Beaconhills College

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.

The Year 4 Pakenham Campus basketball team has won the state finals of the Hooptime basketball competition this week.

The College had a boys’ team from each campus competing, with the Year 6 team from Berwick making through to the elimination final.

Congratulations to both teams on the strong results, as well as coaches Tracy Feiner and Troy Stevens (Pakenham) and Year 8 coaches from the Berwick Campus Ben Forbes and Corey Brown.

State champions! The Year 4 team from Pakenham Campus

Berwick Campus Year 6 team

Beaconhills College has launched a ‘Walk a mile in my shoes’ campaign to help provide good quality children’s school shoes and stationery for local families in need.

The College has partnered with the Brotherhood of St Laurence and Pakenham-based charity 4C’s to call for donations of good quality used school shoes, sports shoes, footy boots and stationery such as pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners and pencil cases.

Senior students will help collect donations at the College’s Pakenham and Berwick Campus receptions on Monday 11 December from 3-5pm and Tuesday 12 December from 9-11am. Donations can be made any time to the Little Beacons Learning Centre reception from Monday 11 to Wednesday 13 December. Thanks for your generosity!

• Please only bring shoes that are in good condition and are cleaned, polished and tied together by shoe laces or paired together using rubber bands.

Exciting news for Pakenham Campus student Callum Porter who has been drafted to the Western Bulldogs Football Club at pick #74.

Callum has had a busy year balancing his Year 12 studies and sporting commitments, but his hard work has paid off. The Gippsland Power Vice-Captain was the 2017 College Sports and Millett House Captain. Congratulations to Callum on his fantastic achievements.

A fantastic guitar cake created by Year 9 Berwick Campus student Mitchell Johnston has earned first prize in the Dandenong Show cake-decorating competition held earlier this month.

Mitchell created the cake for his Personal Best project. He entered the cake in the Dandenong Show’s adult novice section and not only won first place in that section, but champion in show.

Mitchell said the cake took about 12 hours to make, including baking, woodwork and decorating.

“The hardest part was putting the strings on the guitar, as the icing was too soft to hold them tight,” he said.

It’s not the first time Mitchell has entered his cake creations in the show – he entered a 3D octopus cake when he was only 10 years old.

Despite his cooking abilities, Mitchell has no real aspirations for a career in food: “I would like to be a vet, but I will enjoy making cakes for friends and family in my spare time.”

Each year, our Year 9 students have one term to work on a project that is their personal passion and bring it to fruition.

The astounding breadth of creativity never fails to amaze teachers, parents and students when the works finally go on display – and this year was no exception.

Each student’s interests clearly shone through in the finished products. At the Pakenham Campus, Tylah Ryder showed her love of all things equestrian by making a western leather saddle, while Jacqui Dunstan created her own horse jump. Berwick Campus projects varied from a stock whip to a range of sports cream. Madeline Hawley spent nearly 90 hours painstakingly folding paper cranes to create her magnificent art piece.

Beaconhills was the first school in Victoria to introduce an on-campus Year 9 program, in response to the observation that Year 9 was traditionally when students switched off from their learning – often the most unproductive of the senior years. The program became the blueprint for many similar programs in schools across the state.

Here is a selection of photos of project from both campuses this term.

School holidays just got a whole lot easier thanks to a range of programs now on offer at Beaconhills College.

Whether it’s craft, kite flying, kicking a footy, picnics or pancake making, there is something to appeal to all ages and interests.

Little Beacons Learning Centre has a three-day vacation care program from 11-13 December which includes activities such as Christmas craft and a fantastic excursion to the Lillydale Lake ‘splash pad’.

Sports-loving students will enjoy the College’s Multisport program from 11-15 December with a choice of tennis, basketball, floorball, netball, gymnastics, tee ball and soccer.

Go to the College Shop on our website to find more info and under ‘camps and co-curricular’ and ‘courses’ (Junior School art program).

Lest we forget

Students from both campuses attended poignant Remembrance Day services earlier this week, to observe a minute silence for those Australians who have died as a result of war.

At the 11th hour, on the 11th day, of the 11th month, we remember them.