Other School News
Duke Of Edinburgh Snow Camp 2022
In late August of 2022, our iCreate program “Duke of Edinburgh’s Award” went on a 2 nights and 3 days snow camp at Mt. Stirling. Our group was made up of 17 students (year 9 to year 11), and it was led by Mr. Robertson, Mr. Roberts, and Ms. Parlanti. As part of the program, this snow camp is a practice camp that will prepare us for our official summer camp earlier next year.
This camp was an amazing and invaluable experiences for all of us. We all had things to take way with us, whether that be forming a new friendship, overcoming a new challenge, or experiencing snow for the first time. It was a very tough journey as it was our first time going on a camp with a hiking pack, not to mention the extreme weather we went through on our first day – heavy rains and snows.
Despite this, we were able to spend our time wisely during our stay at Mt. Stirling. Some of the most memorable moments are from our cross-country skiing lesson, snowball fights, everyone gathering around the fire in the Tepee (communal area), playing the assassin games and many more.
At last, we would like to thank our teacher for their time and for taking care of us very well during our camp. We all learned something new and are extremely grateful for this wonderful experience.
Monineath Seang
Year 11
Monash Tech - Superskills Modules
We have had the privilege to have iCreate STEM and Aviation, Year 7 and 8 Digital technology and Year 7 Science classes be involved in numerous super skills modules. This involved 146 students participating in the eight modules which were De-extinction geneticist, gamification, Automation anomaly analyst and Drone airspace regulator. The students had an eye-opening experience including real-life applications of their content and ethics involved. A big thank you to Ian, Christina, Nat, Steph and Rebecca from Monash Tech for running these amazing online modules.
Ms Loan Luong-Nguyen
Numeracy/STEM Learning Specialist
Science Week
Science Week was celebrated in Week 7 of this term. There was a range of activities scheduled during lunchtime. It was great to see our students having fun in each of these sessions, which was based on the theme of ‘Glass - more than meets the eye’. They made glass ‘sing’, tested the use of fruits on touchscreens, tested the ‘power’ of a magnifying glass, used laser beams to study the property of internal reflection of light and ‘made’ a glass light bulb! To all students who participated in these activities, well done! Thank you to our amazing Science staff for running these activities and special thanks to Jenny for setting them up!
Ms Smrithi Buyya,
Science Coordinator.
Sports Report
Throughout the second half of Term 3, there have been many events across all Year Levels. Starting off the second half of the term, we had 1 team enter Ultimate Frisbee and 2 teams enter Basketball. Although they did not achieve the results they would have wanted, at the end of the day, they all had fun.
Moving on to the next event, we had our Kingston Division Athletics Day, where Students who came first in their respective events at our House Athletics, moved on and versed other schools in the Kingston Division. We had many students represent Westall across many events, with many students ending up on the Podium. We also had 2 Champions who will be moving on to the next round, representing Westall at Regionals. We have Israel Moeroa who came first in Discus and Nane Moeroa who also came first in Discus. A huge congratulations to both Israel and Nane.
Over Term 3 we had our Year 7s and Year 8s participate in a Touch Rugby Comp, happening every week since Week 1, We recently just wrapped up said Competition where we had our Year 8 Boys Finish on Top and take the Pennant home. Reflecting on the Term we saw a major improvement in all students playing Touch, some who have never even played the sport. Compare their skills at the start of the term to now and you will be amazed. We also had our Year 8 boys take up Table Tennis and competed at the Table Tennis Centre in Dandenong where they came 3rd on the ladder.
Great work to all students who participated in sports events this term!
Mr TJ Euese
Sports Assistant
Library News
Hello from the library!
This term has been busy in the library. We have had over 100 students in here at lunchtime and it continues to be a place for rest, reading, talking with friends, playing card games, board games, and just quiet reflection. We hope that you will consider it a special place as we, the library staff do. The area must be respected so as not to ruin everyone’s enjoyment of it. This means no food, no cans of fizzy drink, no phones, and no playing chase through the rooms. We all love this space as a place to go at recess and lunch – even teachers come in to play games or just talk to students, so it is important to treat it with respect.
As most of you will be aware the library has been in the process of changing. This is reflected in our new bookshelves which can be moved around to suit any situation as well as our new genre-fying system. This makes it easier to find the books you want as they are now in a genre, not just alphabetical order. All you have to do is look for the genre (ie, topic – dystopian, crime, romance etc) you like, and you will find many books to look at.
We also have new chess sets with flexible boards. Some of our sets were a little ‘tired’ and we had old chess pieces that were being mixed around. We also have two chess ‘clocks’ which some students have discovered and are now using.
In 2023, we will be purchasing study booths which will go across the back of the library for quiet group work or individual work. This will be an exciting initiative for the library as it will enable not just senior students to work quietly, but everyone will be able to use them for that purpose. And soon we will have
E-BOOKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Watch this space.
Until next term, stay safe, enjoy your break and rest. VCE students make sure you keep your notes up to date and ready for your trial exams next term.
What am I reading? Fiction – Just finished Tiger Daughter by Rebecca Lim and non-fiction – graphic novel of the bestselling book Sapiens. Both are here in the Westall library.
Ms Sue Stenning
Teacher/Librarian/Daily Organiser
4C's - Cultivating Creative Cultures with Communities – THANK YOU!
Westall Secondary College students performed at the 2022 4C's event at Bunjil Place on Monday the 12th of September. The students at Cranbourne East Secondary College, with their fantastic teacher Ms Laitini Matautia-Ulugia, hosted us for a night of celebrating our students and all our diverse cultures.
Seeing our 22 students' hard work come together on stage in an incredible performance was an absolute joy. Congratulations to our students for participating and representing our school. It was very moving to hear how much practising culture and showcasing it meant to our students, especially after the last few years.
A BIG thank you to our amazing staff, principal, students, families and community for attending and supporting our students on the night. We could hear your loud cheers and positive energy from the stage!
Thank you to Ms Rankin, Ms Collins and TJ for supporting the 4C's students for the whole day at the event, from rehearsal to show time. Thank you to Mr Lanarus and our school for sponsoring our students. Thank you to Ms Bao for supporting our students with rehearsals. Another huge thank you to our team of sewers, Ms Besley, Ms Barb, Ms Kim, Ms Lucy, Ms Ifandis and Ms Rankin, for helping our students connect with culture off stage. We look forward to participating again next year with more students and cultures.
Ms Kristina Vasilakis
Student Leadership Coordinator
‘YISHU’ ARTS FESTIVAL
12 -16 SEPTEMBER 2022
WOW WHAT A SHOW!!!
Congratulations to all the incredible talented students on show at the Arts Opening on Monday the 12th of September. You were all amazing, staff and students, the energy in the gym was wild, and the cheering and clapping, incredible!
I hope you are all cleansed having walked through the smoking ceremony.
Thank you to the Boon Wurrung Foundation - Willie Pepper and David Tournier for the WELCOME TO COUNTRY.
A huge thank you goes to Kevin Phan, who always goes above and beyond when asked to organise sound, running sheets etc., and Andrew, for recording the opening. We will organise to have this available for you to watch if you missed out, or if you want to see it all again.
Thank you to the following amazing people – Ms Nicole Mcalister, Mr Coco, the school band, 'Distortion', love your tunes; Ms Bao and the Chinese department, Nathan Thongyoo, what a performance; Anita, you blew the crowd away with swaying phone lights; Jorden Khauv, the remarkable pianist; Mr Andy Tran and the Taekwando group, you were fantastic; the Westall choir, gorgeous masks ladies; 'Never enough' it's never enough, Mr T, you were awesome; Tara, a beautiful performance; Larni, you are a star; Gloria, your moves were infectious; Karina and Lisa, very cool dancing; and Harmig, your gutsy solo performance was great.
Mai and Monica, thank you for being entertaining MCs; Taylor and Veronica, thank you for the program edits; Jorden, Tristan, Zoe and many others that stayed back this afternoon to move chairs and props.
Thank you to Mr Lanarus for giving us the opportunity to run this special event as a whole school.
I hope I haven't forgotten anyone and if I have apologies, sooooooo many people to thank.
To the audience, YOU WERE THE BEST WE HAVE HAD SO FAR, the energy from you was FANTASTIC!
Arts week commenced with a whole range of activities - Badge making and t-shirt designs with Ms Besley, Henna with Jiya Patel, daily student quiz, Calligraphy and origami workshop with Ms Bao, scrumptious Chinese dumplings were for sale by the Westall café, thank you to Ms Paget, Mr Tarwala and Mr Bottomley, ‘Hip Hop’ dance workshop with Ms Gina Michaels and Jeanette Moreno was a huge hit! Photography and Arts Blitz Competition sponsored by Kingston Youth Services, ‘Jimbo’s Photobooth,3D printed badges by Mr Graewolfe, Visual arts installations, a ‘Dance off’ and the biggest highlight of all the 2022 ‘Illumination’ garden theme inspired LIGHT SHOW’ – designed by our wonderful Moni. The light show installation took 3 days to set up and included hundreds of lights, projections and a smoke machine. Designers and installers included – Devid, Vaithes and Moni who gave up their Saturday, and Veronika and Taylor who put so much love and effort into the garden scene. Abi and Alisha whose heart and soul went into the beautiful cloud installation with dazzling lights. Pim and ….. ‘melting hot pink ice cream cone stood tall and glistened with fairy lights, Sofia, Meng Yik and Ashi’s ‘forest lungs’ swung from the rafters and the large ochre whale stole the show. Spring sounds and blossom projections added to the final touches of the light show. Lastly, Mr Richardson’s ‘disco ball’ swirled from the ceiling millions of reflections all over the room.
Thank you to all the people who worked behind the scenes - Sandie, Dennis, Alex and Steve.
I hope you all had the best experience ever and that you found a creative part of you that you can now run with. Let’s Celebrate and Embrace the Arts, for it is what ‘ignites the soul’.
Happy 2022 ‘Yishu’ Arts Festival everyone. May we do it all again bigger and better next year in 2023!!
Ms Helen Ifandis
Year 11 & Arts Coordinator