Senior Secondary

Staff/Student Volleyball Match

On the final Thursday of Term 2, the Year 12 students took on the Staff (and a couple of helpers) in a friendly but always competitive game of Volleyball to see who the more superior team is, and not surprisingly the Staff (and helpers, cough cough) got the win. In all seriousness, these games are great fun and an enjoyable aspect of our community, allowing for the joy of sport to be the main focus and just celebrate the Year 12s in their final year. We look forward to our future games in the coming terms.

Chris Noy

HPE Faculty Leader & Secondary Teacher

Work Experience

While most students were enjoying their third week of holidays, our Year 10 and some VCE VM Year 12 students were busy working. These students were undertaking Work Experience placements. Students arranged their own placements in a variety of occupational fields. These included work in veterinary clinics, childcare centres, schools, a local MPs office, a local library, as well as with a dental specialist, a physiotherapist, a landscaping gardener, an electrician and a mechanic to name a few.

Many students discovered more about themselves, their strengths, things that they find challenging and the type of careers they might be interested in pursuing in the future. Having a clearer idea of their future goals can often motivate students further towards their studies both now and after they leave school. For these reasons, MECS highly values Work Experience and facilitates this opportunity in Year 10, with Year 11 and 12 students welcome to arrange placements during their holidays too.

Amelia Koole​​​​​

Senior Secondary, VET & Careers Coordinator

Year 12 Psychology Sleep Incursion

Students falling asleep in class is not usually ideal but for one psychology student this is exactly what we were hoping she would do!

In a society that tends to promote productivity, activity, and efficiency the need and benefits of quality sleep has often been undervalued. We often boast of our lack of sleep and yet the symptoms of sleep deprivation can have a significant impact on both our physical and mental health. Difficulties concentrating, brain fog, lack of motivation are all symptoms of sleep deprivation that negatively impact how we function in everyday life. 

In Year 12 Psychology, students learn about the importance of sleep, the biological processes for sleep and the devices we use to measure sleep. Last week Jade Murray, a sleep researcher from Monash University, visited our Psychology class to give us an expert’s insight into sleep while also giving a demonstration of the devices used when studying sleep. Chloe C was our class volunteer, who was hooked up to a number of devices to measure the electrical activity in her brain and muscles. Chloe was then sent into a separate room and encouraged to fall asleep. While she was resting, we were able to monitor the changing activity in her brain and watched her brain waves change as she fell into a light sleep. 

A big thank you to Jade, who reminded us that sleep is by no means a waste of time and that establishing good sleep habits is actually going to help us to be more productive and efficient in our functioning. Also thank you to Chloe for being our class volunteer and allowing us to publish these photos. 

Shannon Jenkins

Secondary Teacher