Beaconhills College

Beaconhills Pakenham Campus teacher Marianne Del Papa can be justifiably proud of her students’ VCE results this year.

She claims an impressive eight subject scores of 40 or above in English and Literature amongst her students. Last year one of her students, Tess Wilkens, achieved a perfect score of 50 in English and a Premier’s Award.

So what’s her secret?

“I look for possibilities in students and try to not to label them,” she said. “And a series of small changes can lead to large improvements.”

Ms Del Papa also believe it is important to focus on modelling and showing students the steps needed to build better essays. She also does not shy away from giving constructive criticism.

“The most important thing is to give students the confidence that they can always do better in English.”

Extra congratulations for two of our top 10 VCE students who were unable to make the photo shoot on Friday – Bryannen Gurr from the Pakenham Campus (ATAR 96.2) and Devangee Illukpitiya from Berwick (94.3).

Devangee is about to return to Sri Lanka for a month-long holiday then will be back to study Biomedicine at Monash University. Bryannen’s higher than expected score meant she now is able to study Health Science at Swinburne majoring in forensics and neuroscience. An exciting future for both girls.

Devangee Illukpitiya scored an ATAR of 94.3

Bryannen Gurr scored an ATAR 96.2

Student Cameron deBruin has qualified for the 2018 Australian Junior Championships in Sydney next year after winning his 100m heat at Brisbane’s Carlee Beattie Shield meet on the weekend (time 11.25).

Cameron, shown in this Youtube video in lane 9, was the fastest under 17 year old the competition, ranking 22 overall against much older runners. Cameron is in Year 11 in 2018 at the Pakenham Campus. He also qualified in the 200m. Congratulations on a fantastic run.

Beaconhills College is celebrating excellent VCE results across a sweeping range of subject choices.

Twenty students from the College’s Pakenham and Berwick Campuses received ATARs (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) of 90 or above, with an impressive one third of all ATARs across the College exceeding 80.

In total, 83 students scored 40 or more across 24 different subjects. Beaconhills offers a choice of 40 VCE subjects.

The huge subject choice also shone through in results from the top 10 students; they followed their wide-ranging interests in everything from Biology, Literature, Psychology, Extended Investigation, Physical Education and Theatre Studies, to Music Performance, French, Japanese and much more.

College Dux was Berwick Campus student Madison Schenk (97.8). Madison has already earned a Premier’s Award for her second-top mark in the state last year in Extended Investigation. Pakenham Campus Dux was Russell Reader with a 96.7.

Teachers were proud of their students’ efforts, with some outstanding marks in English and Literature, Legal Studies, Dance and Systems Engineering.

Headmaster Tony Sheumack said this year’s VCE results continued to demonstrate the breadth of the College’s programs and the dedication of its teaching staff.

“We are proudly a community school that provides a huge diversity in VCE offerings – and the results reflect the quality of teaching and learning in so many different subject areas and student pathways,” Mr Sheumack said.

“These are wonderful results that really demonstrate the success of our ‘Learning that Matters’ program, one which best equips young people with the tools they need for their future lives – much more than just an ATAR.”

 Top 10 Beaconhills students:

Madison Schenk – 97.8 (College Dux, Berwick Campus), Holly Neale (Berwick) 97.4, Bridget Taylor (Berwick) 97.35, Alysson Jeanes (Berwick) 97.05, Russell Reader – 96.7 (Pakenham Dux), Bryannen Gurr (Pakenham) 96.2, Olivia Hagioglou (Pakenham) 95.25, Courtney Strachan (Berwick) 94.9, Emily Millman (Pakenham) 94.65, Devangee Illukpitiya (Berwick) 94.3. NB: Devangee and Bryannen absent from photo below

Jessica McMahon (Class of 2017) is celebrating her selection for the sought-after role of a Paris Disneyland performer.

An excited Jessica, from the Pakenham Campus, recently learned that she made it through the rigorous selection process, which began with 300 performing artists and was whittled down to just a lucky few.

As well as her considerable skills as an actor and dancer, Jessica believes her height of just 149cm may have helped her score the roles of ‘Mickey Mouse’, ‘Minnie Mouse’ and ‘Stitch’ from the famous ‘Lilo and Stitch’ duo.

Jessica has a long history of performing arts involvement at Beaconhills College, with lead roles in many College productions including her most recent role as the ‘Scarecrow’ in The Wizard of Oz.

Her mum Louise McMahon has also helped design costumes for College productions for many years.

Jessica auditioned in July 2017 for a performer’s role at Shanghai Disneyland but was not successful. Undeterred, she made it through the series of auditions in Sydney for Paris Disneyland, finishing with an interview.

“In the first round, which was animation, they gave you a classic Disney character – for example you had to be a villain, or pretend to be a pirate,” Jessica said. Next was a dance round, followed by what she called an “awkwardness round’, where performers were observed to see which character they could best resemble.

While the characters she will play are non-speaking ones, Jessica admits she will have to brush up on her French before she flies out to France in March 2018. She described it as her dream job.

“I always wanted to have a paid gap year,” she said. “Hopefully I can make my way up the Disney hierarchy.” She eventually hopes to be a live theatre performer.

Jess as the ‘Scarecrow’ in this year’s production of The Wizard of Oz at Beaconhills

Congratulations to Poppi Plumb for her stunning recent equestrian success.

Poppi, who is a Year 5 student at our Berwick Campus was named Champion Rider under 14 years at both the Royal Adelaide, and Royal Melbourne Show.

Photos courtesy of Little More Grace Photography.

Beaconhills College has officially kickstarted its 2018 Relay for Life campaign with a cupcake fundraiser at the Pakenham Campus which raised $900.

2018 will be the tenth year that Beaconhills has participated in the event, which raises vital funds for the Cancer Council’s research, prevention and support services.

Once again the College’s two campuses expect to sign up hundreds of families from the school who will walk as the ‘Beacon of Hope’ team at both the Cardinia and Casey events.

Last year the Berwick Campus team was the highest fundraiser at the Casey Relay for Life.

The College’s 2017 donation to Cancer Council totalled $50,613, which went to The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research to help with research into the role of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in certain types of lymphomas.

Beaconhills’ Head of Citizenship and Service, Clare Tuohy, said there was no doubt that the school community, from Little Beacons Learning Centre through to alumni and board members, had enthusiastically embraced the fundraising event.

“We are all touched at some point of our lives by cancer,” Mrs Tuohy said. “As a College, we want to be part of the research and development so that a cure for cancer can be found.”

Alex Turner, Year 7, (left) and sister Maddie, Year 6 (right) tuck into a cupcake at the Relay for Life fundraiser today

Teachers Hayley Johnston-Coutts (left) and Megan Harkin selling cupcakes with student Maddie Turner

Yesterday, our Little Beacons raised $768.55 with their ‘Market for Bangladesh’ fundraiser.

Children of all age groups made goods to sell, including shortbread biscuits, sun catches, succulent pot plants and much more.