Student Voice
College Captains Report
Starting the year as College Captains, we have had an enjoyable time working with our fellow students and teachers.
We feel honoured to have had the opportunity as senior leaders to welcome and introduce our new Year 7 students to South Oakleigh, sharing with them our knowledge and experience from the beginning to what is now our final year of schooling.
So far, as Captains, we’ve been focusing on setting up a strong connection with the rest of the Student Leaders to ensure that no one is left behind and that we all know what each other is doing. We’ve also been working on helping around the school, including with school events or even fundraisers, such as our Year 12 Formal Fundraiser.
We have also been assisting with organising the senior Year 12 jackets and are very excited to see the lovely designs our committee drew up come to life. We also had a wonderful time helping new Year 7 students at the House Swimming Carnival, encouraging everyone to give it their best shot.
Sylvia Krozian and Jason Pouliezos
Your College Captains
SRC Presidents’ Update:
This year, the S.R.C. has taken on board student and staff feedback, and with a revised structure, we have started working hard to ensure that this year is the best year possible.
We have been receiving reports from all of our Portfolios, including our Breakfast Club and Enrichment Liaisons and are happy to report that everything is running smoothly. We have begun meeting with Leading Representatives to create a semester and a yearly plan for each Portfolio. Please stay tuned on Compass and the school noticeboards for information regarding events and activities.
We look forward to all the initiatives this year and thank you for your ongoing support in our endeavours.
Genna Windsor
Your Student Representative Council President
Shyli Barak
Your Student Representative Council Vice-President
Campaigns Update:
The Campaigns Portfolio are excited to bring forward new and exciting events for school and can’t wait to take you on the journey with us. My name is Mackenzie Dickson, and I am the 2023 Leading Representative for Campaigns. The team includes our Secretary, Emily Lay, and our Student Representatives, Soham Dhital, Paz Hidaz and Sophie Volpert.
We will be starting this year off with our annual Harmony Week. There will be an out-of-uniform day during the week where the theme will be orange/cultural. We will also invite students and staff to join a cultural MasterChef competition!
Our second event of the term will revolve around Easter. Our team will work hard and secretly to hide various chocolate eggs around the Library. Students will have a chance to find them during recess and lunch. We are thrilled to introduce new events into the school and can’t wait to work together to help execute these ideas!
Mackenzie Dickson
Your Leading Campaigns Representative
Student Representative Council
Curriculum Update:
Hi, my name is Jack Wright, and I am the Secretary of the Curriculum portfolio. In our Portfolio, we also have Osher Hidas, Ana Donnellon, and Kyla Heyward-Davenport.
This year we aim to implement the LADDER model created last year; we hope that this will help teachers and students reach their learning goals and habits. We also want to bring the staff and students closer together personally to better their relationship within the classroom. We are so excited to be working on this together and look forward to the rest of the year!
Jack Wright
Your Curriculum Secretary
Student Representative Council
Connections & Wellbeing Update:
The 2023 S.R.C. Connections and Wellbeing are excited to launch new initiatives this year. Nox Berry is the Leading Representative, Chirathmee Amarasinghe is the Secretary, and Amalia Shaer and Leyansh Kamra are the Representatives. They will be working with the Wellbeing team to boost social connections and wellbeing in the school and are excited to get some initiatives underway!
Communications & Student Experience Update:
Hello, my name is Blake Graham, and I am the Leading Representative of the Communications and Student Experience Portfolio. Our Portfolio is made up of Yohan Soju (Secretary), Ezra Bershaw (Year 9 Representative), Pranshu Mistry (Year 8 Representative) and Francesco Lo Piccolo (Year 12 Representative). We look forward to a great year ahead.
Blake Graham
Your Leading Communications & Student Experience Representative
Student Representative Council
Breakfast Club Update:
Hello, my name is Soham, and I will be your 2023 Breakfast Club Liaison. I am currently in Year 8, and I am an S.R.C. as well. For those who do not know or have not ever been to Breakfast Club, it is a weekly club where student leaders across the College come together to host a nutritious breakfast every Thursday for our lovely staff and students.
Breakfast is often considered the most important meal of the day, providing essential nutrients and energy for us students to learn and concentrate. For some of us, Breakfast may not be available at home, making breakfast club the perfect place to start the day.
It also provides an opportunity for us students to socialize and connect with our peers in a relaxed and enjoyable environment. Our Breakfast Club is every Thursday in the Canteen from 8:00 am till 8:30. Every Breakfast, we will serve tea, toasties, toast, cereal and hot chocolate.
We would also really appreciate it if we could get more help preparing. If you would like to come to help us prepare, come along to the Canteen at 7:45 am Thursdays.
If you would like to help out or have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact myself (sdhi15@schools.vic.edu.au) or Genna Windsor – S.R.C. President (gmwin1@schools.vic.edu.au)
Soham Dhital
Your Breakfast Club Liaison
Student Representative Council
Enrichment Update:
Hello, my name is Yohan Soju, and I am the Enrichment Liaison for 2023. My goal for this year is to support the enrichment clubs around the school and help ensure they run as smoothly as possible. I would also like to help reflect on each club’s achievements and how to improve them continually. I look forward to fulfilling my role for this year.
If you would like to help out or have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact myself (yche1q@schools.vic.edu.au) or Shyli Barak – S.R.C. Vice President (sbar44@schools.vic.edu.au)
Yohan Soju
Your Enrichment Liaison
Student Representative Council
House Captains Report: House Swimming Carnival
The 2023 House Swimming Carnival was our first whole school house event and our first time leading our house as Captains. It was quite challenging to organise our house chant in such a short time, especially without our fortnightly house assemblies.
As challenging as it was, we still came second in the house chant competition. We also got lots of participation from Waratah, which brought us to third place overall. We’ve learnt so much from this role in this short time as captains, and we’re grateful to have been trusted by our house with this position.
Nathan Cohen and Claire Yeung
Your Waratah House Captains
Yr 8 Humanities – Japanese Imperial Mutant Chickens
In the Edo period, a lot of things happened, like the perfection of sushi or the creation of the Bonsai tree (a tree about 10cm that can be planted in a pot).
The Edo period was one of the most important times in Medieval Japan, because in that period the Japanese had ‘Sakoku’ (which translates to isolated nation), meaning no one could arrive or exit into Japan. In this time, there was relative peace, so samurais had nothing to do. They were still paid (in rice), but as farming technology improved, the value of rice dropped. They were basically unemployed.
Japan was closed for a total for 265 years; this is because the Portuguese converted a bunch of Japanese people living in the islands off mainland Japan to Catholic Christianity. They then had a rebellion called the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637. They failed and Christianity was banned. In that time, Sumo, Bonsai, Sushi and most importantly, mutant chickens were created.
Meanwhile, the Opium Wars started, a war between China and the United Kingdom over a drug called opium. At this time, the British government was sailing around claiming land and having massive confrontations. In 1839 the United Kingdom’s confrontation with China, the Opium Wars, killed and destroyed cities and they attacked China twice. The first attack claimed 520 British lives and between 18,000 and 20,000 Chinese people were killed or wounded. The second fight killed over 30,000 Chinese people.
In the 1800s, Queen Victoria got really interested in chickens. She made raising big, beautiful chickens popular, breeding chickens with birds imported from Asia. She also got Cochin chickens from China. She sent eggs of these exotic chickens to other royalty, which increased the popularity of chickens across England.
The Japanese people were shielded from the outside conflict, because of the isolated nation policy. In the meantime, the Japanese were creating imperial mutant chickens. They were expected to be small, but in proportion (like a bonsai). Its tail had to be higher than its head, be highly intelligent, be able to forage for itself, lay lots of eggs and still be able to fly.
When Japanese foreign trade reopened in the mid-1800s, the Japanese Bantam and Silkie Bantam chickens were exported to the the United Kingdom. Queen Victoria began to collect these Japanese Silkie Bantam chickens.
In Week 3, Mr Bowman brought in three of his chickens so that we could see the difference between the chickens that the British had and the Japanese varieties of chicken, including the black Silkie chicken.
Agam Bhatia
Year 8 Student
Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) Secondary Student Leadership Conference
On Monday the 27th of February, our Student Leadership Team attended YLA’s Secondary Youth Leadership Conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. This was an action-packed day that consisted of internationally-recognised speakers, team activities and noteworthy parts on an empowered, positive response to student leadership, creative ways to undertake teamwork, effective communication and coaching skills and an opportunity to hear from successful entrepreneurs on how the pathway to creating a successful business can be achieved.
One of the highlights from the conference was when we stepped into the experience. The word 'LEADERSHIP' was displayed on the wall beside where we were sitting. Our objective was to write down our definition of student leadership. The definition of leadership is different for everyone.
We got to hear from the founder of YLA, Wil Massara. He told us about his journey through leadership and what steps he took to get to where he is today. He also shared his principles of leadership - “Own your story”, “our differences are our greatest asset”, and “your age does not determine your ability to achieve extraordinary things”. These principles are what make everyone unique in student leadership. We heard from a couple more speakers who took us through their journey in leadership and gave us great insight.
We also had the opportunity to ask questions during a panel with four leaders. They went through their journeys and provided insightful information on being a successful student leader and making the most of it. I had a fantastic day out with my peers!
Greg Acciarito
Your Banksia House Captain
On Monday the 27th of February, a handful of students from Years 8-12 attended the YLA Secondary Youth Leadership Conference in the city. Throughout the day, many speakers shared their experiences in becoming leaders, even if this wasn’t necessarily in the most typical ways. From this, all of us were able to take away skills that’ll help us continue to improve ourselves as people and, most importantly, leaders in the school community. I learnt that anyone can be a leader because leadership comes in many different forms.
Lauren Olver
Year 10 Student