Class

Year 12s

All the best to our Year 12 ATAR students who are starting their WACE exams this week. You've got this!

We are looking forward to seeing all of our Year 12 students next week at Valedictory to celebrate the completion of their formal schooling.

Year 11s

With only a few weeks to go of the school year, it has been pleasing to see all of the Year 11s working hard in the classroom and working towards their final assessments.

Year 11 Semester 1 ATAR Exams

Wednesday 13 November - Agricultural Science and Technology - 9am

Thursday 14 November - English - 9am

Monday 18 November- Mathematics Applications - 9am

Tuesday 19 November - Agribusiness 9am

Year 11 ATAR Camp with Ms Jury 

The 11 ATAR students set off on their University and Industry tour on Wednesday Week 3. We started the tour by visiting Cullalla Feedlot, near Gingin that can hold on average 9000 head of cattle. These cattle can be held on the property for a few days or over 100 days depending on the market destination (domestic or international). The feedlot also composts all their manure that is cleaned up from the pens over approximately 6 weeks, which is then used to fertiliser the hay crop grown to create the feed rations in the surrounding paddocks on the property. After visiting the feedlot, the students travelled to Willgrow Farms, where the de Villiers family showed us their centre pivot irrigation system which they use to grow lucerne, wheat, rye, and oats.  Value is added to their products by milling the high protein wheat and rye onsite with their own stone mill and selling it directly to bakeries to create artisan breads, and their lucerne and oats for hay, which they transport to be cut for chaff to meet the demand of stock feeders and the horse racing industry.

On the second day, the students visited Murdoch and Curtin Universities, who both presented an overview of the university courses available to the students and discussed entry pathways. The students participated in a animal skull identification activity in the vet museum before receiving a tour of the farm facilities at Murdoch. At Curtin, the students received a tour of St. Catherines, before getting the opportunity to speak to current Ag Business students and a tour of the Centre for Crops and Disease Management (CCDM), where they participated in some lab activities. The staff showed them how the researchers expose plant varieties to different fungal diseases to test their tolerance.

On the last day of the camp, the students visited Upper Reach Winery & Restaurant in the Swan Valley. The students were given a tour of the grounds from the owner who explained how they started the business and the decisions that were made to ensure the profitability of the business. We were then taken through the winery cellar and explained to us the different processes behind producing different types of wine e.g. white wine, sparkling and red wines. After visiting the winery, we travelled to Northam where we visited Australian Grain Technologies (AGT). The students were given a tour of the office and sheds where we looked at all of the machinery which is used manage crops in trial plots for research.  We then jumped back in the vehicles and travelled to Candeloro’s farm to view some interesting trial plots including historic trials which showed the development of wheat varieties from federation to current varieties used today. There was also trial plots with varieties from other countries such as USA, Canada, Spain, Sweden etc. to demonstrate the vast differences in wheat varieties that have been grown around the world.