Secondary School

Upcoming Events

Head of Secondary

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” - Timothy 4:7

Hard work is required in anything that we do. Whether it’s revising for the upcoming Year 9-11 exams, finishing off final essays, projects, or assignments before Semester 2 reports are completed, or working toward a future goal, an investment of time and effort is always worthwhile. The concept of hard work in schools is not a new message to students. The idea of striving, persevering, being your best, maximising your learning is significantly discussed, including throughout the Bible.

The Bible speaks of the benefits and reasoning behind hard work. As children of God, our effort is in pursuit of His divine plan, a righteous path; a path that comes with many trials and tribulations. Ultimately though, when this path is trodden, we experience personal growth and reward for a job well done. These are just a few pearls of wisdom that the Bible has to share about hard work. May our Secondary students, teachers, and parents find encouragement from this as we continue to grow weary and persevere to the end of the school and work year.

A reminder that the end of year exam period for our Year 9 – 11 students commences this Monday 18 November and concludes on Thursday 21 November. Please refer to the exam communication that was emailed to families a few weeks ago for specific details. Friday 22 November is a student free day for these students involved in exams however Year 7-8 are required at school on this day as their classes continue as normal.

From Week 8, commencing Monday 25 November, all students will commence the Years 8-12 2025 Head Start program for two weeks. Essentially this means that all Secondary students start the first two weeks of their coursework in readiness for next year.

The Secondary Presentation Night is Tuesday 3 December commencing at 7:00 pm in the College Gymnasium. Please put this date aside in your calendars at home as it is a time for the Secondary community to come together and celebrate the achievements of our students across 2024. We will also farewell our ‘Class of 2024’ one last time together whilst also inducting our 2025 School Captain team. 

The last day for our Year 10 and 11 students is Monday 9 December. As part of the end of year celebrations, these students will be attending an excursion to the Enchanted Adventure park on Arthur's Seat and Mornington Indoor Sports and Inflatables. Please refer to the Sentral parent portal for all details.

Finally, Year 7-9 students will participate in Activity Week (3 days) from Monday 9 to Wednesday 11 December. Activities include Gumbuya World for Year 7 students and Luna Park for Year 8 students. Further details including what has been planned for Year 9 students will be released via the Sentral parent portal shortly.

Mr James Kumnick, Head of Secondary

Congratulations Mrs Cooper!

Secondary Teacher Mrs Rachelle Cooper completed the Melbourne 70.3 Ironman last weekend. This involved a 2km swim, 90km bike ride and 21km run. She finished in 5 hours 54 minutes, missing 3rd place by just 1 minute. Rachelle attributes consistent training and great coaching to her success - elements that can be applied to all areas of life. Congratulations!

9/10 Food Tech News

Recently, the Year 9/10 Food Technology classes took a trip to Caldermeade Farm, located on the way to Phillip Island. The students were introduced to the farm by the manager, Grant, and had the opportunity to take a tractor ride to the calf shed. They also enjoyed lunch at the farm’s café, toured the dairy processing facility, and watched the 2:30 pm afternoon milking. This hands-on experience provided a valuable connection between the students' understanding of food and its original source. - Laura Klan, Secondary Teacher

Community Market Stall

Secondary students have been busy exploring various food preservation techniques in Food Technology recently. As part of their preparations for the upcoming community market, the Food Technology department will be hosting a ‘Farmers Market’ stall showcasing a variety of products made by the students.

From jam-making and fruit preserves to baking, blending, and more, the students have created a wonderful selection of Christmas-themed preserves. Be sure to stop by the Food Technology stall to pick up a jar of Mint Jelly, Lemon Cordial, or Apple Sauce to add some festive flavour to your holiday meals!

Years 10/11 Formal 

Year 11 English

In Unit 2 English, we are currently studying Anh Do’s memoir, ‘The Happiest Refugee’. This wonderful evening activity allowed students to gain a better understanding and insight into his story. 

Since the Year 11 English classes have been studying Ahn Do's book 'The Happiest Refugee,' we could fully understand the context of his life as he provided so much detail. While being an informative night about his life experiences, he made it comical and engaged his audience well. I can confidently say everyone enjoyed the excursion. - Lillian, 11

Years 1/2 and Year 11 VM

Our Year 11 VM students worked with the Grades 1 & 2 class over two sessions to help them complete “Birds eye view” craft projects with Madura Nadarajah. All of the students loved this experience, and it helped the Year 11’s to fulfil aspects of their Certificate II in Active Volunteering course. Thanks so much to Madura for putting the entire project together.

VCE Chemistry

In VCE Chemistry, we have the opportunity to participate in excursions and competitions.

The year 11 Chemistry class ventured to the Victoria Space Science Education Centre, to work with analytical machinery that is used in professional laboratories.

The year 12s finished up the year by doing some distillation, where we made tea and then used distillation to unmake the tea.

Both the year 11 and 12 Chemistry classes partook in the molympics: a chemistry themed ‘olympics’ that occurs around the world. This occurs on Mole Day: the 23rd October. This is related to a number we use in chemistry called the mole. One mole has 6.02 x 1023 atoms; this is the amount of atoms in 12 grams of carbon.

The year 12 Chemistry class concluded the year receiving their certificates for the International Chemistry Quiz and having a fun day, where we really celebrated the moment we had together, and even recreated some too. 

As their teacher, I could not be more proud of their efforts over these past 2 years. They have gone above and beyond. Well done team! - Amy Partridge, Secondary Teacher

Year 12 Inter Home Group

The final inter home group competition took place in the last week the year 12s were present for. There was a gloriously convoluted finale, which incorporated lots of activities we had conducted throughout the year. 

The final verdict: Pink wins! Well done to Mrs Campbell and to the 12A home group for being our official winners of the trophy. 

What a joy it has been watching the year 12s have fun together while building community. Thank you to all of those who have been involved. A great effort! - Amy Partridge, Secondary Teacher

VCE OES Trout Relocation

The VCE OES class had to run small outdoor activities as a part of their studies. One of the groups asked if they could move our rainbow trout from the Aquaponics system in the Igloo (they can’t stay in this over summer due to water temperatures) to the North Campus dam. They researched how to best move fish and used resources from the agriculture department to safely move them. Sam McDonald loved ‘Swimming’ the trout in the dam, and we hope they like their new home. A huge thank you goes to David Goschnick for guiding the students through this process.

Year 11 VM Barista Training

Two of our Year 12 Café baristas ran a workshop for the Year 11 class to prepare them for 2025. Lily Saltmarsh and Emma Bakker did a wonderful job teaching the Year 11’s how to safely use the coffee machine and also covered the “Point of Sale” process, making the Café transition in 2025 more streamlined.

Year 11 VM Moonlit Sanctuary Working Sessions

The Year 11 VM class visited Moonlit Sanctuary twice this term to work in the Wallaby Walk area clearing large branches and sticks. This creates a better environment for both the animals at Moonlit and visitors. A massive thankyou goes to Geoff Small, who is the Moonlit projects manager for helping make these sessions possible. - Ken Berry, VM Coordinator

OES Surfing Gallery

2024 PAL Awards Night

The Peninsula Applied Learning Association (PAL) recently hosted the 2024 PAL Awards at the Mornington Racecourse celebrating young people's endeavours in the applied learning space.

Bayside Christian College had three Year 12 students receive awards at the PAL celebration and had several articles added into the annual PAL magazine. A huge congratulations to our VCE VM teachers Shelley, Ulli, James S, Verrell, Sonja and Justin and the following award-winning students:

• Mac Taylor (VCE VM Industry Award)
• Lily Saltmarsh (VCE VM Excellence Award)
• Hamish Mason (VCE VM Achievement Award)

Each student received a cash prize from one of the generous PAL sponsors. PAL is committed to enhancing and facilitating applied learning experiences for students in the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula region.

Powerlifting Achievement

Year 10 student Asha Manning recently entered into an online competition run by Powerlifting Australia. This competition was open to high school students for bench press, with lifts having to be validated by a teacher or referee. Asha’s entry of a 42KG bench press came 3rd nationally in her class (Under 16 year old girls), with her medal arriving at school in Week 4. She, along with a number of other past and present students have been kicking goals in the strength training space over the year, which has been phenomenal to see!

Community Group Gallery