Teaching & Learning
International Marketing Campaign
In week 5, a number of student leaders participated in an international marketing campaign to showcase the uniqueness of South Oakleigh College. The marketing campaign involved one full day of shooting film on the 11th of August and gave us an opportunity to put a spotlight on many different facets of our school. On the day, we were lucky to have the student representatives from the debating club, Lego club, SRC, the school production team and our principal teams, Ms Koziaris and Mr Picone.
The production crew, Creativa, were amazed by the range of programs offered at our college, and the friendliness, enthusiasm and respect shown by the students. A special thank you to everyone who participated in the marketing campaign and ensured that the day progressed smoothly.
See the finished product here:
Leah Liu
International Students Program Coordinator
Duke of Edinburgh Update
The duke class went to Norton’s park and followed the map to get to 12 different points for our physical, navigation skills and for our class camp. We saw many animals like ducks and dogs during the day, it took us about 2 and a half hours to finish and there was lots of mud and small lakes around.
Chris Blattman
Duke of Edinburgh Facilitator
Westerfolds Park
Our Duke of Edinburgh class went to Westerfolds park on the 25th of august.
The main activity we did there was finding geocaches. Geocaches are an item, usually a container that holds several items inside. Each time we found a Geocache we left a note for future Duke Of Edinburgh classes. These Geocaches were hidden by people, but the coordinates have been posted on the Geocache app. The Geocaches were hidden very well. One of them was hidden in a tree stump which took us a while to find. It was a very wet day and many of us slipped because of the wet muddy ground.
The nature there was very wonderful with a lot of greenery unluckily we could not experience the parks nature to the full extent because it was raining and foggy throughout our whole journey. We saw a lot of different species of animals one being kangaroos. When we saw the kangaroos, they were in a pack and staring us with curiosity.
This trip was incredibly fun and I would definitely come here again.
Hugo Bester and Jerome De Castro
Duke of Edinburgh Students
In duke of Edinburgh classes, we have attempted to knit beanies for babies, as well as planning our navigation maps for our excursions. So far in duke, we have done 2 excursions which include the Kakarook park and the bald hill park. We used the GeoChaching app in our recent excursion to find little containers that are hidden around the world. We also practiced a new skill; my new skill was doing movie reviews.
Michael Efremoglou
Year 9 Student
College Production: Matilda Jr
This year’s performance of Matilda exceeded everyone’s expectations. As director of the production, it has been a wonderful experience seeing just how close the cast and crew came together. The amount of enthusiasm and high expectations that came with every rehearsal encouraged us all to reach greater heights to entertain our audience.
Some highlighted moments for me include the throwing Amanda Thripp [Paz Hidas] by the pigtails, the glorious rendition of Trunchbull’s [Logan Hamilton] Smell of Rebellion, and the entire cast adapting the Michael Wormwood’s [Luke Marlow] catchphrase, “backwards”. There were so many fantastic songs and moments in the show that stay with me weeks after our last performance. It brings me great pride to see how far our students have come developing this performance, and I hope to see everyone support the performing arts for years to come."
Adam Platenkamp
College Production Director
In week 6 of term 3, the school production of Matilda Jr took place. I took part as the role of Miss Honey, and thoroughly enjoyed working with other members of the cast to put on a successful show. I am very grateful that I got to explore the themes of growing up in my last show, and can't wait to see the next musical from the audience. Thank you to all the teachers for making it such an incredible experience!
Annabelle Windsor
Year 12 Student
Production this year was the most rewarding thing I've done in a very long time. It's helped me come out of my shell, establish myself in a new environment and discover something I am so passionate about. I was really struggling earlier this year but production and everyone that came along with it changed so much. It made me so happy to know that every wednesday after school i had a safe space to connect with people like me, sing songs that I like, and act on stage with everyone. I loved this year and cant wait to see what the next one will bring.
BACKWARDS!!
Maya Noyman
Year 10 Student
Lighthouses
A lighthouse’s job is fairly standard; make sure that boats stay away from rugged coastlines or reefs. But their individual design, materials and age varies from place to place.
The oldest surviving lighthouse in the world is the Tower of Hercules, made at some point in the 2nd Century CE. It is in Galicia, Spain. The longest operating in Australia is the Cape Otway Lighthouse, built in 1848. In the next few decades, many thousands of lighthouses were erected across Australia, including the one that sparked my interest, the Cape Borda lighthouse in Kangaroo Island.
The Cape Borda lighthouse was built in 1868, and is known for its unusual shape- it has a square base. It was built out of sandstone, and was made out of what little material they had. It was square because it was so difficult to transport any supplies to it they had to use their own devices. As a square thing is easier to make than a round one, they went from there. Three cottages, a powder room and an artillery shed were built further around the cliff. The small, isolated community suffered from famine, disease, infighting, and attacks from the local indigenous community. Eventually, as the island was filled with soldier settlements, and the sea route to Adelaide and beyond changed, the lighthouse fell out of use.
On the other side of the island, the Cape Willoughby lighthouse stands on………Cape Willoughby. It is interestingly shaped too. It is conical, but with a very stumpy, wide base. It was built directly onto the scraped granite of the cliff, and as such had to have a strong wide base to withstand the winds. As it was in a slightly more accessible spot, the resources could be transported easier, hence its slightly more conventional shape. It still remained in use for a decade after WW2 because the channel between it and the mainland was almost the smallest.
Along the coast of Burnam-on-Sea, Somerset, UK, there are three lighthouses. There are two conventional stone lighthouses, and a cubic wooden lighthouse on nine stilts. The lighthouse was built in 1832 because the other lighthouse at the time was too far away from the coast to be seen by ships in the English Channel.
Lighthouses vary. A lot. While many conform to the stereotypical Round-the-Twist style design and are made from stone or brick and mortar, others buck the trend and are made from what was available. Whether it be from The Goodies’ “Lighthouse Keeping Loonies”, Grandpa in my Pocket or Round the Twist, lighthouses remain iconic to all, and we are all the better for it. Instead of having a Titanic style crash every few days, we have (for the most part) operational deterrents from the cliffs and reefs that would lead to thousands of accidents. And when there has been the occasional accident, we learn, and reduce the chance of it happening again.
Alex Robertson
Year 7 Student
Sustainability club – Collection of bread tags.
Throughout the year SOC students have been bringing bread tags to school. At the end of semester 1 the tags were collected by the sustainability club weighed, sorted by colour, and shipped to the organization ‘Aussie bread tags for wheelchairs.’
We sent over 5kg of bread tags which are recycled locally, raising funds to buy wheelchairs for disadvantaged people, mainly in South Africa. So far ‘Aussie bread tags for wheelchairs’ have purchased 61 wheelchairs and the sustainability club is proud to not only assist the environment by removing plastic but also delighted to support the purchase of wheelchairs.
At our next meeting, on the last day of term, we will be doing another shrub planting around the school. Please join us!
The sustainability club meets every Friday at 1.15 in A2. Everyone welcome!
Alison Jones
Sustainability Club Facilitator
AMAZING RACE for Civil Dispute Resolution!
After being cancelled last year due to lockdown, on 9 September 2022, students of Unit 2 VCE Legal Studies participated in the annual “Amazing Race for Civil Dispute Resolution”!
This scavenger-hunt activity had students racing around school, finding clues and exploring the various options available to help resolve disputes in the Victorian civil justice system – whether it be personal injuries (negligence), consumer disputes, issues between landlords and tenants, defamation, challenging a Will, family or property law. Each of the hypothetical scenarios the students explored, described real life experiences the students are likely to face in their future, if they hadn’t already – connecting the curriculum to our everyday lives. While the media, and social media in particular, would have us believe that only criminal law is on the rise, it is actually civil law that touches our lives more often and on a regular basis – we just don’t have so much understanding in this area.
The Amazing Race consolidated the students’ understanding in preparation for our upcoming SAC on civil law. It was a fun and informative experience, the students stating that they learnt a lot, bringing together their learning in a holistic way.
Jacinta Marlborough
Legal Studies Teacher
Lego Club
LEGO Club has been running all term in C10 during Thursday lunchtimes.
LEGO Club is a place where students of all year levels come to chill out, build things freely OR attempt the optional challenges.
Some of our challenges have included: recreate a world landmark, recreate one of your favourite scenes from a movie, make something as creative as you can using 17 blocks of LEGO, etc.
We are currently planning our Lego Masters competition in Term 4.
Sarah Crespo-Liu
House Leader: Banksia
Year 10 English - Romeo & Juliet
On Friday the 12th of August, Romeo and Juliet came to SOC! Well, the Complete Theatre Works Company came to SOC to perform Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for our Year 10s and hosted a Q&A/discussion about the play and acting afterwards.
Christian, Josh and a few other students asked the actors a lot of good questions during the Q&A, including ‘do you think the love between Romeo and Juliet was true love, or just infatuation?’ and ‘what is your favourite scene to play?’
Judging from student feedback, the Year 10s really enjoyed the play overall. Two of our students, Stef and Mia, thanked the actors on our behalf for their engaging performance.
Since seeing the play, the Year 10 English classes have been studying the themes and characters of Romeo and Juliet closely in class, as well as the historical context behind the play.
We have been pondering big questions and topics, such as freedom vs. fate, the power of love and hatred, the folly of youth, etc.
Most students have been getting quite frustrated by some of the character’s choices and motivations in the play, mostly Romeo’s lack of patience and Juliet’s impulsivity, which will hopefully inspire some life lessons!
Sarah Crespo-Liu
House Leader: Banksia
Year 7 Debating Training Night
On Thursday the 1st of September, our two Year 7 Debating Teams travelled to Brentwood Secondary College for a night of intense debating training.
Our Year 7 Debaters are Alexis, Aryan, Elvin, Hannah, Leyansh, Maddison, Osher, Pranshu, Sophie and Taylor. What a dream team!
SOC’s teams were joined by students from over 11 other schools at the training night.
Our trainer, Xingy, took the group through the roles of each speaker in a debate and how to score well on the three criteria – matter, manner and method.
Students had to present the term “vegemite sandwich” in a variety of different tones, and Elvin wowed the room with his angry presentation of “vegemite sandwich”.
Well done to all of our Year 7s for their great contributions for the discussion questions on training night, especially Osher, who was quick to rebut the example arguments given.
Our Year 7 Debating Competition Rounds begin next term – stay tuned for the results!
Sarah Crespo-Liu and Jessie Matheson
Debating & Public Speaking Coordinator
Year 9: Laurinda Excursion
In August, the Year Nine Accelerated English class went on an excursion to see Laurinda, a play by Diana Nguyen based on the text they are studying this term by Alice Pung.
After lunch in the sunshine at Federation Square, students walked down to the Melbourne Theatre Company’s beautiful Southbank Theatre. From nearly front row seats students saw the different take Nguyen had on the source text they knew so well, including actors playing multiple roles, time travel, and scenes where the actors switched between Vietnamese and English! Laurinda explores the journey of Lucy, a working-class Vietnamese-Australian high school student in the early 1990s who earns a scholarship to the prestigious private girls school, Laurinda.
At Laurinda, Lucy encounters cliques and centuries-old power structures, and must find a place for herself in this totally new world. In a memorable Valedictory speech, she reminds the audience that a strong sense of self, and the bravery to be true to yourself and your values is a key to success.
After the play, students had the opportunity to contribute to a mural where audience members wrote notes to their younger selves, sharing what they wished they could tell them. On the train ride home, students could not wait to discuss the differences between Nguyen and Pung’s texts, the effect of the staging and casting choices, and the significance of a flash-forward into Lucy’s life as an adult. The play proved a great thinking tool for the students, who a week later participated in a class debate about the major themes of the text.
Jessie Matheson
English Teacher
The Monash Women’s Business Network
South Oakleigh College was honoured to be invited to the Monash Women’s Business network by Mrs Kristal Kinsela an award – winning author and successful businessperson who advises small as well as large businesses on supplier diversity.
“She is a proud and passionate Aboriginal business leader and owner, as well as an expert on connecting people and moving them to action”. She is a descendant of both the Jawoyn and Wiraduri nations and brings her personal story and more than 16 years of expertise to every project. She wrote her first book published in Australia on Indigenous business procurement, “Supplier Diversity How”, based on her proven approach. She works closely with corporate and government leaders to articulate their supplier diversity vision, change organisational culture, develop procurement policies, action their plans and connect with talented indigenous businesses.
Our Year 9 student Anna Alexopoulou and Year 10 Zoi Panagopoulou were invited as representatives of South Oakleigh College to attend the Monash Women's Business Network lunch where Mrs Kristal Kinsela gave a speech on how Indigenous people can be successful leaders. At the end of her speech, Anna Alexopoulou raised the question "Let’s say that you want to start a business, regardless of who you are and where you're from. How do you ensure the business succeeds past the start-up and stays consistent in its role and work and is advantageous to both its customers and other businesses?". Mrs Kristal Kinsela was impressed by Anna’s question, which gave her the opportunity, to explain in more detail to her audience her experience and her thoughts.
Both students enjoyed the day meeting other students from other schools and exchanged their ideas through the activities they had to do in groups during the event.
Dimitra Maniatis
LOTE Head of Learning