Excursions & Camps
Year 12 Excursion - Werribee Open Range Zoo
The Year 12 Environmental Science Students thoroughly enjoyed their time a the Weeribee Zoo working in groups and teams on projects together.
You can tell by the smiles on their faces how much fun they had!
Year 10 English Excursion - The Jewish Holocaust Centre and film screening of ‘Nicky’s Family’.
On March 22nd, all Year 10 students travelled to Elsternwick for a day aimed at immersing them in the context of the novel ‘Night’ by Elie Weisel. After some unpredictable challenges with PTV, the group were split into two, with one going to the Jewish Holocaust Centre and the others attending a screening of the documentary ‘Nicky’s Family’ (the groups swapped locations in the afternoon).
During their visit to the Holocaust Centre, students were shown a short film that helped to put the Holocaust in context. They were taken on small group tours of the museum by survivors and members of the Jewish community, before hearing the firsthand account of a Holocaust survivor. Survivors like Joe De Haan, who lost his whole family except his Uncle and spent the war hidden on a Dutch dairy farm..
The film Nicky’s family (which was screened at the Classic Cinema) is a documentary about an Englishman, Nicholas Winton, who led the evacuation of almost 700 children from Europe to the UK at the beginning of the war. For 50 years, no one knew Nicky’s story and the children did not know who had been responsible for their survival. Many of them lost their families during the Holocaust, but went on to be scientist, writers, artists, educators. Nicky’s story was only exposed after his wife found an album that record the movement of the children from Europe to foster families. The film was incredibly moving and there were some tears from both students and staff. Nevertheless, it was uplifting to see how one man’s gesture could have such a ripple effect.
Both experiences are an important part of understanding how reading exposes us to the world we live in and some of our darkest historic events. The English faculty takes a great deal of care in selecting reading that has literary merit, but we are also conscious that reading in school is an opportunity for more than academic growth. The lessons students learn are vital if we are to create a world where we don’t see difference, but focus on unity and harmony.
Louise Bourke
Head of English
The Jewish Holocaust Centre by Gaganjyot Kaur.
The Jewish Holocaust Centre is a place that everyone must visit. It ensures that we never forget what happened in the Second World War. The centre is very educational and provides a vivid depiction of this time in history. Most importantly it preserve the stories of those who were there or immediately effected by it.
I found the experience quite confronting, especially with the evidence given by first hand survivors. The survivors who spoke to our groups endured the barbaric and hostile environment of the ghettos, the camps, having to hide out or resisting the inhumanity of the Nazis.
It is vital that future generations understand the impact that the Nazi party had. They not only stole the lives of 6 million Jews, including an astonishing 1.5 million children, but their actions reverberated for generations. This absolutely devastating genocide must be preserved to future generations, so that they never forget the innocent lives lost.
I want to thank to those survivors dedicated to keeping those painful memories alive to share the stories with those lucky enough not to have the firsthand experience and, of course, in honour of the perished, the survivors and their families.
Dynamic Earth Field Camp 1
It’s no secret that the Dynamic Earth subject presents 2 challenging, exhausting and also extremely worthwhile camps. Over the course of 5 days and 4 nights with 17 students we as a class were introduced to many rock outcrops and incredible views, as well as swathes of knowledge (a great deal of “geologizing” as Ms Grainger puts it).
From the first day we got a glimpse of some incredible sights to come. Not long after we left we went and saw Loy Yang open cut coal mine, and learnt about the formation of coal, and some of the impacts of the brown coal mined in the Latrobe Valley (a sight to visit for anyone with an interest in mining or environmental concerns). Yet after only a bit longer of driving (no more than a few hours) we had already seemingly visited the country town of Foster and were off on our way to the world renowned Squeaky Beach. With pearl white sands from pristine quartz we looked at granite boulders, our first true taste of geology, and as we hiked from there across Tidal River we settled in for our first night.
But this camp was like no other. The Dynamic Earth camp is vastly different from your typical school camp, with intense knowledge cramming and seemingly pure bonding moments. Waking up at 6:30 was all worth it to see the sights and learn the things we did, and even with very little recreational time we still managed to have an absolute blast of a time, cooking our own food and learning all sorts of essential skills.
Over the course of the next few days at Wilsons Promontory we did so much it’s hard to sum up in so few words. We climbed the grand Mount Oberon, and saw sights that few others ever dream of. We went to the untouched Little Oberon Bay, seeing beautiful waves all around and perhaps even the most beautiful scenery. We went to Cape Liptrap and learnt about the wonders of turbidites, folding, faulting, and the art of the strike & dip. We went to Walkerville, and saw a part of Australian history through limestone kilns. Through steep slopes and rough times we managed to make it through, and it was all worth it.
As our journey came to an end we headed down to Inverloch, to which we saw some amazing fossils, and met the official dinosaur dig team. Something not every Dynamic Earth group gets to do. We even got to see a trace fossil of a dinosaur footprint one of the Monash University Researchers we had with us had found himself, truly incredible, and who would’ve thought there was a dinosaur named after Qantas (Qantasaurus if you’re wondering).
To sum it all up in a few words; well, I really couldn’t. I know I wouldn’t have traded the experience in for anything. Great sights, great friends, great teachers, and truly a Great Experience.
By Max Glazebrook, Jonathan Purcell, and Chandler Taylor.
Year 10 Literature - Meet the author
On 21st March, the Year 12 Literature class visited the State Library of Victoria to see Maxine Beneba Clarke, author VCE Literature text 'Foreign Soil', speak about her writing process.
Pictured here are Ben Sutherland, Alex O'Brien, and Charles Ly meeting Maxine Beneba Clarke
