The TAP into Farm Safety unit uses industry personnel to deliver safety messages that are more real and relevant than those delivered by parents or teachers. Our OHS WorkSafe award winning unit is designed to make students and their families think about the environment on farms and in our community and to be aware of the potential dangers that they may face in day to day situations. Alison Dennis from WorkSafe visited the Year 5/6 class and encouraged students to "spot the risks" in a ‘worst practice’ model set up with a Lego farm kit based on actual WorkSafe incidents and fatalities. Students identified hazards and explained how risks could be eliminated or controlled prior to their excursion to a working farm in a fortnight.

​The Year 7/8 Commerce Celebrities elective is designed so students can learn about entrepreneurs or individuals who have been successful in the business world. They are also looking at local business models developed by our own Commerce Celebrities including ex Timboon P-12 student, Darcy McGlade, who created Diamer Signs. Students learnt that Darcy started his venture as a student working on farm jobs and selling horse pooh to buy his first printing machine and that the business was originally run from his bedroom. Diamer Signs was a full-time business when Darcy finished school and he stressed the importance of working hard when given the opportunity as the subjects he undertook; Business Management, Accounting, Viscom, PE and English have stood him in good stead. Darcy described the development of Diamer Signs which specializes in everything from large scale signage for vehicles and shop fronts, to stickers and canvas prints, the creation of Diamer Corp, the development of his business model and the potential he sees in business in our area. He explained that whilst awards such as the Corangamite Shire Youth Award, Corangamite Australia Day Award and Victorian Young Achiever Awards are great to receive, that they are really important to help raise your profile and stressed the importance of contributing to your community. He is most proud of the Coastal Marine Search and Rescue Training map book he developed with Po which uses geographical co-ordinates and local place names to help easily direct emergency services to incidents and has already saved lives. His parting advice to the students; do it today, do your research, do what you are passionate about, don’t go into business to make money and be diverse in your skills. One of Darcy’s original goals was to be a pilot so keep watching the skies as this local entrepreneur will be skyward one day. Thanks Darcy.  

​To conclude their “Week of Taste” experiences, the Year 3/4 students welcomed The Place of Wonder owner, Kylie Treble, into their classroom where they were able to experience a ‘real’ connection with food. Surprisingly Kylie explained that the most important tool in a chef’s kitchen was a spoon and that it was very important to taste and experiment with different food types to appreciate flavor. Kylie helped them develop an appreciation of food as she explained that the cabbage they were about to eat had been growing for 18 months in her garden and students learnt how it could be prepared and importantly, how it can taste. Students discussed pairing different ingredients together to dramatically change the taste and that pairing can be way to encourage people to try different foods. Kylie challenged students to be open minded about taste options and prepared five different cabbage combinations- raw cabbage, cabbage coleslaw, red cabbage balls, cabbage and bacon and cabbage with apple that were all sampled by students.  Seasonal produce was discussed and Kylie gave copies of her book, "The Local Meal Box Project" about seasonal wholefood recipes with tips about sourcing ingredients locally to each class. In conclusion, the Year 3/4 students were encouraged to respect the food that they eat and the producers who produce it so that there is no wastage. A great lesson, cabbage…who knew!!!

​Whilst not quite the cow jumping over the moon or a moon made of cheese, the TAP was part of a community / STEM  partnership by inviting local astronomer, Michael Toms, to be our guest speaker at the annual Junior Family Science Night. This year’s theme was “Destination Moon: More Missions, More Science” and over 100 space fans were invited by the senior science teachers, Pennie Maxwell, Anne Frazer and Nigel Mottram to explore space with their families. After Michael’s introduction about the phases of the moon, stars and exploring the solar system with his telescope, the Space Technology Family Challenge was launched! Participants had to design and build a lunar vehicle or rocket with recyclable materials provided by the science department. While the judges deliberated on the resulting working models families participated in a quiz celebrating 50 years since the lunar landing, launched paper rockets with a straw and piloted Sphero Robots in space. An alien rich environment was created by junior art classes and an enticing Science Night grazing table was provided by the Year 11 Food Studies class who planned, prepared and created the masterpiece before it disappeared from this planet! Thank you to everyone involved in a astronomical Science night!

Our Year 3/4 students are enriching their vocabulary and learning to describe what they taste as part of the Week of Tastes sensory experience teaching students how to recognize and appreciate taste and flavour. Decked out in their chef’s hats students had to blind taste a range of foods and describe the flavors they experienced. Students were challenged to use food related words based around the five basic tastes- sweet, bitter, salty, sour and umami (meaty, savoury). Parent helpers assisted students to discover, predict, experiment and analyse a range of foods with exercises using students’ senses of sight, taste, smell, touch and sound. What a brilliant lesson, thanks Tiff, Tim, Beth, Lisa, Melissa, Jayde and Bronwyn.  Bon Appetit

To introduce microbes and bacteria to the Year 8 Science students we invited Kurt Stein from Lallemand Animal Nutrition to Timboon P-12 School to describe silage making and the vital role that microbes play in this process. Students learnt that silage making is the anaerobic, without oxygen, preservation of forage and that silage can be preserved in individual rolls, sausages or bunkers. Kurt explained that bacteria are used to convert sugars in the grass into organic acids and these lower the pH in the forage which inhibits the growth of bad bacteria in the resulting silage. Ensiling is a 4 stage process which involves the aerobic stage which lasts a few hours, the fermentation stage which begins when the silage becomes anaerobic, the stable period when it is in storage and the feeding out stage when aerobic spoilage occurs on exposure to air when the stack or bale is opened. Kurt stressed the importance of making good silage to avoid bad bacteria in action as forage without air meant quality silage with high energy value and that silage with oxygen degraded energy value and ultimately became compost!

​As a TAP applied learning opportunity, the Year 3/4 students are currently investigating ‘Our Farming Community, Enviro-Stories’. Students were introduced to Great Ocean Ducks via a clip about ‘Australia’s Best Drives’ featuring Great Ocean Ducks and owners, Greg and Jodi Clarke. The Year 3/4 students then interviewed Greg to learn about the business, journalism and our community with the aim of writing their own duck-based farming community stories. Students learnt that Greg and Jodi started out with 30 ducks and now farm 2,000 Pekin and Aylesbery ducks aided by their Kelpie and Maremma dogs that keep the birds safe from predators and wild ducks. Greg explained that their goal was to rear happy, free range ducks that could eat grass, snails, worms, wheat, apples and strawberries as whilst walking from the paddocks as that helps build flavor in the birds. Students also learnt that ducks are great eaters and great poopers as the Clarkes found out on a long road trip from back Melbourne with the original birds! The business has been profiled in the ‘Just Duck’ cook book and the birds are sold to top end restaurants in Melbourne and exported to China. Greg explained that he always loved writing which lead to his role as a journalist in the Weekly Times and other publications whilst challenging students to write about what they know and do lots of drafts of their work. Inspiring stories, thanks Greg!

The Year 3/4 camp at Kangaroobie is an adventure camp that promotes many of the features of our South West region and also allows the students to partake in daily farming routines. The Year 3/4 students described their excursion using their senses to write about their experience. “Farm activities were great experiences because everyone got close to animals that they usually don’t get close to. It was really bumpy in the trailer, mud and dirt would splatter up and the cold air would breeze onto your face. It was nerve racking getting way up close to feed the cows. We could smell the strong manure of the cows. They liked eating the scrumptious hay out of our hands. The dogs loved the cows but the cows don’t love them. Then there were the stinky, hairy but cute pigs that some children got close to. Another great memory from Kangaroobie camp.” Matt Bowker explained that the cows, who had just been mated, were part of his breeding stock and that the stew and sausages for dinner were produced from happy animals on healthy land as the students had experienced. 

Our Term 3 staff noticeboard challenged students to see how they could 'turn on the TAP' to help achieve curriculum outcomes in their classrooms across our P-12 campus. 

​As part of the TAP and to conclude the Year 7/8 ‘How your say’ politics elective, we invited Corangamite Shire’s 2019 Citizen of the Year, Donna Ellis, to challenge our students about ways that they can be involved in their community. We opened up this session to all Year 7/8 students who learnt that, according to the Census, 1 in 5 people volunteer, that females are more likely to volunteer than males and that there are distinct peaks; females in their 40s, both sexes in their late teens and again in senior years from 60-75 years for both sexes. Students debated the rationale behind these statistics and discussed the various types of areas people can volunteer in such as the environment, sport, aged care, schools, fundraising, health, emergency services etc. Students then nominated different examples of these volunteer organizations, discussed why people in rural areas were more likely to volunteer and discovered that it was a result of perhaps a stronger sense of community and belonging. We hope that our students will consider being a more active contributor to their community moving forward. Great Lesson, thanks Donna.