​Ex Timboon P-12 student and local paramedic, Andrew Berry, was invited into the Year 10 Homegroup session ‘World of work’ to help students investigate potential pathways and careers under the TAP umbrella of connecting into our community. Andrew described himself as a student, the various jobs he undertook after school and the challenges of studying to work towards his chosen career as someone who ‘hated studying’. Andrew encouraged students to be involved in community activities such as footy clubs or volunteering with service organizations like Ambulance Victoria and being an ACO (Ambulance Community Officer) to gain part time employment and more importantly, experience. He suggested that these traits indicated a sense of team work, responsibility and initiative which made you stand out from other job applicants when employers were considering the resumes of potential employees. Andrew then challenged students to take advantage the skills to be learnt at school over the next few years, to choose a career or pathway that really excited or interested them and the importance of continuing to learn and educate yourself. Great career advice for any pathway. ​

Our Year 3 /4 classes are studying fractions and were challenged to use different shapes to create a picture. Students had to work out how many of each shape were used and then convert this number to a fraction. Fraction faming!

Once again the Year 9 Science unit on body systems was brought to life by local vet, Zoe Vogels from The Vet Group, who spoke to both classes about calf disease types, causes, effects, treatment and the prevention of diseases and mastitis causes and treatment. Zoe provided lots of examples of how diseases can present, be transferred, and treated and used her brilliant cartoons to add to her presentation about  the way diseases work in animals and humans. Thanks Zoe!

​The Year 1/2 students were fortunate enough to host Simone Kain, the author of “George the Farmer”, during a skype session as part of their English classes on author’s intent and story-telling. Students had been encouraged to make predictions about what “George the Farmer” could be about before they were introduced to the Landline story on George and his creators, Simone Kain and illustrator, Ben Hood. Further research was undertaken by the class as they studied how George was created to fill a gap in the childrens’ apps and books market about Australian farmers and the classes read some of the George the Farmer books.

Prior to the skype session students drafted questions to ask Simone about being an author, the creation of George, the authors or stories that inspired her, and asked for advice as potential authors or app designers of the future. We had a surprise for the students as Simone was able to tell them that George, Ben and herself were to be guests at this year’s TAP’s On! event on 22nd November and would see them in person! Can you tell which photo this is! Thanks for your time Simone, we can’t wait to see the student’s stories and to put on our dancing shoes with George!. 

Rhonda Henry, an agribusiness banker from Westpac, was recently hosted by the Year 7/8 elective, ‘My Money, My Rights’ students. She helped students understand the concepts of saving, interest and some of the factors banks consider when issuing loans. Students had to work out how important saving was to them and justify their decisions in a group exercise with some interesting outcomes. Thanks Rhonda and Westpac for the hats.

​As part of the Year 7/8 Kitchen Garden elective, students designed recipes based on produce grown in their school kitchen garden over the last year. Gabby took this opportunity to encourage students to  create a recipe for the Wannon Water ‘Water it. Grow it. Cook it’ competition. All of the results looked scrumptious but Mali Glendinning’s ‘Really, really, delicious rhubarb pie’ was deemed to be the class entry. Good luck!

​As part of their Geology and Science studies the Year 3 / 4 students have investigated “Beneath our feet” which examines how soils are formed and the land profiles in our region. Nerissa Lovric (Department Economic Development, Jobs, Transport & Resources) described the structure of the soil particles and students could identify different agricultural areas across the state based on land types. Students examed the Heytesbury and District Landcare core soil samples and learnt that the soil samples could be millions of years old. Nerissa described how the Heytesbury Settlement was cleared for farm land in the 1960s as a soldier settlement scheme and now how thousands of trees are being replanted across the farmlands to help counter erosion and provide shelter and shade for stock.  

​The Year 7/8 Food Technology elective, Mediterranean Menu, features plant based foods, fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes and fresh local produce. This platform is a perfect fit for the Great Ocean Dairy ‘Cheese your our creation’ competition where students have to examine local dairy products, design a recipe, make their creation and evaluate the end product. The challenge is for students to use their imagination to create a storm in the kitchen with a uniquely designed dairy recipe with 12 of the recipes to be featured in the 2019 Warrnambool Cheese & Butter calendar in an Australia wide competition.
Fantastico! 

The Enviro.Warriors and Kitchen Garden elective students will undertake a variety of activities around the school and in the local area to improve our biodiversity as winners of a Junior Landcare and Biodiversity grant. Stay tuned for more details. Denise Murray

A flood of flannies greeted visitors to Timboon P-12 School as students and teachers flaunted their flannies as a drought awareness event and fundraiser for farmers impacted the drought. A BBQ lunch was provided by Landmark Timboon with thanks to James O’Brien, Davo, Cheryl, parents and helpers who cooked the sausages in bread that students readily purchased to raise funds. The Timboon Lions Club ran a Coins for Kids activity with Timboon P-12’s share of monies raised being directed to Aussie Helpers for drought relief. As well as learning about the impact of the drought on communities across Australia our Prep – Year 2 students celebrated all things rural with bush dancing! Students clad in flannie shirts were also entertained with music during the lunchbreak by our talented musicians. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this worthy cause with over $900 raised to support Aussie farmers.