Student Achievements

Year 9 student, Olivia P, has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Independent Schools of Victoria poetry competition. The focus of this year's competition was Fruit. Olivia used this prompt to create a poem titled 'The Forgotten Fruit'. Her poem, included below, celebrated resilience and hope in spite of life's challenging circumstances, and was selected from over 1400 submissions. Finalists will be acknowledged at an event next week, and the poems published online.

Congratulations to Olivia on this achievement! I encourage other students to take up opportunities to participate in the writing competitions made available across the year.

Dr. Jodi Williams

English Faculty Leader

The Forgotten Fruit 

The wilted skin emits the stench 

Of friendships broken, 

Families torn. 

The pasty flesh is pock marked, 

Each scar a symbol of wars long won, 

Or lost. 

To the untrained eye this small piece of forgotten fruit looks like a heart that is bruised and scarred. 

But to those who weather the smell, 

They will find that through the haze, 

The mold, 

The muck, 

And the pain that overwhelms everything and everyone. 

There is a person,  

Who, despite the odds, is still standing. 

They will find someone who is worth the effort 

To shove, and wade through the layers of self-defense. 

Someone who is filled with joy, 

No matter the circumstance, 

No matter the hurt. 

And this person, who is hidden away inside a shell, 

Is more beautiful than you or I could ever be. 

For they are stronger, 

Braver, 

And even though they were, 

Squashed, 

Dropped, 

Forgotten. 

They are still hopeful, 

Still kind, 

And still full of love.