Look who is a poster girl for Dairy Australia's 2023 Picasso Cow project! Milky Way is the gorgeous, award winning bovine (Top right below) created by the 2022 Year 3/4 students as they explored the dairy technology used in a Paddock to Plate journey in SouthWest Victoria. Great job Year 3/4 students, teachers and Mrs Mac, check out our herd on the Picasso Cow map. As a review of how important a healthy, nutritious diet is to help build healthy bones, our Year 3/4 students investigated the human skeleton. They discussed the role of bones and our skeletons to provide a framework, give stability and protect our organs and body. The students were then challenged to make a representation of a skeleton as accurately as possible using pasta! Prior to this task, a vocabulary rich discussion ensued about what went where! The knee bone is connected to the.. Our Year 9/10 AgHort students are learning about the importance of healthy soils as they prepare to plant out the new garden beds in our school kitchen garden. After a planning session with horticulturalist and TAFE teacher, Trevor Bullen, our students were fortunate enough to be invited to an introductory session at the SWTAFE Sherwood Park facility for a careers and soils workshop. Michelle Parker, Nick Graesser and Leigh Fary described their various career pathways and updated students about potential opportunities in horticulture including working in gardens, parks, coastal parks, golf courses, curated bowling greens, nurseries, race courses, in turf management, soil technology, weed or pest management, breeding plants, constructing pavements, landscape design, conservation and landscape construction. A tour of the SWTAFE facilities included the classrooms, garden beds, an automated green house that featured automated fans, openings and misters and participants heard about the horticultural skills that are employed to keep footy ovals, cricket grounds, and parks looking their best. Students learnt how to do soil pH tests on a variety of soils to ascertain the whether their sample was made up of acid / alkaline soils. The sample from our school kitchen garden tested slightly alkaline so students will work some compost or organic matter through it to make it more neutral after learning that a pH between 6.5 and 7.5 is usually best for most plants. The class planted their own marigold and lobelia seedlings into two different types of potting mix as practical examples of the importance of planting out seedlings and seeds in the best possible environment. During the visit other examples of courses and opportunities at TAFE were introduced by SWTAFE Agriculture teacher, Rebecca Coleman, who outlined the Agricultural / Horticultural certificates, diplomas and short courses available at TAFE including Chain Saw Maintenance, Chemical Users course, Operate Quad Bikes and Front End Loader Operations VFF Podcast - Making Our Farm Families Safer Campaign, “TAP into Farm Safety” program. Children are over represented in farm accidents and the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) are working with The Royal Children’s Hospital, FarmSafe Victoria, Traffic Accident Commission (TAC) and Kidsafe to create a suite of resources including podcasts, videos, farm visits and a monthly newsletter aimed to highlight risks inherent in farm life. VFF Communications Officer, Tara Rich, invited the TAP coordinator, Andrea Vallance, on behalf of the TAP into Farm Safety program, to be a guest interviewee on the VFF Making Our Farm Families Safer Campaign podcast series. During the podcast, host, Tegan Buckley from Mallee Marketing, asked questions about the TAP into Farm Safety program and learnt about the outcomes we have seen throughout the project, how other schools can implement the project in their schools and how the TAP into Farm Safety unit aligns with the Making Our Farm Families Safer campaign. This was followed by an interview for the Summer 2023 VFF Magazine to support the podcast story. We are extremely proud of the TAP into Farm Safety unit as it was created in 2012 and still used to inspire teachers, educate students and hopefully, keep Australian farm families safe. As part of the Year 12 Outdoor and Environmental Education studies the students learn about various landforms and the uniqueness of the Australian landscape. Outdoor Ed teacher, Tom Marshallsea, attended a local information session facilitated by The University of Melbourne, Mark Cuthell and Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism, that shared Associate Professor Stephen Gallagher’s research about the geology of the Port Campbell Coastline. This was followed by a guided walk around Broken Head and the Loch Ard Gorge to further investigate this global time capsule. Armed with information that was later shared with the Year 12 students, Tom and the class examined our local landforms on a microscopic level. Did you know, that the limestone in the limestone pit near Timboon is made up of the same layer as the stacks that make up the 12 Apostles! To introduce the concept of “Healthy Bones, Healthy Body” the Year 3/4 students welcomed into their classroom, ex Timboon P-12 students, dietician, Casey Tesselaar, and social worker, Hayley Weel, both from Timboon and District Healthcare Service. Casey challenged students to describe the role of bones in our bodies and the class discussed the three secret ingredients to healthy bones; calcium, Vitamin D and exercise. Students learnt that calcium can predominately be obtained from dairy foods but that other non dairy calcium rich foods could also be included in a healthy diet. The class heard that Vitamin D helped with calcium absorption and that weight bearing exercise stimulates bones to produce more bone tissue. Students were encouraged to enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods every day from the five food groups depicted in the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE): Vegetables, Fruit, Grain foods, Lean meats and alternatives, Dairy and alternatives. The classes were then busy creating their own versions of the AGHE to reinforce the healthy eating message. Yummo! Our 11 VCE Business Management students are currently studying Unit One, “The Business Idea” that focuses on the motivations for starting a business, identifying business opportunities and the characteristics of successful business entrepreneurs. As part of the TAP, and an integral component of their learning, we encourage our students to look at local businesses and endeavours 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 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 available in Timboon and Michelle could see a gap in the local market. Whilst operating a young business during COVID was challenging, Michelle described how it forced her to focus on promoting her business more on all forms of social media and really listening to what her customers want. The successful business has now been operating for four years and there is a real ‘Wow” factor when you walk through the doors, based on customer needs and interest – including the current TicToK favourite – the pickle!! Thanks Michelle for an educational and delicious field trip! Milky Way, our gorgeous 2022 Year 3/4 Picasso Cow, has been mooooved into place in our school grounds. Her domain is the Junior School playground where she takes watch near our stunning pencil fence. Check out the great job our students did painting her with depictions of the technology used in agriculture as part of their Paddock to Plate investigations in 2022. This is the way teacher PD looks at Timboon P-12 School! Local horticulturist and TAFE teacher, Trevor Bullen, made time to talk to Michael Braham, our Year 9/10 AgHort teacher about the potential of our new school kitchen garden. They discussed ways to provide tactile, engaging opportunities for students to learn about what plants need, healthy soils, seedlings, plants, and planting options before students design and plant out gardens for our food tech classes. Plans are in place for students to tour the SWTAFE Horticulture precinct at Sherwood Park where they can learn about career opportunities in AgHort and how they can be a part of an industry that helps provides Australia with a viable, healthy, profitable and sustainable future |
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March 2024
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