West Campus News

Footy Colours Day

Footy Colours Day has been embraced by many students at the West Campus as they dress in uniforms of many different sporting codes.  It is good to celebrate Australia’s great love of sport and to challenge our students to not only be good spectators but enthusiastic participants.  That is why the work of our VCAL students was so appreciated again this year.

At recess, students were involved in mini-tennis, old school games, longest kick, four-square, table tennis, connect-4, giant jenga and slingshot.

At lunchtime, the Ninja Warrior event was held and individuals competed for glory so that they could be crowned the inaugural champions.  The star student was Ethan O’Loughlin of Kolbe House who finished the course in 53 seconds.  Also impressive were a number of staff members who put their lives on the line in completing the course.  Ms Steph Lomas and Mr Chris O’Hara were terrific, but it was Mr Gerard Brown who finished the course in 45 seconds setting a course record.  Undoubtedly, that Carlton jumper he was wearing inspired him to first position.

The students who participated in the day raised $393.00 for our Term 3 charities – Society of St Vincent de Paul and Bishop Epalle College in the Solomon Islands.  Incidentally, our Year 12 students are continuing to work hard to raise money for this important charity (Bishop Epalle College) as they prepare to travel to the Solomon Islands for their immersion experience.  On Monday, they sold Pizza in the Glowrey Café which had been generously donated by Encore Pizza in Cranbourne and raised $189.

Environment Trophy

For Term 3 the Environment Shield Trophy was the “Waste wise” video and photo competition.

Students were asked to take photographs and/or make videos that raise awareness for waste reduction.  The rules were that the video had to be a maximum of 1 minute long. The top 5 videos will be entered in the City Of Casey “Waste-Wise Video Competition”.  The entries were judged by the Environment and thanks to them and Ms Stephanie Lomas for their work here.

The winning video was produced by Suvansh Khanna in Kolbe house.  Congratulations Suvi.

Augustine Hungry Hippo Result

Augustine’s now famous Hungry Hippo House Competition was once again a great success and it was fantastic to see Marian House produce a significant victory over MacKillop in the Grand Final.  The competition has students lying on small trolleys armed with an upturned bucket and being wheeled over the hall floor by a student who grabs their legs.  The aim of the game is to use the bucket to capture as many plastic balls as possible and return them to your corner. 

The game is over when all balls have been collected by the competing teams and the winning team is the one that collected the most balls.  Clearly this is a game of skill and courage and we offer our congratulations to Marian House who were clearly excited by their victory and are promising great things in the coming year.

Marian Beep Test

The Marian Beep Test is an athletic competition that has students participating in a running test used to estimate an athlete's aerobic capacity.  In this test, athletes must run from one line to another before a timed audible beep. The students must continue running back and forth, and have to reach the line each time before the next beep. If they can no longer run or reach the line in time, then the student finishes and the number of laps is recorded. As the beep test continues, the time between beeps gets shorter which is where the real challenge comes in.

This competition was run over the Wednesday lunchtime and Thursday recess of this final week of term, producing a great deal of anticipation between Avila and MacKillop as the final McGuigan Shield Ladder would be determined by this result.  Over 100 students participated in this event, and final results were determined by average the top 6 student’s levels in each house.  Thanks to Marian House on organising a very popular competition that was so crucial in determining the outcome of the McGuigan Shield.

The final results were:

McGuigan Shield House Competition

With solid performances in the Environment Trophy for Term 3 and this week’s Hungry Hippo House Competition, MacKillop House narrowed the gap to within 36 points in the 2018 McGuigan Shield House Competition.

Term 3 Participation House Points were then added on the last day of Term 3 to help determine final placings.  MacKillop House were second in Participation gaining 10 house points over Avila who were third.  The gap between first and second in the Shield narrowed.

Next the scores for perfect attendance at Tutor Group in Term 3 were calculated.  Avila was equal first with Romero.  However, MacKillop was equal second with Assisi.  This widened the gap slightly, but it left a difference of only 43 points between Avila and MacKillop.  It all came down to the result of the Marian Beep Test which concluded at recess.

MacKillop House won the competition and this took them to a score of 2367.  Avila came third in the Beep Test which gave them a final score of 2360 just 7 points behind in the McGuigan Shield.

For a third year in a row, MacKillop House has won the McGuigan Shield.  Congratulations to Ms Cathy Michael in her inaugural year as House Leader and to the House Captians of Melanie Phillips and Lachlan Davy who snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat.  It was truly a comeback of which Lazarus himself would have been impressed.

Mr David Hansen

Deputy Principal - West Campus