Beaconhills College

Tomorrow, our Year 12 students will sit their VCE English exam. We know that the coming exam period may be a highly stressful time for our students. To help them through, our Food Technology teachers Sally Keys and Minna Rautiainen have shared their top 10 food tips for optimal brain health.

• Oily fish like salmon
• Whole grain cereals
• Eggs
• Dark green leafy vegetables and fruits (to help keep your immune system in top shape)
• Fresh fruit including avocados
• Green tea
• Don’t skip breakfast and make it healthy so your blood sugar level stays steady and doesn’t hinder your concentration
• Avoid caffeine and energy drinks (especially after 6 pm)
• Drink plenty of water
• Eat nutritious snacks  in between meals (eg fresh fruit and nuts) and avoid highly-processed foods like chocolate and biscuits

The Beaconhills community is deeply saddened by news of the sudden death of Snr Antonio Marcal, Director of the group of eight schools the College supports in Hatolia, East Timor.

Many of our students who visited East Timor in Years 9 or 10 would have experienced the warmth and hospitality of Snr Antonio when visiting his home during the Beacon Explorers program.

In his role as Director, Snr Antonio was pivotal in helping identify the areas of need in the East Timorese schools and working with us to set the schedule during our visits.

He was delighted to visit Beaconhills – in what was his first trip to Australia – back in 2014 and spoke warmly of the unique friendship between his schools and Beaconhills College. At the time he said the College’s efforts to help build the East Timorese education system had been gratefully received.

We extend our deepest condolences to Snr Antonio’s wife Francesca and family and will pass on any messages. Alternatively you can deliver cards to our reception at the Berwick or Pakenham Campus to be forwarded on.

Snr Antonio (centre) pictured during his 2014 visit to Beaconhills

Our Pakenham Campus Junior School aerobics team, the Beacon Boarders, has won gold!

The team competed yesterday (Sunday 28 October) in the School Aerobics Spring Challenge in Geelong. Beaconhills had 29 students from Years 3 and 4 plus five Middle School students competing and all teams had trained hard during terms 2 and 3.

The Boarders won their gold medal in the Future Legends creative section. Congratulations to all teams, with fifth, sixth and seventh placings in the Primary Creative Stage section, and to student coaches Sienna and Maddison Jude.

Year 9 Pakenham Campus student Elliot Perez has collected first prize in the Casey Cardinia Libraries Short Story and Poetry Competition this month.

Congratulations Elliot on your beautiful poem which we have shared here:

THE CANVAS

A barren landscape devoid of character, of life,
Delicate and pure, but yearning for true existence,
Its desire for freedom calls not only from the canvas,
But from within me as well, I feel I must answer.

I do not see the brush as simply a tool,
Nor think of the paint as just a medium of colour,
For the brush is a vessel that extends from myself,
and the paint is my soul, my voice and my mind.

The brush hovers over the canvas for just a moment
the compelling power of the painting pulls it forth
and as the painting takes its first breath, I realise
that I am no longer the one in control.

Paint spills from the brush, emotion spills from my heart
Now not only is the brush the vessel, but my being itself,
the painting once blank and empty has become another,
Its face has a mind, beneath the paint it wants to learn.

It searches me for inspiration, scouring thoughts and feelings,
The empty spaces of the canvas find filled ones in my mind,
Buried with the deepest of feelings
The voice that sang out no longer asks for permission

The face grows more familiar with each new line
Eventually the portrait is painted with a touch of tears,
Which is taken on and returned as sorrow,
And the face sheds a single tear of her own

The portrait darkens, and with the darkness comes pain
The face of tragedy smiles faintly, the familiarity sharp as knives
The eyes hold me frozen, gazing into my soul
With silent communication, the painted one demands an answer.

Australia celebrates World Teachers’ Day on Friday 26 October.

“The mediocre teachers tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”– William A. Ward.

Happy World Teachers’ Day to our great teachers.

A Year 6 Beaconhills student has started her own campaign to help brighten the day of people living with cancer.

Charli, who is at the Berwick Campus, is encouraging students to design a card and write a short positive message of kindness or inspiration to the recipient. Charli and her mum then plan to deliver the cards to oncology wards at hospitals such as Berwick’s St John of God.

Anyone who wants to contribute a card can drop them in a box Charli has waiting at the Beaconhills College Berwick Campus library. She has also launched her own Instagram account where she will post some of the messages @charliscardsforcancer

Charli said she came up with the idea for her cards because she just wanted to help cheer up people undergoing cancer treatment. And like many families, her family has also been touched by cancer.

“My grandpa passed away from cancer. I was very close to my grandpa,” she said.

Year 9 Beaconhills Berwick Campus student Mahdee Islam is celebrating his under 15 boys’ team win at the final of the Indoor Cricket Junior World Series tournament held in New Zealand. The team beat South Africa 134-72 and Mahdee was chosen as MVP.

Cricket skills run in Mahdee’s family. His dad Aminul Islam Bulbul (pictured with Mahdee) was former captain of the Bangladeshi cricket team and the first Bangladeshi batsman to score a test century against India.

The final day today for our Year 12 students is always a mixture of joy and sadness for our students and staff.

It’s the end of a long road of education and the start of an exciting new chapter of their lives.

A highlight from today, as always, was the presentation of the signature bears to our Year 12’s, by the Prep students. This is such a touching moment, more so when families are involved. As was the case today when Pakenham Campus Vice-Captain, Bryce Hathaway received his bear from cousin, Willow.

Next week we will formally farewell our Year 12s from both campuses at their respective Valedictory ceremonies – then, of course, exams begin.

Beaconhills College is proud to announce the names of our senior captains for 2019.

Congratulations to Pakenham students Matisse Lazzari,  David Harris, Tom Johnson and Kiara Venturi.
Also to our new Berwick Campus captains Phoebe Hird, Zoe Ellis, Trent Hutton and Ethan Christian.

The quality of students who applied for leadership positions for 2019 was so high, that a model of four co-captains at each campus was decided rather than the traditional split of captains and vice-captains.

The fine young people selected aptly demonstrate the qualities needed for the responsibility of these positions. Leadership at Beaconhills is focused around service and all of these students completed a rigorous process of application.

Congratulations again to our new captains, we know they will make fine role models for our Beaconhills College students in 2019.

Pakenham captains (l-r) Mattise Lazzari,  David Harris, Tom Johnson and Kiara Venturi

Berwick captains (l-r) Phoebe Hird, Zoe Ellis, Trent Hutton and Ethan Christian