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! As an applied learning opportunity and to help appreciate the Year 5/6 Civics and Citizenship topic, ‘Cultural capabilities’, we invited Jun Meredith from Jun’s Home Kitchen into the Food Tech room to cook Chinese traditional dumplings with the students. Jun explained that dumplings originated in China over 1800 years ago and are now shared worldwide. She described that there are two main types of dumplings, a round ‘Baozi’ dumpling and the ‘Jiaozi’ dumpling that we were making. The dumpling shape is similar to ancient Chinese money and this symbolizes good luck and good fortune to recipients. Traditionally dumplings are made and shared amongst families especially during the Chinese New Year and the Mid Autumn or Moon Festival. After Jun’s demonstration, students rolled the pastries, shaped the dumplings and fill them with a chicken mince, spring onion, herb, soy sauce, oyster sauce and cooking wine mixture before folding the pastries into shape. The dumplings were then steamed and students ate the scrumptious treats using chopsticks. What a delicious way to experience another culture’s delicacy! After Parks Victoria Ranger, Emma Drake, acknowledged the traditional owners, our Year 8 science students were welcomed into an amazing and dynamic, ever evolving coastal environment at Murnane’s Bay, Childers Cove to learn about our region’s geology. Retired Deakin lecturer and environmental scientist, Dr John Sherwood, challenged the students to become geologists and to use their senses to study the differences in rocks and sediment to investigate the fossil rich layers of the Port Campbell limestone that was an old sea floor, originally stretching inland as far as Hamilton. Students leant that we were walking on a Miocene seabed that was formed 5-15 million years ago and that the browner layers of cliff were old sand dunes that had solidified. John explained that the beach sand was biogenic, meaning that had a living origin and used hydrochloric acid to produce carbon dioxide gas to determine that the parts of the cliff were made of limestone, a rock made of calcium carbonate. Emma described the role of a Ranger; managing the coastal reserve, monitoring wildlife and the environment, protecting and repairing the park’s assets and educating visitors in what was an ever changing, fragile coastline. Students were surprised that the 12 Apostles site received over 3 million visitors a year and that sometimes the ranger’s role involved managing 16,000 people a day during the peak periods through our coastal reserve. Emma encouraged students, as locals, to respect the park and lead by example so that everyone can enjoy our region safely. Travelling to Moyjil, Point Ritchie, John explained that indigenous people had camped at the mouth of the Hopkins River on old sand dunes as evidenced by middens and emphasized that it was one of Australia’s most precious sites due to an incredible dynamic of culture and natural history with it’s sequences of environmental, climatic, sea level and seismic changes, shifting coastline, volcano activity and cultural connection to country. Evidence from the middens suggests that this may be the site of Australia's earliest indigenous occupation with middens dating back almost 100,000 years. To capture the seismic changes, erosion and layers of sand and soil, John challenged the students to draw the cliff face as a record of the story of Moyjil. At the Hopkins River mouth, Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority (GHCMA) Waterways Officer, Jarred Obst, described his role in protecting estuaries, where the river meets the sea, by managing the health and ecology of regional waterways for fish and vegetation. He explained that the estuary was over 6,000 years old and this meeting place of river and sea was constantly changing with various species evolving to thrive in this mobile environment. Students used Jarred’s equipment to record the turbidity, pH, water quality, salinity and temperature as a way of recording the health of this vital waterway. What a wonderful way to learn, thanks John, Emma and Jarred. Continuing our exploration of local cuisine, the Year 9/10 Tasting Timboon students undertook a field trip to learn about Timboon Fine Ice Cream where they were hosted by Caroline Simmons. Caroline described her introduction to country life when, as a Deakin university nursing student, she met and married Tim Marwood and they worked on the family farm. Looking to diversify and value add to their dairy income, Tim and Caroline had a ‘light bulb’ moment and decided to produce ice cream from their milk whilst using the Timboon name in their branding and marketing. They consulted experts including a professor of ice cream and conducted trials endeavouring to find the most popular flavours. After owning both the Timboon Railway Shed Distillery and the Ice Cream business they decided to focus on the Ice Creamery where they now welcome over 80,000 visitors a year. The ingredients in their ice cream are natural as the emulsifiers, made from bean gum, are added to help mix water and fat together while stabilizers, made from seaweed, bind to the water molecules to make the ice cream smoother. Caroline and Tim source their milk from Doolan Farms, their cream from UDC in South Australia, sugar from Queensland sugar cane and skim milk powder from Saputo’s Allansford plant. Ice Cream flavour sales are dependent on the weather with limes or gelato popular in summer, but whiskey or stronger flavours more popular during the colder months with honeycomb their most successful flavouring. Of course we had to taste test for quality...and we even had an experienced ice cream server on hand. What a journey - from cow to cone, thanks Caroline! Crayfest, our local festival that showcases the local areas exceptional food and beverages, artists, musicians and our beautiful natural environment is also celebrating the amazing volunteers in our community. We will be acknowledging our community helpers by creating photo opp boards featuring our CFA, CERT, Surf Life Saving and coaching volunteers and . providing a live mural for Crayfest juniors to paint. Join us to celebrate our local volunteers in the street parade - Who will you represent? Our VCE Environmental and Outdoor Education students are investigating Australian outdoor environments before humans, the impact of indigenous communities, European colonisation and their relationship with Australian outdoor environments. To contextualize their learning, students visited the Heytesbury and District Historical Museum where local historian Peter Younis was able to provide local, historical context for their queries. Peter was able to describe historical sea levels, the effects of such an active ocean on our limestone coastline, the impact of indigenous people on our coastal vegetation and the changes that have ensued since colonisation. Students learnt about early settlers in Victoria, European history in our region, land use changes and the settlement of Timboon in the 1860s. The major events that had significant impact on our region affecting it’s social and economic growth included the lime works, railway, WW1, the Great Depression, and WW2 with extensive land clearing occurred during the Bailey Settlement from 1929-1932 and the 1960s Heytesbury Settlement. Mark Cuthell from the Port Campbell Tourist Information Centre then took the students on a coastal walk where they learnt about various landforms and the uniqueness of the Australian landscape. Mark explained that the cliffs select plants that can adapt to the wind and salt spray with plants and shrubs more vigorous in more sheltered aspects. He described how the vertical cliffs are often eroded into bays that can eventually form sea caves, or arches and then result in stacks such as the 12 Apostles. Did you know, that the limestone in the limestone pit near Timboon is made up of the same vertical layer as the stacks that make up the 12 Apostles! How fortunate are our students to have this local expertise so readily available? During the Year 9/10 Food Tech elective, “Tasting Timboon” we are exploring the wonderful flavours and products that are crafted by many creative producers around Timboon as part of the 12 Apostles Food Artisans Trail. We invited Caitlin Wurlod from Keayang Maar Vineyard into our classroom and she took our students on a journey learning about the grape harvest and wine production in their vine to wine family enterprise. After retiring from dairying, the business was established on Barry and Bernadette Wurlod’s property on the volcanic slopes of Keayang Maar in Dixie following holidays in Europe where they learnt about grape growing and wine production. Caitlin and Jerram Wurlod also assist with the daily operations and marketing for the vineyard and Caitlin explained that different grape types produce different wines with flavours dependent on the season, the fermentation process used and the age of the wine. The grapes are picked by hand in late March / early April and put into a crusher, then disstemmer with the juice squeezed out and the wine fermented for 10 days or longer, seasonally producing over 12,000 bottles of wine a year. Caitlin challenged our students to tell the story of the grapes, the who, why and how and to market the Shiraz, Pino Gris- white variety, Pinot Noir and Riesling grapes to potential buyers who could be wine drinkers, other wine makers and retailers by describing the grapes’ taste, appearance, production or source. After our students taste tested the grapes, we were very impressed with the marketing terms and descriptive outlines the students crafted. Shortly the students will cook with the wine by cooking the alcohol off but this leave the flavour of the wine intact and it will be used to simmer the meat in their casseroles. It is a ‘grape time of the year’, thanks Caitlin. “The Business Idea” is Unit One for our Year 11 VCE Business Management students and focuses on the motivations for starting a business, identifying business opportunities and the characteristics of successful business entrepreneurs. We encourage our students to look at local businesses and endeavours through the TAP so we undertook a field trip to 'A Little Bit of Sweet' in Timboon. Michelle Frantantaro, the business owner, described her previous experience owning and operating the Simpson general store / newsagency for 15 years before being casually employed at Berry World. Michelle did not think that she would have another store as she operated her lolly business from home, but an opportunity presented itself with a store in a central location in Timboon and Michelle could see a gap in the local market. The successful business has now been operating for five years and there is a real ‘Wow” factor when you walk through the doors, based on customer needs and interest – including the current favourites, snackable boxes, gift hampers, the Pick-n-mix, Burger Bubbles, Camel Balls and Pig Farts!! Thanks Michelle for an educational and delicious field trip! |
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February 2024
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