Student News

Gym Club

At Suzanne Cory High School the students have access to the strength and conditioning centre during lunchtime on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The students are enjoying getting familiar with the gym and understanding how to use the gym equipment. The students are able to develop their own individual plan to utilise and implement during this time. Well Done to all students for using the gym and staying fit and healthy!

Ms Collins - HAPE Faculty Coordinator

International Women’s Day Bake Sale

In the spirit of International Women’s Day, we held a bake sale at lunchtime on Tuesday the 14th of March. We were raising money for the charity One Girl, which is a charity that raises money for the education of women in Africa. There were so many students that signed up to help the bake sale as a baker or a seller, and the amount of support that was shown was overwhelming. The food was delicious and we certainly have some extremely talented bakers at SCHS!

We were lucky enough to raise $330 through the bake sale! This is a huge contribution to One Girl. SCHS has contributed to supporting girls and young women in accessing education and skill development programs. Furthermore, we helped women in Uganda and Sierra Leone in learning practical, valuable skills, and financed training for teachers to provide high quality, gender inclusive education.

Once again, thank you to all of our bakers, sellers, and most of all our customers! We couldn’t have done this without you.

Audrey Chiavaroli K1 and Shanika Liyanage K5

Victorian Zonal Chess Competition

Chess; the millennium old game played by all ages that tests one’s intellectual ability and strategic thinking on a chequered board with 16 pieces each. Following the current trends and rise in international popularity for this game, Suzanne Cory High School encouraged students to demonstrate their interest and skills in the recent Victorian Zonal Chess Competition on Wednesday, the 15th of March.

The competition involved students from Werribee Secondary High School as both schools battled unyieldingly to represent the west zone in the Victorian State Chess Competition. Both schools showed great enthusiasm and exceptional skill as they battled fiercely in an intense 7 round competition. While both sides showed great performances, only one school could come out on top to go to the state competition.

And it was none other than Suzanne Cory itself; in a nail-biting 3 point victory, we secured the close win. Congratulations to all the students who participated in this tight victory. Every student showcased their great efforts and exceptional chess skills, the best performances coming from:

Melvin Tan (1st place medal winner)
Adarsh Kamboj (3rd place medal winner)

We would like to thank and congratulate Werribee Secondary College for a great competition and an excellent opportunity to learn and interact with peers from other schools. As well as a big thank you to the school’s staff and Jack Puccini from Tornelo, who organised this great event and chance for students to play chess on an inter school level. Here are some words from Jack, who was the representative of Tornelo, a chess tournament organisation,

“I'll say that the tournament was a really fun time and I enjoyed playing with all of the students during the break as well as running the competition.”

The inter school chess competition was a huge success and a testament to our student’s outstanding cognitive and strategic thinking abilities, and their excellent problem solving skills which all helped them to emerge winners in this tournament. We would like to once again congratulate them on this accomplishment and look forward to seeing how they progress in the Victorian State Competition next.

Sahnan Saini K7

Year 9 Art

Students have been exploring mixed media art. Here are the results.

Year 11 Media

Students in year 11 media have been working on their assessment pieces. Jayden Ku and Seth Crane were utilising the Green Room for their outcome using coloured lighting effects.

Take a look at a finished photoshopped image.

HealthCove Completed

Firstly, we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped with HealthCove’s Breast Cancer Fundraiser. Whether you made a contribution through spreading awareness, helping put up posters, or making a donation, it all played a part in the event’s success!

Breast cancer is a pushing issue in our community. Over 3,200 Australians lost their lives to the disease in 2022. To help support this growing problem, HealthCove decided to run a fundraiser to collect money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF). We challenged people in our community to ‘Give It Up’ for breast cancer by going without something they love for one month.

HealthCove did an amazing job by raising $300 to help make breast cancer treatments more powerful but less toxic to the body. Thanks to you, we’re one step closer to helping NBCF reach their goal of Zero Deaths From Breast Cancer by 2030.

Huge thanks and a special mention to our team’s national manager, Keerthana Karthik, for spreading the word and raising most of the proceeds that will be going toward the pressing cause. This wouldn’t have been possible without you!

Keep up the great work, everyone. Can’t wait to see the ways you support HealthCove next!

Give @healthcoveorg and @healthcoveorg.vic a follow on instagram to see what some of the other chapters are cooking across the globe!

Signing off, Siddarth Anand (R8), Keerthana Karthik (C5) and Keyara D’Souza (__)

Relay for Life

On Saturday the 1st of April, we had the opportunity to participate in the annual Relay for Life event held at Auburn High school. Alongside our school, there were the other select entry schools and more participating!

Relay For Life is a charity event which aims to support cancer patients through raising awareness and funds towards Cancer Council. The event runs with teams ‘relaying’ around a track for 12 hours. The funds raised leading up to and after the Relay are used by the Cancer Council for their Prevention, Support, and Research programs.

We would like to personally thank all of the people who donated and travelled all the way to Auburn to participate. We couldn’t have done it without you!

So far we have raised a total of $2,238 and donations are still open until the 1st of May, 2023, through this link.

Melissa Xavier and Ruhi Rodrigo - Citizenship Captains

Student Club Expo

On Tuesday 4th of April, we had our very first student club expo at Suzanne Cory! At this event, students got the opportunity to learn about the different student-led clubs that are running at the school. This included meeting the club leaders, getting to know more about what the clubs do as well as some live action demonstrations!

A big thank you to all the club leaders and Ms.Nguyen for making this event possible!

Mehwish Khan and Wen Shue - Extracurricular Captains

Inside | Outside Art exchange research project: Exhibition Opening

In 2022 Year 9 students were given the opportunity to participate in an ongoing research project into Arts Education conducted by Dr Marnee Watkins & Dr Kathryn Coleman from the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE). 13 students chose to take part, and were asked to make a short video contemplating the idea of “Inside; Outside” from multiple interpretations.

These videos were then swapped with the partner artists also participating in the project - the international I Found U collective. From these videos all participants then made an artwork in response to their video.

On Friday 31/3 the project culminated in an exhibition opening at the MGSE, with I Found U artists joining via Zoom. Students were invited to the event in their role as exhibiting artists, and were greeted by Dr Watkins & Dr Coleman as well as Professor Jim Watterston, Dean of the MGSE. Students involved were Aleena Basharat, Aleeza Shaikh, Bavacharan (B.C.) Gv, Bea Payla, Emma Flower, Julian Listiawan, Leo Wang, Namira Aziz, Peony Ho, Rishit Miglani, Shanika Liyanage & Zara Matyana.

After a successful opening students visited Science Gallery for an exploration of Art & Science converging before returning to the MGSE for a workshop with Dr Watkins & Dr Coleman on ‘Hacking the Anthropocene’, part of another research project into young people’s vision for the future.

Jack Whitmore

ADT Faculty Co-ordinator

Year 12 Visual Communication Design excursion: Fieldwork Projects Architecture firm + Collingwood Yards Arts Precinct

As part of their investigation into current design industry practices, Year 12 VCD students Maeve Coloma, Janice Jeevan, Nitya Lavingia, Raishell Mejia, Nicole Nguyen, Raphael Valencia & Marlowe Wilton visited the Collingwood offices of architecture firm Fieldwork Projects to speak with Associates Vlad Doudakliev & Tim Brooks about their work as project leads on the recently opened Collingwood Yards Arts Precinct.

Students were invited to ask questions about the design process from the initial tender process to completion, the collaboration process between the architects, client, local stakeholders and the multiple specialists involved in a major redevelopment project. Vlad then took the group to the site for a guided tour and spoke to key features of the project in response to student questions.

The school has since received a follow up email from Vlad complimenting the students on their well considered questions, engagement and general enthusiasm for design, and has said Fieldwork Projects would love to see what work the students develop later this year.

State School Spectacular

We are delighted to announce that three of our students have secureed roles in this year's State School Spectacular core performing company.

Keerthana Kartik in Year 11 will perform in the Choir

Dinda Widya Murti in Year 10 will perform in the Orchestra - Drumline (2nd year running)

Mandy Diep in Year 10 will perform in the Orchestra - Violin

The Spectacular will be performed twice on Saturday 9 September at John Cain Arena, followed by a television broadcast in December. Rehearsals have commenced for this year’s production which will showcase more than 3,000 Victorian government school students in a performance of music, song, dance, skating, circus, puppetry and backstage areas such as audio, lighting, vision and stage managemen

Congratulations to all three students. We look forward to watching you later in the year.

Tickets will go on sale for this year’s Spectacular in mid-June. Further information will be released on the Spectacular Facebook and Instagram channels and the Department website as details are confirmed. Ticketek is the official ticketing outlet.

Celebrations Committee Year 11 SRC

Recently, the Year 11 SRC has started a new initiative in order to celebrate cultural diversity across the school.

This has been done through submitting an expression of interest, and then reviewing applications in order to carefully construct a team that is creative and hardworking. We have lovingly dubbed this as “The Celebrations Committee.”

The year 11 SRC were extremely excited to see such a high level of interest from students, and we would like to thank all students who applied for the team and also contributed by providing information about the celebrations they would like to see being celebrated at SCHS.

Our current steps have been to create informative and decorative posters outlining different cultural celebrations, we hope to create more decorations and put them up throughout the year!

Year 11 SRC

Sofia Selimi (C3) Rama Ghosh (B8) Trisha Vinesh Vijay (K3) Zahara Nazir (R3)

Year 11 Psychology Excursion

On Wednesday 1st March the Year 11 Psychology students visited the kindergarten room at Explorers Early Learning – Williams Landing. In Area of Study 1 we had been learning about the different stages of cognitive development proposed by Jean Piaget, including the specific developmental achievements that he suggested children reach at different ages. The excursion gave students the opportunity to observe some of those milestones in real-life and to also replicate and think critically about Piaget’s original studies.

Our students conducted a series of mini activities designed to test the kindergarten children’s development of conservation, egocentrism and symbolic thinking. Conservation is the understanding that a quantity doesn’t change just because its appearance has been altered, for example understanding that if you take a ball of clay and then flatten it there is still the same amount of clay as before. Egocentrism refers to the inability to see a situation from another person’s point of view, while symbolic thinking is the ability to use symbols (e.g. pictures or words) to represent real objects.

The kindergarten children were initially overwhelmed by the ‘big kids’ in their room, but they quickly overcame their uncertainty and participated energetically in all of the activities – sometimes very energetically! There were lots of stories and high-fives, and even a few cuddles from our new friends. Not to mention some impromptu play sessions with the toys around the room… which might actually have been our students’ favourite part!

It was wonderful to see our students interacting so positively with the children and having so much fun with the activities. A huge thank-you to the amazing staff at Explorers for welcoming us and we look forward to visiting again!

Ms Carroll and Ms Hall (Year 11 Psychology teachers)

Please note consent has been given for all children photographed

Music Update

Hello SCHS!

Term 1 was a huge success for the music department, we would like to thank everyone for the astounding engagement. Here’s a quick recap to celebrate our events and performances so far!

It is always awesome to see the agora full of eager students with the long-awaited return of Open Mic. Our three lunchtime shows (including a much beloved Valentine’s theme) have been incredible and we would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming participation. From bands and solos to mass karaoke, there has been something for everyone and we can’t wait to see more in term 2. Our most recent open mic even featured an original song! We’d like to shout-out Bea Payla who blew us all away performing ‘Cameron Avenue’.

While the musical talent has been unbelievable, at its core, Open Mic really is about getting up, giving it a go and having fun. If this looks like blaring out ‘Let It Go’ with your friends who have never performed before, you are more than welcome to do so. Be sure to sign up for the next one!

Throughout the term an array of assembly performances highlighted the hard work of our ensembles, student led bands shining more than ever.

Our Suzannne Cory musicians also provided a fantastic backing for the Prospective Parent Information Evening. We had pop-up performances clustered around the school to welcome families and give them a taste of our flourishing program. Thank you to those who stayed the extra few hours and made the night such a success. While the school is usually a ghost town after 5pm, your music breathed new life into it.

Last but certainly not least, Suzanne Cory held our first soirée of 2023! We had the pleasure of seeing a little bit of everything our school has to offer in one night. A myriad of vocalists, woodwinds, brass, strings and percussion showcased the variety of talent in our student body to finish the term with a bang. Many junior students performed for the very first time and should be very proud of themselves, we hope there will be many more to come. It was lovely to see the support of family, friends and even past music students.

We are extremely grateful to the invaluable music staff that facilitated such a thriving musical environment and of course to all of our performers. Thank you, and we look forward to what the rest of the year will bring!

Your music captains, Jasmine (she/her) and Sara (she/they)

Laugh Lounge

The Laugh Lounge is SCHS' very own comedy and games club! We have just started, and we plan to make a fun, safe and enjoyable space for our members. Come if you are interested in fun games and comedy activities, by yourself or with a few friends!

Akshath (R3), Aniketh (R9), Naman (R8)

Class Clowns Performance – Excursion

By Supriya Polamraju B9

As many of you know, this month is all about comedy - from comedy events happening at our school to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival happening right now, everyone is in the mood for laughs. One of our students participated in an event presented by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and achieved some amazing results. Ojas Panat, one of our year 11 students, progressed to the national grand finals for Class Clowns - a competition for high school students who want to get into comedy. Comedy festivals provide a unique opportunity for comedians to showcase their talents, and 11 of our SCHS students had the opportunity to watch stand-up comedy performances from people all around the country. The experience felt all the more special as we were able to support our fellow student.

Comedy Lounge

It is a brave thing to put yourself our there in front of other people. This is especially the case when it comes to comedy. At SCHS we held our own Comedy Lounge with several students toying with the idea of getting on stage however only one student, Jayme Lau was brave enough to take the plunge and share his unique sense of humour with the school.

Jayme's comedy set was witty, current and downright funny. Jayme had the entire auditorium in stitches, showing he definetely has a real talent for entertaining.

Thank you also to Mr Hand for sharing some of your best dad jokes and for Ms Nguyen for your impromptu act.

Science Safety Competition 2023

Earlier in the year, our Year 9s designed Science Safety posters to emphasise the importance of safety when conducting experiments here at Suzanne Cory High School. The Science Faculty assessed more than 200 posters, with Ms. Goodridge-Kelly finalising our Top 3. It gives me great pleasure to announce that the Top 3 posters were submitted by:

Jaden Tran (C6)
Tiffany Zhao (K9)
Busy Bui (R9)

Runners Up

Holi Festival

For the last day of term, students and staff celebrated Holi Festival with coloured powder, lots and lots of coloured powder. It was hard to know who enjoyed themselves more, students or staff.

More photos to come on our socials next term!