Student Voice
Fairy Bread Day
On Thursday the 24th of November South Oakleigh College hosted Fairy Bread Day. Students had a lovely opportunity to sprinkle kindness to each other and promote the importance of mental health. Members of the S.R.C. and senior leaders came together to prepare over 10 platters of fairy bread! Both senior and junior students joined together, showing it's the small things that can bring a smile to someone’s face.
Shyli Barak
2022 Health & Wellbeing Secretar
Leading Curriculum Representative: Report
Can you believe it? We have already reached the end of the school year! It has been an active few weeks this term with our school commencing the headstart program, adjusting to slightly new times with our 5th period, and transitioning into new student leadership roles for next year. Our Curriculum Portfolio aims to ensure that we continue to grow student voice and agency in our classrooms and contribute in ways that help shape planning in the curriculum through our initiatives. And this is exactly what we have done!
Some exciting news we received was that our student-inspired LADDER Model was recently approved by our College Council as an official model to incorporate into our classrooms! This is a student voice WIN! We were recently invited to join one of the KLA (Key Learning Area) Leaders meetings to present what our students had to say and we looked at the next stages for next year. We also concluded our year-long program, VicSRC’s Teach the Teacher Workshop! A huge thank you to Keisha from VicSRC for her support! I am very proud of all the hard work and dedication that our portfolio has put in throughout this year, but also importantly, thank you to our staff and students for the hard work they have put in this year in making our student voice initiatives happen!
I’d like to take the opportunity to thank our Curriculum Portfolio team, Lauren O, Kyla H, Bianka C and Sophie V; our S.R.C. Presidents, Esther W and Sylvia K; Student Leadership Facilitator Mr Leap and Facilitating Portfolio Teacher, Ms Monga for all the support they have given us throughout this year! Working on this portfolio has been a joy; we will certainly have memories to remember for years. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Greg Acciarito
Leading Curriculum Representative
2023 Prefect Introductions
Your 2023 Sports Prefects:
Hello everyone, my name is William D’Costa, and I’m super excited to be one of the South Oakleigh College Sports Prefects in 2023. During my time at SOC, I have been a Peer Support Leader and have partaken in a few leadership conferences that have helped build my leadership skills. I am a big sports lover, especially footy (Go Cats!) and basketball. My love of sports will be able to transfer to this role, and I hope that next year we will have widespread participation in all house sports events and interschool sports competitions.
I look forward to working with you all next year in the sports area of South Oakleigh College.
William D’Costa
Your 2023 Sports Prefect
Hi, South Oakleigh Students and Teachers. I am Amelia, and will be one of your 2023 Sports Prefects. I am so excited to get to know all of you throughout next year, and I am very excited to see South Oakleigh’s sports community grow and change. I hope you will all give it your best shot and really get into the school spirit with next year’s events.
Amelia McQuienn
Your 2023 Sports Prefect
Hi, my name is Jeremy Tsitouridis, and I’ll be one of your new Sports Prefects for 2023. I am so excited to get to know everyone throughout next year. I look forward to seeing the whole school evolve to the next level. I hope everyone will succeed with their goals and have fun. I hope you all get into the school spirit and love the physical movement called sport!
Jeremy Tsitouridis
Your 2023 Sports Prefect
Your 2023 Performing Arts Prefects:
Hello, my name is Maya Noyman. I am one of next year’s Performing Arts Prefects. This role means so much to me, as I really want to develop my experience in the performing field. I am really excited to work alongside Fin Morgan. I was part of this year’s production, which sparked my love for performing. Being Peer Support Prefect also helped me strengthen the social skills I hope to use as a leader next year. I hope we help form a greater sense of connection with the school community and grow the love for music and performing.
Maya Noyman
Your 2023 Performing Arts Prefect
Hi! My name is Fin Morgan, and I am one of your 2023 Performing Art Prefects, along with Maya Noyman. I’m really looking forward to fulfilling this role in the coming year. I’ve been playing music for quite a while, and any opportunity to widen my knowledge and help continue to establish the arts within SOC is one I am excited to take on. This year I was fortunate to be a Peer Support Leader, which I found quite valuable, and I hope was an equally enjoyable and useful experience for our Year 7s. I hope that in 2023 I will be able to support the music faculty in continuing to grow student participation and engagement in Performing Arts, and I can’t wait to see what the year brings.
Fin Morgan
Your 2023 Performing Arts Prefect
Your 2023 Peer Support Prefects:
Hello, my name is Jia Kaur, and I am delighted to be one of your Peer Support Prefects in 2023. I am very excited! I was a Peer Support Leader in 2022 and absolutely loved it - I am honoured to lead the new Peer Support Leaders in this leadership role. I am friendly, kind and very approachable. Anyone can come and talk to me about anything.
Jia Kaur
Your 2023 Peer Support Prefects
Hello! My name is Christian, and I am honoured to be a Peer Support Prefect for 2023! Thank you so much to SOC for letting me have this role; I am excited to start helping other people throughout their journey in South Oakleigh. If you need support or just need to reach out to someone, I am here. I am a great listener and will respect everyone. One thing that I love to do in my spare time is take care of my six birds, so if you want to talk animal stuff, you have found your next bestie. We are a family at SOC, and family comes first.
Christian Saito
Your 2023 Peer Support Prefects
Your 2023 Global Prefects:
Xin chào mọi người (hello everyone), my name is Phúc (which, fun fact, means ‘happy’), but everyone also knows me as Mollie. One fun fact about me is I love to bake and experiment with recipes for students and teachers to try, so if you ever see me with a massive box, you can probably tell what it is! In 2023, I’ll be your Global Prefect. I’m excited about this new role as I can promote languages and cultural diversity. Previously as 2022 Banksia’s House Captain, I have encouraged and listened to my fellow peers, spreading kindness and promoting confidence to express their individuality. Our goal is to continue transpiring this towards every student. With my co-prefect, Sally, we look forward to bringing a more festive atmosphere and celebrating the beauty of culture and language intelligence.
Mollie Pham
Your 2023 Global Prefect
大家好 (hello, everyone)! My name is Sally. A fun fact about me is that I’m doing three maths at school (It’s just what it is). I’ll be your 2023 Global Prefect, which I’m really excited about as I’m looking forward to promoting this school’s language diversity and cultural appreciation. Previously as a Peer Support leader, I was able to help students communicate and navigate finding their niches and aiding students academically and socially, which I’ll continue to do along with my co-Prefect, Mollie. I hope to see everyone around in 2023!
Sally Wu
Your 2023 Global Prefect
2023 Student Representative Council Introductions
We are excited to release the 2023 Student Representative structure. After reviewing and reflecting on 2022, we have continued to refine our structure to ensure that it accurately reflects our goals and vision for next year. Campaigns and Curriculum will continue their important work alongside the introduction of Connections & Wellbeing and Communications & Student Experience Portfolios. We hope to continue focusing on improving the student experience and well-being of our community throughout the school.
Our 2023 S.R.C. is as follows:
Campaigns:
- Mackenzie Dickson – Leading Representative
- Emily Lay – Secretary
- Soham Dhital – Representative
- Paz Hidas – Representative
- Sophie Volpert – Representative
Curriculum:
- Jack Wright – Secretary
- Ana Donnellon – Representative
- Kyla Heyward-Davenport – Representative
- Osher Hidas – Representative
Connections & Wellbeing:
- Nox Berry – Leading Representative
- Chirathmee Amarasinghe – Secretary
- Leyansh Kamra – Representative
- Amalia Shaer – Representative
Communications & Student Experience:
- Blake Bidmead-Graham – Leading Representative
- Yohan Soju – Secretary
- Ezra Bernshaw – Representative
- Pranshu Mistry – Representative
Soham Dhital will also be the Breakfast Club Liaison for 2023, and Yohan Soju will be the Enrichment Liaison. Shyli Barak and I will be working and communicating with all of the Student Representative Council, and we are, of course, open to any questions or feedback. We look forward to all the work we can do next year and wish the college a happy and safe break.
Genna Windsor
Your 2023 Student Representative Council President
2023 Student Leadership Training
The Student Leadership Induction & Training was a great introduction for both junior and senior students fulfilling a student leadership role in 2023.
The day was hosted at Monash University’s Learning and Teaching building and held an assortment of activities for us. The main point of the workshop was to self-reflect upon our abilities as leaders, understand what type of leadership styles we follow, as well as build upon our strengths to prepare for the next hectic year.
We focused primarily on the morals and values a leader must possess, including our personal characteristics, which make us unique and help us achieve success in leadership. Some of our personal values include integrity, creativity, respect, passion, loyalty and more, which many other students also shared. We strive to stick to these values as School Captains next year.
There was one particularly insightful group conversation we had, which talked about the best advice students had received over the years. While a seemingly simple ice-breaker activity, the responses certain students gave were deeply motivating to everyone else in the room and passed on some helpful advice for the future.
In the second half of our day, our special guest speakers Hannah Priest, the AFLW St Kilda Football Club’s Captain, and Bronwen Lamond from the Rotary Club Oakleigh, Clayton and Huntingdale inspired us with their advice, anecdotes, and knowledge they have collected through their life experiences. Ms Priest spoke to students about staying courageous and determined in order to achieve our dreams in school, life and the future. She also empowered us by showing the key to success is a high level of resilience, proving her statement that we should ‘never give up’ on our desires, even in dark situations. Ms Lamond talked about her experiences as a student leader, and as a principal in her school and how she had overcome challenges throughout her career, in addition to the programs that the Rotary Club offers to support students.
Jason Pouliezos & Sylvia Krozian
Your 2023 College Captains
Just like last year, the 2023 Student Leadership Training was held at Monash University and improved so much! It was a very eventful day, with no time to get bored. Even surprise guests attended, such as the St Kilda AFLW Team Captain, Hannah Priest and Rotary Club of Oakleigh, Clayton and Huntingdale Vocational and Youth Chair, Bronwen Lamond!
The events that were organized got everyone involved. For example, the Captains managed different “icebreakers” to get our minds ready. These activities let us familiarise ourselves with all the leaders we will be working with next year and gave us more confidence, making us answer questions on the spot. We had time in the end to plan our goals and preparations for what we strive to accomplish next year.
Some things we learned at the leadership training are to be able to identify our core values, work together with a team, and learn new leadership skills.
This was a fun, well-organized training and was very inspirational. We learned so much and wish to use the new skills we learned in the future. Looking forward to another great year for the student leadership team.
Yohan Soju
Your 2023 Communications Secretary & Enrichment Liasion
After a year of hard work from the S.R.C. and Student Leadership Team, we could relax and ease into our Training Day as if it were just another school day. New members of Student Leadership got the chance to meet their peers and get a feel for what they will be doing the following year.
The training took place at Monash University, where we had two guest speakers and a lunch break on campus. Our first guest speaker was the Vocational and Youth Chair of the Rotary Club of Oakleigh, Clayton, and Huntingdale. She gave an inspiring speech about how we can use our leadership qualities to invite new opportunities and succeed in our goals.
Our second guest speaker was the Captain of the AFLW St. Kilda Team. Hannah’s speech talked about the three Ps (purpose, passion, and persistence) and how they can be shown in everyday life. She used anecdotes to help give us an image of what we in student leadership can prepare for and reflect on. Despite the weather, the day was a huge success!
A big thank you to Mr Leap, who organised the event, and Miss Tilbey for joining us on the day. Good luck to all the S.R.C. and Student Leadership Teams for their plans next year.
Mackenzie Dickson
Your 2023 Leading Campaigns Representative
2022 Student Representative Council Wrap Up
Somehow, 2022 is over and we are once again reflecting on how our year went. Our Student Representative Council has thrived this year as we are building ourselves back up after two years of inconsistent schooling. We have hosted over 30 Breakfast Clubs this year, including 5 Celebratory Breakfast Clubs!
Our Campaigns Portfolio has hosted eight events this year. Our biggest successes were the Biggest Morning Tea, Cupcake Day and Welcome to Summer Day introducing our first-ever animal farm! We have raised money for many causes across the year.
Our Curriculum Portfolio has hosted the Student Voice in Agency Logo Competition, with Natasha Aldred from Year 12 winning! They have also worked to create the new LADDER model, which is a tool that is aimed to encourage student agency in their learning. The goal is to make the LADDER a guideline for classroom learning and to put it into practice as an effective way of reflecting on our learning/teaching. They also hosted student voice & agency in the classroom focus groups and completed the yearlong VicSRC Teach the Teacher Workshop and Professional Development Program.
Our Enrichment Portfolio has facilitated and overseen the set-up and continuation of clubs around South Oakleigh College, including the LEGO club, art club and media club to name a few.
Our Health & Wellbeing Portfolio set up the random acts of kindness board outside the library. Students have been encouraged to take a random act of kindness card and complete it to increase kindness levels at the College. They have also set up brain break resources in each classroom to assist students with staying engaged in their learning.
Our Outreach Portfolio have worked with the whole of the S.R.C. to send out and reflect on surveys to grasp how the school has seen initiatives and events, as well as taking part in the VicSRC Teach the Teacher workshops.
The Student Representative Council have also been proud to host Wellfest Week again this year, helping to promote the importance of all dimensions of health.
Esther Walker and Sylvia Krozian have led the Student Representative Council this year, and we thank them for all the hard work they have put in. We wish Esther all the best in her future endeavours, and Sylvia for her Year 12 studies and School Captaincy. Thank you to all our Representatives, volunteers, students, staff, and the broader College Community for their support in 2022. We really look forward to seeing all the work we can do next year to build and improve on what was done this year. We wish everyone a safe and relaxing break.
Genna Windsor and Shyli Barak
Your Student Representative Council Presidents
2022 S.R.C. Cupcake Day
On Thursday the 27th of October, the S.R.C. Campaigns Portfolio hosted Cupcake Day. We baked, iced, and sold over 200 cupcakes at recess and lunchtime. Students flocked to buy and eat the cupcakes and it was great to see students at the College coming together to contribute to a great cause. All the money we raised went towards the South Oakleigh Wildlife Shelter (http://www.sows.org.au/). Thank you to everyone for their support!
Genna Windsor
Your Leading Campaigns Representative
Student Representative Council
Peer Support Leader & Prefect Training for 2023
The training for the new Peer Support Leaders for 2023 was a valuable experience. It allowed us to grasp many tips and techniques that will help us in our peer support journey. The training went through many fun activities that helped us understand how to be a leader. The activities also taught the key values that all leaders need in order to succeed. We thank the external provider, Ylead, for coming to the College to support us and show us the right path to becoming great leaders. Christian and I enjoyed meeting and getting to know the new Peer Support Leaders a little better and we look forward to working with them all next year.
Jia Kaur
Peer Support Prefect 2023
The training day was an amazing experience, and we were so grateful to talk to and meet the guest speakers. Having our training at Monash was a great opportunity and the presenters were very well-prepared. A leader is someone who stands out and listens to their teammates; training day taught us about how to be a leader in our roles as Peer Support Prefects. I loved how we could interact with everything - Jia and I were just drawing on the tables to come up with ideas (the tables are designed for this purpose!) All students included in this opportunity were so nice and I can see them as a leader.
Christian Saito
Peer Support Prefect 2023
Salvation Army Food & Toy Drive
Since Week 6, the S.R.C. have collected various foods, brand-new toys, and home goods. We’re proud to share that the Salvation Army has collected them, and they will be made into hampers to give to those experiencing hardship this Christmas. It was really good to see all the donations coming in and students supporting a good cause. Congratulations to Banksia for bringing in the most donations. Thank you, everyone, for your continued support this Christmas!
Genna Windsor
Your Leading Campaigns Representative
Student Representative Council
2022 S.R.C. Welcome To Summer Fundraiser
On Friday the 25th of November, the S.R.C. Campaigns Portfolio hosted the Welcome To Summer Fundraiser. Students and staff came to school wearing summer-themed clothes and brought $2. We hosted a sausage sizzle and raffle at lunchtime, and we brought in an animal farm for the first time ever!
It was great to see everyone getting involved and raising money for the Australian Koala Foundation (https://www.savethekoala.com/). Thank you once again for your support of our initiatives!
Genna Windsor
Your Leading Campaigns Representative
Student Representative Council
Year 12 Retreat
On the 30th of November, the Class of 2023 embarked on what would be our final camp for our schooling careers.
As your School Captains, we’d like to run through some of the events the Year 12’s took part in not only to prepare for Year 12 but to also relax and prepare for the exciting (and VERY stressful) coming year.
Starting in the morning we rode a bus to ‘CYC The Island’, (Phillip Island), where we discovered all the fun activities that awaited us including the giant swing, flying fox, archery, rock-climbing, swimming pool and the spinyboy, along with smaller attractions such as trampolines, a variety of sports, and even a built-in twister mat, that we could access at any time during our downtime.
During the camp, we took part in workshops that would help us with not only our future studies but also life in general. Skyline Hatch spoke to us in a day-long workshop about the importance of our schooling, family, friends, success and mindset to stay motivated in year 12 and beyond. Students had the opportunity to share their dreams and aspirations. In addition, the Health and Wellbeing team discussed healthy habits such as sleep, relationships, and safe party tips for young adults.
Finally, our Year 12 Leader Ms Carmody spoke to students about the importance of our attendance in Year 12, wearing the correct uniform and studying techniques for our senior year.
The camp offered some introspective activities. We had the sentimental and memorable opportunity to write a “Letter to our Future Self” which will be given back to us on our graduation. At the end of the first night, we all sat together around the warm campfire roasting marshmallows and had the chance to partake in the “Burn your Fears” activity in which we threw our fears which were written on a paper into a fire, symbolizing letting go of those fears.
As School Captains, we also prepared and hosted a Trivia competition, involving Songs and Music, Global Knowledge, a special School round and Pop Culture which many students had fun with and enjoyed altogether.
Overall, the camp was an experience like no other and provided a very fun introduction to our final year of schooling. Hopefully, the rest of our time will be as exciting as the camp was.
Jason Pouliezos & Sylvia Krozian
2023 College Captains