Beaconhills College

Show jumping, swimming and cross-country running? Sounds like fun – and it was, for the keen team of Beaconhills College competitors at the annual Equathon held on 13 August at Boneo Park.

Our team had some great results in the exciting multidisciplinary event, competing against teams from 68 schools. Beaconhills placed first, third and fourth in the 16-18 years section, second in the 10-12 years and sixth in the 13-15 years section.

Ebony Watson (aged 13) did well to win individual overall champion in the 16-18 years section.

Congratulations to the girls from the Pakenham Campus Year 6 tee ball team, who today won the School Sports Victoria (SSV) competition and will now compete in the state championships on 13 September.

The girls won all three of their games and represented Beaconhills College with pride and great sportsmanship.

Voice and Drama students from Beaconhills College have collected a variety of prizes in recent weeks for their performances at the West Gippsland Eisteddfod.

Last weekend Christina Keen, Cael Fisher and Indra Liyanaarachchi were successful in the Drama Eisteddfod, with Christina winning four sections including the ‘dramatic duo’ with Cael. Both students earned the ‘Most Promising Actor Perpetual Award Trophy’. Cael also won the Junior Secondary Speech and Drama Championship. Indra placed first in the Open Section Dramatic Character Solo.

Six Beaconhills students participated in the Eisteddfod’s Contemporary Vocal sections held earlier in August. Congratulations to Brodie O’Halloran, Dakota Thornley, Lucinda da Silva, Casey de Kock, Caitlin Buckey and Chenuli Haththimuni for their performances and placings, with firsts going to Lucinda for her rendition of What a Wonderful World and Chenuli for her ‘Novice Character’ song Alone in the Universe.

Christina and Cael with their trophies

Congratulations to Year 6 student Olivia Bartlett who achieved fourth place overall in dressage (novice primary section) of the Victorian Equestrian Interschool Series (VEIS).

Olivia is a member of the Beaconhills College Equestrian Club. She’s pictured with her horse Black Opal.

Berwick Campus dance students have collected three gold, a silver and three bronze medals after competing in the recent National Glee and Dance Star competition at the Gold Coast.

It is the fourth time the campus has won the national title in the ‘Secondary Lyrical/Contemporary Large Teams’ division. Special mention to Holly Neale, who was awarded the top score of the day for her solo piece.

The results were as follows:
1st place – Secondary Junior Slow Tempo Solo, Ruby Thorton-Mackay
1st place – Secondary Senior Slow Tempo Solo, Holly Neale
1st place – Secondary Lyrical/Contemporary Large Teams
2nd place – Secondary Glee Down Tempo
3rd place – Secondary Glee Up Tempo
3rd place – Secondary Broadway Jazz Large Teams
3rd place – Secondary Lyrical/Contemporary Small Teams

Year 12 Berwick Campus student Bryce Peatling has become a media sensation after successfully recording GoPro footage from near space as part of his Year 12 Media project.

Bryce has featured on Channel 7 news and the Sunrise program this week where he described how he launched a camera to 21,000m, using a weather balloon and GPS trackers to retrieve it.

The project idea, to gain photographic images from the stratosphere, quickly became a major task involving hours of paperwork to seek approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

Finding the optimal weather and location to launch was also a challenge. The final location chosen was Elmore, to the north-east of Bendigo, Victoria.
Bryce said his biggest concern was retrieving the camera (on loan from a friend), but luck was on his side. The balloon rose to 21,000m, where the temperature was -72 deg c, burst, then fell to earth just an hour’s drive away. It landed in the driveway of a farmhouse.

Bryce rushed to retrieve the images from the camera and said he couldn’t believe the results.

“I am still blown away by the outcome,” he said. “I just wanted to capture the blackness of space and the blueness of the atmosphere and that’s what I got.”

His Media teacher Nick Zomer said when Bryce initially approached him with the idea he encouraged him to go for it.

“This type of project held significant challenges in the pre-production and launching phases, but to finally see the footage and imagery that has come from it is a real testament to Bryce’s resilience to continue to push boundaries creatively,” he said.

“I’m confident that the finished imagery, once edited in post-production, will be stunning.”

You can see a snippet of Bryce’s footage from near space by clicking here – and his interview with Channel 7’s Sunrise program here.

Bryce shows some of the work that went into his folio for the project

Age is no barrier when it comes to a good yarn or a joke, as students from Year 9 at the Berwick Campus recently discovered.

Students visited residents at the aged care facility Lifeview Emerald Glades in Emerald, as part of their Common Good program. The students took part in simple activities such as reading, board games or just swapping a story.

The visit helped residents, some who have memory loss or little family contact, recall happy times in their lives.

Beaconhills College has launched a bold new initiative called Beacon Meals.

The ready-made, family-sized meals are prepared each week by our Year 8 Certificate of Excellence students using College garden ingredients.

The healthy meals, which serve a family of four to six, are available to order through the College Shop each Tuesday, for collection by parents and staff on Thursday at either Berwick or Pakenham Campus.

Each meal purchased also helps provide an identical meal for a disadvantaged family in the local community – citizenship and service in action.

All meals are prepared under supervision and in accordance with food safety standards.