Student News

Holi at SCHS

Thank you to all the students who organised and participated in the Holi event at SCHS. It was a successful event raising money for beyond blue.  Here are some pictures from the event! 

Citizenship at SCHS update

This term has been off to an exciting start with our student body once again uniting together to give back to the community. We are so grateful to everyone who have been driven by compassion and helped out many fundraising events held by the citizenship team. Starting with our annual lively Valentine’s Day stall, it was inspiring to see that many of the roses and cute messages given had made someone’s day. We managed to raise an incredible amount of $770 for Mind Australia to increase funding for mental health services, which is crucial considering our current trying times. 

We also had amazing contributions  from our casual clothes day to fundraise for the protection of endangered koalas, which was a great way to end the term. Big thanks to the Community Service club for organising this!

In the first week of next term, we will be holding a creative student-led initiative of selling stickers to raise funds for the Ukraine crisis. Please feel free to come by and buy some to support our students’ wonderful sticker design contributions, combined with the interactive idea of guessing the amount of lollies in a jar. Special credits to Bea Payla for encouraging the school to support this cause! It is an exceptional example that anyone can ignite better change in the wider community by taking the first step.

Once again we are so appreciative of all of the enthusiastic volunteers and teachers who helped in making these fundraising events happen! Rest assured that everyone can look forward to bigger, more exciting events next term such as the World’s Greatest Shave and Relay for Life.

Jennie K (K4) & Shakya A (K2)

Citizenship Captains 2022

Extra-curricular at SCHS 

It’s been a busy term for debating with the first two of rounds of interschool debating at Williamstown High School by Debater’s Association of Victoria completed. Congratulations to all teams who won their debates and keep an eye out for announcements on Compass for meetings for the third round!

Meanwhile there are a range of clubs available for students to join such as: chess club, literature club, Latin club and many more. Information about club timings is shown either on the screens around the school or can be found on the walls near the canteen. 

“Chess club, It's a good opportunity to socialise and meet new people over a friendly game of chess every Thursday Lunchtime.” - Parth Agarwal, chess club member.

A major upcoming event in term 2 is the Plain English Speaking Competition, where students selected by each school talk about a topic they are passionate about, with the opportunity of progressing to state finals. Suzanne Cory can enter two students and auditions will be held in the last week of term 1 so make sure to check on Compass. Last year’s participation led to progression to state semi-finals and if you have any questions feel free to ask Mr Byrne or one of us.

Also, keep your eyes out for the teacher student debate we’re planning in term 2. If you’re even a little interested in participating or searching for more information, don’t hesitate to contact either me or Ananyaa (email or just saying hi in person). 

Ananyaa D (R2) and Goutham P (K1)

Extracurricular Captains 2022

Sport at SCHS 

Throughout the term, SCHS students had amazing performances, among all areas of sport. Students competed not only among the houses, but also with other schools across the state. With a lot of dedication and hard work, the following teams were able to progress to the Western Metropolitan Regionals, and will be competing again in the near future; 

• Intermediate Girls Tennis
• Senior Girls Softball
• Senior Boys Baseball
• Senior Boys Volleyball

On March 31st, the spectacular SCHS swimming team competed in the Western Metropolitan Regionals. Unphased by the unpleasant weather conditions, they displayed remarkable efforts. The team placed second overall, losing to Williamstown high school by a measly 20 points, a tiny margin considering they had Year 7s and 8s as well. A special shout out to Stella Soesanto for walking away with first place in multiple events and regardless of the placements, a huge congratulations and a well done, to all students who participated!

Additionally, we have continued to run the VCE lunchtime sports competition, a tournament we are particularly proud of, thanks to the stunning participation and engagement by each of the houses. The first sport was basketball where the passion from many of the players was admirable and made for an ecstatic environment. While Cottrell took home the Yr 12 boys title, it was clear Rothwell had been ballin’ out as they took home both the Yr 11 boys and Yr 11/12 girls titles so well played to them. 

The second sport, which has now commenced is soccer where a great deal of talent has already been showcased, an exciting sign for finals happening early term 2. It is also definitely worthwhile mentioning that the support along the sidelines from the students has been nothing short of incredible so we thank everyone for their encouragement and we hope to see more of it in the upcoming matches.

All in all it has been a pretty jam packed and successful term 1 of sport but we’d like to remind you that despite the fact that major sport events such as swimming and athletics carnivals are done, there are still ample opportunities to present your sporting skills throughout the rest of the year so keep an eye out for events that you’d like to have a shot at and put your name down. 

Enjoy your break, 

Kalindu G (C7) and Gurnoor J (B3)

Sport captains 2022

SRC at SCHS 

On the 30th of March Suzanne Cory’s SRC team went to Melbourne High School for the Selective Entry Network (SEN) Summit. This provides an opportunity for the four selective entry high schools in Victoria to collaborate, sharing perspectives, information and new ideas on current topics. It’s also a chance to compare and learn from each others’ projects and different approaches. 

We hope that we have the opportunity to organise more SEN events throughout the year between all four select entry schools and to strengthen our connections. Thank you to all the SRC who were involved and for your excellent work representing our school.

Finlay M (C6)

Year 10 Cottrell SRC

EcoCore

SCHS’s own student lead environmental club; EcoCore, has started off the term with many new members, new ideas and new ways to help the environment. Our main goal this year is to get more of the school community involved in our club’s activities and we have been seeing progress, with our very first workshop! 

We are so glad to see not only all four year levels participating, but also our new year 9s making up the largest percentage of sign ups!! Through this pot painting workshop, we aim to raise awareness and educate the school community on the benefits of house planting and how we can play a part in achieving bigger goals like WWF’s plan to plant 2 billion trees by the end of 2030. EcoCore is planning to work on even bigger projects throughout the year and we hope that SCHS will continue to show support and get involved in our events. 

Anyone is welcomed to join the club meetings held weekly, during lunch in the S wing. 

So, be there and be environmentally aware!

Your EcoCore Captains; Myint Tha, Ryan, Charlize & Jasmine. 

Wellbeing at SCHS 

Hey SCHS! 

In week 8 this term, we held the Kids Helpline bake sale as well as the Gratitude Sticky Note Wall. The wellbeing captains would like to say a big thank you to everyone who got involved in the bake sale, participated in writing notes for the Gratitude Wall and bought some food from the bake sale! We raised $505 for Kids Helpline, so thank you to everyone, especially those selling and baking for the bake sale and Ms Sordello for organising and facilitating the sticky note wall and bake sale! It was amazing to see so many people get involved. We appreciate you heaps!

Kids Helpline is Australia's only free 24/7, confidential and private counselling service that helps specifically children and young people aged 5 to 25 years. So, if you ever need some extra support with your wellbeing, feel free to reach out to this amazing service here:https://kidshelpline.com.au/, as well as the school counsellors (Bec, Pat and Ruth)! 

Also, Elevate Club is back at SCHS every Monday lunchtime in S wing! Elevate Club is a chill club where you can come up and play board and card games, relax and destress upstairs with your friends and peers! It’s a great way to start the week ahead of assessments and SACs so come along and have some fun. 

We have heaps of fun events planned for the coming terms so keep an eye out for Compass posts and don’t hesitate to sign up and participate! As always, remember to take care of yourselves these holidays and enjoy a well deserved break. Feel free to contact us or the wellbeing team if you have any concerns. 

Keep up the good work everyone and take care <3

Eric N (R2), Carin D (C8), Iola S (K5) and Leanne D (B6)

Wellbeing Captains 2022

Melbourne Zoo Psychology Excursion 

On Monday 4th April the Unit 3&4 Psychology classes headed out for a day full of fun and learning at the Melbourne Zoo. Students took part in the program “Ethics, Zoo and You: Research Methods”, where the students were able to dive-deep into how psychology concepts can help promote pro-conservation behaviour change on a real word context. 

Students were able to apply their understanding of ethical principles to real-life scenarios building on science skills and they participated in a scientific investigation on what variables might influence the activity of orangutans. They were given the opportunity to develop a hypothesis and conducted qualitative and quantitative data collection of the orangutans’ behaviours. Congratulations to all students for displaying the school values of pride, aspiration, and contribution throughout the day.

- Psychology Teachers

Visual Communication Design

In Year 12 Visual Communication Design students need to research and report on the practice of three contemporary design practitioners in the fields of Communication, Industrial and Environmental. After a webinar from Melbourne Museum plagued with technical difficulties (on their end) students were dubious as to whether this project would be achievable. 

On Wednesday 6/4 at 9am Drew Carling, Design Director for Maddison Architects joined the Zoom call after generously agreeing to share his time and expertise. However, once the interview started Founding Director Peter Maddison (host of ABC TV’s Grand Designs Australia) joined the session and both Drew and Peter shared 45 minutes of their time speaking about their work at Maddison Architects. Both Drew and Peter shared their career paths from leaving school to their current practice and roles within Melbourne’s architectural conversation. 

They answered questions from Henry, Hannah, Amulya & Shayan across a range of topics, from how to start an architecture firm & what they get paid; how environmental concerns impact the design process and what the day-to-day processes of an architecture firm look like as well as speaking to specifics of different projects students had investigated.

This was a huge opportunity to our students to get an insight to how top architects work.

To see some of the great work that Maddison Architects do please visit: www.maddisonarchitects.com.au

Jack Whitmore 

Visual Communication Design / Studio Art

VicSRC - Impact on students over the last few years

The impacts of the last 2-3 years on students have been huge, to say the least. 

While all Victorian students experienced the sudden change that lockdown brought, some of us thrived while others really took a hit, whether that be academically, socially or mentally.

We’re all taking the toll academically, when you consider that we haven’t had a normal school year since 2019. Any 3 years of anyone's life is crucial, not only in terms of academics, but to our holistic development as students and as good people going out into the real world.

A lot of students have also suffered socially. Students that were in middle school before the pandemic missed that transition into high school. Even my year level, my peers in year 11 - we were just trying to learn each other’s names before we were at home behind a screen. 

Ultimately, this all has a pile-on effect on our mental health. And while lockdowns have definitely worsened overall student mental health, they have also shed light on the issue, an issue that was almost unspoken of before, giving us an opportunity to reflect and make change.

So recently, I was asked to speak to the hosts of the Weekend Today show on Channel 9, about the impacts of these last few years on students, and what steps we can take moving forward to ensure that we make the best of a bad situation and improve the general mental health of students across the state.

You can watch there interview below:

Aakriti M (R8)

Music Department Update

2022 is off to a flying start in the music department. After 2 years of postponements, covid restrictions and ultimately cancelled performances, we are finally back on the stage where we belong.

This term we have already had amazing open mic performances in the Agora. This opportunity is open to anyone to sign up, and we have seen a very eclectic group of performances so far. Our assemblies have also been enhanced by a number of wonderful musical performances.

This week our stunning Instrumental Music Tutors have banded together to present 2 soirees, featuring soloists, VCE bands and a plethora of small ensembles. It seems that our school community has also missed the performances, with a great attendance rate at both concerts.

This year Suzanne Cory is performing the musical 'Working'  in August. Many students auditioned to be a part of the show, and rehearsals are well underway with students on stage, playing instruments in the pit and working on the tech crew.

We look forward to a very busy next term with chorals and the winter concert, where we will get to enjoy more of our fantastically talented students perform on stage.

Music Department