A Word From Your 2020 College Captains

After an intense summer, coming back to school has been a pleasant return to normality. The start to this year has not been ideal, although most have us have been very lucky in the support that we have had readily available from our school. Our hearts go out to everyone affected. We, as students, are very grateful for the amazing support provided by the College and community in assisting everyone to get back on their feet and make a smooth start possible.

We are looking forward to the year ahead of us as Year 12s, as College Captains and as students at Bairnsdale Secondary College. We look forward to the memories we will make at events throughout the year, such as the upcoming swimming sports and the athletics later on.

The Year 12 cohort is very excited at the early arrival of our personalised jumpers. This has brought with it a morale boost for the students and everyone has high hopes for what the year will bring.

We look forward to giving you updates in the future.

Hannah Borland, Sam Radford, Jaz Sharp and Jay Bush

Musings From The Hub Desk

Whoa! what a fantastic start to the 2020 school year it has been, despite the potential for a rough start given what I notice is being referred to as 'The Black Summer'. We have welcomed new Year 10 students into the Senior Hub, celebrated the excitement that our Year 12 cohort are feeling at entering the final year of their secondary education and sent our Year 11 students off on their 'later years' journey of VCAL or VCE.

One of the loudest buzzes in the Hub is the activity from the VCAL hive. The excitement brought about by planning their move into a new space, securing work placements and trying to control the produce that is just bursting out of their vegie garden is such a delight to observe. The chooks are laying eggs every day and the Hub is alive with smells of fresh basil and other herbs. Students are well and truly on a path to secure bright futures for themselves.

VCE students seem to have done a great job getting their holiday homework completed to ensure they have the best opportunity to be off to a flying start. Recently, the Year 12 Chemistry class distilled some crude oil into useable fractions of petrol, kerosene, paraffin and petroleum jelly….well, nearly! They got the idea about distillation anyway, but we are now wondering if we should be worried about local moonshine productivity. Hospitality students are drawing up menus and Outdoor Ed students are investigating destinations for their outdoor adventures given our rough summer.

There have been some some changes to the Senior Hub staff team this year. We welcome Mr Chris Holmes to assist Mr Justin Garry in managing the Year 10 cohort, Mr Michael Cassidy returns as Year 11 Coordinator and of course, Mrs Janine Rooks continues as our Year 12 Co-ordinator. Mandy Holmes is managing VCAL and Belinda Anderson coordinating VCE. We mustn’t forget our Hub Assistant Principal, Mr Peter Falla, returning shortly from some well earned long service leave. Where would we be without our Hub support personnel? Yvonne Rooney (VCE/Admin), Sue Monahu (Careers Practitioner), Jaclyn Powell (Admin), Vikki Halford (VCAL Support) and Michelle Lancaster (Careers, VCAL Support). Josie Rycks, Trevor Buck and Rohan Giblett work as classroom support staff. I think I might stop there - the list is endless! We are a great team and we work across the whole College to ensure that our students have every opportunity to be the best they can be.

We look forward to an exciting and very successful 2020. We encourage parents/carers to call us or make an appointment to discuss any questions they may have. We value the fact we are all on this learning journey together to a destination where students have happy futures, full of choices and continue to grow as valuable members of our community.

Elevate at BSC

Each year, over 1400 Australian secondary schools participate in Elevate Education’s seminars which give students on-going skills to improve their outcomes. It isn’t enough that students simply understand the subject material, they need to learn how to organise and maximise the effectiveness of study time. The challenge in any study skills program is getting students to use and apply the skills they learn. Elevate has had great success in helping students use skills taught through workshops by using an integrated process involving both students and teaching staff.

Our Year 12 VCE students will be participating in an Elevate workshop on Wednesday 19th February. There are four sessions throughout the day and each student has been allocated to one session. Students schedules to attend Elevate sessions will be available at the Hub from Monday 10th February.

Teaching staff will also be attending a workshop after school that will skill them up to support the students’ new study skills. We look forward to introducing Elevate for parents in 2021.

Ross Huggard Workshops

Once again this year, our College is fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work with the former VCAA Chief English Examiner Ross Huggard. Ross will run a series of workshops throughout the year for VCE English students and their teachers.

We are also fortunate that Ross has extended the opportunity for parents to participate in his presentation in a session on Wednesday 26th February at 5:45pm in the Malgobila LRC. The focus of the parent session will include ways to assist students to achieve their best. The parent workshop will support the work and strategies that staff and students learn from Elevate seminars, further enabling students to maximise their outcomes. Please put this date in your diary. Additional reminders will be sent as the time gets closer.

VCAL and VET News

VET courses running at TAFE and AGA got off to a great start today. Students settled in really well and seemed to be happy with their choice of certificate. Feedback from TAFE staff was really positive and the potato cakes still seem to be the biggest hit at the café! Students please remember that your attendance at TAFE contributes to your overall attendance at the College.

VCAL Trip to ADF in Orbost. Written by Caitlin O’Byrne, Yr 12.

On the 6th of February, some of the VCAL students of year 11 and 12 went on a trip down to Orbost to where the Army and Air force fire recovery camp is set up. After the long trip there, we were greeted by an Air Force logistics officer who explained how the day was going to go. First up we got the chance to walk through the huge commercial cooking kitchen and learn all about being a chef in the Air Force. After that, our group got split into two, one group to do some hands on medical work, and the other group to learn about the different trades you can do in the army/air force.

By this point, we were all pretty hungry, so we lined up with a lot of army and air force to get our food. After sitting down and eating our lunch, we went over to a few tents and got serenaded by the Fijian Army, who performed the Haka and then multiple beautiful songs to us as well as Fijian dance, and also ended up getting some people joining in with a conga line! It was all very exciting and got laughs out of everyone. For the last part of the day we went over to some huge army trucks (PMVs.) It was explained to us that no one had ever died in one of those bad boys! Everyone was aching to get inside. Finally they let us in and it was a sight to behold. A bit squishy but fun for all. There were even a few heads popping out of the hatches in the top.

By now it was time to go, so we snapped a few pictures, thanked them greatly and got back on the bus. Overall, it was an amazing experience. It got a lot more of the kids interested in the army/air force, and I’m sure by the time they finish school, there will be lots of recruitment from BSC.

Year 12 Attendance

Dates to Remember

Term 1 2020 - week 3-5