Teaching & Learning

Northern Territory Camp 

After fielding initial expressions of interest in November last year, our Year 10 and 11 trip to the Northern Territory was much anticipated. 

With a team of 5 staff and 42 students, we set off early on Saturday, June 11th - with our initial destination being Darwin.

This was the first time visiting the Northern Territory for most of our travelling party, and across 12 days we travelled from Darwin, stopping off at many destinations on our way to Uluru, and we were able to share some amazing experiences together. These are memories that we will all cherish and take with us for a lifetime.

As a school, we are delighted to have been able to facilitate this opportunity for students, and as staff, we are extremely grateful to have been part of this trip and for the exemplary way, the students represented themselves and the school. Throughout the trip, they lived in close proximity to each other and showed fantastic teamwork, respect for each other, resilience and patience, in addition to creating a special bond with the experiences enjoyed together. 

Here is a snapshot from the students of their experiences:

The best part of camp was getting to understand our Indigenous cultures and histories. We learned that their diets were based mostly on seed types of food, and learned how the first people made tools and that certain tools could only be handled by females or males depending on the kind of ritual they were used in, as they evoke a ‘spirit’. We learned how to interpret Indigenous art, the meaning of symbols that are included within their paintings and the materials that they used and where the paint colours, known as ‘ochres’ came from. We also learned about their languages and developed a new vocabulary, such as “Palya” (a good word that means ‘welcome’ or ‘hello’ used by the Anangu people) and “Boh Boh” (used by the Jawoyn people to say ‘see you around’)

Catalina Ordonez Alvarez (Year 11)

Other highlights:

Maddie Pallas (Year 11): A highlight was our stay in Mattaranka, where we spent time in the thermal pools, watched Nathan ‘Whippy’ Griggs do his whipcracking show and danced with our friends. The sunsets at Ubirr was breathtaking and amazing. The whole trip was incredible! We were able to get to know people outside of our group of friends. We’ve spent lots of time on the bus together and it’s been awesome

Alejandro Mariona (Year 11) Swimming under the Florence waterfalls was an experience. I’ve never had the opportunity to swim underwater falls. It was a new experience for me

Stacey Maskas (Year 10): Some of the highlights for me included being able to connect ourselves with the Indigenous cultures. I particularly loved the Garden of Eden, being silent and respectful allowed us to really take it all in. I loved being able to swim under water falls because it was a new experience and that we were able to get up close and personal with wild crocodiles. The whole camp crew were able to be supportive and close to each other, experiencing some of the most amazing things that we won’t be able to experience again.

Tom Cash (Year 11), George Tragellis (Year 11), Kaleb Stocking (Year 11), Sean Maisey (Year 10), Sean Den Elzen (Year 11): There were so many opportunities for great photos. We enjoyed camping outside under the stars and checking out the rock paintings and indigenous artwork. The King’s Canyon Rim walk was special, it had incredible views and was an awesome hike. The Garden of Eden was really cool. Really, it was great to take it all in.

Jason Knee

Camp Coordinator 

Learning Hiragana with Materials in Daily Life

Students are using daily life objects to create some Japanese hiragana characters. Students are aiming to learn the shapes of hiragana by putting different materials together and following the stroke orders. This is also related to their learning of showing respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' contact with nature, using materials, and symbolism. Following the instructions and examples, students are being very creative: some have used food such as chips to make their hiragana look more interesting; some have used paper and stationeries; some have even used their bodies to show the structure! Can you recognise any of these hiragana characters? 

Nicole Shen 

Japanese Teacher

Year 7 Accelerated English

In Ms Hoernel's Year 7 Accelerated English class, students are preparing for their very first Text Response essay, analysing Andy Mulligan's novel "Trash".

 Earlier in the term, in preparation for this task, the students collaborated by creating posters as their own study guide. Students can now refer to their displayed summaries to remind them of key events, thematic statements, characterisations and quotes they can use for their essays. 

Kerryn Hoernel 

Year Level Leader: Senior School

Term 2: Science Summary 

On Wednesday, we did 6 experiments for our CATs in groups. We recorded and analysed the results, and it was pretty fun. We did experiments like combining magnesium and hydrochloric acid, and they were very interesting! 

Grisha Chernov

Year 7 Student

Primary and after-school programs

South Oakleigh College is always looking for ways to bring our local primary school children into our school and give them a taste of secondary school learning. This term we have had our Coding master, Mr. Hem, running an after-school program for Grade 5 students. They have had a great time getting to know new coding languages.

We were also fortunate to host Huntingdale Primary School's grade 5 and 6 students in early June as they embarked on a learning program that involved sessions in our Science Labs, the Small Lab, and also in our STEM room. The students and teachers from Huntingdale had a great time as did our teachers. Looking forward to hosting more of our local primary schools next term.

George Tzimourtas

Leading Teacher: Junior School

Melbourne Museum: Open Horizons

Students at South Oakleigh College who are studying the Greek language at a VCE level visited Melbourne Museum to see the beautiful exhibits brought from the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, which was the first museum established in Greece following independence and is home to the richest collection of artifacts from Greek antiquity worldwide. 

Ancient Greek Journeys and Connections presents ancient works dated from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman period and explores the stories of antiquity from Greece and the Mediterranean.

Students travelled through time, from the world of ancient Greece to present-day Australia, reminding them that museums are our link between the past, present and future.

Dimitra Maniatis

Learning Area Leader: LOTE

Lunchtime Talent Showcase

Throughout Term 2 students have been enjoying fortnightly concerts on Fridays in our theatre. Performances are always received with thunderous applause from our highly supportive audience of students and staff.

We've seen performances from all year levels, including several entire classroom groups.

We've seen individual vocalists perform in a range of languages, we've seen contemporary ensembles, we've seen piano solos, guitar solos, jazz performances, and - perhaps not surprisingly - an increasing number of classic hits from yesteryear.

Students have also been thrilled to show off some of the school's new equipment, including two new guitars and percussion gear. Every time a student takes to the stage with our new Epiphone SG, the crowd roars.

One of our surprise highlights in Week 5 was a 'High School Musical' performance from Ms Volk and Mr Wilson. Watch out next Term for more surprise performances from our wonderful staff – and even more from our wonderful students.

We're very proud of all our performers and we're looking forward to seeing even more showcases in Term 3.

Aidan Prewett

Classroom Teacher

Sustainability Week Monday, May 30 - Friday 3 June

Sustainability week aimed to inform members of SOC community of the importance of making sustainable choices. 

Themes:

1. Recycling
2. Plastic
3. Reflection/what changes can you make today

Programs were offered during mentor group exploring:

Reduce/Reuse/RecycleVideo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6xlNyWPpB8

1. Plastic

Disclaimer: The video shows a bird dissection – if this is confronting, please look away but keep listening.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCC2cZnMieY

1. Kahootz explores the importance of recycling and reducing plastic use.

As a result of discussions during sustainability week, students discussed introducing recycle and compost bins, which the sustainability club will try to establish for semester 2. 

SUSTAINABILITY CLUB Friday lunchtime, 1.15, A2. All welcome. Snacks provided! 

Alison Jones

Sustainability Club Facilitator 

VCE Legal Studies Virtual Excursion 2022

Supreme Court of Victoria – Justice John Champion

On 8 June 2022, Unit 4 Legal Studies students had a "virtual excursion" to the Supreme Court of Victoria – where trials of the most serious indictable offences (such as murder) are heard, as well as appeals from lower courts. The Year 12 students congregated in the Conference Room to receive a Zoom call from His Honour Justice John Campion, who was seated in his Chambers, and his Associate, Ella Trickey. Given our excellent track record with court excursions/incursions, we were fortunate to also speak with Magistrate Bazzani. To date, the Magistrates' Court has not been part of the official education program and Her Honour joined the call to get a taste of the experience with us – and we were honoured! 

Justice Champion told us about his legal career, beginning as a barrister before becoming a prosecutor, then coming to the bench. He recently had to retire when he reached the prescribed age but has this year re-joined the Court as a Reserve Judge. Associate Trickey shared her experiences of working in the Coroner's Court as well as the logistics of jury trials during the pandemic. His Honour was impressed with all the questions our "Legal Eagles" had for him, about various aspects of the law including the recently reformed sentence indication process and the increased use of technology in the courtroom in recent years. We finished the session with Legal Eagle Julia Sotiriou asking about the complex relationship between criminal offending and mental health issues, using a scenario she had created herself. Overall, it was a very valuable learning experience for us all.

Jacinta Marlborough

Legal Studies Teacher

Club Gala Day 

The SRC Enrichment Team threw a “Club Gala Day” on Monday, the 6th of June. This day was aimed to advertise the clubs running at our school and get as many students involved in a club as possible! 

Representatives from the Chess Club, Debating Club/s, Inclusion Club, METALS (formerly ‘Girls in Stem’) Club, School Production, Sustainability Club, the Table top Games/D&D Club and the TV/Media Club all put out displays in the downstairs foyer and attempted to recruit new members to their clubs. 

If you missed Club Gala Day and would like to inquire about a club (what they do, when and where they meet, etc.) message Miss Crespo on Teams or email sarah.crespo-liu@education.vic.gov.au 

Sarah Crespo-Liu

House Leader: Banksia

VCE Chemistry Melbourne University Visit

Our Year 11 and 12 Chemistry students went to Melbourne University last week. Here they participated in a short lecture and experiment to learn about analytical chemistry. Their task was to use specific instruments to analyse contaminants inside random samples, for example... how much iron is present in a sample of Moonee Ponds creek water? 

Students had to prepare samples provided to be placed into highly sensitive machines for analysis. They then had to interpret the data created and perform calculations. Excursions like this give students an experience that will be unforgettable. They get to briefly explore a university campus and come into contact with devices that they read about in textbooks but never see in a school environment. They have experts guide them along with the steps towards identifying the unknown contents of a random sample of water or solution. These 'problems' also appear on the end-of-year VCAA exams for year 12's. 

By participating, students are immersed in the world of chemical analysis and develop a greater appreciation and understanding of what is involved.  A big thank you to Mrs Halloran and Mrs Vrettos for planning and organising these days out for our students.

Steve Kuruc 

Learning Specialist: STEM