Beaconhills College

Congratulations to Berwick Campus Year 8 student Zitong Ren who has joined an elite group of eight students selected by the State Library of Victoria to be an Inky Awards judge. The Inky Awards are Australia’s only teen choice book awards, run annually to give young people the chance to vote for their favourite Young Adult book release of the year.

Zitong, who names ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ among his favourite reads, now has three months to read and review 20 books for a shortlist for voting on by teens across the country.

What an exciting weekend at the Bunyip Show! The Pakenham garden’s ‘Queensland Blue” beat out the competition to win 1st place for pumpkins over 3kg, 3rd place for pumpkins under 3kg and 1st place in the bean division.

The pumpkins, along with some other interesting garden produce are currently on display in the library.

Thank you to our College community for your overwhelming support of our recent bushfire appeal.

With your help, we raised more than $3,000 in cash donations for BlazeAid to support farmers who lost fences in the Bunyip bushfires.

The funds will help pay for materials, hire appropriate fencing workers and provide their meals as well as buy feed for animals.

The upcoming generation of Beaconhills College leaders were very excited to attend a recent leadership conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Junior School students participated in workshops designed to help them gain practical ideas to develop in their roles.

The group was accompanied by Deputy Head of Junior School Matt Newman and Principal Jenny Williams.

Dynamic author Nova Weetman is passionate about encouraging children to read and write. And her workshops with Year 7s yesterday in the Pakenham Campus library certainly inspired some amazing creative ideas from students.

Nova wrote her first book at 12 and has a successful career as an author of young adult and middle (grade) fiction. She has also written for various TV shows including Neighbours and H20.

Middle School student Michael Lorne was so inspired by lessons on energy poverty, that he involved his extended family in the College Solar Buddy program!

Purchasing 10 kits from the College, Michael taught his family members how to assemble them, so that they could make their way to students around the world.

Would you like to host an international student? Hosting is a rewarding and fun experience and a great way for families to learn about other cultures.

Beaconhills College, Pakenham Campus, is seeking Homestay hosts from mid-July for a number of international students visiting for short or long term periods. Financial remuneration is provided for hosting each student. Working with Children’s Checks are needed for anyone in the house aged over 18 years.

For more details or to register your interest, visit the international page of our website, email international@beaconhills.vic.edu.au or phone 5945 3129.

Beaconhills College has added its voice to the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA).

Today is Australia’s key anti-bullying event for schools. To mark the event, students at both campuses are taking part in a range of activities designed to promote respectful relationships.

Student wellbeing is a priority at Beaconhills College. To further enhance its wellbeing program, Beaconhills has launched a Bullying and Unacceptable Behaviours Action Plan, following extensive research and consultation. It includes a Code of Conduct, based on the College values of respect, compassion and integrity, to be displayed in every classroom.

Students can now also can use a link on the College’s portal and student app to report and gain support if they’re experiencing or witnessing unacceptable behaviours.

This year’s NDA theme is ‘Bullying. No way! Take action every day.’

Some spectacular results from our students at the Victorian State Junior Athletics Championships.

Achieving a personal best, Amiru Chandrasena jumped 14m in men’s triple jump, and 7m in men’s long jump, to take home gold in both events.

Cameron De Bruin also took gold in the men’s 200m race, and Caitlyn McCormick (pictured) earned a silver medal in the women’s u17 discus and bronze in women’s u17 shot put.

Beaconhills staff have high hopes for this bumper crop of Queensland Blue pumpkins. Year 9 teacher and keen gardener David Knip plans to enter them for judging in the upcoming Bunyip Agricultural Show.

College gardener Tony Kimber, pictured left with David Knip, was happy to reveal his secrets to growing the big blues: “keep soil well-fertilised, use sheep pellets and cow manure and turn it over with a rotavator once a year”.

Organically-grown fruit and vegetables from Beaconhills’ gardens are used in the school canteen menus, at Little Beacons Learning Centre and donated to local charities.