Beaconhills College

The combined campus Beaconhills College team performed well at the Association of Co-educational Schools (ACS) Cross Country Championships held at Bundoora Park last week.

Congratulations to Matisse Lazzari (Year 11) for her gold medal and to Thomas Lambe (Year 7), Jack Carroll (Year 9) and Brendon Mirabito (Year 12) for all placing third in their age groups. And to the Year 7 boys for placing second overall!

A gold medal for Matisse Lazzari

The magical production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid will hit the stage at the Berwick Campus this Thursday 30 August.

Middle, Year 9 and Senior School students have been rehearsing tirelessly for the past few months to bring the production to the stage.

Come along and enjoy this timeless classic and be part of the adventure. Performances will take place in the Berwick Performing Arts Hall Thursday 30, Friday 31 August 7.30pm, Saturday 1 September 2pm and 7.30pm. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss out! Go to the Beaconhills online College Shop

Parading pirates, Book Balderdash, gumnut baby librarians…Book Week at Beaconhills had everything. Not to mention a burst of brilliant sunshine for today’s character parades!

National Book Week’s theme this year was ‘Find your treasure’, which made the pirate ship playground at the Pakenham Campus the perfect backdrop for some of our literacy-loving landlubbers.

Both Berwick and Pakenham libraries were a hive of activity during the week, with competitions, dress-ups and inspiring visits from authors like James Maloney and Nova Weetman. And of course the highlight of the week was the character parade, held at both campuses.

Year 9 Pakenham Campus student Paige Morrison is thrilled to learn she has made the Victorian under 17 softball team.

Paige will represent Victoria in the nationals in Adelaide from September 28 to 1 October.

A member of the Berwick Braves club, Paige took up the sport when she was just nine. She plays mainly infield positions, but said she also enjoyed second base and outfield.

In September last year she was selected for the Victorian state development team. She said she was excited and proud to learn she will play at the nationals: “I felt speechless because it’s always been a goal of mine to compete as a state softball player!”

Paige Morrison, Year 9

Little Beacons is a finalist in the 2018 HESTA Early Childhood Education & Care Awards, which recognise Australia’s top early childhood education professionals and services.

HESTA CEO, Debby Blakey, said the finalists were selected for their leadership in creating engaging and inclusive learning environments for children.

“These finalists have shown outstanding leadership in implementing and designing programs that support children’s social, emotional, physical and cognitive development,” Ms Blakey said.

Little Beacons is among four finalists. The centre was recognised for its Early Explorers program and camp for four to five-year olds, which encourages children to explore the outdoors and learning about Indigenous culture.

The winner will be announced at the awards dinner in Sydney on 21 September.

Visiting academics from Harvard University and Beaconhills corporate partners were able to see our community service program in action first-hand recently.

The group was at Beaconhills for a special presentation from Solar Buddy founder Simon Doble and joined in with students to help build a solar light. Solar Buddy provides lights to children and families in developing countries, to help children do their homework and avoid using dangerous kerosene lamps.

This year the College will donate dozens of lights to Vietnam as part of its Beacon Explorers program along with schools it supports in East Timor.

The team from the Harvard Graduate School of Education have visited Beaconhills a number of times in recent years as part of the Leading Learning that Matters initiative and their research into educational change.

The morning also included a presentation from peace educator Margaret Hepworth, founder of The Gandhi Experiment.

Pictured (l-r) Dr Flossie Chua and Professor David Perkins from Harvard, Kate Anderson from Independent Schools Victoria (ISV)

(L-r) Beaconhills’ corporate partners Beatriz Durango and Javier Alvarez from Consolidated Property Services and Leah Schapel from Campion adopted the Beaconhills College motto of ‘letting their lights shine’.

Little Beacons Learning Centre has once again achieved the highest government rating possible – assessed as ‘exceeding’ in all seven quality areas of the National Quality Standard.

The centre is of just a handful in Victoria to have achieved such a high standard and can now apply again to continue its overall rating of ‘excellent’.

The outstanding achievement was the culmination of months of work for Little Beacons staff and a rigorous assessment process by the Department of Education and Training.

In its summary comments, the Department said the centre demonstrated a strong commitment to continuous improvement across all seven quality areas.

“Critical reflection was a continuous process and included reflection on each individual child and their interactions with families, educators, peers, specialists and the indoor outdoor environments,” the report stated. “Little Beacons also demonstrated meaningful engagement with their families, Beaconhills College, local and global communities.”

A delighted Head of Little Beacons, Vicki Reid, said the outcome was a “huge accolade” for the staff for their hard work and commitment to quality practice.

She also thanked the combined efforts of the College’s larger team to help Little Beacons continue to deliver high quality educational programs.

“We look forward to celebrating this achievement with the teams, the families and especially with the children,” she said.

Beaconhills College teacher Scott Wallace has earned the title of Casey YMCA Community Father of the Year.

Mr Wallace’s children submitted a heart-warming entry about their dad, praising his cooking skills and love and care for his 12-year-old son Cody, who was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour and hydrocephalus (excess fluid on the brain) 10 years ago. He has since undergone nine brain surgeries and has a number of other conditions. The family is now trying to raise funds for a seizure alert dog to help in Cody’s care.

The award submission submitted on behalf of Cody about his dad said: “He takes care of me when I am sick and have to go to hospital.

“He makes sure I take all my daily medicines and says to me all the time ‘If I could take away your pain I would in a heartbeat’.”

Mr Wallace, who is Head of IT and Head of Rich House at the College’s Pakenham Campus, said he was humbled and surprised to learn of the award.

“You don’t think you do anything differently to anyone else,” he said. “From the age of six, I always wanted to be a teacher – and a dad!”

• If you would like to contribute to the Wallace family’s fundraising efforts for Cody, go to https://www.gofundme.com/codys-seizure-alert-dog-fudraiser

A 1.5m wooden pelican is the latest art installation to land at the Berwick Campus, thanks to talented chainsaw artist Brandon Kroon.

Brandon fired up his chainsaw today to create this Cyprus pine masterpiece, the fifth pelican amongst thousands of chainsaw artworks he has carved throughout his career.

The former motorbike mechanic said he originally took up chainsaw art as a hobby. He recently placed third in the Alaska Cup Carving competition and his works are now constantly in demand.

The sculpture was created as part of the Beaconhills Artist-in-Residence program.

Before and after: from piece of wood to pelican

Chainsaw artist Brandon Kroon with the pelican sculpture