Beaconhills College

Today, our annual VCE Visual Arts Exhibition was opened online. After many hours of work under difficult and limiting circumstances, the students have created amazing pieces across many styles and media.

The exhibition includes works from VCE Media, Studio Arts and Visual Communication Design from both campuses. The exhibition is open to the college community and instructions for access can be found in the latest parent bulletins.

Pakenham Campus is now home to a community of colourful wooden spoons. Students of Junior School created the spoons in their art classes following the theme of ‘curious creatures’, inspired by last week’s CBCA Book Week theme, ‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds’.

This collaborative installation helped to reunite students this term, and create bright decoration in the schoolyard. The eye-catching spoons can now be spotted in clusters throughout the Junior School gardens.

Year 12 student of Pakenham Campus, Daniel Sandvik, was not always a fan of mathematics. After becoming fascinated with maths in his later years of school and studying VCE Mathematical Methods, he now uses it to design products related to his interests.

Recently, an acoustician asked him if he knew of a mathematical way of designing a wooden acoustic panel (Helmholtz resonator) with 86 equally spaced holes in an aesthetically pleasing layout. Daniel rose to the task and used a combination of mathematical tools and processes to create the design.

A computer-generated image of the finished product, created by the acoustician using CAD software.

“By using Wolfram Mathematica and online forums, I stumbled across an algorithm called ‘Voronoi Tessellations’. Voronoi algorithms are used in art, sciences, medicine and engineering.”

Daniel downloaded source code into Wolfram Mathematica and then analysed and modified the variables of to create a design that would suit the dimensions of the wood panel. The code then generated the geometric patterns and hole markers for the design.

                   Daniel’s design

 

The panels will be manufactured using CNC routing post-COVID.

“Mathematics is not a collection of strange hieroglyphs; it is a school of thought. I hope that in my future, whether it be in creating music, video games or practising medicine, I will be able to continue solving problems utilising the essence of Mathematical Methods.”

This year, students have focused on gratitude as part of The Resilience Project, which provides evidence-based strategies to maintain wellbeing.

Year 6 student Anneliese Hill’s favourite quote about gratitude.

This Grand Final Eve (Friday 23 October) is also an opportunity to practice gratitude by thanking those on the front line of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The name of the day was changed to ‘Thank You Day’ by the State Government.

This week was The Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week. Students from both campuses took part in creative projects and activities to celebrate the joy of reading. The theme this year was ‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds’.

Activities in Junior School included making badges and masks that reflected students’ chosen book character. Colourful co-operative pieces were displayed at the libraries where ‘curious creatures’ were created by joining together separate parts made by different students.

We are proud to announce the names of our 2021 Beaconhills College captains.

A big congratulations to Berwick Campus students Riley Thornton-Mackay, Brooke Ellis, Emma McRae and Jack Stanton. And from Pakenham, we have Aaron Sharpe, Amisha Singh, Charlie Hondow and Shubheet Sodhi.

Next year all four students representing each campus will share the title of captain. This recognises the teamwork and collaboration shared equally among captains, particularly evident amongst our Year 12 captains during the very challenging 2020 year. Congratulations also to our departing captains for their outstanding contributions to the Beaconhills College this year.

Home learning looks very different Bangladesh’s remote Bhola Island, where teachers from Fred Hyde Schools must hand-deliver learning packs so children can continue to learn remotely during the pandemic.

$4000 raised by our College community last year is helping fund teacher masks and will now support the Home Delivery Education Program for two months.

Fred Hyde Schools provides basic free education in what is one of the world’s poorest regions. Beaconhills’ association with the Fred Hyde organisation dates back more than 20 years. More news on this initiative is in our Lux Luceat magazine, out this week.

The prospect of returning to on-campus schooling is exciting for some, but daunting for others. Our Berwick Campus Wellbeing Counsellor Laura Collins has a few tips to help smooth the path.

Practise school-day routines

Before school returns, run through the morning process a few times, to help ease anxiety. Include packing their school bag, getting ready in a set amount of time or organising their uniform and lunchbox. For younger children you could play ‘pretending we are going to school’ and even include a walk around the block before and after school, to help it feel more authentic.

Talk to them about their worries, concerns and what to expect

Talk to your children about anything that can be sorted out before day 1, to ease any anxiety. This gives you time to talk to relevant staff, to potentially resolve/reassure any worries.  Talk through what to expect, and normalise their feelings – a lot of people are feeling anxious or uncertain about another change.

Re-establish good sleeping habits

Try to re-establish good sleeping habits a week or so before school returns, so there is one less adjustment to have to face in week 1. Encourage them to go to bed earlier, and wake up in time for their old face-to-face learning routine.

Be conscious of slowly easing back into a different pace of life

Being organised and prepared can help us all to avoid our crazy morning rushes. Be conscious of slowly easing your children back into school, before re-introducing clubs and extra-curricular activities, so they have them time to adjust back to life as they previously knew it.