Enrichment Programs
Da Vinci Decathlon
The DaVinci Decathlon. As the name states, it was a decathlon. And there was a little bit about DaVinci. But it wasn’t all about him. There were ten events: Art and Poetry; Cartography (Geography); Code Breaking; Creative Producers (Drama); Engineering; English; Ideation (Philosophy); Mathematics; Science and General Knowledge.
There was also a theme. Chance. By its name you can tell that the event itself was a little uncertain if you catch my drift. If you don’t catch my drift, I’ll explain it for you. General knowledge is normally about things that most people would know, like what are the three primary colours, and what is the ninth element of the periodic table. But this was no ordinary general knowledge quiz. This was a special edition. All about DaVinci. In all honesty, we did not do well in that event. Actually, we did really bad. But we tried our hardest and made sure we did our best representing the school.
This day was so more than an academic thing though. It was an experience that I don’t think any of us will ever forget. Friendships were formed, memories were made and a source of pride for our achievements came to the surface. We had a lot of fun, and it honestly didn’t feel like we were doing work half the time.
To close this report on the decathlon, we had fun, we did okay, and we really need to learn more about DaVinci for events like this.
Long live Bill Gates. Thank you for reading.
By OIive English – Year 8
The Da Vinci Decathlon was a state competition for year 7-9s generally hosted at one of the participating schools, however due to Coronavirus it was held on Zoom for the first time this year. I was part of the year 7 group.
There were 8 of us including myself who participated in the year 7 competition and the competition's theme this year was chance, so most of the questions were based on that. Each of us worked together to complete each task within the set amount of time.
It was a great way to demonstrate the school's values whilst having fun throughout the day. We worked on many subjects ranging from the regular ones like English and Math, to ones like Ideation and Cartography.
Though we didn't win any awards, we all had a lot of fun working together in a group; it was a thoroughly educational and fun experience that I would definitely suggest to others. I look forward to next year's one.
By Lia Velissaris – Year 7
Year 9 Debating Team
This year we have 4 very passionate debaters who have committed time and energy to compete in the Debating Association of Victoria- Mt Eliza Division. The team competes every month on a Tuesday night at Peninsula Grammar School and in March they showed an impassioned plea to the adjudicator and the other team (Toorak College) that the government should subsidise tourism in regional Victoria. Although they did not walk away with a win, their debating skills are improving as they progress through the competition. Jasmin Salah, Tamara Mills, Jorjah Davies and Gabe Franklin meet regularly with Miss Kate Mathews to hone their skills, develop and collaborate their arguments and help improve each other’s craft. In May, they won through a forfeit of the opposing team and most convincingly if they did compete to argue that animal testing should not be banned, they definitely would have won! Their next debate on Tuesday 1st June is that public transport should not be free. Lets just hope they get the opportunity to shine again.
Year 7 Super Skills Workshop – Showcase
Year 7 EPP and Accelerate students have had their first workshop to start to collaborate and build ideas for their Showcase in September. Mrs McCabe and Mrs Bucher delivered a presentation promoting brainstorming, mind mapping and building relationships with others to come up with a collaborative idea. Students combined their thoughts, interests and passions and we are well on the way to some great ideas being developed. Our next workshop is team building which will promote students working together, identifying strengths and building skills to work together from an idea to a showcase project.
Year 7 & 8 Elevate Education Study Skills Workshops
Accelerate @McClelland Students in Year 7 & 8 have now participated in two study skills workshops that focus on time management, memory mnemonics and developing a study routine. Elevate Education workshops begin to instil important study skills that are important for academic success. All students reported that they gained a lot of valuable tips and advice on how to create a study environment at home, how to manage school work both at home and school and Year 8 students were taught some fantastic ways to remember content. With Year level exams coming up in the next few weeks, students will hopefully be able to apply some of their newly learnt study skills.
Victorian High Ability Program
With Term 2 underway, we now have a new group of students participating in the Victorian High Ability Program (VHAP). Now in our third round, high ability students have been selected to undertake a 10 week extension program in either English or Maths. Well done to all past and current students who have committed to this program and gained skills and knowledge to extend themselves well above their current curriculum levels.
Year 9 (Term 4 – 2020)
Rhyanna Ansems
Jake Augustine
Evelyn Butler
Jekabs Gravelsins
Clarice Lennie
Sarah Maguire
Hannah McCleary
Tamara Mills
Nick Pettigrove
Jasmin Salah
Jeron Street
Year 8 (Term 1 – 2021)
William Peterssen
Joshua Smith
Adam Taylor
Ryan Wainwright
Year 7 (Term 2 – 2021)
Deegan Ashcroft
Jaxon Aubrecht
Poppy Cowley
Suriya Gunawardena
Illyssa MacPherson
Hayden Mcharry
David Schragg
Riley Smith
Daniel Trott
Lia Velissaris