Middle School

Duke of Edinburgh

15 Mile Creek Camp

Congratulations to our Year 9 students who completed the weeklong camp, and to those students who have now successfully completed the Adventurous Journey component of their Duke of Ed. award. This camp is purposefully designed to test students in leadership, problem solving, resilience and teamwork skills through a range of challenging activities, including a two-day hike and overnight camp (with no amenities or toilets!). Students and attending staff all came home buzzing and proud of the way everyone conducted themselves!  Here are a few photos of this grand adventure:

Year 9 Cluster Day

On Wednesday 21st August, our Year 9s participated in the Linker and Coordinator Career Cluster Day, which focuses on sales, retail, marketing and management. We welcomed on site local businesses to share their day-to-day responsibilities, and the key skills required to be successful in these areas.  

Jonathan Chan, Managing Director at Pilea Capital

Jonathan is a DSC Alumni (Class of 2009)! After graduating, he achieved a Commerce degree at Monash University and began his career in Customer Lending at the NAB and Judo Bank. Jonathan set up Pilea Capital and is a Finance Broker, who assists people and businesses to get the best finance loan.

Jonathan walked students through the key skills required to be a successful finance broker: research, negotiation and communication. Then he had students form groups and role play a negotiation scenario with a buyer, seller and broker.

What's it going to take to sell a $15,000 pair of Nike shoes?

Andre Agassi, Business Operations Manager at Inked Cup Cafe

What are you going to do if your $20K coffee machine breaks down at 7:30am on a weekday? 

This and other questions were posed to our students by Andre. The skills needed to be a manager of a busy cafe are problem solving, customer service and creativity. Andre doesn't have a qualification in hospitality however he worked in cafes while completing a Marketing degree at Victoria University. His degree set him up with the key skills required in running a business, and during covid, Andre turned his hand to operating Inked Cup in Nunawading. 

Andre's enthusiasm and warm personality had our students opening up with lots of questions

Students were asked to think of solutions to real-life scenarios at a cafe

David Tay, Head of Programs and Founder of Impact 24

David is another DSC Alumni and he has a degree in Business and IT from University of Melbourne. Combining his passion for Badminton with his skills in Business, David launched, Impact 24, a health and fitness company that is based in our very own DSC Stadium.

David's day-to-day success is founded on skills that he learnt during his time at DSC: organisation, time management, communication and problem-solving. After his presentation, our students were asked to organise a sporting event and to think about the who/what/when's required. 

Students also heard from Ambulance Victoria, Victoria Police and Cisco (see the Significant Events tab in this newsletter). The day provided a unique opportunity for students to explore these dynamic fields and gain valuable insights into their future careers. We are enormously grateful for our guest speakers taking time out of their day to present to our students.

Thank you to Mr Tony Leung for organising such a successful event for our Year 9 students.