School Highlights
Lift Off Week
Year 9 Impact Team
The Year 9 Lift Off Week took place in early February and saw Year 9 students and staff travel into the CBD for the first part of the week to complete a wide variety of activities and workshops.
To enhance safety and independence while in the city, students began the week with a presentation from Victoria Police and improved their navigation skills as they worked in groups to solve clues and find famous landmarks.
The cohort set the foundations for their year ahead by commencing a Collective Vision Task in small groups. Students were exposed to social issues facing Melbourne through incredibly powerful and moving workshops and guest speakers.
The final section of the Program was dedicated to It’s Everyone’s Business at Monash University in Clayton, where students were supported and guided in the process of unearthing who they are and what it is they are passionate about.
They were introduced to the concepts of social enterprise and entrepreneurship. They were also motivated and inspired by the stories shared by the founder of We Are Mobilise – a social enterprise addressing homelessness that was developed in 2018 by university students undertaking the same program as the Year 9 cohort.
Throughout all of this, students had invaluable opportunities to build and enhance connections with each other and the Year 9 staff. It was such a positive start to the Impact Program and the year ahead and we couldn't be more impressed with the whole cohort of Year 9s!
Random Acts of Kindness Day
Jacqui Goldenberg, Community Service Program Director
Random Acts of Kindness Day is celebrated every year on February 17. It is an opportunity to inspire excitement, passion and energy to continue growing the kindness movement.
On the day, our School leaders sold chocolate hearts as well as gorgeous notes to be given to friends, family or teachers. It was lovely to see messages of kindness being spread throughout the School.
All proceeds are going to assist with the Turkey/Syria Earthquake disaster.
My experience of attending the National Mathematics Summer School
Michael Li, Year 12
I recently had the exciting and fulfilling opportunity of attending the National Mathematics Summer School (NMSS). NMSS is the oldest and most prestigious program of its kind in Australia and is hosted and sponsored by the ANU, Monash University, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland and the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers.
In my experience, the NMSS created a truly extraordinary environment for high-achieving students from all around Australia. In the span of two weeks, I had the chance (together with around 60 other students), to engage in an intensive, difficult, and thus infinitely exciting, mathematics course with seven of the best Mathematics professors in the country and 15 inspirational PhD students.
Through the form of university-standard lectures and tutorials, we explored some of the most gratifyingly mysterious concepts in mathematics, such as number theory, prime number theorems, advanced algorithms, projective geometry and modular arithmetic. It was a truly humbling and inspiring learning process.
One of my biggest highlights was getting the opportunity to make new like-minded friends. The intensity and exclusivity of the program are far from being incompatible with fun. In fact, I found that the rigours of the course and the communal atmosphere of intellectualism immersed every participant in a matrix of mutual appreciation and complete tolerance from which kindred bonds are begotten.
Meeting with high-achieving students from around Australia not only considerably broadened my worldview, but also imbued me with an insatiable drive to learn and discover.
Throughout my time at the Mathematics Summer School, I was able to start an academic essay writing and publishing website, co-found an online debating league and write a research paper. This is just the tip of the iceberg since the impact which NMSS has had on my life is impossible to quantify.
I sincerely hope that participating in the NMSS continues as a tradition in Kilvington. It is truly a transformative experience and I wholeheartedly encourage high achieving students to apply come July.