​To compliment the geology being taught in the Year 8 Science classrooms, we invited ex Timboon P-12 student and local geotechnical engineer, Jeremy Doolan, into the classroom to provide his expertise to help us better understand rocks, minerals, geology and the range of careers in this field. He explained that Australia contains all known rock types and the age of some rocks spans over 4.4 billion years. Since the gold rush in the 1850s, Australian mining has become much more industrialized and automated including the use of AI and it is one of the most important producers of raw mineral product in the world. After obtaining a Bachelor Degree in Geological Engineering, Jeremy worked in open pit and underground mines in Mount Isa in Queensland before becoming a Geotechnical Engineer at the Ballarat Gold Mine and later the Cadia Mine near Orange where he worked on Technology and Innovation. Returning to Port Campbell in 2017, he worked in a Fly-in, Fly-out (FIFO) capacity as a Geotechnical Superintendent and Underground Mine Manager. Currently he is working for a consulting/ contracting firm, Operational Geotechs, which allows him to work remotely from home with adhoc mine site visits when necessary. Jeremy provided rock samples for the students to examine was able to help them understand the various types of raw materials, equipment, work practices, technology and career options available in today's mining industry in Australia. He left students with a final thought, “If mining didn’t exist to extract valuable minerals from the rocks beneath our feet, what would our world be like?” 

In Science, Preps and Year 1/2 students have been working with microscopes and looking closely at insects  They are exploring the different external features that help insects move, breathe, eat and respond to their environment. Thanks to Beach Energy for providing their Community Investment grant that enabled us to purchase a class set of Stereoscopic Dual Light microscopes to help us better explore the world around us..

​Following recent bushfires in our region, our Year 9/10 AgHort class have decided to explore plant propagation and native species for plantations with a goal to grow seedlings to share with landowners impacted by the fires. To contextualize this and learn about native plants, our group visted Kate Leslie and Clem Wetherall at the Heytesbury & District Landcare Network (HDLN) nursery. Students learnt about native and endemic plants, how seeds germinate, the conditions required for germination and the stratification involved in establishing plantations. Over the next week, the class will be volunteering their time at the nursery, assisting with the planting and management of native trees to learn more about how they can contribute to recreate habitats and shelterbelts in our region. 

Following the success of Catherine Velisha’s VEG Education workshop sessions at TAP’s On!, the TAP Term 1 2026 staffroom noticeboard is inviting teachers to consider how horticulture and agriculture can be used to enhance curriculum content in the classroom. Could teachers consider inviting a mobile plant operator in classrooms to help teach physics, a QA facilitator to explain quality control systems, a machine learning engineer to better understand AI, a strawberry farmer to learn what plants need to grow or a business development officer help prepare for risks or opportunities. Could an irrigation engineer help teach ratios, a drone operator advise about biological pest control, a marketing manager help teach psychology or a export and domestic sales facilitator outline international trade to commerce students? Maybe, let’s ask! 

We proudly share the 2025 TAP brochure that describes a very busy year for our Timboon P-12 students, staff and our community / industry contributors. The focus is on 'SAME SAME but DIFFERENT- TAP 2025’ reflecting on the new, innovative or tried and true programs we have offered during the year. Thank you to Fiona Mackenzie, who documented the TAP journey and to Robyn Vale for compiling our TAP data. As always, we would like to acknowledge this support and thank our teachers, students and school families who supported these endeavours and tasks so enthusiastically. This is a real school-community partnership as it would not have existed for over 13 years without the active support of so many in our community. The 2025 TAP newsletter is also attached as a PDF in the "What is TAP?" section of the TAP Blog.

​As part of the Timboon Agriculture Project (TAP) in 2025, we curated ‘Timboon Tales‘ during the Timboon 150 celebrations, explored paddock to plate pathways with sheep and dairy, uncovered convoluted career opportunities, investigated new technology in agribusinesses, discovered the importance of healthy waterways, savoured a Week of Tastes, learnt about the implications of global trade on local markets, traversed our everchanging coastline, created Sungold couture / high fashion garments, hosted baby bovines, explored VEG Education and even danced with a broccoli!  
 
Students unearthed potato production, appreciated cheese, camembert and honey, probed body systems, made many community connections, investigated reversible and irreversible changes with cordials, examined turf statistics using micro: bits, uncovered maths&science@work, appreciated that business inputs/outputs = $, learnt about safety on farms or before bushfires and explored indigenous perspectives of health and connection to country.
 
In 2025 we had 148 individual community and industry personnel involved in the development and delivery of the TAP curriculum.. Since August 2012, 815 local community members and businesses have shared their expertise and passion with us. In monetary terms, this year our volunteers have provided $15,128 curriculum support or PD and $160,082 worth of expertise has generously been shared with our school community since the inception of the TAP.
 
Thank you to our inventive teachers and students for continually tackling both proven and pioneering options; and our creative, supportive school community for your ongoing collaboration with the TAP. Yep, just another normal TAP year!

​Our annual Timboon P-12 School magazine, ‘Baringa’, celebrated 2025 with the theme of ‘Then. Now. Next.’ The Timboon 150 Year celebrations were a highlight and helped us reminiscence and observe the passing of time and acknowledge, that sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same… Another ‘normal’ year in the TAP really; showcasing stories, pathways, partnerships, technology, history, agribusinesses and opportunities with our amazing community of educators.

​Another one of our brilliant TAP’s On!’ expo workshops was revisited following it’s success at our annual curriculum in November this year. ‘Ms Higgins’ Year 9/10 art based “Milking the Material” workshop was an tactile exploration of sustainability and high fashion as she challenged senior students to create haute couture gowns from the rolls that Saputo use to produce the stickers on their 1 litre milk cartons. These rolls, usually a byproduct of milk carton production, combined style and shape to fabricate examples of stunning sustainable garments. We are grateful to Rowan Ault, Saputo Field Services Manager, and Emma Moloney, the Cheeseworld Manager, for offering to display these striking examples at Cheeseworld in Allansford of how recycled materials can be transformed into expressive and innovative art. Congratulations to everyone involved, check it out next time you call in for a milkshake! 

​Following the success of the Precious Plastics workshop hosted by Bill Verhagen at TAP’s On!, we thought we’d introduce it to our Year 8 students as one of the activities during their Activity Week program. Guided by Mr Bell, the students sorted through the boxes of plastic lids we have collected over the last few years and worked out which types of lids were the best to run through the recycling process. Funding from a Beach Energy Community Grant enabled us to purchase a Machine Education Kit that is made up of a benchtop shredder, handcrank extruder and moulds to be able to create carabiners and school bag tags. Next year, we will be using this innovative small-scale recycling kit to enhance STEM learning at Timboon P-12 School through an experiential, hands-on and practical approach. This whole process is designed to inspire and empower environmentally-aware minds whilst investigating creative solutions to reducing waste and exploring the concept of the Circular Economy! Watch this space.

​Dodging showers over the last few weeks, Mr Marshallsea and our senior Year 9/10 Hands on Learning crew have been hard at work at Power Creek cleaning up the vegetation and making the space more appealing for visitors and locals. Peter Pope, Alan Kerr and Judy Walsh from the Power Creek Reserve Committee have been facilitating this by introducing students to the area and providing bags to help carry away the vegetation that the students have cleared. What a great way for our students to contribute to their community