Minecraft competition

This week in the LRC our Library Captains Ethan and Ash, alongside assistants Seth and Lucas, hosted our Minecraft Tournament!

The tournament, which is being run over 4 weeks at lunchtime, will end with a 'last person standing', and the winner will earn the title of HC Minecraft Champion 2026 and a $20 Canteen Voucher!

For each challenge, a participant is chosen to win a $5 Canteen Voucher as well.

Week 1 was the Elytra gliding challenge. It was a battle of speed.

Participants were cheered on by Year 12 students who got caught up in all the excitement.

This week’s lucky canteen winner for Week 1 is Kayden R, Year 7.

Join the Heathmont LRC community by becoming a Library Assistant

The benefits:

Develop your skills using the library and its resources
Learn research and ICT skills to help you and your peers with studies
Work as part of a team to improve our library space through student input
Develop leadership skills that will assist you in the future
Gain work experience that you can add to your resume
An opportunity to contribute to the library and college community
Develop a sense of ownership in the library

If this is something that interests you, come in and see the friendly Library staff.

New term, new books, new displays!

The library staff are very enthusiastic about rotating their library displays to entice all of school community into reading what’s new on offer, or promoting existing books.

There are plans underway to create a large scale display around one of our major library events for 2026 - The Children’s Book Council of Australia Shortlisted Books.

The CBCA Book of the Year Awards Shortlist showcases the most outstanding Australian children's books published annually. It acts as a prestigious guide to high-quality literature.

The purpose of these awards is to celebrate, promote, and set a standard of excellence for Australian children’s literature, fostering a love of reading.

In our newest display you will find the books that have been shortlisted.

Captain’s Review!

Library captain, Mariana E, is an avid reader and writer.

Over the term break, Mariana got first pick of some of the new CBCA shortlisted books the library has recently purchased, to promote this annual literary event.

See what you think of her personal rating of the book, Unhallowed Halls by Lili Wilkinson.

Contrary to what the spine label may say, Unhallowed Halls is not a horror book.

It is more of a dark academia themed, queer romance with a sprinkle of friendship tropes and gothic fantasy.

We start by getting introduced to Page Whittaker, basically your average quirky protagonist, y/n in a fan fic, and just so happens to be obsessed with Jane Austen and Shakespeare. (Which she constantly quotes throughout the book.) She is going to Agathion College, a tall, beautiful Scottish castle. And in this castle, secrets are kept and rumours are spread. She meets a few friends named Cyrus, Ren, Gideon, Lacy and Oak (Whom she may or may not have a crush on) and develops a few, shall we say, “Antagonists”.

Page doesn’t know it yet, but her perfect school has a crooked foundation, that is rooted to something way darker than what she expects. Agathion teachers want to go back to the ways of the past, but sometimes history is better left untouched.

I was hooked from the very start, it was so wonderfully described, and I could clearly perceive every single detail. Even a few gruesome ones. I clasped my hand over my mouth while reading this book a few too many times. I got to the middle of the book and thought it was building up suspense to nothing.

Then I turned the page and had to stare at a wall for a little while trying to process what had just happened.

I was in love with how realistic and earnest every character was. They all had motives and setbacks, and you could empathise with every single character depending on your own experiences.

By Mariana. E Year 8

On May 14 we farewell our beloved Library Technician, Ms Beavis. Ms Beavis has been at the school for many years, bringing her creative style and flair to every display you have seen. She has produced your Gazette articles, cleaned up after classes, catalogued thousands of books and promoted reading and literature in the school tirelessly during her time here.

I personally would like to thank her for her time showing me the ropes over the last 2-and-a-bit years and if you would like to come in and show your gratitude to Ms Beavis, she would love to see you.

Mrs Ford

Creative Writing Competition