Teaching & Learning
Responsible Gambling Incursion
Sean from The Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation came to speak to the Year 7’s. The incursion provided an overview of the gambling environment and how it is heavily advertised and normalised for young people, such as in gaming.
They looked at types of gambling, and how people who are losing money continue to play (gambler's Fallacy, near miss, fake win). Healthy ways of thinking about gambling if doing it, such as setting limits, not chasing losses, and expecting to lose.
Penny Hsiao
Health Promotion Nurse
Debating Semester 2 Summary
Year 7 & 8 Interschool Debating Competition
A massive well done to our Year 7/8 Debating Team for their effort against Huntingtower School this term!
We lost all three rounds, but only by one to two points, and we have seen a huge improvement in the students’ debating skills over the course of the competition – especially their manner.
General comments from parents were that they thought the students spoke really well, and have seen a growth in confidence since the beginning of the competition.
A huge well done to all debaters:
Abhi Karthik
Angelina Manolis
Danielle Geron
Darsh Pujari
Hayley Schurr
Isavella Dimopoulos
Izaiah Tassone
Grisha Chernov
Gus Witter
Kyla Heyward-Davenport
Vanessa Sadjoli
Yohan Soju
Debating skills aside, Debating Club has been a great opportunity for Year 7s to practice teamwork, sportsmanship, form social connections, learn how to hype their teammates up and how to be graceful after a loss.
Some of our students took the opportunity to have a friendly chat with the students from Huntingtower over Teams and talked about their weekend plans, and their favourite subjects, etc.
Students vs. Teachers Debating Competition
The Year 10 Debating Club hosted two Students vs. Teachers debates at the end of November. This was held in the theatre for students to watch and was additionally livestreamed to the foyer.
This was planned out by the Year 10 Debating Club and they even had to recruit teachers to compete!
All students involved should be very proud, as none of the students have debated in front of an audience of more than 3 people, if in front of an audience at all!
Year 7s vs. Teachers
Our year 7 speakers were Angelina Manolis, Kyla Heyward-Davenport and Yohan Soju.
Our teachers were Ms. Kerryn Hoernel, Ms. Sara Robertson and Mr. Tim Columbus.
The debate was adjudicated by Mollie Pham (Year 10), Ms. Chrisanthe Teazis and Ms. Merav Chait (who has professional adjudicating experience).
The topic was “That museums should offer to return historical objects to their country of origin”.
Both teams debated their hardest, but the teachers scooped the victory in the end! For the Year 7s, this was their first debate in person, as the competition has been online this Semester.
“Best speaker” was awarded to both Angelina Manolis and Ms. Kerryn Hoernel.
Year 10s vs. Teachers
Our year 10 speakers were Elsie Shaddick, A.J. Mariona and Sophia Donnellon.
Our teachers were Ms. Kerryn Hoernel, Ms. Sara Robertson and Mr. Tim Columbus.
The debate was adjudicated by Kyla Heyward-Davenport, Ms. Chrisanthe Teazis and Ms. Sara Robertson.
Kyla gave some final words and feedback to the Year 10s and Teachers, which were really well put.
The topic was “That we should abolish the ATAR system of University Entrance”.
Both teams spoke well, but the teachers grabbed another victory.
“Best speaker” was awarded to both Ms. Sarah Crespo-Liu and Mr. Wong.
The general feedback from students was that they really enjoyed debating and watching the debates, and would like this to become a more frequent occurrence next year, which the Debating Club was more than happy to agree to. In fact, the Year 10s may have started planning for next year already!! There may have even been talk about a ceremonial gong…love the enthusiasm, everyone!
Sarah Crespo-Liu
Head of Debating
VCE Season of Excellence
VCE Media graduate Alice Mai has had her short graphic novel selected as part of the 2022 VCE Season of Excellence.
The VCE Season of Excellence is a showcase of outstanding senior secondary student work from Victorian schools across the state. Alice’s graphic novel has been singled out for the strong storytelling and excellent hand-illustrated artwork. The graphic novel is titled Rookk, and is a heart-warming story of leaving home, facing challenges, and the value of friends. Alice has used colour and framing to great effect throughout the novel to great effect. And the deceptively simple illustrative style communicates a deep range of emotion, drawing the reader into the story.
I welcome South Oakleigh College community to congratulate Alice on her outstanding effort. She has worked hard to remain focussed and overcome the challenges of remote learning, as well the usual challenges of developing and publishing a creative work, to construct a truly delightful and moving artwork.
Alice’s graphic novel will be part of the annual exhibition at Melbourne Museum in early 2022.
Tim Coloumbus
Learning Mentor
Bread Tag Competition
Despite the many disruptions and general chaos of Term 4, we have continued our Bread Tag Competition – collecting plastic bread tag to be made into recycled products which are sold and the proceeds used to fund a wheelchair charity.
So, here are the Term 4 results:
In 4th place is Banksia with 76 bread tags – they must have been baking their own bread
In 3rd place is Grevillea with 621 bread tags – they must have been on a pretty low-carb diet
In 2nd place is Acacia with a very impressive 1,662 bread tags – though their collection container also contained lots of bottle tops, which did not add to their total (see below for further info)
In 1st place is Waratah, our clear winner with a whopping 2,304 bread tags
That’s a combined 4,763 bread tags in one term – weighing in at approximately 1.6kg!
As it is the end of the year, we must also announce the overall winners. We have been collecting since the start of Term 2, the combined totals being:
1st: Waratah – 4,364
2nd: Acacia – 3,437
3rd: Grevillea – 1,626
4th: Banksia – 1,238
That’s 10,665 bread tags over only 3 terms – imagine how many we can collect in 2022 over the whole year… Due to the popularity of this competition, next year we will move to calculating the tags by weight rather than number – to save us counting them all!
We will also be properly kicking off the plastic bottle top collection competition – all those already submitted with carry over to Term 1, 2022. You may also submit the cardboard bread tags; though they cannot be sent for recycling, they will be composted for you.
Please remember to keep collecting your bread tags and plastic bottle tops over the Summer…
Jacinta Marlborough
Sustainability Club Leader
Year 10 Media Connecting With Community
In semester 2, the year 10 media class led by Mr Hatsu Watanabe had the opportunity to interview Aunty Irene; who is an Aboriginal Australian Elder in our community. The interview was part of an ongoing project to increase engagement with Aboriginal Australian perspectives and history at South Oakleigh.
Aunty Irene first visited South Oakleigh, along with local Koorie Education Support Officer Alice Young, as part of a staff workshop at the beginning of 2020. Mr Tim Curtis collaborated with Aunty Irene through 2020 and 2021 to organise an interview in South Oakleigh’s TV studio with herself and other local Aboriginal Australian elders. With ongoing remote learning, an in-school visit was not possible. Instead Mr Watanabe and his year 10 media class joined Aunty Irene via video call and recorded the interview online.
To prepare for the interview, the year 10 class looked at Australian Aboriginal films and stories in the media. Building an understanding of how our First Nations peoples are represented and our shared history. From this they were able to develop their interview questions.
Aunty Irene was an engaging interviewee, relating stories about her own life and the First Nations people of the local area. Students found a new way of looking at Australian culture and history and Aunty Irene said that the interview was excellent, praising the media class as “wonderful young people”.
Thank you to Aunty Irene and the other elders who were very supportive. Thanks also to Mr Watanabe for doing such a great job with the year 10 media course. As we head into 2022, we look forward to engaging with and hearing more stories from our local community.
Tim Coloumbus
Learning Mentor
Holiday Reading
Dear students,
AS you know “WHEELERS EBOOKS PLATFORM” is SOC’S digital eBook portal with FREE access for all throughout the year including over summer.
Follow our simple instructions on how to borrow an eBook:
Click the following link - https://sosc.eplatform.co/ to access the ePlatform portal.
OR
Download the “ePlatform by Wheelers Books” app via Playstore, Googleplay, Windows store for any device, preferably using your google chrome browser.
- Click on the “ePlatform “by Wheelers eBook link
- Find Libraries and type in South Oakleigh College (bookmark it if needed)
- Click on our school
- Sign in (top righthand corner) by using your compass ID eg. JSM0001 and your generic password (I suggest you change this) is: Library1
- Search for books and Borrow
“Happy reading over the summer holidays”
TIP:
Your eBook is downloaded automatically in the background as soon as you start reading it in order for you to have the ability to read the it offline. If you have trouble loading the content, you may Clear Content by choosing Store Offline option from the menu, this will re-download the content from the server.
Once you have finished a book please return it so another library member can borrow it otherwise it will automatically be returned once it expires. (2 weeks)
Let me know if you have any issues with signing in. Contact me on nancy.bastakos@education.vic.gov.au
Nancy Bastakos
Librarian
ROBOGALS Workshop
Year 7 Students from South Oakleigh College participated in a workshop presented by ROBOGALS, Monash Outreach a section of the Monash University that specialises in EV3 programming on Monday, 6th December. This event was held at South Oakleigh College.
The students collaborated in groups to learn the basics of EV3 programming while also understanding the logic and the steps used in programming. The workshop involved a presenter from ROBOGALS and Year 7 students. The session/s highlighted the following:
- Student knowledge and understanding of a given programming problem and their collaborative effort in arriving towards a solution.
- The effective use of STEM in using EV3 Robotics to look at different programming scenarios and develop skills both in programming and design & thinking.
- This was useful in looking at formalising EV3 robotics as part of student curriculum into higher classes such as Robotics Year 9 elective.
Adriam Hajra
Science Teacher
EV3 Robots Working Group
Students from South Oakleigh College, Oakleigh South Primary School & Huntingdale Primary School, participated in a little challenge involving the use of common design thinking processes and programming strategies with the EV3 Robots on Wednesday, 8th December. This event was held at South Oakleigh College.
The students collaborated and communicated very well throughout the day to come up with a possible solution to the given problem on EV3 robots that involved elements of the design thinking processes and the use of programming of the EV3 robots. The presentation of student work during the final session highlighted the following:
- Student knowledge and understanding of the problem and their collaborative effort in arriving towards a solution
- The skills in programming and design and thinking were clearly demonstrated in the wide variety of possible solutions to an open-ended question
- The three schools working together (both students & staff) as a community to demonstrate the effective use of STEM as part of the Oakleigh Education Plan
Adrian Hajra
Science Teacher
Year 10 Gala Day
On Friday November 19th, we held our annual Gala Day for the Year 10 Health PE students. The whole day event provided students with the opportunity to experience a range of ‘alternate’ practical activities, such as Fencing, Wheelchair Basketball and Archery Attack.
The facilitators for each event were fantastic and added to the education and enjoyment for students, whose participation and enthusiasm across the day was exemplary.
School Sport - Term 1 2022
As always, Term 1 will be a busy one for school sport with our House Swimming and Athletics Carnivals and Senior, Intermediate and Junior Interschool Sport competitions. Our school sport program provides a fantastic opportunity for students to represent their school and house, whilst also developing teamwork and communication with peers. It would be great to have as many students as possible participating in these events.
House Swimming Carnival – Friday, February 4th
House Athletics Carnival – Thursday March 24th
Senior Interschool Sport – Monday, February 21st
Intermediate Interschool Sport – Friday March 18th
Junior Interschool Sport – Wednesday, April 6th
We will also be running lunch time House competitions and Staff v Students competitions throughout the year.
School Camps 2022
Year 7 – Monday, February 28th – Wednesday, March 2nd (Alexandra Adventure Resort)
Year 8 – Monday, May 9th – Wednesday, May 11th & Wednesday May 11th – Friday, May 13th (Log Cabin Camp)
Year 10 & 11 Northern Territory Trip – Saturday, June 11th – Wednesday, June 22nd
Jason Knee
Head of Sports
ICAS Writing Competition Results
Students were able to participate in the ICAS writing test online this year.
It is a cold writing tasks where students respond to an unseen prompt.
Year 7
Nancy Cusack – Distinction
Tirran Frisch – Credit
River Zielinski – Distinction
Year 8
Isavella Dimpoulos – Distinction
Summer La – Distinction
Thomas McRae – Credit
Inesh Palliyaguruge – Distinction
Antonios Rentzis – Credit
Year 9
Sean Maisey – Credit
Zaynab Shahul Hameed – Merit
Claire Yeung – Credit
Sara Robertson
English Teacher
Mentor Group Program
A combination of onsite and remote learning made for an interesting Mentor Group program in Terms 2 and 4 this year. The aim of the Mentor Group program is to build relationships and connections across year levels under the guidance of Mentor Teachers and Senior Student Leaders. Throughout Semester 2, students were able to revise academic learning goals, explore their character strengths, and reflect on the past six months. Mentor Groups also provided a time for students to engage with their peers in House Competitions, which allowed students to showcase their talents across many areas – academic, artistic, and community service. The Heads of House wish to thank all those involved in the delivery of the Mentor Group program, and look forward to the new House Leaders and House Captains taking the reins in 2022.
Tim Columbus
Learning Mentor
School Production: Mary Poppins
The South Oakleigh College 2021 production of was an outstanding success. After many setbacks, on December 9th and 10th our talented production team performed our vision of Mary Poppins. Everyone from the production and crew really came together over the last two years, and it really showed in the enthusiasm and talent our students displayed. Highlight numbers included ‘Jolly Holiday,’ ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ and the very lively ‘Step in Time’. The show was filled with a lot of special moments, such as the range of ensemble characters, magic illusions, and daring acrobatics. Special mention goes to our lead characters such as Genna Windsor as Jane, Ziv Manor as Michael, Logan Hamilton as Bert, and Annabelle Windsor as Mary Poppins.
As a director, it was wonderful to see how much our cast and crew bonded over the delays in rehearsal time and performance dates. Putting on such a high-quality performance would not have been possible without the resilience and determination our team had in always wanting to practice and review their work. This positivity led to such positive moments, from the chaotic chimney sweeps, ditzy buzzing bees, and the fantastic singing from all cast members. This has been memorable two years for the school production and I look forward to see what our talented students can achieve in the years to come.
Adam Platenkamp
Production Director
Japanese Incurstion - Japanese Mayonnaise
On December 8th, as a part of Oakleigh Education Plan (OEP) involving primary and secondary schools in Oakleigh area, South Oakleigh College held a joint online and hands-on incursion of learning and making Kewpie Mayonnaise in Japanese. Students in Year & Japanese class has participated in this event.
There were two parts of this incursion.
Part 1 : Online lesson about Kewpie Mayonnaise
The group of students had an online lesson with Kewpie Mayonnaise lesson in Japanese in the TV studio. The lecturer was interacting with our students in Japanese, while students were learning about the procedure of making mayonnaise in Quiz format.
Part 2: Hands-on mayonnaise making
Having learnt the secrets and skills of making mayonnaise during Online Lesson, this time the students had their change to actually put what they have learned into action. Now the students have moved from TV studio to Food Technology room and each group made their own mayonnaise. Students have sampled their own mayonnaise with vegetable sticks. Even though everyone’s ingredients were the same, it made some difference to the taste depending on the duration of time that has been whipped.
It was a great opportunity for students to listen and interact with a Japanese lecturer and make use of what they have learned, and sample their own creation. We also wrote a thank you messages in Japanese.
Hatsuho Watanabe
Japanese Teacher