Student Excellence

Each term here at Belmont High, and across the state, students are selected to participate in ‘Victorian High Achievers Program’ (VHAP). Selected students complete a term based subject online, in either Math or English. One of our amazing VHAP students, Isabella Bingham, has been good enough to write a brief overview of her experience of English VHAP in Term 2.

This term I have had the pleasure of participating in English VHAP alongside some of my peers. We have been learning all about the pros and cons of the imagined dystopian and utopian places, societies and worlds. Utopia is a world where everything is perfect and everyone is happy and content, with everything amazing and perfect. While Dystopia is a world where there is suffering or unfairness, with it normally being post-apocalyptic or a government in complete control. A dystopia is often the aftermath of Natural or man-made disasters, technology taking over the world or a tyrant in control. It has been very interesting seeing how people in the past have tried to make utopias and they have failed drastically, like one person tried again and again to make a utopia for mice but no matter what the person did the society always crumbled and fell to ruins. VHAP has been extending me because it has opened my eyes to the fact that a society of any kind has to give people a purpose, like a point to live. It has been very interesting to meet and make friends with other people my age from Belmont and Mathew Flinders. If you ever get the chance to do VHAP I would definitely advise you to do it.

By Isabella Bingham

Simon Thorley

Leading Teacher: Student Excellence