STEAM NEWS

2017 Maker Faire

Our 3rd annual Maker Faire took place in the first week of this term. 60 local primary school students ( Leopold PS, South Geelong PS and Geelong East PS) came into MFG and had a wonderful time of hard fun, creativity, solving problems and working together.

MFG students planned and ran a range of exciting and challenging workshops for the younger students who were all very engaged. These workshops included Virtual Reality experiences, programing and completing challenges with Lego Mindstorm, Makey Makey, Drones & Spheros, science experiments, creating mini wicking garden beds and even an archeological dig! Ms Ines Castignani from Deakin University came along and ran a fabulous workshop that involved the students designing, creating and then testing their own floating house. We were also very lucky to have Ms Alex Tapaganao from The Brainary attend with her humanoid robot, NAO. Alex ran workshops with the students, challenging them to program NAO to complete simple tasks.

An addition this year was a surprise workshop we had for the staff from the primary schools. Ms Emma Castelow (VCAA Specialist Teacher STEM) run a great hands on activity around the theme of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ using a resource called MakeDo. The teachers were engaged and commented that they will be able to take these ideas back to their own classrooms and implement them right away.

I would like to thank Mr Bonner, Mr Toussaint, Mr McGarigle, Ms Walker and Mrs Myers for all the work they did with their students in preparation for the day and also on the day. Great days like these aren’t as successful without a great team working together; staff and students!

Mrs Sharon Hogan’s Study Tour To Japan

Over the recent term holidays, while most teachers were relaxing and catching up on sleep, MFG Maths and Science teacher Mrs Sharon Hogan participated in an AEU Victorian Branch study tour to Japan (Shizuoka Prefecture).

She joined a group that consisted of 20 Victorian teachers (Primary & Secondary) from a variety of Government schools across the state.

Initial days were spent in Kyoto, then the group moved to Shizuoka where Sharon met her host teacher and then spent time in her school. Sharon’s host teacher was Arisa Matsumoto and her school was Takasu Elementary School in Fujieda, and she taught Grade 5. During her time at the school she spent time in Arisa’s class when they were doing Mathematics and another Year 5 Mathematics class, as well as a special ed. class where they were learning calligraphy.

In the Mathematics classes, even though Sharon couldn’t read the instructions on the board or on the worksheets, she could still follow the Mathematics they were doing, proving Mathematics is a universal language! The students were learning how to add and subtract fractions with different denominators, and the teaching practice of this skill was the same as ours. The most notable difference was that Sharon didn’t see any staff or students use any technology in their classes.

The school day for the students started at 8 am and finished at 3 pm. They had small breaks between their 45 minute lessons, but didn’t have any snack break in the morning. They were provided with lunch at school, which they all ate in their classrooms before going outside to play games. After this the students all came back in and cleaned the school for 15 min, all having set jobs to do.

Sharon presented a lesson on Australia in a “society” class, which seemed similar to our humanities classes. The students were very eager to know about Australia and appeared to follow what she had to say, even though there was a language barrier. Some students could speak English, but not many.

After her time in the schools the group attended an Education Exchange Conference in Shizuoka, which involved working in small discussion groups with the assistance of some terrific translators. The discussion was mainly around our similar and different challenges when working in schools. Some issues discussed were class sizes, truancy, mixed ability classes, use of technology and more.

Before travelling home the group had a quick day tour of downtown Tokyo.

Overall it was a very memorable experience for Sharon. She gained an insight to how schools in Japan compare to ours, and just how lucky our students at MFG are!

(Above) Fractions in Japanese

(Above) Front of the school

(Above) Ms Hogan's visit made the school newsletter

Sports News

WMR Athletics 2017 (Moonee Valley)

It was a beautiful spring day as our athletes battled it out in Melbourne on Tuesday 21st September.

We had some competitive students who just missed out on medals but it was Caitlyn Sager who stared again progressing to state finals for yet another year.

Well done to everyone involved and check out the table below for the list of results.

Mr Lehmann

Sport Leader

LOMBOK-JAVA ADVENTURE

During September, Kelly Barrett, Sabine Bethune, Rachael Brown, Catherine Glover, Jessica Griffiths, Tiana Kaberry, Chloe Noakes, Nikayla O'Toole, Gendhis Saputro and Polly Templeton departed for their study tour in Indonesia. Our first destination was Lombok, the sister island to Bali and home to our sister school, SMASNSA. We left Geelong at 4am and caught a six-hour plane to Denpasar, Bali and another onward to Lombok. It was a long and exhausting day of travelling and no sleep, but it was worth it once we met with our host families, who took us with open arms to their homes.

During the first week in Lombok, we all experienced the traditional life of a local student in the city of Mataram, which included studying at our sister school, travelling with host sisters and eating some amazing food. Some of us were lucky enough to snorkel around the Gili islands!

We also enjoyed day trips to Tanjung Aan beach and Sendang Gile, which is a large waterfall that we swam in (or under!) after hiking in the hot Indonesian weather. We also visited Sade Village, a traditional village which still follows ancient customs, like you can’t marry anyone outside of the village and where the ability to weave is essential.

The first week flew by and before we knew it we started off the second week by catching a plane to the island of Java and its capital city, Jakarta. We went on a city tour and saw the National Monument (MONAS), the national mosque and preparations for the 2018 ASEAN Games. Jakarta is very big and very, very hot.

It was slightly cooler in Bandung, where we took part in a cultural workshop, playing angklung and trying our best to dance. After that, we caught an 8-hour train from Bandung to Yogyakarta which seemed to take forever! Luckily there was a lot of beautiful scenery to keep us entertained.

In Yogyakarta, we got to see the sunrise from the top of Borobudur. Borobudur temple is the largest Hindu monument in the Southern Hemisphere and dates from the 9th century – it’s amazing. We also got to stay in a local village where we were fed the local food and drink which was delicious! We were taught how to play the gamelan, how to farm singkong (a root vegetable similar to potato) and how to bargain in a traditional market. In the nearby jungle there is a multi-faith church that is supposed to look like a dove, but really looks like a chicken – You don’t see that every day! It was great!

Before we left Australia, we had raised over $650 for WRC Jogja, a wildlife rescue centre in Yogyakarta. The centre helps rehabilitate and release rescued and confiscated animals including orang utans, gibbons, monkeys and sun bears. Our donation will help the centre complete their new enclosure for a sun bear and her baby.

Other activities in Yogyakarta included a silver workshop, a batik workshop where we got to try our hands at drawing designs in wax, visiting the Sultan’s palace, and Prambanan temple. We got so many selfies that we felt like celebrities!

After a two weeks of being on the go, we were all treated for a two-night stay in Gunung Kidul, where we slept in bamboo shacks by the beach and got to relax a bit. Although we didn’t want to leave beautiful Indonesia, when we headed home were excited to be in a country where everyone didn’t yell “Photo! Selfie!” when you walked down the street! It was a great experience in a beautiful country. Terima kasih to Bu Hall, Pak Kalla and Bu Crofts for making the trip so lit!

Kelly Barrett, 10B

* The group consisted of Kelly Barrett, Sabine Bethune, Rachael Brown, Catherine Glover, Jessica Griffiths, Tiana Kaberry, Chloe Noakes, Nikayla O'Toole, Gendhis Saputro and Polly Templeton

'The Weird Sisters' Poetry Club Poem

Under the eyes of ten thousand sheep

The inky black forest, it calls my name,

The whispering trees, they look down with no shame.

The beautiful bushes, sway beneath the breeze,

The spots of sunlight reflect from the leaves.

The innocent wolf, hides within the shadows,

The noble donkey picks only open meadows.

The sweetest of scents fill the air,

The world around, feels like it cares.

And with these thoughts, I peacefully sleep,

Under the eyes of ten thousand sheep.

Rianna Mackay 8B

Library News

Our new Library Lunchtime Club on Mondays ‘The Circle of Friends’ is going very well.

Twelve students from all Year levels have signed up and regular attendees come in to the Discussion Room to share about what books they’ve been reading, what movies they’ve watched and to have a preview of the newest library books purchased. Our lucky spot poster competition is drawn at the end of each term with a $20 Dymocks voucher for one lucky recipient! The more you attend the greater your chances are of winning. The Club is on every Monday from 1pm until the end of lunch, all new members warmly welcomed.

It’s been wonderful having students in for recreational borrowing before school, at recess, at lunch and with their classes and to see the classes of students come in to do research sessions -looking at both printed and e-resources. Come in at any time for help with research assignments or for advice on how to make a bibliography.

I’d like to draw your attention to the resource on COMPASS called SLASA Online Referencing Generator. It will help you to make a BIBLIOGRAPHY for your assignments.

You can access this via

COMPASS > SCHOOL FAVOURITES > SLASA > Select Middle School or Senior School > Let’s begin…

Make the citation and cut and paste it onto a word document for your BIBLIOGRAPHY. If you need some help operating this, come and see Miss Marshall in the Library please.

A reminder to eat outside and enjoy the sunshine before coming into the library AND to please leave your school bags in your lockers, the library foyer is not available for bag storage as it is a high traffic area.

Thank you from your Library Team : Miss Marshall and Ms Kimpton

VCAL News

A message from Senior VCAL student, Taneil Roepke....

I’d like to begin by introducing myself. My name is Taneil Roepke, I am 17 years of age and studying Senior VCAL.

I am writing this to you all hoping that it may inspire you or bring you a little less stress throughout your schooling. I’m hoping that the story of my pathway will explain that it’s okay to not know where your future is heading or that it’s okay to take paths that don’t end up being the right ones for you. Everything is a learning curve, we make choices that may not be the correct ones, but we only learn from them.

It started with me in year 10, I guess you could say that I didn’t think school was for me at the time. I already thought I had my future sorted, I was convinced that I wanted to become a Hairdresser, so things started from there.

It all happened towards the end of 2015. I applied for VCAL Intermediate and was accepted. Mrs Wright, my Mum and myself had multiple meetings to sort out my pathway, we eventually decided that I would do Intermediate VCAL whilst studying a School Based Apprenticeship in Hairdressing as it was the path that I desired. I had attended interviews; I even took up extra work experience at salons over the holidays to gain knowledge of what hairdressing would be like. After weeks of work experience, I was accepted into a school based apprenticeship, which I was extremely overwhelmed about. But it got better, I was offered a full time apprenticeship at a fantastic salon. Words couldn’t describe how happy I was. I took the offer and went for the full time apprenticeship.

I started my apprenticeship in late January, 2016. I was loving it. I met the most wonderful people, clients and staff. I gained many skills, of which one was communication. I learnt how to communicate with people from all walks of life. It was amazing to get to know people that were of all ages. Besides communicating, I learnt how to wash, colour, cut, and blowave hair. I loved going to work everyday and especially seeing the people that I had met during my apprenticeship. But deep down I felt that it wasn’t for me. Some nights I would be so upset, I just couldn’t see myself being a Hairdresser anymore. It was just something that I felt but I could not explain. I didn’t tell my parents for a while as I was scared, they had spent so much money on fees and kits that I felt I’d be letting them down if I ended my apprenticeship.

I eventually opened up to my parents. Of course my parents were concerned with the decision that I wanted to make, but they were accepting and only wanted what was best for me. We had many discussions before making the final decision. It was time to speak to my boss, this was one of the most nerve wrecking situations that I had ever gone through, not to mention she was so lovely, which made it even harder for me to tell her. I called up, and explained everything. I was very lucky to have an understanding boss. I ended up finishing in January and from there on I was jobless with nothing to do.

I spent a few weeks doing nothing, all my friends where either working or at school. I got bored very fast. I had always wished to live like this, living with freedom and no work, but I realised how terrible it was. Having no job or school was boring! Eventually my parents and I had to work out what the next step was. I was tossing up between starting a Beauty Therapy Course or going back to school. Two decisions that I thought I would never have had to make again. I had absolutely no clue what I was doing.

Eventually I made the decision and enrolled myself into a Beauty Course at the Gordon, but I was still unsure. I changed my mind again, in the end I chose school. This was my final decision. I wanted to further my schooling and luckily enough there was one place left in Intermediate (Year 11) but also Senior (Year 12) VCAL. But it got even better. I was accepted into Senior VCAL as my Hairdressing Apprenticeship covered all work experience hours and course units that I would have needed for Intermediate VCAL. I was so happy! I gained work experience for a year and was also lucky enough to do Year 12 with my friends, not to mention graduate with them all. I removed myself from the Beauty Course and started back at school.

I started 2 weeks into Term 1, 2017.

It’s now nearly the end of Year 12 and I am honestly so happy with all of the decisions that I have made over the past 2 years. I don’t regret leaving school, I don’t regret my apprenticeship, I don’t regret anything. Year 12 has been the best year of my schooling. I’ve been given the opportunity to have a taste of the outside working world but have also learnt to appreciate my schooling, something I didn’t appreciate as much before I left school.

Our MFG Newsletter

Issue 10 · 25 Oct 2017

In this issue