Student Involvement

Music Department End of Year Soiree 

The Music Department End of Year Soiree was held on the evening of Wednesday 8th December. Due to the unpredictable weather, performances were relocated to the Library where approximately two hours of student performances were showcased. Platters of food were carefully made by the senior music students for all attendees to enjoy while they watched a range of ensemble performances. 

Students from Year 7 to 12 performed many pieces of music they had practiced during remote learning, demonstrating their dedication to their instruments throughout even the most challenging learning conditions.

The evening was hosted by the newly elected 2022 Music Captains Rani Thuan and Luca Wolfe who did a fantastic job introducing all the musical items for the evening. A special mention and thanks must also be given to the 2021 Music Captains, Annelise Cochrane, Harrison Read and College Captain Ginger Sansom. These student leaders were recognised for their generosity and dedication within the Music Department. 

Thank you to all the parents/guardians, family, friends and staff who attended the soiree. Without your support, both at Dromana College and at home, the Music Department would not continue. 

We wish you a fantastic holiday break and look forward to seeing you at the next soiree at the end of Term 1 in 2022. 

Jacqui Rodden

Head of Arts

Green Team

A Letter from the year 12 Green Team Captain:

Hello everyone. My names Charlie Parker, and I’ve been fortunate enough to hold the position of year 12 Green Team captain in 2021.

This year hasn’t been the easiest to deal with by a long shot, especially for a group that revolves around community engagement and activities that cannot happen outside of the Dromana College grounds. However, like everyone has had to this past two years, we have managed to adapt and improvise, so that we can still make memories and have a great time helping protect the environment around us. For the time that we were at school, lunchtime and afterschool activities still went ahead, including helping to clear up the vegetable garden, and cooking delicious food with the plants that we had grown. Our wonderful Green Team leader, Mrs Bridgman, also ran a working bee around the school earlier in the year, while we were still able to hold activities onsite. The Climate Crew, which is a group that several students, as well as Mrs Bridgman and Mr Mudge are a part of, continued to meet through this year to look at how we can work to reduce the carbon footprint that Dromana College has on the Peninsula. Managing to get solar panels on the roof of our school was a massive step forward in this direction towards increasing sustainability.

Online learning threw the train off the rails for everyone at the college, and for us in the Green Team, it removed the practical component that was fundamental to what our group normally achieves. However, that didn’t put us to a halt for the remainder of the year. We ran a photo taking competition for teachers, junior school students and senior school students, designed to get people excited about sharing a part of nature that was important to them. Additionally, myself and the junior Green Team captain, Bonnie Salt, were given the opportunity to give a speech to principals from around the Peninsula at an Embedding Sustainability meeting. This enabled us to promote the ideas and initiatives that the Green Team has implemented at Dromana, such as different coloured rubbish bins and the vegetable garden, to other schools.

Overall, this year hasn’t been what I, nor anyone, could have expected it to be. Still, the way we have adjusted to the changing circumstances brought by COVID-19, have allowed the Dromana College Green Team to continue to thrive. Having this as part of my year 12 journey has allowed me to both do more around the school, as well as to meet and strengthen relationships with students and teachers outside of my normal cohort. A massive thank-you to Mrs Bridgman, Mr Mudge, Bonnie, and the other members of the Green Team who continue to put in their all to make our school a more environmentally friendly place.

Thank you, and I wish you all the best for 2022.

VCAL Briars Excursion

As part of the Senior VCAL PDS WRS course students attended an all-day excursion at the Briars during Freshstart. As part of the learning program students needed to demonstrate knowledge, skills and attributes in relation to environmental awareness, critical and creative thinking, problem solving and interpersonal skills such as collaboration, leadership and decision-making. 

During the excursion students worked with environmental educators on the topic of climate change, discussed environment-based career opportunities and participated in a number of team building challenges. As a group we then completed a nature walk from the Briars to the Balcombe Creek Estuary where everyone enjoyed a well-earned BBQ lunch.

ABC Takeover Competition

Earlier in the year ABC producers were welcomed into junior English classes to run a creative writing / story telling seminar. Students were encouraged to submit a story to the ABC Takeover competition. One of our Year 8 LEAP students, Jasper Lawrenson, submitted a moving story about his experience with grief and we are excited to announce that his submission won for our region! As a result of this, Jasper had the opportunity to professionally co-produce his story and record an audio of it. He is also invited to a gala where he and his fellow group of young story tellers will be celebrated. Congratulations Jasper! 

Here is a link to his story: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/takeover-melbourne/winner-jasper-mount-martha/13609418 as well as a link to the stories by other talented young writers in Victoria: 

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/takeover-melbourne/winners/

Victorian High Ability Program

Students who participated in the Victorian High Ability program this year were invited to attend a ‘masterclass’ in November. The English students were treated to an author talk by A.J Betts, the author of the duology Hive and Rogue (Pan Macmillan, 2018/2019), Zac & Mia (Text Publishing, 2013), Wavelength (Fremantle Press, 2010), and Shutterspeed (Fremantle Press, 2008). 

The maths students participated in an exciting trivia where their knowledge of numeracy was tested. 

We congratulate all students who participated in the VHAP in either term 1, 2, 3 or 4 and look forward to welcoming new students into the program next year. Note: The Victorian High Ability Program is a Department run initiative for Year 7 and 8 students only. Students are selected by the Department of Education based primarily on their past NAPLAN scores. 

Koorie Youth Summit 2021

The Koorie students had the pleasure of attending the Koorie Youth Summit this November. We were able to hear some inspiring stories from notable First Nations speakers such as legendary singer/ songwriter Archie Roach, Sue-Anne Hunter (Commissioner, the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission), and artist Kobie Dee. The nine online workshops covered different subject areas based around connecting to country, creativity, justice, empowerment, inclusiveness, and economics.

We have found the program very interesting and a great way to connect to our Victorian mob, enabling us to discuss the bright future of our people and traditions. We look forward to attending next years 2022 Youth Summit face to face!

Eljahria Ellis and Hudson Fraser- Year 11