Middle School Update
Dear Families, Students and Community Members,
Year 7 excursions (camp make up days)
Congratulations to our Year 7 Coordinators and the Year 7 Team for making the best of the unfortunate situation of having to postpone and then cancel the Year 7 Camp due to lockdown. We had an incredible time over four activities, which made for some very tired and happy staff and students.
Enchanted Adventure
At the Enchanted Adventure gardens students engaged in a fantastic high ropes course, that catered towards all levels of abilities. Having been to a number of high ropes courses, I can honestly say that this was one of the most varied and enjoyable courses I have seen. It was great to hear the students having a great time and enjoying themselves. Students also spent time on the tube slides and getting lost, then ultimately finding their way through several mazes, including a beautiful hedge maze.
Bay Play
Using the expertise of ‘Bay Play Adventure Tours’ our students undertook a range of water-based activities in Port Philip Bay at Portsea. Students were able to experience snorkelling, learn how to stand up paddle board and engage in sea kayaking, which many students had not had the chance to do previously.
The Compound
The students really enjoyed themselves at The Compound Training Centre. For those of you who do not know, the Compound is a Ninja Warrior course and training facility. It was great to see our students pushing themselves to their physical limits and when they failed it was even better to see them dust themselves off and attempt the challenge again.
Melbourne Cable Park
The Melbourne Cable Park, located next to Patterson River gave the Year 7s another opportunity to engage in a high ropes course. Although smaller than the high ropes course at the Enchanted Gardens, this course was much higher, in places being nearly 20 metres high! Of course, they also had lower sections for those not wanting to get too far off the ground. Melbourne Cable Park also had an Aqua Fun Park, made up of over 300 m of inflatables; all students undertook the challenge of completing them and had a blast.
A special thanks to Miss Hockey and Mr Potter who arranged all of the excursions and to the myriad of staff who attended the excursions and made them possible.
Year 7 Chinese Museum incursion
Earlier in the year, during Humanities lessons, the Year 7 cohort completed a unit on Ancient China. To enrich the learning of this unit an incursion from the Chinese Museum was arranged. Like most things arranged for earlier in the year, this incursion was postponed, but due to the tenacity of the Humanities staff, we were lucky enough to reschedule it for Friday 12 November.
On this day, the Year 7 students rotated through different workshops where students learned about Chinese inventions such as: paper, gunpowder, the compass and the abacus amongst many more; they also had a session where students were taught about Chinese knots and they were able to make their own bracelet using the skills they had learned; and a Kung Fu session, where the idea of discipline was discussed, then put to the test and some minor self-defence techniques were taught.
At lunchtime, a Chinese dance troupe performed traditional Lion Dances for those in the Learning Centre. All those that participated in the day consolidated learnings from earlier in the year and had a great time. Thank you to Mr Murray who organised the day and to the staff who supervised and engaged in the activities with the students.
Year 9 MEX City Experience excursions
Due to missing out on the City Experience throughout the year the entire Year 9 cohort made their way to the city for two days, Monday 15 November and Tuesday 23 November. Over those two days, every student attended four separate excursions, consisting of a MCG tour, a tour through the Chinese Museum in China Town, a tour through the Old Melbourne Gaol and a visit to the Shrine of Remembrance.
Throughout all four excursions, students learned about the history of our lovely city and the people who make up the population. Whilst in the city, students also had some free time to navigate their way through the streets and laneways to experience what make Melbourne one of the best cities in the world. A special thank you to Mr Cummins who planned the experience and the staff who attended to over the two days.
Gumbuya World Celebration Day - Years 7, 8, 9 and 10
On Thursday 18 November nearly 600 students from Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 attended an excursion to Gumbuya World, to celebrate the extraordinary efforts that were seen throughout the year, not to mention the great results obtained by many.
Gumbuya World, consisting of a Water Park, a Theme Park and a Wildlife Park that was open exclusively to Mordialloc College students. This meant that students had great access to waterslides such as the Taipan, Redbelly Racer and the Tiger Snake Tango, along with the Lazy River and the wave pool. Rides such as the dodgem cars, the Race Coaster, the Tree Swing and Rebel (for students 14 years and older) were also great hits.
The third section of the park, the wildlife park, was not high on many people’s radars when first entering Gumbuya World, but many soon realised that it was also a great experience. Students were able to engage in milking cows, whip cracking, seeing the feeding of Tasmanian devils as well as getting close to and in some cases getting to pat animals including wombats, kangaroos, emus, chickens and koalas.
All students that attended the celebration day were extremely well behaved and enjoyed themselves immensely! Thank you to Mr Haber, who organised the day and to all of the staff, who supervised the event.
Headstart
On Monday 22 November all students began the Headstart program for 2022. It is always an exciting time of the year as students find themselves in different classrooms, with different people in their classes, learning different topics with different teachers. It is great to see the students excited for what is to come and see them walking around the school with renewed vigour.
Daniel Williams
Director of Middle School