Student Voice 

Student Voice : Springvale 

"We can't believe we're more than halfway through Term 2! Every learning centre across the school has been working very hard to achieve their personal goals. They will have an opportunity to share their learning achievements at our Three-Way-Interviews in the last week of school, on Wednesday, June 26th. How exciting!

Reconciliation Week (Smoking Ceremony / Learning Centre Activities)

As well as this, everyone across the school has been preparing for Reconciliation Week. What is National Reconciliation Week all about? It is a time to learn and explore ways to come together and create a better future for all. It is a time for equality, celebrating cultural diversity, and strengthening the relationship between all Australians.

Each learning centre has been reading beautiful books about First Nations People to learn more about culture, traditions, and history. Our school acknowledged this important week by hosting a Smoking Ceremony. Additionally, each learning centre created a commitment hand. It was to show our support and empathy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We had a special Assembly followed by planting our sea of hands in our front garden. The sea of hands was custom-made by our lovely students. They spent so much time on them, and we hope that everyone will embrace the amazing pictures and the meaning behind them! Just as we thought that we couldn't focus on Reconciliation Week anymore, the SLC and MLC were lucky enough to create and bake a special dish called “Johnny cake dough”, also known as “Damper”, which is a cultural food made by the Aboriginal people! Thank you, Miss Bishop, for running these amazing cooking sessions."

SLC Camp In Week 5, the entire SLC from both campuses went to Log Cabin Camp. This was an extremely exciting opportunity for everyone, and we just couldn’t wait to get there and engage in some fun activities! Once we saw the sign welcoming us to Log Cabin, our hearts beat fast as we were desperate to see the campsite. After our entertaining activities, we went to eat dinner, which was so appetizing and delicious! We then headed to our cabins, and everyone was amazed and happy; some people were even lucky enough to end up in a whole house! Just when we thought our day couldn’t get better, we were able to watch a movie with our friends!

On the second day, after our amazing sleep, we had a full day of activities, food, and a bunch of happy moments! On the last day, it was sad for all our friends from the opposite campuses to leave. But it was such a happy day to reunite with our families and the non-campers! *We would also like to thank the school council for helping us with Camp and providing funding to make it more accessible. We would like to acknowledge them and express our gratitude for their help! Thank you, school council, and thank you to the teachers who spent so much time organizing our camp and ensuring we could enjoy it!

Excursion to Sovereign Hill

After our incredible time at Log Cabin Camp, we headed to Sovereign Hill to go and pan for gold! It was fantastic to see everyone panning for gold; there were even students who managed to find some specks of gold. We also got to see some tools like the dry washers and many more we read about at school, referring to the Eureka Stockade. Right after gold panning, we went to see a gold pour demonstration where a man had melted gold and then made it into a 24-carat gold bar. You could hear the gold sizzle when placed in the water. You could see the vapor come out of the water when cooling down the bar. Not only that, but you could also feel the warmth coming from the heat of the gold bar; it was around 1064 degrees Celsius!!! The same gold bar has been melted over 90,000 times and has been repeated for many years, and now that 24-carat gold bar is worth around $350k. That is one third of a million; isn't that astounding? At the end of the demonstration, we went to the shops to get some scrumptious boiled lollies. The shops were no ordinary shops because they were made like back in the 1800s. We all loved the raspberry drops, and some even got ice cream. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and for most, it was their first time going to Sovereign Hill. We're all so grateful for this adventure.

Top Up Swimming Program

The SLC were extremely fortunate to be a part of a very special project called the Top-Up swimming program. Thanks to this, we managed to get free swimming for 2 weeks. Isn't that awesome? On the first day, we split into 4 different groups where we took a starting assessment to figure out our starting point. Once we were in our actual groups, we started learning about water safety knowledge and made goals to achieve in our 2 weeks of swimming. Once that was all done, we made our way into the pools and had fun while still learning many new techniques for things like swimming and floating. You could see all the SLC students in the water enjoying every second and also trying new things like going into the deep end of the pool. The smell of chlorine was unavoidable, and you could hear the students laughing and having fun around in the water. All the swimming instructors were also kind and friendly towards every single student there. We are looking forward to the rest of swimming and more in Term 3!

How lucky are the students at Springvale Rise to learn about and take part in these very important events! Would you believe, there are only 4 weeks left of term but we still have lots of exciting events happening in different learning centres. We also know the seniors have interschool sports and possibly grand finals. We are sure the FLC, JLC and MLC will be jam packed with lots of upcoming special events. We hope all students try their absolute best at learning and present their proudest achievements to the parents during their Three-Way Interviews!

         Springvale Campus School Captains

          Springvale Campus School Prefects