Secondary School

Message from the Head of Teaching and Learning Secondary

What a wonderful way to end the week, celebrating World Teachers' Day with our amazing student and school community. The start to the term has been a whirlwind, with many excursions taking place, students completing final HSC examinations, and our Year 11 students formally becoming our commencing HSC cohort - as a school we have hit the ground running! 

The upcoming weeks in the Secondary School does not slow down, with our new Year 12 students and selected staff heading to Howman’s Gap, our Year 10s will be busily preparing for their final examinations and preparing for Work Experience. Our Year 9 students will be starting to prepare for their examinations in week 7 and other year levels will be working on final assessments. 

There is a lot to celebrate as we look at a quickly disappearing term and we hope that as a school community, you can join us in celebrating our teachers and their dedication to our learners, your children. Happy World Teachers' Day.

Hayley Catt

Head of Teaching and Learning Secondary

Year 7

Year 7 Excursion to Kyabram Fauna Park and Bocce Club

This week the Year 7 students experienced a co-curricular day in Kyabram. As part of their Science and Italian studies they visited the Fauna Park Zoo and the Italian Bocce Club. At the Fauna Park the students got to get up close to many of our native animals and also participated in an educational session on Classification and Adaptation. Our wonderful instructor was Izzy, who revealed many interesting facts about the animals on exhibit. The students also had some time to roam around the park,  which they enjoyed immensely.

At lunchtime, the students made their way to the Italian Bocce Club where they were treated to a big bowl of homemade pasta. After this delicious meal the students were introduced to the game of Bocce and quickly got the hang of it and enjoyed a competition with their friends. This was a great opportunity for the students to experience some traditional Italian culture as they were looked after by some of the original founders of the Italian Club. Our sincere thanks to Maria and Giuseppe Greco, Giacomo and Lucia Portia and Giuseppe Martello.

Year 9

Science

Year 9 Forensic Science class making a buffer to extract DNA from pea material.

Year 9 Science class investigating the rate at which radioactive isotopes decay.

Year 9 Forensic Science students practising their micropipetting skills in readiness for their upcoming Assessment Task where they will use gel electrophoresis to analyse genetic tissue from a number of suspects found at a crime scene.

Agriculture

Year 9 Agriculture students recently assessed the school sheep for signs of worm infestation. The students examined the sheep’s gums and lower eyelids for healthy colours, indicating no anaemia and therefore, no worm burden. The students also practised body condition scoring the sheep. As a result, we're confident our drenching programme is effective as all sheep were in good condition!

Year 10

Cake Decorating Assessment

Last week, our Year 10 Food Technology students completed an assessment task where they were required to design and construct a themed cake. Despite having minimal experience in cake decoration, the students went above and beyond, creating incredible cakes with some very intricate design work - a great effort by all! A special thank you to Joanne Nichol for her support in supplying specialised equipment and expertise which she has acquired through her own cake decorating business!

Science

This morning our Year 10 Science students participated in a practical where they were simulating the effect of variations in the process of natural selection. 

Year 11

Italian Film Festival

During the term break, Kaitlin Weiser, a keen student of Italian, had the opportunity to attend the Italian Film Festival in Melbourne. Over two days Kaitlin watched four award winning films in Italian, including one documentary, one drama/thriller, one comedy/drama and one crime/drama/romance. It was enlightening for Kaitlin to see how different Italian genre films are constructed and she was thoroughly enthralled by all four films.

Kaitlin also enjoyed ordering food at Italian shops and she also purchased Italian reading books in Carlton.

This was a great learning opportunity for Kaitlin and it has immensely increased her enthusiasm to study languages.

HSC Agriculture Excursion - Connect Irrigation and Ag

This week HSC Agriculture students visited Lorelle and Jason Heap's attractive Balmoral Park property at Echuca Village. The students were kindly hosted by Brenton and Michelle Jettner of Connect Irrigation and Ag.

The students learned about Connect Irrigation and Ag's role in whole farm planning, various types of irrigation, efficiency, sustainability and the risk and returns of irrigation development. In a professional presentation, students viewed drone images of the property and in the paddock gained an appreciation of the realignment of water delivery, drainage and pipework. We thank the Jettners for generously sharing their time and providing afternoon tea, as well as the Heaps for making their property available.

Defying the Drift Program

After reading about the Defying the Drift program in the latest school careers newsletter, Lucas Jettner submitted an application to attend the 3-day program and in very exciting news, his application was successful! Lucas took part in the program during the September holidays and you can read more about his experience below:

Defying the Drift is a program run by Rotary Clubs in Victoria that aims to encourage students looking to explore careers in Agriculture. I was fortunate to be selected to participate in the three day program that took place in mid September. 

The program was hosted at Longerenong College, near Horsham, where we were able to utilise the facilities as if we were a student attending the college. On the first day, we were introduced to a group of 30 other like-minded students who travelled from anywhere as far as Mansfield up to Cobar in central NSW. 

On the first day we undertook a seminar about careers in agriculture and correlating employability skills. These skills ranged from first impressions through to work ethic.

The second day was a tour of four different agricultural enterprises. In an early start to the day we visited a large broadacre farm owned by a family that has pioneered many new technologies that will change agriculture for a long time to come. Next stop was the Grains Innovation Park located in Horsham where we were given access to the Agriculture Victoria Genetic Seedbank. After some morning tea was something a bit different, where we attended a large scale flower farm that produces 15,000 posies a week to be sent to markets across eastern Australia. The end of the day led us to Paraway Pastoral’s “Barton Station” located near Ararat which specialised in the production of sheep and cattle, where they are utilising new technology to further increase their outputs. 

The final day brought mixed emotions as we were headed home, but also said our goodbyes to new found friends. If the opportunity arises, I would highly recommend applying as it is an awesome experience that will give you some new knowledge, as well as many new friends. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the Rotary Club of Echuca Moama for sponsoring me to attend the program.