Our Year 10 Science students are investigating endangered species and biosecurity so we reached out to former Timboon P-12 School student, Abbey Ralph, who is now a Graduate Ranger at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania. After a gap year, Abbey enrolled in a Bachelor of Environmental Science at Deakin University where she discovered a new passion and drive for land based environmental science. During her course Abbey volunteered at wildlife sanctuaries and parks before determining that she wanted to one day return to work in Tasmania. COVID restrictions made interships difficult so Abbey applied for an Honours year and, as a non-academic person, she knew she was up for a challenge, but couldn’t wait to start a fourth year of study in an area that really interested her. Abbey’s research year took her to the Grampians National Park where she studied the abundance and distribution of the Long-Nosed Potoroo and the Southern Brown Bandicoot. This research was critical as bandicoots have not been seen in the landscape since 2013 and potoroos not since 2010. Camera traps and vegetation surveys helped establish where they were sited in the Grampians and also determined the number and type of predators in their environment. Abbey worked with Parks Victoria and was able to apply her environmental management skills into practise in real world situations. Abbey now has her dream job as a Gradate Ranger at Cradle Mountain where she is involved in park maintenance, talking to visitors, reviewing permits, walking the walking tracks, project planning, firefighting, helicopter operations, supporting search and rescues and volunteer programs. She is planning for her next adventure, potentially working at Macquarie Island before embarking to the Antarctic one day. Abbey’s takeaway messages were: You don’t have to be the smartest cookie in the jar to get where you want to be, Build a network of people through working in related fields and volunteering, You don’t need to have everything figured out when you leave school, Anyone can be a park ranger if you love the outdoors. Thanks Abbey Our Year 5/6 students are currently exploring space so we inviting Michael Toms from the Warrnambool Astronomy Nights group to Timboon to talk about our moon, moons in our solar system and their discovery. Michael explained that as the moon is constantly orbiting earth in an elliptical orbit we only see the near side of the moon due to tidal lock. He described the four phases of the moon: the new moon, first quarter, full moon and last quarter and that early Chinese astronomers created the Draconic month believing a mythical dragon ate the sun or moon during an eclipse. Michael used models and students to enlighten us about a lunar eclipse where the moon passes into the shadow of the earth cast by the sun and a solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the earth and the sun and stops all or some of the sun’s light reaching the earth. He clarified how the timing of Easter varies each year according to the full moon, that lunar eclipses are coppery red as light filters through the atmosphere with other colours absorbed and that a blue moon was a full moon occurring twice in one month. Michael described the development of observation equipment including the Newtonian and refractory telescopes and gifted a refractory telescope to a student who asked great questions, congratulations Lachie Doolan! Students were encouraged to look for the solar eclipse that will happen on the 8th of April, 14 days after a full moon and Michael invited to students to bring their families to participate in Astronomy Nights public viewing events around our region. Once again, the TAP was a part of our Timboon on Display, transition event. The evening was targeted at new Year Prep parents and students and families of students in Year 6 as they are invited to transition to the Year 7-12 Senior campus. School tours introduced students and their families to the junior and senior classrooms with students and teachers outlining what is covered in their respective year levels and curriculum areas. We are proud of our TAP involvement right across our P-12 School and we used this opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge our wonderful volunteer community in our region and the way they contribute to our society as the cornerstones of the TAP itself. Complementing the Year 7B Economic classes’ excursion to local business, Milk and Honey, we took our Year 7A class to visit Fiona Mason and Caitlin Walker at Wylde Home. Students learnt that this treasure trove of hand curated lifestyle products is owned and managed by a mother daughter trio that also includes Caitlin’s sister, Laura. Caitlin explained that she was previously a financial advisor while Fiona was an ex dairyfarmer, who also worked in hospitality and retail but they shared a love of lifestyle and homewares. Wylde Home opened in 2021 and it’s name derived from the wild times during Covid when the business was established with their cliental including both locals and tourists. One of their signature pieces is their Timboon candle and the team collaborated with an artisan candlemaker to produce a candle that has a sea and sage scent to capture the aromas of our region. Their gas strut coffee window proves popular with visitors including tradies or farmers who can call pass, get a coffee and occasionally purchase a belated gift through the window! The importance of street appeal and offering a point of difference was discussed as Wylde provides coffee made from dairy milk as well as almond and oat milk. Students proposed that the target customer was probably a Mum, auntie, female or someone looking for baby clothes, a gift or classic homewares. Thanks Caitlin and Fiona for providing a real world business exploration. Crayfest was a blast! So many wonderful entries in the parade, great music, scrumptious food to enjoy and our volunteer photo boards and interactive live mural proved very popular with Crayfestians from babies to grandparents and everyone in between! Timboon P-12’s Crayfest parade contribution was to acknowledge the wonderful volunteers amongst us that contribute to the fabric of our community and our participants were applauded as volunteers in lieu. Thanks to the students and parents for celebrating our community volunteers with us, Lee and Rocky for helping with the photo boards and parade signs, Wal for the frame for our volunteer photo boards and Mrs Mac and Roxie for working on our live mural with Crayfest attendees. We definitely did Seas the Day! To provide real world context for 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 and geology. After obtaining a Bachelor Degree in Geological Engineering he worked in open pit and underground mines in Mount Isa in Queensland before becoming a Geotechnical Engineer at the Ballarat Gold Mine then 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 from home with adhoc mine site visits around the world when necessary. Jeremy explained that Australia contains all known rock types and the age of some rocks spans over 3.8 billion years. Discussing the history of mining in Australia, Jeremy explained that indigenous peoples mined orche for ceremonial purposes and the first settlers dug for coal for heating. 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. Jeremy was able to help students understand the difference between open pit and underground mines and 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?” The TAP is joining the Crayfest festivities this Saturday to celebrate and acknowledge the amazing volunteers in our community. We are asking students or families who wish to dress up to represent our community volunteers and join us in the Crayfest parade from 10.15am to acknowledge the intergenerational volunteers amongst us. While some students have been involved in art activities in preparation for the parade and there will be teachers present at the event, this isn’t a school organised event and supervision of children remains parent and carers’ responsibility. The flyer provided here suggests examples ranging from SES, pony club officials, Surf Life Savers, TAP guests, Timboon parkrun officials, netball coaches, Meals on Wheels volunteers or wildlife carers etc. At the conclusion of the parade we will be acknowledging our community helpers by providing photo opportunity boards featuring our CFA, CERT, Surf Life Saving and coaching volunteers with thanks to Lee and Rocky for their input. There will also be a live mural for Crayfest juniors to paint. Join us to celebrate our local volunteers in the street parade - Who will you represent? The Year 7 Economics classes are exploring local businesses as they investigate the vagaries of business economics and learn how to manage supply and demand whilst catering to a diverse range of clients. Simone Togni and Corrine Beames graciously hosted our Year 7B class at Simone’s business, Milk and Honey, a home décor store that provides a range of boutique clothing, footwear, homewares and gifts carefully curated by Simone. During the field trip Simone described the history of her business that started 14 years ago in Timboon and the importance of having a variety of quality stock that appealed to her customer base of both locals and tourists. Students learnt that goods are purchased 12 months in advance often at a gift fairs in August with a range of intended purchasers in Simone’s mind as she appraises potential stock. Purchasing demand was considered alongside the volume of stock available on the shelves with December/January and Easter usually being the busiest times of the year. Branching into quality, affordable furniture imported from Bali was proving to be a successful new venture for Simone with lots of interest in the tables, chairs and furniture. Thanks Simone and Corinne for hosting our budding entrepreneurs The Year 8 Geography classes are investigating the unit, "Changing Nations: Big Australia" so we sought local expertise to guide this process and invited Corangamite Shires Aaron Moyne, the Manager of Planning and Building Services, and Planning Officers, Kate Shurvell and Shwetha Amaranarayana, in to the classroom to facilitate our discission. Aaron explained that the Planning Department provides tools to guide future development and growth when council has to assess potential land use to make sure it meets the demand and growth for jobs, housing and services. Students were provided with zones and overlay maps of Timboon and learnt that zones manage land use and development and are usually classed as residential, commercial, industrial, rural and public. Overlays are applied to manage development and typically cover environmental, landscape, design, built form and heritage considerations and also include mitigating flooding and bushfire risk. Students considered the various zones and overlays and were challenged to come up with a list of options that young people would want in a town like Timboon. Aaron described a range of factors that had to be considered when planning for development and he, Kate and Shwetha outlined their specific roles and career pathways. How fortunate were we to have this local insight into regional development right in our classroom?! Continuing our Year 9/10 Tasing Timboon Food tech elective exploration of the various businesses that make up the 12 Apostles Food Artisan Trail, we welcomed into our classroom, Julian Benson from Apostle Whey Cheese. Julian described how Apostle Whey was created, the planning and training prior to the new business commencing and the evolution of a range of products including cheese, full cream milk and gelato. As a single origin dairy farm, Julian described the pathway of his farm’s milk from the dairy through pasteurization and then it is made into cheese or bottled for milk or churned for gelati. Julian described the thought processes involved in marketing their products with a none too subtle connection to our region to remind tourists of their adventures. Students were fortunate enough to sample a range of cheese could describe the texture and flavour of Lochard Ard Gorgeous Camembert, Southern Brieze Brie, Smear Ripened Harvati, Heytesbury Harvest Pepper, Heytesbury Harvest Chilli, Apostle Whey Crumble Fetta and Bay of Martyrs Blue Vein. He encouraged students to find what they were passionate about, to enjoy what they do in their lives as this will drive them to strive in their chosen field and to back themselves! Thanks Julian! |
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March 2024
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