Across Campus

DVA DEBATING

On Monday 28 March our Academy Debating teams participated in Round 2 of the debating season at St Bernard’s College in Essendon.

Our A team argued the negative side for the topic ‘That we prefer a hung parliament to a majority government’ and they did so successfully! As well as winning this debate, Bethany Prior won best speaker.

The B team was not so lucky in this round. Also on the negative side, our team explored the issue ‘that only permanent residents should be able to purchase land in Australia’. This was a challenging topic and they gave it their best.

Our C team was also unsuccessful, arguing ‘that parliamentarians should not be allowed to hold dual citizenship’. Another tough topic, but it was a very close result.

Our two D teams addressed the negative side for the topic, ‘That we should abolish the Australian citizenship test’ and both won! We also had Florencia Herrera and Leondra Michienzi selected as best speakers!

Well done to all our teams! They have been putting in so much work to prepare for these debates. Looking forward to Round 3.

Ms Fiona Tassone Public Speaking Coordinator

EARTH AT ACADEMY

Every year hundreds of millions of people around the world in more than 7,000 cities in over 190 countries take part by switching off for 60 minutes as a symbolic gesture of solidarity to show they care about our planet's future. 

Last Friday students organized an ‘Earth at Academy Hour’ to coincide with the Earth Hour which was recognized on the weekend. Students and staff were plunged into darkness in their quest to acknowledge our heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

Our Business Manager, crunched the numbers and determined that our power usage dropped by one third during this time. 

Thanks to everyone who participated and let’s keep looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

Ms Amy Prendergast Sustainability Leader

McAULEY RESOURCE CENTRE

The MRC has been promoting and supporting two very important causes in the past week. Earth Hour is the world's biggest movement to protect our planet.  Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The event is held annually, encouraging individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights, for one hour, from 8:30am to 9:30am on a specific day in March.

We are also supporting 11 Blue in their fundraising campaign for Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion. Guessing the number of Easter eggs in the jar has caused much excitement and more importantly money for this very worthy cause.   

Ms Anne Chowne & Ms Cathy Bennett

Co-learning Leaders

THE POWER OF 'KINDNESS'

The Academy recognised National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence by coming ‘together in mercy’ to launch a Kindness Station. This initiative encouraged members of the Academy community to grab a sticky note, write a small message of kindness and pin it on the board. The messages that were written were motivating, kind and supportive.  One of the notes that was posted stated “Don’t Ever Change”.  This small note sends a powerful message, that we, here at the Academy, are accepting and that we encourage everyone to be their truest, authentic self. This project highlighted that our school community stand side by side.

Justice & Senior Leadership Team