Our Year 10 Maths students are currently investigating measurement and geometry so we contacted Mikayla Hein and Luke Walker from Engineer-It and Effluent Solutions Australia to provide some background into the requirements and considerations that go into designing an effluent pond and system. Mikayla and Luke provided a brief description of their careers and the opportunities available for engineers in agribusinesses and industry before students ventured out on site to inspect Derek and Julia Gale’s effluent project for his dairy complex. Julia outlined the project considerations and students conducted a site inspection the of dam, solids trap, storage bunker and flood wash to determine what maths needed to be taken into account. Back in the classroom, Mikayla and Luke worked through the mathematical processes and the necessary calculations needed to accomplish this with students conducting an exercise to size up a dam and solids trap based on the amount of water the Gales used in the dairy shed and the potential to efficiently recycling this water. What a wonderful, practical way to learn about geometry! The last of the Curdies stories interview sessions drew to a close with our Year 9 Humanities students recording their final face to face interviews with community members about the Curdies River Catchment area. Today, Zac, Aidan, Neil, Clyde, Jason and others regaled students with their recollections and these stories will join those of their peers to help document and record social histories about this important regional waterway. On Wednesday our Year 7 Science students farewelled their Cows Create Careers (CCC) calves, Ivy and Buttercup. The two Jersey calves, on loan from ex Timboon P-12 student and current TAP mentor, Peter Fulton, have been the focus of their Science unit as students have been rostered to feed, record and monitor the calves. During the Dairy Australia competition, students have had to determine if rations were fed appropriately to ensure that calves were healthy and recorded their observations using science methodology. Thanks to Ms Allan for supervising the feeding routines and to our Year 7 students for looking after Ivy and Buttercup so well, especially our superstar calf wranglers, Chloe and Matilda To broaden their investigation of various food and fibre options, we invited Sherri Symons, a Facilitator from Land, Food & Fibre SWTAFE, into our Year 9/10 AgHort classroom where she introduced students to the two enterprises that make up the sheep and wool industries, the Prime Lamb and Wool industries. Sherri described her career path from school to working on the biggest dairy farm in Tasmania, then as a wool classer for 12 years all over Australia and New Zealand and now as a trainer at SWTAFE. Once again, the importance of sound animal nutrition was emphasized to students, this time to ensure the health and welfare of the sheep but also to optimize the quality of the fleece. Sherri bought in wool samples from various fleeces to describe the various characteristics such as staple, length, crimp, texture, purpose and value of the sample. Students examined various old and modern shearing handpieces, shears and drench guns and were introduced to the Sheep EAD VR, a Sheep Emergency Animal Disease app that was designed to help educate farmers about how various diseases may present in a flock and the appropriate treatment available. Look who arrived last night to our school with the rain... A Rainbow Serpent! The students were so excited and knew straight away, especially as they had been reading about this Dreamtime story in class and during Aboriginal Studies. The only problem was that her body was empty and needed filling with beautiful patterns and Australian animals. The preps and 1/2s were keen to help. During the Dreamtime when the earth lay sleeping and nothing moved or grew, there lived the Rainbow Serpent. One day the Rainbow Serpent awoke and came out from beneath the earth. Refreshed from her long slumber she travelled far and wide leaving winding tracks from her huge body and then returning to the place she had first appeared. On her return she called to the frogs "come out!" The frogs came out slowly as their bellies were full with water which they had stored during their long sleep. The Rainbow Serpent tickled their stomachs and when the frogs laughed, the water spilled out all over the earth to fill the tracks of the Rainbow Serpent. This is how the lakes and the rivers were first formed. Our beautiful rainbow serpent is now complete and nearly every student had a go at creating a beautiful 'Bronwyn Bancroft' inspired Australian animal or pattern. Please come and look. As the rain has stopped it won't be long until she disappears too. One very proud art teacher. Our Year 9 Science students have been studying bees as they investigate ecosystems and have included their scientific posters in the annual Hermitage Research Facility Schools Plant Science Competition with this year’s topic being, “What’s the Buzz about Bees?” The students had to research bees in an ecosystem looking at specific threats, consequences and what is being done to minimize any impact on bee population size in that habitat. Topics included pathogens and parasites, weather and it’s effect on bees and loss of habitat with students producing a variety of detailed scientific posters that were on display in the senior building. To introduce our Year 9/10 AgHort students to the latest technology available in rotary dairies we undertook a field trip to Paul and Marsha Smith’s robotic dairy and Brett Nutting / Jodi Probert’s greenfield site dairy hub. After describing his career path, Paul outlined the decision making process behind the installation of Australia’s first GEA Dairy ProQ Robotic Rotary and the first in the world to operate in a pasture based system. Usually installed alongside a barn or feedlot, the Smiths did not want to change their production system but wanted to find a labour saving method, that gave them more freedom and would continue to be a sound investment for the next 25 years. Years of research lead to the installation of the hybrid voluntary system with robotic arms allowing for cleaning, milking and testing every teat in an automated process. The system enables reattachment and udder access at the same time with staff just supervising the milking with lights and touchscreens alerting them to cows that can be redrafted or checked. Designed to make milking their 730 cows even easier, students heard Paul’s plans for the timed automation of the milk collection valve at the vat and observed the circular yard and innovative flood wash system. At Bayriver Pastoral, Brett and Jodi described their journey from farming in Tasmania, through to sharefarming and purchasing a property at Curdievale. After introducing students to their latest staff member Jess, who is currently undertaking a Cert 111 in Dairy, they outlined the decision to start a new site to replace their outdated rotary consisting of a new 60 unit rotary, feedpad and 60,000 litre automated washdown system to simplify milking their 688 cows. Jodi and Brett introduced students to the dairy computer system that recoded data from the cows’ collars giving them information on the rumination, fertility and health status of their cows and observed the pasture density information generated by satellites that helped Brett plan for feed allocation. Students gratefully accepted milk products from Lactalis for the trip home and hopefully ruminated on Jodi’s advice on the importance of having a history of savings in their bank when they applied for a loan or wanted to purchase something. Great advice, thanks for demonstrating where dairy technology is heading, Paul, Marsha, Brett and Jodi. In March this year our Year 9/10 AgHort students hosted educators from the National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH) who conducted a Gear Up for Safety workshop that was funded by Tim Nowell and Nutrien Timboon. The students were introduced to the program that builds students’ knowledge of farm hazards and understanding of the importance of safe practices to positively influence farm safety behaviours. Through a range of creative, interactive activities students explored agricultural exposures and hazards, working with machinery and livestock, prevention strategies, respiratory health, eye and ear safety, zoonotic diseases, agri chemicals, heat related stress, PPE and wellbeing. The students conducted a pre and post workshop survey with results indicating that they ‘learnt how serious quadbike accidents could be and how to avoid them’, ‘that diseases can be transferred from animals’, ‘the farm can be dangerous if not following safety rules’ and ‘there were a lot more risks than I thought in farming’. Valuable lessons to learn, thanks Nutrien and NCFH , After a successful first interview session, this week our Year 9 Humanities students interviewed more Curdies’ catchment residents about their recollections of this important waterway. There were some great conversations taking place and wonderful stories shared, thanks to Neil, Ian, Pam, Alan, Jim, Marie, Robert, Dean, Peter and Ann. We are really looking forward to seeing how this local history project instigated by CRCA, researched by our students and funded by TOPs, evolves. Our Year 1/2 students are investigating water, the water cycle, exploring the movement of water across the landscape and discovering waterways. They undertook a field trip to Power Creek to assess the health of the waterway and made scientific observations about the surrounding land use, water colour, odour, the surface of the water, man made structures, animals, vegetation, litter, erosion, pipes and drains, and the historical use of the creek. A water sample was collected from Power Creek that will be compared with water from other sources to assess the health of this waterway as it meanders through our catchment area. Watch this space to see these science brains at work! |
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March 2024
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