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92 Kangan Dr, Berwick VIC 3806
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Learning that Matters
David Moseley
Mae Scott
We have just concluded another very successful College Board retreat, held this year in the Global Beacons Centre at our Pakenham Campus.
This year we farewelled two of our members – Mary Wood and Shane Boland – and thanked them for their valuable contributions.
We welcomed new members Mae Scott and David Moseley. Many of you in the College community would remember Mae, who held the positions of Head of School Administration and Head of Senior School at Beaconhills from 1999-2012. We are delighted to have her on the Board.
Similarly we also look forward the expertise that David Moseley brings to the Board with his experience as a psychologist in the field of child and youth mental health. David is a current parent of the school and former student.
The Board Retreat is an opportunity to undertake strategic planning and set the future direction of the College. The Board also discussed all aspects of College operations including the current master plans.
Our forthcoming Board Report to the community will give more comprehensive details about the retreat and the key issues addressed.
Campus v campus: Under 21 girls’ winner Romany S from Pakenham congratulates third place-getter from Berwick Jade N.
Wintry weather failed to dampen the enthusiasm of Beaconhills’ runners in the SEISA (South Eastern Independent Schools) Cross-Country competition on Thursday 21 August.
Competing at Phillip Island’s Newhaven College, the Years 6-12 team from the Pakenham Campus managed to place second overall with Berwick Campus placing fourth.
There were some strong team results across the age groups, with Berwick’s Under 14 boys’ and Under 21 girls’ teams winning their division while Pakenham’s Under 13 girls’, Under 15 boys’, Under 16 girls’ and Under 17 boys’ teams all placed first.
In the major individual placings, Berwick’s Brooke E was first in Under 12 girls, Jaxon E third in Under 12 boys while Jade was third in Under 21 girls.
Pakenham’s Teneille M and Matisse L were first and second in their Under 14 race, while Romany S won the Under 21 girls’ race. Second placings went to Ryan M (Under 12 boys), Sophie C (Under 13 girls), Zeb B (Under 15 boys), Sidney K (Under 16 girls) and Nick S (Under 21 boys). Renae J placed third in Under 16 girls.
Jack (left) and Bailey will ski for Australia in New Zealand
Waterskiing superstars Jack (Year 9) and Bailey (Year 7) Christie will once again compete for Australia in the 2016 Aussie Kiwi Challenge in New Zealand.
It is the fourth year that both skiers have made the Australian team and it puts them in the top eight skiers in the country selected for their age division.
The boys have also been selected in the Australian Junior World Squad for 2016 and are working hard towards the goal of competing in the Junior World Championships in Chile. It is an amazing achievement to make this team of Under 17 skiers as Jack is 14 years old and Bailey 12. Congratulations!
Teacher Judy Barton with Best Speaker award winner Zoe E
Middle and Senior School House Debating finals set a high standard at Berwick Campus recently with speakers tackling some controversial topics.
The Leaver House team won the Middle School competition with Jamie W, Sonia L and Paige V presenting some compelling arguments on the topic ‘It is better to be an individual than conform’.
Headmaster Tony Sheumack and Berwick Campus Principal Jenny Williams were adjudicators for the Grand Final.
Head of Individual Programs, Judy Barton, said speaking times were three minutes and the debate was of a “very high standard”. She said Leaver House won by the narrowest of margins.
Zoe E (Year 7) was thrilled to earn Best Speaker Award for the debate.
Speakers at the recent Senior School Housing Debating Grand Final tackled the topic ‘Australia should abandon the war on drugs and simply legalise all of them’. Tregoning House took the affirmative side and won the debate, with Paige R earning the Best Speaker award.
Headmaster and Debating adjudicator Tony Sheumack presents a trophy
The winning Middle School Leaver House team: (l-r) Jamie W, Sonia L and Paige V.
(L-r) Isabelle C, Jordyn C, Jaida W and Anitshka W proudly display their winning secondary quilt
Middle School students have shown their sewing skills by winning awards at the recent Victorian Quilters Inc Quilt Expo held at Melbourne’s Jeff’s Shed.
Students began weekly patchwork sewing sessions at the start of this year, during lunchtimes, with Berwick Campus’ Individual Programs’ teacher Helen Comport.
Ms Comport is the founder of ‘Quilts of Valour Australia Inc’, an organisation which presents quilts to Australian Defence Force service members in recognition of their sacrifice for the country.
Ms Comport said the students were delighted to win the quilting prize, which included pure wool wadding for future quilts.
“The first items made by students were patchwork iPad bags. Then the students made nine patch blocks to make into a quilt with sashing,” she said.
“The students are now learning a more challenging block design which we would like to join into a quilt to award to a veteran on Remembrance Day this year.”
Primary Quilt winners Grace R and Lucy B
More of Primary Quilt team (l-r) Lily B, Chloe M, Flynn W and Stewart H
Jaida W with her block which will be presented on Remembrance Day to a veteran
Senior Boys’ Football team, Berwick
Beaconhills College teams have won six of the 12 recent SEISA (South Eastern Independent Schools Association) intermediate and senior sporting finals.
Berwick Campus teams performed strongly, with five teams making it to finals and four collecting pennants; intermediate and senior football as well as senior netball A and intermediate girls’ soccer. Intermediate boys’ soccer narrowly lost 3-2 to St Paul’s in a penalty shoot-out.
Pakenham Campus had four finals teams with two winners; senior girls’ hockey and senior boys’ soccer.
The College’s best runners also competed in the ACS (Association of Co-educational Schools) Cross-Country Carnival on Friday 21 August at Bundoora Park.
The College placed fourth overall, with Year’s 8 Teneille M and Romany S (Year 12) winning their events, while Year 8’s Matisse L placed third.
Berwick’s Senior Girls’ Netball
Intermediate Boys’ Football
I am delighted to announce that Berwick Campus Junior School will be offering before school care from 7am as of Term 1, 2016.
This decision was made in response to a number of requests and I hope this will help meet the needs of our busy parent community.
The service will be provided by Camp Australia, which has a 28-year history in this sector.
Camp Australia also runs two vacation care programs from the City of Casey and our families can access these programs, or the Little Beacons Vacation Care program at the Pakenham Campus.
The Pakenham Campus Junior School will continue with its current before and after school care arrangements.
I am sure this new service will be a welcome addition to our College offerings. Details will be provided soon our bulletin notices.
Movers and shakers: (l-r) Jacob T, Aaron C and Andrew L
Congratulations to our Year 9 students whose tin-shaking efforts in Melbourne raised $4275.90 for the Salvation Army.
Each year Beaconhills takes part in the Salvos’ Schools Fundraising Challenge and has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the charity.
Head of Year 9 Graham Broderick said this year’s effort was fantastic given the students only had one to two hours to collect.
“The average amount raised per student was about $35 with Abbey R topping the list, raising $120,” Mr Broderick said.
The fundraising is part of the College’s Year 9 City Experience program, which aims to take students out of their local areas and experience Melbourne’s opportunities, challenges and problems.
On Thursday 20 August Beaconhills College again has the honour of hosting representatives from Harvard University’s educational research group ‘Project Zero’ and Independent Schools Victoria (ISV).
Flossie Chua from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero, and project manager for Learning that Matters, will be talking to our students and staff. She will look at specific examples of how our six pillars of Learning that Matters have been implemented across all sections of the College. Michelle Bernshaw and Kate Anderson from ISV will also attend on the day.
The Learning that Matters project is now in its third year and Beaconhills is amongst a number of Victorian independent schools taking part. It is a thoughtful exploration of what learning matters most for young people growing up in a complex, globalised and technological world.
The days of content-driven curriculum are gone. In a world driven by technological changes, it is critical that students are equipped with broad thinking and collaborative skills and with the necessary life skills gained from experiences such as our Beacon Explorers programs. Our international and experiential programs are not just camps or sight-seeing trips, but an integral part of students’ learning.
Learning that Matters has seen the College develop three strategic initiatives. We have examined our curriculum and our teaching and learning practices. We are also further developing our wellbeing program as well as our experiential program, encompassing outdoor education, Global Beacons and co-curricular.
The ultimate aim is to ensure our students have the best preparation possible for their future.
The Berwick Campus Performing Arts Department is celebrating a huge haul of medals at the Dance Star and Glee National Championship held at the Gold Coast on the weekend.
Nearly every one of the 25 students who attended earned gold, silver or bronze medal across a range of sections, with the Large Lyrical group winning their section for the third year in a row.
The TFT Sports and Event Management competition was held across three days, with Beaconhills College entering nine Dance and three Glee categories.
The highlights:
Dance audition section
• Bella A placed first in secondary audition Junior Lyrical (Years 7-9), taking the national title with a beautiful performance • Holly N placed second in Secondary Audition Senior Lyrical (Years 10-12) against tough competition • Amy H placed third in Secondary Audition Hip Hop Senior
Dance Star and Glee solo and group sections
• Large Lyrical won their section for the third year in a row • Sophie B won Secondary Solo down Tempo Junior, scoring the highest of all secondary dance sections with 95 out of 100 • Small Lyrical came second on a score of 90 with an outstanding performance • Large Jazz placed third, performing beautifully to ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’ • Dario G brought the house down with his incredible charisma on stage, placing second in Secondary Solo Up Tempo Junior • Glee Up Tempo and down Tempo came second in each section • Mitchell H came second in his Glee Audition
Brittany W competed in Secondary Solo Down Tempo Senior. This section was incredibly tough and Brittany did not place but did exceptionally well. Holly N also competed in the Secondary Audition Broadway Jazz Senior but didn’t place, similarly Amy H competed in the very difficult Secondary Audition Impro but also didn’t place.
Dance teacher Stephanie Borrie said students have trained since February in mornings, lunch times and after school.
“They are all hard working and dedicated students with a huge amount of talent,” she said. “All of the students were amazing on and off stage, demonstrating fantastic sportsmanship and support for one another.”
Year 7 camp
Early Explorers site sod turned
College Facebook page temporarily unavailable.
Top Class Drama award
Lockdown Information
Headmaster concludes service in 2021
Paige is a Top Class Dancer
Emerging artists
Grant to help build ‘nature’s classroom’
Seetali’s solar farm
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Vale Neville Clark
World Teachers’ Day
7 key questions to ask when choosing a school
The importance of regular school attendance
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Get ready for a return to school
Supporting our community through crisis
Term 2, with a difference
Online Learning to continue into term 2
Support for health care workers
From humble beginnings
Celebrating student leadership in 2021
1300 002 225 | Int: +613 5945 3001
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Pakenham Campus
Berwick Campus
Little Beacons
Gate C, Syme Rd, Pakenham VIC 3810