Student News

China Trip 14 to 27 September

The once in a lifetime experience. Going on a school trip to a country that is developing at an extremely fast rate. China. With its amazing culture and diverse cuisine, this was an opportunity that I don’t think any of us could pass up. As the days dragged closer to the flight, the excitement built up, reaching its climax. Until on Sunday the 14th, when we all met up at the airport and awaited our flight. 

The flight was exceedingly enjoyable. It gave us time to get to know each other a little more. The first week, we travelled across Shanghai to many different beautiful places. Places such as the Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai Tower and the Huangpu River Cruise had beautiful scenery, giving the students great views of the city of Shanghai. We visited a multitude of museums, experiencing the history and future of Chinese structures and modernity and along the journey, the kind and inviting SFLS students were with us, every step of the way. Together, we enjoyed the scenery, the food and the friendships we built along the way.

On the Saturday of the first week, we would spend the entire day with our buddies from SFLS. It was an amazing experience. To further immerse ourselves into the lives of those from a foreign country. To see their daily routines and explore Shanghai.

The second week, the class took the high speed train from Shanghai to Nanjing. The train was immensely quick, going up to 350 km/h. Throughout our trip in Nanjing, we went to a large number of museums, exploring the history of Nanjing and China. 

During our final days in China, we travelled to Hangzhou. There we explored the art of making tea. We went to the tea farm and harvested our leaves, then went to a refinery and cooked the leaves with our bare hands. It was an amazing experience. 

The school trip was an amazing experience that I'm sure none of us will ever forget. The friendships we built along the way and the moments that we lived in created an amazing atmosphere that made the trip all the more enjoyable.

Morgan Vong and Chengtao Fu

Below are video and photo highlights from this amazing trip.

Day 1 

Day 2

Day 3

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Women in Tech Event at Wyndham Tech School

On Wednesday, October 29th, a group of 12 girls, including ourselves, had the incredible opportunity to attend the Women in Tech event at Wyndham Tech School. The event was entirely designed to inspire young women to explore the different possibilities within the tech industry and to give us an insight into examples of paths we can end up taking in the future. It was eye-opening to witness the different pathways available in STEM. We started the day by meeting a brilliant scientist/data analyst who opened our eyes to the diversity of technology and how it connects to almost every single part of our lives- from fashion and food to everyday products. She showed us how innovation and creativity go hand in hand, even mentioning some really interesting examples like how kombucha can be used to make sustainable jackets! I think, for all of us, it was incredibly motivating to realise that technology isn’t limited to coding or computers, but is a field that welcomes every passion and interest. Technology branches out into many fields, such as design and can be used to improve the quality of products especially within the circular economy. 

We then rotated through two hands-on activities with students from another school and worked with accomplished women in tech to create our own podcast. It really gave us a great chance to collaborate, get creative and see how storytelling, entertainment and technology combine. It was an opportunity to hear from sales consultants, managers and engineers from different tech giants. Our second activity was a Q&A session with a few mentors who shared their career journeys, challenges, and advice, answering all our questions with honesty and encouragement. They provided us advice on how the field is structured, the types of courses required for certain jobs and different work-experience opportunities available at Wyndham Tech School. 

All in all, this event was incredibly worthwhile and left us feeling motivated and confident about having options for different careers in the future. Meeting all those amazing women showed us that there’s no single path and that anyone can find their place in technology.

By Bavna Prasannakumar and Nayssa Kapadia

Year 9 B8, Year 10 R5

Community Project 2025

This year, our students completed the Community Project which is a school wide initiative for students to contribute to their wider community as part of mixed year level home group teams. The Community Project has aimed to teach students more about taking initiative to leave a positive impact on the world around them, to push them out of their comfort zones, and to help our students make new connections. As part of the project, students were required to undertake 5 hours of community service across the year in an area of their choosing which resulted in some amazing work by our students to give back to their communities.

Amongst the many projects across the school, we saw students volunteering their time in local op shops, helping with collections and sorting of items as part of local food banks, volunteer tutoring at local libraries, and running after school programs at local child care centres. The variety of projects undertaken were displayed in a house showcase, where students voted for the top 5 projects in their house to participate in the school wide Community Project showcase. Our trophy for the best Community Project for 2025 was awarded Sybil, Adiba, Srimai, Aliza, and Vishesh from A4, whose project “HighlightED” truly stood out for its creativity, impact and dedication to helping others.

Below is an excerpt of the group’s project as written by Adiba Khan in year 11, their group leader:

HighlightED is a student-led organisation built on the belief of our mission to ‘Illuminate Every Mind’, regardless of socioeconomic status, geographical location, or personal circumstances. We wanted to create workshops - engaging skills such as debating and public speaking, STEM experiments and mini-engineering projects useful for a child’s work life and beyond. 

We launched our first initiative in January 2025 with two full-day workshops in Gazaria, a rural village in Bangladesh, reaching over 60 students from Year 3 to University. Coordinating across time zones, limited resources, and sudden team changes, we delivered STEMpire, a hands-on science and engineering program, and Think, Speak, Lead, a debating and public speaking course. Doing an overseas initiative like this was only possible due to the diverse community of SCHS, which allowed us to provide a culturally appropriate and effective program in Bangladesh.

In May, we finally brought HighlightED to life here in Wyndham. Working with some very kind leaders from the Youth Resource Centre in Hoppers Crossing, we were able to bring to life a Public Speaking and Debating workshop, "Think, Speak, Lead. Over 25 students from Grades 5 to 9 joined, some hesitant, some brimming with curiosity. Our guest speaker, Aaditya Thakur, was very enthusiastic, managing to keep restless kids occupied for three hours and begging for more. Most attendees got in contact with us shortly after, asking when the next workshop would be, and parents were pleasantly surprised. We faced a couple of executive issues bringing our ideas to life, such as advertising and finding a place to run such a big event, but we definitely couldn’t have done it without our wonderful team, who made the workshop a core memory for attendees and organisers alike. 

A huge congratulations on the winning Community Project team for 2025 and to all students who successfully completed their Community Project this year. It was inspiring to see all the different ways in which our students embodied our school value of Contribution and I look forward to seeing these project grow even more next year.

Dolly Nguyen

Director of Engagement: Student Voice and Agency

Year 11 VCE & IB French Immersion Excursion

City Scavenger Hunt

Earlier this term, our French students took part in an excursion where we raced through the city of Melbourne! Equipped with a city map, we began the Jeu de piste (Scavenger Hunt) , as we all raced across the city completing challenges and exploring French culture along the way.

There were three trails to choose from - Trail 1 towards St Kilda Road, Trail 2 beginning at Little Lonsdale Street and Trail 3 starting from Flinders Station. Each group worked together to solve clues, practise their French and visit cultural landmarks, including French cafés and the elegant Paris end of Collins Street, home to luxury French brands like Chanel, Hermès and L’Occitane en Provence. Surrounded by the language, style and atmosphere, it almost felt like we were walking through the streets of France itself!

It was such a rare and memorable experience, one that made learning French feel alive and exciting. The mix of culture, teamwork and adventure made the day both fun and inspiring, reminding us just how much there is to love about French language and culture. It was amazing getting to experience this all beyond the classroom!

Anshika Thakur 

Year 11 K8

French Film

After a long day's worth of walking and exploring, watching the movie 'Une Vie de Chat' at ACMI was quite the refreshing and relaxing way to conclude the excursion. A kind lady there also shared the history of French animation, with interesting short clips that marked milestones of the animation industry as a whole. During the movie, which had a mysterious and enjoyable plot, most of us could pick up small words and phrases (though spoken very fast) which was quite exciting and boosted our confidence in our language learning journeys. 

Tanisi Nadkarni

Year 11 A5

French Picnic

On our French immersion excursion, we enjoyed a delicious selection of authentic French food. We had freshly baked baguettes from a French bakery that were perfectly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. We also got to try colorful macarons that were light, sweet, and filled with rich flavors like chocolate and raspberry. To finish it off, we had madeleines, small buttery cakes with a soft, spongy texture that melted in our mouths. The food gave us a real taste of French culture and made the experience even more special.

Gavin Landicho

Year 11 R6