Year 7 Camp: Queenscliff

Year 7 Camp headed off to Queenscliff for four days following the long weekend. A four hour bus trip was an excellent way to see Victoria's beautiful countryside with plenty of windy roads. We had a quick stop over in rainy Gisborne and drizzly Geelong before heading onward to Queenscliff for four days of beautiful weather. We were greeted at YMCA Camp Wyuna by our friendly instructors who got all the students off to their introductory activities quickly, and one lucky group even got to fill their stomachs with homemade pizza.

Over the four days we had a range of activities including surfing, pizza-making, mountain biking to Port Lonsdale and walking out to the pier, canoeing in Swan Bay, and learning about the local sea life at the Marine Discovery Centre. We also had after-dinner activities, including 'Minute To Win-It' featuring Mr Townrow's music trivia quiz. The victors were the 'Soggy Chickadees' who had two of their members take home first and second in the last round of the night with the Limbo championship. We also had a trivia night where Team 9 took home the win.

Other highlights of the trip included Dr Allen's water fight against every member of his Tutor Group at the canoeing activity, where he definitely came off second best. Also noteworthy was Ms Douglas' wakeup calls featuring recordings of herself reciting Mary Poppins and The Sound Of Music - a human alarm clock! And the absolute highlight would be playing GaGa Ball. It is the first time a lot of our students have been on camp due to COVID-19 restrictions and they all did extremely well being away from home and not having the normal school routine to follow; they interacted positively throughout the camp with each other and the instructors. Overall the kids were amazing; we received compliments from the camp, Discovery Centre and the general public on how well behaved and well mannered our students were, which is always great to hear. Thank you to our wonderful teachers who supported the students - Mr Lethlean, Dr Allen, Mr Townrow, Miss Moon and Ms Douglas. Also a massive thank you to all students on the camp - it was so much fun for us the Teachers also!

Our Champion Campers were:

7.A

Thomas Gibson

Respect: Thomas was open minded to other people's perspective throughout camp.

Integrity: Thomas had a go at all activities and challenges presented to him on camp.

Compassion: Thomas was considerate and polite at the Marine Discovery Centre before sharing his ideas.

7.B

Kade Mansfield

Kade spoke with respect and listened to all instructions before having a go. Kade had a red hot go and wasn't phased if things didn't go his way. He had great manners at the dinner table and was never a problem when lights-out was called.

7.C

Paige McMaster

Paige participated willingly in all activities, showing grit and determination. She also showed integrity by continually doing the right thing even when others were not looking.

7.D

Arabella Bliss

Bella was an absolute champion during camp as she took on many roles within our group.

She was chief of directions during our trail walk, the Stephanie Gilmore of our surfing group, and was very happy to test the water temperature and rate of drying when we went canoeing! Bella had a brilliant attitude throughout the whole camp while encouraging the rest of 7D.

7.E

Matilda Medland

Involved in all activities, helping others be involved – inclusive, completed all tasks, helpful, on time for all activities, showed interest in speakers, and listened carefully to instructions.

Darcy Hall

Year 7 Coordinator

Creative and Performing Arts Leaders

It is my pleasure to formally announce our Creative and Performing Arts Leaders for 2022. Griffin Lias, Harper Raverty and Jamison McFadden were appointed the role to help foster the love of the arts within the school and community. The students will be assisting in many activities to get students participating in the arts. We will have lunchtime activities including: art workshops, theatre sports, musical performances and wider community events with excursions, visiting artists and performances. It is going to be a busy year and we have a lot to look forward to. Some items to put into your calendar are: The HSC Showcase night (end of Term 3) where students will perform their music compositions, Design and Technology will display their product designs, and The HSC Visual Arts Exhibition, to be held at Customs House Echuca (during the month of December).

Congratulations to all students, we look forward to a creative year.

Ms Tara-Lee Moon

Head of Creative and Performing Arts

Visual Arts Excursion: Patricia Piccinini and Van Gogh

'It’s that time of the year again, that’s right! The Year 11 and 12 Visual Arts class excursion! I’m sure that definitely was not the first thing that came to your mind but that’s beside the point. At the early time of 7:00am on Friday the 11th of March, the exuberant and somewhat tired classes headed off from Echuca railway station for the bustling city of Melbourne. An exciting journey filled with exhilaration for the coming day began, the ‘over the hedge’ soundtrack playing on repeat accompanied by talk of Krispy Kreme filled the three and a half hour trip by train. Making sure we hadn’t lost anyone, mainly Nate who slept most of the way, Ms Moon did a head check: 10 students and 2 awesome teachers. Time was running short so we headed quickly to the tram stop, only to be redirected from going the wrong way, it was a confusing journey for us country people. After plopping ourselves on a tram towards Flinders Street Station, we successfully located our first destination: Boost Juice. Oh and the Patricia Piccinini exhibition tucked away next to it.

With grand anticipation we entered the antique building where the gallery was located, tucked away from the city goers. After having our temperature checked and taking the never-ending flight of stairs like pros, we were immersed in Piccinini’s work. The exhibition was called “A Miracle Constantly Repeated” and lived nothing short of its name.

Beginning the exhibition was a thick jungle-decorated room, odd fleshy sculptures mingled among the leaves. With the privilege of a personal guided tour by the artist herself via a pre recorded message on each work, the class enjoyed the exhibition at their own pace. Works such as “The Diorama and The Cleaner” and “Defender” were scattered through the jungle, everyone being slightly disturbed and interested at the same time. The fleshy expression showing a form of anguish definitely was the most intriguing part of this room. The ecological bounds and forms of disarray represented the modern bounds of conception and the adaptations created via the changing world we are subjected to.

The next room emerged the classes into a completely different atmosphere, creations such as “Sapling” confused multiple members of the class, Nate even being taken aback by the realism and mistaking the work as a real person. We continued to track through and view the short film “we travel together” after being blown away by the realistic sculpture called “Rescuers” inspired from the previous year's bushfires and community efforts to value and rescue wildlife affected by this.

After being confronted by themes of human impact, extinction and restoration, we walked through a room set up as a seemingly normal apartment with two individuals. On closer examination they were actually two sculptures of creatures, resembling humans...but not quite. This work was called “The Couple” and took inspiration from Mary Shelly’s ‘Frankenstein’, highlighting individuality, marginalisation and uniqueness. Next, a whacky 3D video on ovulation was watched by those with patience whilst the rest traveled towards the “Celestial Field” which gave off nothing less than an uncomfortable angelic field, Ms Moon struggling to get a video due to the other interested viewers. After absorbing the peaceful energy we traveled towards the second last room where “No Fear of Depths” was displayed, the aquatic sculpture being Mrs Day’s favourite. The last room, or the ballroom, was poppy, colour vibrant and definitely hard to miss. The photogenic classes all had their phones out by now and were snapping pictures of the mirror work, the “La Brava” and other intricate details. Pieces displayed in other parts of the exhibition could be viewed and as patchy and jumbled the work was, it was stunning and definitely lifted the energy.

With bounce in our stride we headed for lunch after a long walk down South Bank to the Convention and Exhibition Centre. Taking a stop at DFO, and spending too much money on lunch and snacks, the group took a break. I acquired a bottle of free hand sanitiser and Ruby and Holly tried the wonders of bubble tea, a positive verdict from both. Feeling full of lunch and empty of money, we headed for the next exhibition to immerse ourselves into another world of art: “The Lume, Van Gogh”.

Starting with some light reading to learn more about the artist Vincent Van Gogh, we plodded through with cameras in hand. After taking some awesome photos in the re-creation of Van Gogh’s room, Marcus debated whether he should take a nap in the bed, yet decided against it to join the class. Our sensory systems were engulfed by classical music with aesthetically pleasing lights as we entered the main room. After being blown away and in awe of the fantastic display of light-projected work of Van Gogh, we split off and journeyed around. Some participated in the free drawing classes while others chose to sit and observe the wonderful display. It was nothing less than magical. Liv and I snuck into the cafe to the side, ordering a very classy babychino and a soda water. Two hours passed and we left in order to not miss our train, via an expensive trip to the gift shop.

Returning to the train station we split off once again and headed to the highly anticipated Krispy Kreme to get our fill of doughnuts. Snacks were scavenged and we hopped on the bus. Travelling home was going a little too smoothly until I spilt my vegan, nutrient rich and unfortunately sticky energy drink on the bus. Everyone had a fantastic time, so thank you to the teachers for the awesome day! And let me mention, we all slept like babies that night in the best way possible.

Griffin Lias

Creative and Performing Arts Leader

Community Events

Girgarre Open Gardens Festival

Border Raiders

Saturday Netball Registrations

Minecraft Social Group

Blood Donations