News

Maths Craft

On the 18th of September, Mr Krishna took myself, Madison Hansen and Valmai Phu to Westbourne Grammar to participate in ‘Mathscraft’. The day was organised by the University of Melbourne’s Centre of Excellence with aim of encouraging students to do Maths like research mathematicians. Three students from around ten schools attended the workshop that was run to encourage young people to ‘think beyond’ and use their knowledge in a different way to solve problems.

We all received booklets with nine problems in them, and we worked through four of them throughout the day. Working with the other students, we shared our ideas and we able to learn from each other to be able to think about the problems more open-minded. Overall, it was a really fun day and we would like to say a big thank-you to those who put in lots of effort to make the day possible.

By Charlotte McAnda, Senior Cameron 1

Product Design and Technology – Focus on Textiles

It has been a busy term in Textiles, Year 9 students have been able to gain insight into the ethical side of fashion through visiting the RMIT exhibition, The Dark side of Fast Fashion. Students learnt why the Textiles industry needs to change in terms of sustainability and fair trade practises.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the Fashion industry, the Year 10 students had the amazing opportunity to visit the Christian Dior exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. Here the students were given a talk about the House of Christian Dior and were then able to walk around the exhibition taking as many photos as they wanted of the Haute Couture gowns. Everyone was inspired!

Mary MacKillop Foundation Dinner

The year 11 VCAL class of 2017 worked together as a team for weeks before the Mary Mackillop dinner. We made name badges, ordered flowers and designed how tables were going to be set. We also conducted many tests and trials of different dishes, so that we could cater for all dietary requirements and to provide the tastiest appertisers.  

The day of the dinner was really exciting and stressful, since we had to prepare all appertisers that each students made during the day with the help of our teachers, which counted towards our outcomes. We also had to make 230 serves of soup and take them over to the hall as well as the 13 other appertizers. We arranged the flowers that were to be displayed in the middle of the dinner tables.

Once the guests started to arrive we served the appertizers. When it was soup time, we worked hard as a group, alongside the student volunteers to get all of the servers of soup out to the tables on time. Once all the soup had been served, we were given our awards and we headed back to the kitchen to clean up all the remaining dishes and congratulate each other for all the hard work we put into this.

A big thank you to Ms Stafrace, Ms Taylor,  Mrs Gonzales and Ms Saccocio and all other teachers for all the help and support. We are thankful for the many compliments we received about the food and the service on the night.

By Rida Hossain and Renee Furlan

Book Week Activities

The MSJ Learning Resource Centre was a hive of activity for Book Week 2017. Students and staff put their literature knowledge to the test from Monday to Thursday with book trivia at lunchtime in the Year 9 Hub.

The current texts for English (Coraline, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby, and The Help) provided the theme for each day with decor, food, and quiz questions to match. One group of Year 8 students did a fantastic job of decorating their table in the Alice in Wonderland theme and even brought Alice-themed cupcakes to share.

"On the second day of Book Week, there was a trivia contest about 'Alice in Wonderland' and my friends and I joined in. The day before, we decided we were going to  decorate our table, as we really wanted to win. Our theme was the Queen of Hearts, and that night, we all gathered everything we could find that was red, white or black. We all brought food to share, and our table ended up looking amazing! Even though we didn't win the trivia, we had a fabulous time and got a prize for the best decorated table!"

Each group of daily winners received book vouchers and book prizes. There was a delicious end to Book Week on Friday with the cutting of the Book Week cake.

This year’s Book Week theme, “Escape to Everywhere”, was captured in an three-tier, iced, white chocolate mud cake based on Dr Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go. To receive a piece of cake, students and staff had shared a 100-word story and photo of a recent trip, some of which were read aloud while the cake was enjoyed.

The staff book club also gathered one evening to discuss the Man Booker Prize 2017 and chose to read the following texts by our next meeting: Lincoln in the Bardo, The Underground Railroad, and Faithful. Thank you to everyone who participated in the celebrations at the LRC for Book Week 2017. We look forward to more mayhem, madness, and mischief at Book Week 2018!

The Premier's Reading Challenge Award

For over a decade, the Challenge has promoted the importance of reading among children and students, encouraging them and their families to read more widely and more often. 

We know that reading is critical to the development of our kids. It’s why the Challenge is so important. It helps children understand the world around them, developing their language skills and nurturing their imagination. Catering for all interests from birth to Year 10, the Challenge has more than 9,000 titles for students to select from or they choose their own.  For students in Years 3 to 10, the challenge is to read 15 books or more. 

Children who complete the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement.  Congratulations to the following students who read 15 books or more for the Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge this year. 

Vivian Wei

Niral Deshmukh

Mackenzie Patton

Jessica Trieu

Mai Trinh

What is on in the MSJ Learning Resource Centre

There is always lots happening in the LRC: 

Pageturners Book Club - Mondays

Chess Club - Wednesdays

Study Buddies - Wednesdays

Makerspaces - Fridays

Homework Club

Every night in the LRC students meet for Homework Club and Study Buddies  from 3:10 - 4:30pm. Students from all year levels receive guidance to complete homework and assignments or gain assistance to understand specific subject based content, such as during Maths Help on a Thursday afternoon.

Students say they take advantage of the extended opening hours in the LRC because they are able to focus on their studies in a relaxed, familiar setting where they can receive one to one support from their peers, teachers and education support officers each afternoon of the week.

Students also say that they enjoy finishing their homework in an environment that differs from the home environment, one where they have access to high speed Internet, printers and IT support.

Have a read of the Academic Portfolio in the WAAM report to hear more about Homework Club and Study Buddies.

The LRC opens at 7:55am for Year 12 students each weekday and 8:15am for all other year levels. The LRC closes at 4:30pm each weekday.

Chess Club

Our club meets every Wednesday at lunchtime in the LRC. We learn Chess by playing the game.  Our aim is to hold a tournament by Term 4. We follow online games and games played by students in other schools who share their games on Tornelo.

Chess helps to develop our thinking, our memory, it improves concentration and our ability to think mathematically and it is fun! Challenge yourself daily with a chess game on any of the ten sets in the LRC.

Makerspaces in the LRC

Every Friday we offer a different activity that captures your imagination and engages us in ways we thought not previously possible.