Student Leadership Update
Our wonderful Year 12 School Captains were incredibly busy in Term 3, delivering a range of engagement opportunities for our staff and students. These included; Book Week competitions, Footy Colours Day, R U OK? Day, and supporting the Rainbow Lounge with the Wear It Purple Day bake sale, all while continuing to dedicate themselves to their studies. As our School Captains hand over some of their official duties to the Year 11 Leadership Program mentees this term, I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the amazing achievements of our 2022 school leaders; Mia Armstrong, Sarah Arquiza, Harvey Constable, & Tess Marjanovic, and sincerely thank them for their positive, energetic, and inclusive approach to their leadership roles this year. It’s been a pleasure collaborating with you and promoting student voice at THS.
Book Week Competitions
In collaboration with the Library staff and the English Department, the Student Leadership teams arranged two creative competitions as part of the Book Week celebrations. The Arts Committee ran a very popular book mark making competition, and the Academic Committee facilitated a creative writing competition. The top three winners from the bookmark making competition were;
First place - Alivia Care
Second place - Audrey Altree-Williams
Third place - Jemimah Douglas Gillett.
Congratulations to all who entered the competition! A special shout out to Abby Parkes who led the planning, delivery, and judging of the competition.
Student Newsletter - Issue 3
Our student leadership team has been hard at work covering all the highlights of Term 3 for our latest edition of the Student Newsletter. This issue is particularly special as it includes messages from the Year 12 cohort, and it’s the last edition to be published by our Year 12 School Captains, who now pass the project on to our Year 11 Leadership Program Mentees.
Bec Perkin
Student Leadership Coordinator
Wear it Purple Day
For the last two years, Thornbury High School has had to celebrate ‘Wear It Purple’ Day online, during lockdown. However, on Friday, the 26th of August 2022, Thornbury High School finally celebrated 'Wear It Purple Day' on school grounds by selling baked goods, treats and colourful LGBT-themed accessories. ‘Wear It Purple’ Day is a day that honours members of the LGBT+ community and their strength, spirit, resilience and pride, as well as raising awarenessof the experiences of LGBTIQA+ young people and to show them that there is hope, support, and acceptance for those with diverse sexuality, sex, and/or gender and that they have the right to be proud of who they are.
The event was organised by the Rainbow Lounge with the help of the school’s SRC and other staff members. Baked goods including cookies, cupcakes, brownies, cinnamon doughnuts, macaroons, purple soda and ‘frog in the pond’ were sold.
In the end, the event attracted a huge crowd and raised an amazing $697.60. This money will be donated to Minus18, a youth organisation dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of, and providing a safe and welcoming environment for members of the LGBT+ community. A special thanks to all staff members, school community, Rainbow Lounge and SRC students who helped organise and support ‘Wear It Purple’ Day 2022.
Hugo Cooper
Rainbow Lounge Representative
R U OK? Day
R U OK Day was a smash! It literally was. On Friday the 9th of September, Thornbury High School celebrated the national R U OK Day through the smashing of four different piñatas. Students from all year levels gathered around the VCE basketball courts to watch representatives from Year 7 to Year 10 smash piñatas which contained lollies, and mental health fun facts and resources. Year 9 was the first to smash their piñata!
Earlier in the week students participated in an R U OK Day art making session and were involved in the folding of paper cranes. Small prompts were also displayed on TV screens around the school, with a different challenge for students to complete each day of the week. This was the last event run by our 2022 School Captains, and it was the first time that our Year 11 Leadership Mentees were able to get a taste of what it's like to be a school captain.
Overall, the week saw a lot of student participation and engagement. However, it could not have been done without the incredible job of the Student Leadership Coordinator, Bec Perkin, who made sure that the events for the week went ahead. Thank you to all students and teachers involved. Special shout-outs go to: Mr Millar, Mr Lowe, Mr Polwarth, Mr O'Sullivan, Ms Vassos, Mr McDowell, and Mr Sellers.
Mia Armstrong
Civics and Citizenship School Captain
