College Updates
Seussical Jr.
Tickets for the Lowanna School Musical - Suessical Jr- are now available for purchase from the General Office.
Cost: $5 for students/children, $10 for seniors/concession and $20 for Adults. We hope to see you there!
NAIDOC Week
Year 8 Melbourne Camp
If you are interested in attending the Year 8 Melbourne Discovery Camp in November, please return your expression of interest forms asap, as places are filling up fast!
Middle School Camp- Queensland
The total cost for this camp is $850 which covers return airfare to the Gold Coast, accommodation, entry into 4 theme parks, rock climbing, as well as all breakfasts and dinners.
$200 deposit should have been paid by NOW.
Balance owing is $650 which can be paid off in instalments.
Final payment must be received by Friday, October 25th.
Please make payments to the General Office via cash or card.
Graeme Clark Oration at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
On Monday the 22nd of July we attended the Graeme Clark Oration.
Professor Timothy Denison from Oxford University, gave an inspiring speech about medical research and advancements in technology that will one day help to treat a whole range of disorders including epilepsy, motor neuron disease, and Parkinson’s Disease.
Dr Amanda Caples, Victoria’s Lead Scientist, as well as Professor Graeme Clark who invented the cochlear implant, were also present and spoke inspiringly. Being in the presence of so many people with huge aspirations and such immense knowledge in their fields gave us an insight into the opportunities and developments in science that we can look forward to in the future. A dinner followed the oration where we were lucky enough to enjoy a delectable meal.
Overall, we had a phenomenal night that made us excited for what the future holds.
By Leila Raymond & Chezka Capilitan
Science Week at Gippsland Tech School
On Tuesday the 13th of August myself, along with a group of other year 9 and 10 students were lucky enough to participate in a Science Week special event that had a particular emphasis on astronomy. This event was hosted by the Gippsland Tech School in Morwell. Myself and the other students, including students from other schools, were first treated to a talk by NASA scientist Dr. Darlene Lim – she flew all the way from America and was here to speak to us! She gave us a summary of the failures and successes that she herself has endured during her lifetime as well as describing how her pathway to being a scientist with NASA involved making the most of helping out whenever opportunities presented themselves. She described how her pathway to being a scientist wasn’t straight forward and how she worked in advertising before even making it to NASA. She also described how, in the middle of a snowy winter in Canada, she had to pick up supplies from a broken airdrop that didn’t go to plan and then use skills that she didn’t even know she had. After her talk, we engaged in various activities which included a lecture on physics and how gravity maybe isn’t a force, a friendly but competitive drive of robots to simulate a rover mission on Mars to collect some rock, packing a survival list if we crash-landed on the moon and finding out if we would survive or die, and a virtual reality experience where we met Buzz Aldrin and toured some exoplanets from another planetary system – including some pretty similar to Earth. Within these various activities was a really great learning experience for all students in attendance.
I, on behalf of the student body who attended the event, would like to say thank you to the Gippsland Tech School and its staff and of course Dr Darlene Lim from NASA.
Kain Absolom, Year 10
Instrumental Analysis Workshop
Recently Caleb Young, Cooper Waterhouse and Ethan Thomas went to Federation University for the Instrumental Analysis Workshop as part of their Year 11 Chemistry class. Things learnt then were carried on to form part of their SAC.
Leadership for Sustainability Rubicon Camp
The last week of June saw 10 students, ranging from Years 7 - 10, Mrs. Stewart and community Rotary Club volunteer, Di Harrison, attend a Leadership for Sustainability Camp. The camp was planned for students to learn about collaboration, risk-taking, problem-solving, resilience and decision making. The students undertook a variety of activities such as preparing all the own food, learning to cook using a trangia, snowshoe trekking to the top of Mt Baw Baw carrying heavy packs, and camping in the snow in 0 degree temperatures. Students brought all their waste back to Rubicon from Mt Baw Baw, participated in a high ropes course and caving as well as assisting with a community project - building a wooden frame vegetable garden. The primary focus of the camp was learning about Rubicon, Nayook sustainability initiatives including; taking 5 min showers, hens, veggie gardens, indigenous gardens, aquaponics, waste management/ recycle bins, water tanks, composting, solar panels, power-saving lights, turtle pond, toilet paper saver and Nature loo. The camp left the students feeling very empowered and provided much food for thought. They will bring their new knowledge back to school and workshop ways that they can make the College more sustainable.
Climate Change Summit
Lowanna College Leadership for Sustainability group recently participated in the Switched on Schools ‘Climate Change Summit’ at Kernot Hall over two days.
Our students learned about the probable causes of Climate change and the current and projected effects of Climate change from Federation University Lecturer Dr Jessica Reeves. Other speakers discussed the possible means of reducing the effects of climate change and have asked our students to survey other members of the Lowanna school community to see how they feel about climate change, what effect it is having on them or their family and what they think they can do about it, if anything.
The students who attended the Climate Change Summit would like to hold a sausage sizzle to raise funds for the purchase recycling bins and make changes to Lowanna, helping us to become more sustainable.
National Tree Planting
Lowanna Leadership for sustainability students and staff attended the National Tree planting event at Newborough park on Sunday 28 July contributing to environmental sustainability. Over 4000 trees were planted in one day. The event was organised by Sean-Paul Smith from Latrobe City Council. They provided a free BBQ and hot drinks as well as an insect and spider petting zoo. Mrs Stewart let a huntsman spider walk up her arm and wasn’t even worried! It was fantastic!
First Aid
Lowanna College has a number of First Aid Officers available to support students throughout the school day. These First Aid Officers are not qualified doctors or nurses, though they are trained to provide general and emergency first aid.
These First Aid Officers are available to treat and support all students, and if necessary, manage an incident until a parent or ambulance can arrive.
As our First Aid Officers are not qualified to diagnose or treat illness, should a student report they are too unwell to be in a classroom, parents/guardians will be contacted to collect their child. Parents/guardians are welcome to return their child to school should their child’s condition improve and are able to participate in usual classroom activities. Please also note the College is unable to provide a transport service for students.
As per our various policies relating to First Aid (available on the College website), Lowanna College does not supply any medication for student use. Should your child require these, please refer to the appropriate College policy, or alternatively, make contact with the College as per the details below.
Our First Aid Officers are always available to speak with parents/guardians and students about any health concern, and are able to facilitate the communication of this information to other Lowanna staff as necessary.
If you have any further questions about the function of the First Aid office, please contact Jenny Stephens or Hayley Howlett on 5127 9223.
Student Exchange
If you have ever considered Student Exchange or hosting an exchange student, check out the flyers below!
