whether they were aliens on earth, and once they escaped and ate all the glass, it was a race to find a way to stop them destroying the planet. Obviously, we stopped those cheeky microbes in their tracks and I won a $40 prize in the competition! Bring on next year!” (Thomas Booth 7D)

CONGRATULATIONS to all four entrants on their outstanding achievement. Well Done!

Year 7 Geography Fieldwork

Over the last couple of weeks during November, all of the year Humanities 7 classes headed up to Toolangi forest for a Geography fieldwork day. The day consisted of an hour bus ride to the Toolangi Discovery Centre, where we collected helmets and met our guide/s. We headed into the forest with a worksheet and started measuring fire fuels by analysing different parts of the forest. After a short break, we drove down to a Mountain Ash Forest and repeated the process. Finally after eating lunch, we concluded our day with a walk through a Cool Temperate Rainforest and drank some of the water directly from the river. Overall, it was an enjoyable and interactive day that I would highly recommend taking part in if given the option.

Izzy Johnstone 7D

Year 7 and 8 Sport Ed tournament

This term, all students in Year 7 and 8 Sport Ed competed in a class verse class tournament with an emphasis on 'sportspersonship', respect and fun. After eight weeks of gruelling home and away competition, earning points from competing in the sports of basketball, netball, rounders, soccer and initiative games, the grand final was held last week with the following results;

Year 7 Tournament:

1st Place and champions, 7B

2nd Place 7I

3rd Place 7F

4th Place 7G

5th Place 7D

6th Place 7C

7th Place 7E

8th Place 7A

9th Place 7H

Year 8 Tournament:

1st Place and champions, 8D!

2nd Place 8B

3rd Place 8I

4th Place 8G

5th Place 8H

6th Place 8C

7th Place 8A

8th Place 8F

9th Place 8E (Overall initiative games winners)

Congratulations to all students for a fair and enjoyable competition! An even bigger congratulations as well to those students who were voted best and fairest each week by their teachers (see photos attached).

Claire Murray

Health, Physical Education and Sport Ed Domain Leader

Live Life - Year 9

“Hello, my name is Clio and I am in Year 9. Recently, for my Live Life Module, "Self" we had to organise, book and plan a trip to a location of our choice. The location had to be either educational, or fun! We decided to book a session of roller skating at Skaterz in Eltham. All of our planning paid off as we worked together in a team of 6 and successfully led our entire module to and from the venue safely. Roller skating presented lots of opportunities such as learning a new skill for the first time, teamwork and bravery. Students were all able to display these traits as they helped their friends, and were brave as some even tried skating for the first time all by themselves. Overall, we had an amazing time skating, and can't wait to continue the module!”

Congratulations to our Live Life award winners for exemplary participation in Term 4.

Self

Mia Silvagni

Byron Graul-Feary

Life

Will GoreLara Harrison

Community

Molly DoyleCoralie Berg

Group

Azumi SakamotoSienna Forrest