As part of our Year 9 Science unit, our classes participated in the annual DAF Hermitage Research Facility Schools Plant Science Competition with the 2023 theme, ‘The buzz about BEES’. This year, 176 schools from across Australia registered for the competition and over 5,100 students from years P-12 participated in the bee project. We were delighted to receive an Encouragement Award for some great bee projects from the Year 9B class, congats Evie and Tom! If you haven't already visited the Royal Melbourne Show, it is well worth the trip, especially as Timboon P-12 has won 1st prize for their chook poster as part of the Royal Melbourne Show Schools Poultry Competition. T.Rex, Queen Peckalots and KFC were happy to see some Timboon locals too. Thanks to Ms Hamson and Pat Wallace for facilitating this wonderful experience for our students and congratulations to the Year 5/6B chicken wranglers and their teacher Miss Burnett. Inspired and challenged by Mark Cuthell from Port Campbell Visitor Information Centre, our students have crafted some pieces of persuasive writing to promote the Rail Trail from Port Campbell to Camperdown. Students had to keep their audience, Melbourne’s 182,000 international students and their families, in mind when drafting their piece which meant the class considered what would be of interest to visitors from South East Asia and what would potentially attract them to our region. The students honed their ideas to one area of the Rail Trail such as the outdoors, flora and fauna while others thought of families with children or took a historical viewpoint promoting the history of the Rail Trail. These persuasive texts could potentially be included on the Port Campbell Tourism blog on their website to inspire even more visitors to our region and reinforce our global connections through tourism and trade. The Year 5/6B's Hy-Line Brown commercial pullets are now penned at the Royal Melbourne Show Schools Poultry Competition all ready for judging. The Year 5/6 students have cared for the chickens as classroom pets and were delivered to the Show for presentation and judging of the birds and their egg laying ability with students’ project worksheets supporting the School’s entry. Fingers crossed! The benefits of interacting and working with animals has long been documented so the TAP was asked to provide quiet animals for a petting zoo during R U OK Day as part of the Healthy Mind events during Wellbeing Week. Our call for assistance was answered by The Vet Group’s Izzy Moorhead who bought her clever 6 year old Blue Heeler, Maggie, while Jill Corneby captivated the students with her 2 Australian Pygmy Goat kids who were 4 weeks old. Ashlee and Peter Finch provided 5 Southdown x and White Suffolk x 2 month old lambs, Suze Wood from Ocean Road Pastoral corralled 5 x 5 week old Montbeliarde x Swiss Red x Friesian calves while the Year 5/6B students shared chicken cuddles with their younger peers. Thanks Izzy, Jill, Ashley, Peter, Suze and the Year 5/6B students for such an interactive, fun experience. The Year 8 Science classes’ term long investigation of cheese and dairy has almost concluded but to truly test their understanding of all things dairy, the students just HAD to sample a delicious delight from Timboon Fine Ice Cream. The TAP was able to provide a cone or flavoured cup of ice cream for the students who then heard from owner, Caroline Simmons, about the evolution of the business and the flavour range. Caroline shared business, marketing and product development tips while the students taste tested cones from the product range. Thanks Caroline. So what did we get up to last week at the Maths & Science @ Work program? See below to find out more about the amazing workshops local businesses held for the 170 students! Another huge thank you to the following businesses; Camperdown Compost, Deakin University, Corangamite Shire Council, Fonterra, Warrnambool Hydraulics, FSR Equip, Lochard Energy, MaxCare, Precision Agriculture, Ridley Stockfeeds, Roberts Builders Pty Ltd, Southern Land Bovine Services, South West Skills and Jobs Centre,South West Academy of Sport, South West TAFE, The Midfield Group, Total Livestock Genetics, WestVic Dairy. And to the staff and students from the following school's for participating; Cobden Technical School, Terang College, Timboon P12 School, and Colac Secondary College. Of course, thank you again to the DemoDairy Foundation for your ongoing generous support. We look forward to an even more successful day next year! The School Kitchen Garden, used by our Year 9/10 Aghort students to grow produce for the Food TEch kitchen in first semester was originally funded through a Corangamite Shire’s Sustainability Grant and built by the Year 9/10 2022 Step Up team. The VCE Vocational Major (VM) students have taken ownership of it through their Personal Development Skills (PDS) class and established it as a community garden for everyone. This term they have been fortunate enough to work with The Place of Wonder and REAL Pizza and Pasta owner, Kylie Treble, to learn how to share and practice sustainable growing in their community garden. Kylie helped the students sort the compost bins and set up a garden bed to sow sunflowers, black chia, Wombok and coriander seeds. In subsequent weeks, Kylie and the students have created their own dirt on the ground in front of the beds using the lasagna method adding compost, grass, leaves, dirt, cardboard and bark in layers so they have a ratio of 25% nitrogen and 75% carbon. The students are very grateful to Kylie for her time each Friday to educate them on the benefits, both physical and environmental, of growing a sustainable garden. Our annual Cheese Appreciation night is a highlight of our term long investigation of cheesemaking showcasing the learnings of our Year 8 Science students including posters and cartons about the cheese making process and milk solids analysis. Students and parents viewed the advertisements produced by students while their cheese was judged in a blind taste test by Simon Schulz and Hila Perry from Schulz Organic Dairy who were impressed with the consistent texture and taste of the final product. Our judges first tested the aroma of the cheese, the shape of the brined cheese wheel, the appearance of the cheese whilst cut checking for consistency and finally, the taste and flavour. Media judges, Leah Champion and Robyn Vale had a difficult time determining the winner of the advertisement challenge as there were many ads which delivered clear and concise messages about dairy. The winning 8A ad was produced by Ruby and Claire with Indiana and Isla as runners up while 8B’s Sylvia and Bridie won the competition for their class with Toby and Harvey as runners up. After the cheese judging Simon Schulz commended the students on the quality of their cheese and the cheese making process. ‘Cameron the Camembert’ was the name of the winning cheese by Claire and Ruby from 8A, with Marcus and Roxana’s ‘Mr Freckle’ pronounced the runner up. ‘The Stripey Cow’ was the best cheese in 8B produced by Ruby and Riley with ‘Bartholomew’ produced by Boady and Mitchell as the runner up. Thank you to Rebecca Pedersen from Saputo for proving cheese sample hampers and bucket hats from Saputo whilst our runners up prizes included ice cream vouchers from Timboon Fine Ice Cream. Congratulations to Mrs Maxwell, Mrs Watson and Fiona Allen who coordinated the evening and to everyone who attended who helped us celebrate all things cheese! As part of their Civics and Citizenship, unit the Year 5/6 students are learning about laws, what laws affect them and different types of laws in our community so we invited Leading Constables, John Keats and Brooke Pollack, Youth Engagement Officers with Victoria Police, to describe the role of police in enforcing laws. Brooke and John asked students to consider the different roles of police and outlined how they determine if a crime has been committed, how they gather evidence, arrest an offender and take a case to court. They described how crime scenes are investigated to gather eight characteristics of evidence to proceed to court including fingerprints, shoe evidence, footage from CCTV cameras or body worn cameras and witness statements. Students learnt that strict procedures have to be followed whereby potential offenders are arrested, cautioned and have their rights, including to attempt to communicate with a friend or legal practitioner, explained to them. Offenders are then searched, transported to the police station and interviewed in a recorded session and either reprimanded, released or released on summons to appear in court where a brief of evidence is prepared by police prosecutors. Students learnt about the differences between indicatable offences such as crimes including theft, assault, or serious crimes and summary offences like speeding, littering, failure to wear seatbelts or helmets while riding on the road. Thanks John and Brooke for an engaging session on what happens if laws are broken and how police work to keep our community safe. |
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March 2024
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