Teaching & Learning

Tuning In

All year 7 students, 'tune in' at the start of session 5 for a maximum of 5 minutes to enhance their wellbeing and resilience. Tuning in activities reflect a mindfulness approach, focusing awareness on the present moment. Students pay attention to their sensations, feelings, thoughts, and environment in the here-and-now with an attitude of acceptance. Thank you to Grace's Year 7 Literacy Class for leading Monday's tuning in. 

Kat Aralios

History

The year 12 History class had a special presentation...from one of our very own class members! The year 12 History class is currently studying the Chinese Revolution. Jeff N presented his family's story during World War II. He was able to give some insight into the experiences of his family as they fled from China to Borneo during this time. Jeff also shared pictures of an artefact that had been passed down through his family. 

Amanda Hann

Software Development

We have had a great time in Software Development this year learning new skills and applying them in an industry-like environment, exploring the digital landscape and utilising our creativity and critical thinking to overcome challenges. VCE Software Development has provided us valuable skills with applications that stretch far beyond the classroom. Taking on real clients has helped us develop industry-specific skills as well as helped us learn independently to deliver real solutions. Software Development is so much more than just 0s and 1s, it pulls back the curtains allowing us to see the inner workings of the digital world we interact with so often. I'm so glad I chose the subject.

Zac, Year 12

English Language

As we near the end of our journey in Year 12 English Language, we’ve been reflecting on the knowledge we’ve gained this year. We’ve really enjoyed pulling apart conversations with people and figuring out how what people say can sometimes be really different to what they mean. The texts we look at are from the real world and are fascinating to consider in terms of how they achieve their purposes and why they were written or spoken in the way that they were. Analysing language is so much more interesting than we thought it would be and it’s really changed the way we think about the world. Every time we have a conversation, we’re analysing it! This might not sound fun but it really is and it’s also very useful for our lives outside of school, no matter what we want to be or do.

Year 12 VCE English Language has not only prepared us for academic success but also equipped us with essential skills that are invaluable for our future pathways.

Ibby, Sailor and Harri

Chemistry

To start off the Year 10 Chemistry elective students selected an element of interest to research, and had the option to present their research in a creative format. Among the many excellent projects were posters, poems, and even a board game. The following project was completed by Joshua M about the element carbon. 

Emily-Rose Jones

A (Satirical) Anthology of Haikus about Carbon

Joshua M

You have six protons

You are quite ubiquitous

Carbon, you’re basic

Graphite, diamonds, more

Yea, we are mostly Carbon

Everywhere on earth

Just three isotopes

C-twelve, thirteen and fourteen

Carbon, oh so dull

Bound with oxygen

Then Carbon becomes a gas

And warms our planet

You’re in sugar too

The most dangerous of all

Mince pies, biscuits, cakes

Year 7 Humanities

Year 7s have been doing water monitoring and other fieldwork investigating the question "How healthy is our local water way?" down at Merri Creek with Julia Cirillo from the Merri Creek Management Committee/Waterwatch. 

Fiona Taylor

VCE Vocational Major

Year 11 Camp (17-19/7)

The camp was wonderful with good  activities and new friendships coming together.

At night activities in the dinner room such as ping pong.

It was great to see people completing activities with people outside of their comfort zone and pushing themselves in the mud run challenge.

School Production Props (21/7) 

With the school production upcoming our VCE VM class assisted on Friday the 21st in painting and preparing various props. 

It was a great way to help the school while also getting outside of the classroom.

Ali and Ben 

Debating in Literacy (27/7)

This semester our literacy class has been focusing on issues and voices, we've been running in class debates to present different issues and opinions on various topics. 

It's been a great way to talk to each other in productive ways. 

Visiting Speakers (14/7)

During the last couple of weeks of term 2, in Personal Development Skills class, we sat down to hear guest speakers talk about their career paths.

How they got there and what barriers they overcame. Some of the professions included: architects and accountants. These guest speakers helped us understand how we as a group can learn from rejection and other life skills. 

Local food excursion (21/7)

During numeracy this term we have been focusing on what goes into the food we eat and the quantities of ingredients and fats. 

As a way to experience the real world we got to go down to Afghan Grill and buy kebabs. 

Resumes and Interviews- Ongoing WRS 

Currently in work related skills, the VCE Year 11 VM class is working on creating resumes and cover letters as a practice run in the employment sector. Later on we will be given interviews for our chosen jobs that we had selected. These interviews are meant to show us how an interview should be done professionally. We are still currently in the middle of this project.

What’s happening in Science? 

Science usually isn't so practical but this week the year 7s started the humans VS machines unit.

The KLT was made up of building parachutes, recording how they were made then throwing them off of building C’s walkway and seeing how long it would take to fall to the ground (testing multiple parachutes.) This was a fun way of spicing up the school work, and adding a practical aspect to it. All around it was a very fun KLT, even with the short window of making our parachutes.

Lily, Luca, and Magnus

Year 11 VCE Applied Computing

The Year 11 Applied Computing students are currently working on an Innovative Solution SAC. They need to work collaboratively in groups to develop an innovative solution to an identified need or opportunity. Each group is following the problem-solving methodology to create a solution to their need using an innovative or emerging technology. 

These are some of their project descriptions:

- We're gamifying the process of using public transport in order to give people incentive to use it more. We're doing this by creating a mobile game app that tracks how much you use public transport and rewards frequent use with in-game bonuses and such.

- We are creating a proof of concept that will represent a walking stick/cane that will assist vision-impaired people that may have trouble walking. It will use an AI model to give audio feedback for recognised objects.

- We're trying to increase the time efficiency of trains, by using another train that will run parallel to the other, allowing passengers to board the main train whilst it's still moving. We're creating a prototype; a miniature model that will show how the boarding train will work in conjunction with the main train.

- SNES controller upgrade - using an Arduino to convert the 7-pin SNES controller port to USB to connect to modern devices, adding modern style controller grips (the bottom part of the controller that fits into the palm of your hand), and adding LEDs that light up to show what buttons are pressed at any given time. This has opportunities to support people with additional needs.

- In highly competitive, massively multiplayer games there are too many players to coordinate a cohesive strategy for the team. By using AI (OpenAI API) our goal is to create a virtual coach that understands and analyses live-matches using data to create the most efficient way to play and aid players in learning how to play the game. Our proof of concept will involve fictional CS:GO data that is given to OpenAI's API to analyse and respond with an effective and competitively viable gameplan. 

- The problem being addressed is the inefficiency of manually marking attendance rolls in schools, resulting in wasted time for both teachers and students. The proposed solution is to develop an application with entrance scanners that automatically mark student attendance when they enter the school, along with the ability to detect student moods for potential safety concerns. The app will provide real-time location tracking of students for teachers during emergencies. The focus is on improving safety, regulation standards, and optimising learning time by leveraging emerging technology.- We are creating an autonomous drone that can provide training support for people's fitness training. The drone will guide users with extra data to support their goals. It will be controlled with a web based user interface that will pass data to the drone. Extra feedback could be given using the camera feed such as running technique with an AI model.

Shane Nash