Meanwhile in Secondary ...

As I write I am surrounded by the effervescent chatter and play of Year 7s as they debrief their stories from the day’s activities on the Year 7 Camp at Lakewood on the Gippsland Lakes.

We are two days into a four-day camp with students rotating through stand up paddleboarding, sea kayaking, a bushwalk and overnight stay on the far side of the lake, mountain bike riding and sailing. The weather has been almost perfect with the strong breeze impacting the sailing on Wednesday but with all other activities unaffected.

The students have been fantastic and are building friendships and learning new skills and spending time with God in a beautiful setting. From a teacher’s perspective seeing teenagers outside the classroom, conquering new things, having lots of chats about life and faith, and how they are finding school is invaluable.

For many students the camp is a big step with students sleeping in tents or riding a bike, preparing a camp meal, going on a solo ‘quiet time’ or kayaking for the first time. Many have come from different Primary schools and connections are being built beyond class groups. And, apart from the one I am currently typing on, there is not an electronic device in sight and, so far the kids appear not to have noticed. And that is just so wonderful to see! 

Donvale's Swimming Carnival

Max Sacristani and Lily Cameron - Student Sports Leaders

Donvale’s 2023 house swimming carnival was once again a fantastic day run flawlessly by the PE department and staff. There were creative and vibrant house-coloured costumes, and much excitement and encouragement from all houses.

The day kicked off with terrific chants from each of the houses that involved a new criteria to take inspiration from the Wiggles songs. Cuthbert succeeded in taking the win for overall chants in this category. This year new novelty events were introduced such as the novelty ‘seal ball’ race, where competitors pushed a ball half way across the pool without using their hands.

As well as a creative house banner competition was brought in to involve more of the student’s different God-given talents and abilities in the day. In the midst of the exciting day, certain students excelled in putting in their 100% with three school records being broken.

McKenna Strong broke the record for Year 10 freestyle with a time of 31.02; Tom Greenwood broke the record for Year 10 breaststroke with a time of 34.59; and Charisse Chan broke the record for Year 7 girls' breaststroke with a time of 41.00.

Swimming Sports each year never fails to strengthen and uplift the unity and encouragement among peers in their house groups. Throughout the day many students eagerly anticipated the announcement of the overall swimming sports winners, which ended up with Cooper House coming out victorious. This being Cooper's second win of swimming sports in a row, it further raised the stakes for next year's  swimming sports competition.

Final results:

1. Cooper 936.5
2. Cuthbert 825
3. Burrows 666
4. Flynn 556.5