Around the Secondary Classes

The Queenborough Classic 2026

The Queenborough Classic is a key assessment task completed by all secondary Physical Education classes. Held at Lower Queenborough Oval, the event challenges students to run as far as possible within 12 minutes. This assessment measures aerobic capacity and helps students develop an understanding of the level of fitness required to achieve at least a Sound standard in Physical Education.

The task also highlights the importance of regular physical activity for young people. According to the Australian Physical Activity Guidelines, children and adolescents aged 5 – 17 years should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. Activities such as swimming, dancing, organised sports and bike riding are all excellent ways to increase heart rate and improve overall health and wellbeing. Importantly, this activity does not need to occur in one continuous session and can be spread across the day. The guidelines also recommend that on at least three days each week, young people participate in vigorous activities and muscle-strengthening exercises such as running, resistance training or yoga. Despite these recommendations, recent research suggests that only 2% of Australian teenagers aged 13 – 17 are currently meeting the daily activity guidelines.

Throughout the term, students have been preparing for the Queenborough Classic during their Physical Education lessons. Training sessions focused on gradually improving endurance and aerobic fitness, with students completing timed runs or set lap goals each lesson. Students also experimented with interval running sessions, fartlek training, hill runs and sprints. These sessions not only supported preparation for the assessment task, but also helped students build fitness and resilience in readiness for the school Cross Country Carnival.

Congratulations to all students for their effort, persistence and commitment throughout their training and participation in the Queenborough Classic. 

These were the top performers in each Year Level

There were some excellent results recorded in each class and all students should be proud of their own individual achievements. 

Year 7 Art - Suitcase Project

In the first few weeks of Term 1, Year 7 Art students were given a design brief to transform the cardboard boxes their laptops had arrived in.

The design challenge was to respond to the theme ‘The baggage we carry’.

The boxes resembled suitcases and had the phrase ‘In Search of Incredible’ printed on the outside.

Suitcases symbolise many things such as travel, journeys, emotional ‘baggage’, identity, magic, hidden worlds, treasures and secrets.

As the Year 7 students were embarking on a new journey in the art room and more broadly in high school at Mount Carmel College, we acknowledged that each student would be bringing their own ‘baggage’.

The students were invited to explore what a suitcase meant to them and find a way to represent this visually to transform their humble cardboard boxes into dioramas that offered us an insight into their unique personalities. They had the first 5 weeks of Art classes and free choice of materials to complete as much as they could. Some chose to take them home to complete them. The boxes started to reappear after the holidays in Term 2 and have been on display in the library for the first 3 weeks of Term 2.

As is evident in the photos of their work, the students responded with passion, creativity and ingenuity.

They have transformed boxes that were destined for the tip into works of art they will treasure in the years to come.