Secondary School

Family Visit to VCE Health & Human Development

Unit 2 VCE Health and Human Development includes studying the health and development of infants and how parents have a major role in this important stage. We were privileged to have Benny and Abbey Cooper share their experiences with baby Brielle.

Here’s just some of the feedback students gave to the family:

EeYang: I was amazed at how they are still able to put Christ at the centre of their lives whilst also balancing their everyday lives and their newest addition
Jayda: Having our questions answered by a real couple was extremely inspiring and so insightful in understanding the circumstances of having/looking after a baby. Questions about Benny and Abbey’s birth story, their parenting style, challenges and positives, and even valuable resources have been so beneficial
Tahlia: I liked how we were able to talk about the things we have already learned in class
Jasmine: I loved how positive they were. I feel like a lot of people focus on the negative side, like not enough sleep, but they focused on how amazing the time was
Lucy: I found it interesting to see the difference between our simulation baby and an actual baby, and the questions were answered in a really genuine way.

Debating Competition

Once again this year, Bayside sent a few teams to the fantastic SIS-debating championships at Flinders Christian College. We entered a team each in Years 7 and 8, Years 9/10 and in Years11/12.

Our teams consisted of:

Year 7: Nathanael Walton, Jeremy Knoop, David Rebbeck
Year 9/10: Ezra Dixon, Ava Harris, Mischa Fourie
Year 11: Jayda Ryall, Chibueze Anele, Nathan Faure, Dane Nolen, Valin Bell

Each team won their first round, the prepared debate, despite having tough opponents and very unusual topics. Our two older teams lost by a small margin in the unprepared debates. The Year 7 students won their unprepared debate and thus made it to the semi-finals. This meant another trip to Flinders and an even harder competition. Unfortunately, the team was knocked out and didn’t make it to the grand final, but there is always next year. A special shoutout to James Whelan, who replaced David Rebbeck last minute in the finals.

Year 11 Biology Excursion - Healesville Sanctuary

I really enjoyed our excursion because it was interesting to see the animals in real life rather than just learning about them. My favourite part was observing the platypus and learning about its unique behaviours. I was surprised by how well animals are adapted to their environment. This excursion helped me better understand adaptations and animal behaviour more clearly. - Aliya Holbrook

The excursion was a great way to actually interact with the course material. Making our own observations and using them to further our understanding of the topic was fun and beneficial. I found the koala particularly interesting as I was able to identify adaptations that I knew prior, as well as learn about new ones. For example, I learned that koalas have padded bottoms in order to sit comfortably on branches for long periods of time.

- Nathan Faure

I particularly enjoyed seeing the koala sleep because it looked so comfortable. The animal that stood out to me the most was the emu, as it was the first animal we saw and we were able to see its behavioural, physiological and structural adaptations. Overall, the excursion was a great experience. - Dannielle Gascard

I enjoyed the car ride and doing an ethogram of the platypus. - Svetlana Riordan

VCE Chemistry

This year the annual Chemistry Titration Competition was in full swing. Titrating is a meticulous process used to determine unknown concentrations of substances with colour changes.

In preparation for the event, each year level had a trial titration to learn, relearn, practice, and refine their titrating skills, which requires being careful and precise. The Year 11s determined how much hydrochloric acid was in a brick cleaner using methyl orange, watching for the perfect shade of orange to appear before it turned red, with the infamous Mrs Hadlow.

The Year 12s did a redox titration, trying to identify the accuracy of the amount of vitamin C in a vitamin C tablet. This involved colour changes from yellow to blue, which then turned to brown.

This year, the Year 11s and 12s combined forces to compete in the competition, determining the concentration of double strength vinegar, looking for the most subtle shades of pink to appear. It was a close competition this year, with the top two teams coming within 0.1 moles per litre of each other. Once the results have been finalised, the winning team with the closest concentration will head to compete against others in the state in November at RMIT.

Year 11 Physics

How springy is a spring? The Year 11 Physics class investigated this by calculating the spring constant using Hooke’s Law. The concept of elasticity is part of the broader area of study called ‘How do we Understand Motion?’, which has spanned concepts such as velocity and acceleration, Newton’s Laws of Motion, impulse and momentum, mechanical energy, work and power, torque and more.

We have discovered that:

Vectors really do have magnitude AND direction.
A bowling ball and a feather hit the ground at the same time when dropped from a height in a vacuum.
A clown picking up a telephone is doing more work than a strongman holding a 100kg barbell in place.
Airbags are designed to increase the time of contact so that the resultant force is decreased, since momentum is always conserved in a collision.
Why Hobbit doors, with the hinges too close to the handle, just aren’t very effective! And SO much more!

Yr 11 VM/VPC Bowling with Village Baxter

The Year 11 VM/VPC students had a great time up at Village Baxter this week. Three very generous village residents spent their time assisting and teaching the students how to find their way around the green. Everyone had a great time, and there were even a few students who showed a lot of potential. The next visit is going to be a game where the students VS the residents.