Around the College

Swim Carnival Wrap-Up and Winners!

Jordan Vlahos, Sports Carnival Coordinator reports:

On Monday, 2 March, Doncaster Secondary College hosted the House Swimming Sports Carnival. Whilst the weather to begin the day did not look promising, the turnout was fantastic!

The competition, particularly from the junior students was enthralling, whilst the Year 12 students put on a show with their colourful dress ups. The novelty pool events were enjoyed with great spirit and enthusiasm, whilst the diving competition drew a large crowd.

Thank you to staff for their hard work on the day and congratulations to all students who were successful in their events. Well done also to our VCAL senior students, who assisted staff with the smooth running of activities on the day.

We're pleased to reveal the House results for the day!

Congratulations to the following Age Champions:

13 Year-Old Female and 13 Year-Old Male Champion: 

Christina M (7C) and Thomas H (7G)

14 Year-Old Female and 14 Year-Old Male Champion:

Olivia B (8F) and Connor K (8J)

15 Year-Old Female and 15 Year-Old Male Champion:

Jemma K (9E) and Stergios L (10B)

16 Year-Old Female and 16 Year-Old Male Champion:

Jisoo L (9G) and Blake C (10J)

17 Year-Old Male Champion:

Aleisha M (12G) and Kevin Y (12D)

20 Year-Old Female and 20 Year-Old Male Champion:

Ling Man C (12F) and Jimmy S (12V)

Meet the 2020 SRC and Student Leaders!

This year our SRC will focus on making sure student voice is heard across many areas of our school including policy and planning, curriculum development and student wellbeing. This group will be reaching out to all students throughout the year in order to ensure their feedback and ideas are heard. The SRC group is energised and excited to make some positive changes in 2020!

Our SLT team will have student engagement and enjoyment at its core when organising events, clubs and whole-school activities this year. The SLT is here to make every student's time at DSC enjoyable, interesting and rewarding. This team is also set on representing the student body voice and making sure that everyone in the DSC community feels welcome.

Growing Our School Garden Program

We are fortunate to have the vision and leadership of horticulturalist Ms Robyn Leszczynski at our school. Ms Leszczynski is doing a wonderful job maintaining our beautiful gardens and has taken on some exciting new initiates this year.  We caught up with Ms Leszczynski to discuss all things gardens at DSC!

Why are gardens important?

Did you know that spending time outside and being immersed in nature has important benefits for students’ physical and mental health? Gardening promotes a sense of wellbeing through the positive emotions that come from being outdoors. At DSC, we see gardens as places of healing and therapy. They encourage learning, exchange of ideas, problem solving and communication outside the classroom with teachers and peers.

There are many areas of learning that we will focus on this year that tie into the curriculum. These include how plants help our senses, and lessons around Horticultural Therapy, Forest Dreaming and Global Gardens of Peace. We will also explore the history of our College grounds. This includes learning about the importance of orchards in the area and the local environment’s ties to Aboriginal inhabitants.

How to care for our gardens

Students will develop an understanding of basic garden maintenance, which will have benefits beyond the classroom. We will cover how and what to weed, how to improve soil by composting and the importance of pruning. We will also cover planting and the use of edible natives. As part of our program we will also explore bushfire recovery projects and the careful planning needed to support these.

Propagation workshops

Another exciting focus will be using materials around the College to propagate and produce plants to revegetate areas. This includes seed sowing to produce food and enhance the environment, and ongoing initiatives such as the greenhouse made of recycled bottles. 

We hope students will enjoy the many wellbeing, sensory and social benefits of our gardening program this year, and will learn some valuable life skills along the way.

Join STEAM Club!

Feeling bored at lunchtime? Come and try STEAM club!

My name is Betty Z and I am the STEAM leader for 2020. 

Ms Purches and I run STEAM Club on Tuesdays at lunchtime in G6. We undertake many fun activities such as robotics, 3D printing, running experiments and more.

Come and create whatever you like on the 3D printer!  Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask Ms Purches in A-block or myself. Hope to see you there!

- Betty Z (9G)