Newsletter, Term 4, 2022

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Congratulations to everyone on reaching the end of a very successful year. With this having been the first full year back of onsite learning since COVID entered our lives there have been many things for us to celebrate and reflect on as successes from the year.

The newsletter that you are receiving is a showcase of the many opportunities available for students here @ TC. I believe reading through the newsletter demonstrates that there really is something for everyone here @ TC which allows all of our students to be able to base their education on their own strengths and passions. I hope that you enjoy reading through those areas of the newsletter that interest you, as well as seeing what else takes place.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our scored VCE Students, having received their VCE results last week. Everyone did superbly and should be very proud. We have seen students from the equivalent of Year 9 through to Grads do exceptionally well. Congratulations also to our non-ATAR pathway students on completing their courses this year.

We do have a few staff leaving us this year I wish you all the best in your future endeavours in new schools, new adventures or retirement. I would like to make a special mention of Sally Holloway who retires after 18 years at TC as Assistant Principal. Sally has made contributions to all areas of the school over the years and everyone will know how Sally has worked tirelessly to ensure that students have had the best possible experience at the school. I would also like to thank all of our staff for their work here @ TC over 2022.

We look forward with optimism towards 2023. We begin our new school strategic plan titled “TC: The Next Level” which will see us enacting our new purpose of “to challenge the status quo, so that everyone is empowered to learn”. We will also have several new building works underway with some key upgrades taking place over the holiday break and throughout the year. We will be slightly bigger in student numbers (but the size of this may not be noticeable when we have everyone back on site) as interest in TC and our progressive form of education continues to grow. There will be more on our new strategic plan and how we will be continuing to challenge how we do things for the purpose of our students being empowered learners when we return in the new year.

I want to finish by wishing everyone a safe holiday. I look forward to welcoming everyone back in 2022. We truly have a great school with a great community, and I am looking forward to seeing how we continue to improve even further next year.

Peter Ellis
Principal

Leadership Training

In the last week of school our 2023 Peer Support Leaders, Community Leaders and School Captains completed leadership training. Leija, Ryan and Meg led the general morning sessions and then students broke out into specific groups to work on their skills and goals for the new year with the staff who will be working closely with them. The students were very positive, enthusiastic and engaged throughout the day and TC looks to be well placed for great things in 2023 with these kids leading the way!

connect tv

Connect TV team speaking at the Community Awards. We were invited to speak at the Templestowe Bendigo Bank Community Awards night that celebrates the achievements of local organisations that work hard to improve the lives of our local community members. The night also celebrates the significant financial contribution of the local Bendigo Bank to many local clubs, charities, and initiatives that support health, well-being, and connectedness. Connect TV were fortunate to receive a Community Grant of $5000 to purchase camera equipment which will help us improve the quality of our episodes. 

FareShare Excursion

Fifteen Students and three staff spent a morning volunteering at FareShare kitchens.  FareShare operates a fleet of refrigerated vans in Victoria which collect surplus and donated food from supermarkets, wholesalers, manufacturers and farmers.  It also has large tracts of railway line verge gardens. It is an organisation that has 1,000 volunteers who give up their time to rescue, cook, grow and transport prepared meals for those in need and to avoid such food becoming waste and an environmental pollutant.

It was a great experience as the work completed by the group was not a token experience but gave to the organisation 45 hours of work that would have had to be done by other volunteers.

As a team we:

• Assembled and cooked 1248 egg and vegetable pies

• Cleaned and prepared a whole pallet of Cauliflower (800kg)

• Open 30kg of singe serve feta cheese

• Tore up 2 tubs of bread to go into 10kg of chicken roll mix

• Smoothed and decorate 250 Christmas cakes

• Cleaned and reset the kitchen

Australian Science Olympiads

Congratulations to the following students on their achievements in the national Science competition, the Australian Science Olympiads:

Distinction - George Thornber, Aaron Lau, Nicholas Pyle
Credit - Jeremy Chu, Abby Dearman
Participation - Cate Reynolds, Jed Catley

Zoo Leader Graduation

Polperro Dolphin swim

On Nov 11 the Working With Animals "Fish" class organised an excursion for 20 students to go swimming with Dolphins and Seals in Port Phillip Bay. The students were given a wetsuit, snorkel and mask. We then drove to the middle of the bay and jumped in the water. There were over twenty seals sitting up on a platform, about half a dozen in the water. We swam amongst them for about 20 minutes. The seals were curious and very friendly. We then tried to warm up and find a pod of dolphins. All eyes were scanning the horizon for the next half hour. Suddenly the shout went out "is that a dolphin?" We had spotted them and now just needed to get the boat in front of them, so we could enter the water and be ready as they swam by. After a few attempts we were perfectly positioned when the dolphins swam within two meters of us. The boat crew said that the TC students were the best group that they had ever taken out, for enthusiasm, attitude and behaviour. Great job everyone. We are all very excited to add this excursion to our annual set of camps and excursions. Next year we are also going to participate in the "Fish Count" where students will snorkel around piers and fill in tick sheets of the types and numbers of fish they see.

Halls Gap Zoo Camp

TC Animals Instagram

Templestowe College Animals (@tc_animals) • Instagram photos and videos

To all Blue Community,

We began 2022 with the challenge for all students to take a leap of faith. This challenge came with the return to a normal school year. It was been pleasing to see the Community take up this challenge with students taking up new initiatives and ideas both within and outside the school. Watching the entire Community learn from each other how to sign ‘Hello how are you, do you need help?’ during a Blue Assembly was something that hadn’t been envisaged at the start of the year!

Our student leaders have also continued to impress throughout the year, both Reda and Tya have successfully led our Community involvement in the Swimming and Athletics Carnivals, created a Blue chant and continued to be positive role models. For 2023 we welcome Daniel Westein, Tya and Millyca Robinson into the student leader role to continue supporting staff and students in Community events and activities.

I would also like to acknowledge the work of both Guy and Kate within the Community Leader role and the support they have provided as we pushed through the year. They will be continuing this great work into 2023 under the leadership of Mia Cooper who will be taking charge of the Blue Community as Lizzy and I travel Australia with our 3 and 5-year-old!

I wish all of you a successful break and look forward to seeing how each of you has changed over the next 12 months. 

Regards,
Anthony Owen

Community Integrated learning Week - earth week 🌏

The Last Community Integrated Learning theme for this year was 'Earth'. During Week 4 (October 24-28), TC celebrated Earth Week with a range of class-based and whole-school activities focusing on sustainability, climate action, energy and waste reduction. CIL organiser Ryan Griffith explains that the theme aimed to "focus our attention on this era-defining issue through action-based learning that will hopefully empower our community to make a positive difference to our environment." 

Throughout the week, there were a plethora of activities, many of which stemmed from the ideas of students who were awarded grants to lead earth-themed activities. Congrats to August Jellis (sustainable food exploration project), Carstens Beyers (micro-bat boxes), and all the students in MAP Occupations (native bird boxes) for their excellent project ideas. 

Also very excitingly, TC received some grants! In the coming year, these grants will help TC go solar, and build a wheelchair-accessible sensory bird aviary and a brand new permaculture project that will be open to the TC community in hopes to reduce the use of everyday plastics.

Halloween Dress Up day

Now an annual TC tradition, we got out the fake blood and black lipstick for Halloween dress up!

Activities Week!

The intersection Urban Learning Excursion for WORDS 2

In term 4 WORDS 2 students studied the theme of ‘Homelessness and Connection’.

First we viewed the SBS documentary, ‘Filthy  Rich and Homeless’, then read the novel, ‘The Simple Gift’ by Steven Herrick. These were vastly different texts, the first providing a glimpse into the harsh  reality of life on the streets, or ‘rough sleepers’. Getting a cup of hot coffee, or having a shower, or even getting medical attention, are constant struggles. Students mentioned they liked both texts and the perceptions they provided.

The novel shows how the protagonist, the teenager, Billy, is forced to leave home and move to a country town.

Here is a student reflection:

I did enjoy the documentary on homelessness, I learnt lots of new things on their situations and what they are you going through. The novel was a good choice for this theme because it’s about a teenager the same age as us and it shows what teens our age go through on the daily basis.

While the documentary showed the struggles and lack of hope, the novel has a positive outcome. Billy is not only helped by others, but he helps those in need as well. It is this connection that we all need that the novel explores.

Here is an extract from the novel – Billy has decided to leap onto a freight train, but Ernie, the train driver, sees him. Instead of being harsh, he is kind and allows Billy to get some warmth inside.

Billy realises:

Men

There are men like Ernie,
the train driver, in this world.
Men who don’t boss you around
and don’t ask prying questions
and don’t get bitter
at anyone different from them.
Men who share a drink and food
and a warm cabin
when they don’t have to.
Men who know the value of things
like an old boat
built for long weekends of a lake.
Men who see something happening
and know if it’s right
or wrong
and aren’t afraid to make that call.
There are men like Ernie
and
there are other men,
men like my dad.

We visited the CBD as part of our thematic study of 'Homelessness and Connection'. The group from 'Intersection’s city walks' arranged for students to have a guided tour of city streets and lane ways to learn more about the plight of homeless.

Students were informed of the facts of the current situation and the need for compassion and change. Rental properties with balconies featured in this were available for $1000 weekly. Lisa, the guide, was informative and detailed. All students learned to see the CBD from a new perspective.

Thank you to Holly, the aide, and the Words 2 teacher, Dominic, for all your support on the excursion. To all the students, especially, THANK YOU SO MUCH. You were great!

By Julie Campbell

Emilia Excursion

Literature and theatre students traveled to the Melbourne arts centre to watch the international hit play, Emilia. The feminist play, performed by an all female and non binary cast, put a spin on Shakespearean times, looking at the life of the once forgotten Emilia, who was Shakespeare’s alleged muse and helped write/inspire many of his plays. It was an amazing day in the city and an empowering and incredible play.

Level Up

Check out a recently published article on the Yelling at Children website from Arden McDonald one of our MAPS students. It is Arden's first year in Level Up and they quickly became our Chief Editor. If you have a chance do yourself a favour and have a read. It would be brilliant if you could leave a comment too if you get a second.

I was thrilled to join Gold Community earlier this year as your Community Director. Thank you to everyone for being so welcoming. I enjoyed getting to know many of you in the past few months and I look forward to meeting more of the fabulous Gold Community crew next year. I know that there were few successes in the Community events this year, but I hope you had fun anyway. Next year, we can create events that we are passionate about and hopefully corner a little glory for some of you to experience. We will definitely be working on people feel comfortable about participating in Community events and getting some joy from being part of the teams, and hopefully making some new and meaningful connections. 

I want to thank Ash Pickard for serving in the leadership role this year. You handled a difficult task with care Ash. Of course, that means we welcome a new leadership team for 2023 and Abby Dearman, Scout Nichols-Tomlins and Sienna Pescetti will represent all Gold Community students next year. A key part of the culture at TC and something that is now formalised in our official school plan is to empower all students to have as much influence in their education as possible. What this means in plain English is that you can make changes here; and you can dream about how you can make the school more engaging, fun and relevant to you. Please pass your ideas to our leaders and give them your support to continue to make TC one of the most unique and welcoming schools in Victoria. I hope you all have an enjoyable break from school with family and friends. Please stay safe and see you in 2023.

Craig, Cathy and Mark

What a phenomenal year, and what a fab community the Green Community is!! As we near the end of 2022, I want to thank each and every one of you for making my first year at TC an incredible one. You should all be so proud of yourselves, for the achievements you all made. Coming back to school and getting back into the routine from the life of lock downs was hard for everyone. To come back in with the smiles, dedication and grit that you have all continuously shown is a credit to you all.

Whilst some of us maybe didn’t achieve all that we set out to do, I know that everyone really tried to be the best that they could be. It is a great time to reflect on the year that was and really think about what 2023 will look like for you as a student, friend, and family member. Set yourself some goals and continue to reach for the stars.

I wanted to give a special shout out to Vicky Eborall and Leija Harman as the Green Community Leaders. Without them, the green community would not be as amazing as it is. I look forward to continuing to work alongside them in 2023, ensuring everyone feels united, connected and experiences a sense of belonging within the green community – working as one to make TC a better place.  

I hope everyone has a restful break, stay safe, do something that makes you smile and be kind. I look forward to seeing you all in 2023.

Stephanie Marcanio

gala day

The Gala day was an excellent display of great sport person ship. Students from Entry and FLE 1 students participated in either Futsal, Frisbee or European Handball in a day that saw rain, hail and shine. Luckily for the Handball students they were indoors and battled against the other schools in the arenas. Agility, speed, throwing and catching were on display from all that participated. Our Frisbee and Futsal teams battled the elements as they put their best foot forward and challenged the opposition. Thank you all for a successful day and your commitment to training's. We look forward to the Gala Day next year. 

Bounce Fitness Program

ESDP Term 4 UPDATE

The ESDP Basketball Program enjoyed some great basketball experiences during term 4.

Firstly, in October had all students of each year level compete in the Basketball Victoria 3x3 round tournaments held at the State Basketball Centre. While we didn’t win any of these events our teams made it deep into the finals and all the players got another chance to experience 3x3 basketball which is now an Olympic and World Championship event.

Our Year 7 & Year 8 equivalent girls basketball teams competed in the Regional Finals of the School Sport Victoria Basketball Championships held at the Dandenong Basketball Stadium on October 21st. While both teams were unsuccessful in advancing through to the State Finals it was an exceptional performance from the girls given, we only had five ESDP players on each team who were complimented by some other students who helped boost our numbers.

The junior boys and junior girls’ students also had a friendly game against St Monica’s College on November 22nd, held at St Monica’s. The purpose of the game was to give the students another opportunity to compete for the school and test all the skills and strategies we have been working on during 2022. Both teams came away with comfortable wins.

The final event for the basketball program was for our Senior Girls to compete at the Australian Schools Championships held on the Gold Coast November 28th to December 4th. We qualified for the tournament through winning the Champions Cup tournament held by Basketball Victoria.

The team finished 5th in the event which was a little disappointing but it was certainly a learning experience for the group. We had some minor injuries in the first couple of games which no doubt impacted our result with Dyani Ananiev missing a couple of games with an ankle injury and Lucy Christodoulou missing the majority of the tournament due to a knee dislocation in the second game.

2023 will see our largest group of participants in the ESDP program and we congratulate all who participated this year and look forward to continuing to build on the program next year.

Old Melbourne Gaol Excursion

In week 8 the ‘Crime and Punishment’ class went on an excursion to Old Melbourne Gaol in the city. Students were given a tour of the old gaol and heard stories of great escapes, ghosts, and famous prisoners. They also had an opportunity to look inside the various cells, examine death masks, and see where famous prisoners had been held before their executions. Then they visited the adjacent ‘City Watch House’ where they were able to experience what it would’ve been like to be held in remand. This was the place where felons were brought to face justice whether arrested in the streets of Melbourne for minor misdemeanours or being brought before the court for significant crimes. This building only stopped serving its purpose on 1994. Students enjoyed the experience, especially when the guard was shouting at them and locking them in a padded cell. It was a really fun day out for all students!

The Australian History Competition

Earlier in the year our Entry Humanities class participated in the Australian History Competition. Students were tasked with applying their historical skills including source analysis and interpretation to a range of questions under test conditions. This was a great opportunity for students to show how much they had learned by the end of our semester-long subject. The Australian History Competition is also a great way to showcase that History is just as important as maths, science and English! Congratulations to all our students who entered, with an extra-special well done to those who received High Distinction – great work!

Congratulations to our International Grads

We bid farewell and good luck to our 8 International Graduates – Davison, RJ, Yat, Alex Dai, John Huang, Celia, Judy and Ivan. It’s been an epic 3 years of VCE for all of you.

We had a special meal for the students who are here without their families.

Learning about Christmas

Christmas is not celebrated everywhere. In the Language Centre the students learned about some of the traditions and history associated with Christmas. They decorated a tree, made Ginger bread houses and we took a trip to the city to see Myers windows and Christmas decorations.

MAP Landcare Camps

In weeks 6 and 7, after floods of biblical proportions and innumerable cancellations, MAP students finally went out on our inaugural Landcare Camps. For four days, we camped in tents, ate under tarps, worked hard in community gardens, got our warmth from campfires, got our drinking water from a river, and experienced the “character-building” (quote: Callum McDonald, camp leader) joys of self-composting long-drop toilets! We camped at the gorgeous Toorongo Falls Reserve just outside of Noojee and worked with local community groups to work on projects they had identified as important.

Our two camps saw nearly 50 staff and students all have “firsts”, building resilience and humour out of adversity and learning the true value of good waterproof clothing.

There were too many beautiful moments to list them all, but one of the most delightful flecks of the second camp was being able to take seven students to the snow for the first time in their lives – seeing the joy on faces as an excursion to Mt Baw Baw devolved into a 90-minute snowball fight that only stopped when “hot chocolates in 5 minutes” was announced is a memory that will stick with all for a long time. Another highlight came when a student, completely unprepared, told the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in Mandarin during a discussion on the power of language in culture prompted by reflections on the experiences of local First Australians, as their peers sat spellbound until the student finished and then burst into applause.

The sense of accomplishment small groups of students (some of whom have never cooked anything more complicated than eggs on toast) got from cooking authentic tortillas from scratch in a camp kitchen (despite the fact that it may, or may not, have taken more than 2hrs!) was joyous. So too was the moment the bus which had been incapacitated on the first day of the first camp and had to be fixed over the phone to mechanics back in Melbourne by teachers and students working together.

Student and teachers alike rallied around their friends and colleagues who hadn’t brought enough clothes, whose tents collapsed, who just plain got tired of shovelling mulch to try to keep the mud at bay, and who were just plain tired of being wet and cold. But there were very few complaints, and mostly smiles as most realised how lucky we were to be able to pit ourselves against the elements in a healthy way after two years of lockdowns and remote learning.

Life was hard, but life was good. This was the essence of challenge.

Here are some of the things students said:

“Landcare camp was a great time, although the weather was less than ideal with it bucketing down most of the time. But save for a few minor gripes like that I thought it was a very beneficial experience. The closeness and comradery were big highlights because you felt like you knew everybody well by the end, and the place we stayed was beautiful with the waterfall and the greenery. The cooking with friends was more fun that I had expected, being someone who despises the act of cooking I had a good time with it, I’d call it a fun mess. Overall, I give the camp 4/5 stars.”
Kael

“The Landcare camp was… an experience to say the least. Apart from the endless karaoke, the warm fires, and waterfall walks, what did we do? Well, we got wet. We stayed in what was basically a rainforest. It rained like, constantly, but at least my tent didn’t get flooded. Working in the community garden was an obvious highlight. But what I really loved cooking dinner until eleven o’clock at night. Not to mention the hundreds of bugs I had the pleasure of wiping off my tent! Truly an honour, 10/10 would love to get saturated at Noojee again.”
Kiara

“The campsite we arrived in was wet and muddy, we set up tents quite close to a creek. That creek was one of our main water sources for washing dishes and hands. My favourite part of Landcare camp was the snow, we drove up Mt Baw Baw and drank hot chocolates surrounded by snow. The walks up to Toorongo falls were beautiful, and over all this camp was one of the best I have been on, and I enjoyed it very much.”
Akaysha

“My favourite part of the Landcare camp was when we were sitting in the creek on a hot day.”
Xanthe

“Landcare Camp:
Cold, Wet, Muddy, But arguably the prettiest campsite I’ve ever been on.
Never bored, whether that was for the better or worse, I couldn't tell.
Food I’ve never ate before”
Oscar

“My highlight of MAP landcare camp was going to the snow, it was my first time. We all played around in the snow, throwing snowballs at each other and the teachers! We were even lucky enough to be there when it was actually snowing! It was so beautiful. The wet feet and cold hands were worth it.”
Kayla

Mathematics Association of Victoria Games Day

On the 27th of October 4 FLE1/2 students - Olivia, Zoe, Lara, and Jamie - attended the Mathematics Association of Victoria (MAV) games day. This is a competition in which groups of four from schools in the area participate in a series of individual and team based puzzles and games. Students had to problem solve when presented with new and interesting scenarios, incorporating their understanding of numeracy, indices, measurement, and algebra. Students also engaged in a series of game sin which they had to think both strategically and tactically, identifying core strategies to beat their opponent and respond to their opponents turns. 

For this day our students came 2nd, one point behind the leaders, well done!

On the 28th of October 8 FLE 3/4 students - Georden, Henry, Otylia, Kiera, Rory, Thomas, Riane, and Kayla - attended their own MAV games day. The process was much the same as the first, competing in a series of maths puzzles and strategy games. Due to the large number of attendees we were able to send two groups! Our FLE3/4's had a great day and held up well to the fierce competition and large number of opponents. One of the teams, comprised of Otylia, Georden, Riane, and Thomas, came third!

Al students across the two days represented TC incredibly well, demonstrating a high level of respect and manners, along with a keen sense of competition and perseverance. Well done everyone, I am keen to see you all smash it again next year!

Semester 2 Dance Showcase

The Semester two showcase was a huge hit. Staying true to it's theme with each song represented different aspects/ characters of Magic and Madness, with special effects contrasting well with the beautiful choreographies designed by students and staff. Read Bonnie-Mai’s review in TCNEWS here.

Photography by Mia Daniels, Eve Gibney, Olivia Lee and Alex Karadimas from the photography elective.

Elite Dance Fundraiser

Congratulations to the Elite Dance team for their fundraiser event to go to Nationals in 2023.

Emma Tierney runs the Elite Program every Friday afternoon with guest teacher Tonille, who teaches hip-hop. For the dancers, the group performances were already learnt by heart since they had already performed them earlier in the year at competitions and other showcases, with the guidance of Emma and Tonille, they learnt and choreographed their solos, duos and trios! Read Bonnie-Mai’s full article here.

Stage Dive

Sessions with Song Club and Music Performance Elective, stage dive is a weekly opportunity for our young musos to showcase their talent to a captive audience

New Musical Releases by TC Artists

Gigs

TC musicians have had lots of amazing opportunities to perform outside TC, giving them real world gigging experiences. Congratulations to everyone that stepped outside their comfort zones to put on some amazing sets.

Rockfest awards

Last issue we brought you our musician’s contribution to RockFest 2022. Congratulations to Bec who won BEST KEYS, you can watch her video now on you tube and below her surprise finding out she had won!

TC/Doncaster SC Rock Workshop and gig

Doncaster Secondary College has a rock program similar to TC and we are excited to build a partnerships. On the 20th October, students from TC travelled to Doncaster Secondary to participate in writing and rehearsal workshops during the school day and performed a rock showcase concert in the evening at the Doncaster Secondary College Performance Centre. It was a great day of collaboration and we look forward to doing more in the future.

Annnnnd ACTION!!! 2022 was a fresh start for all, and goodness me did we take advantage of it. Kicking off the year with the inaugural pool party was a massive hit. Moving further through the year, athletics day was a cold and rainy, yet beautiful day with the new inclusion of indigenous games. At one point, the clubs started to kick into a new gear. Warhammer club, chess club, history club all saw an increase in participants. Stage dive incorporated some heavy metal classics featuring yours truly, and later in the year some Taylor Swift fans were seen laying waste to piñatas. What I am trying to say is that TC is a place and home for everyone. Regardless of how unique you may think your interests are, I guarantee if you ask enough people, you will find YOUR people. So don’t hesitate to seek those after your own heart. 

Yes. 2022 has been a long, arduous year in the sense that it has been our first full year back on site for a long time. I certainly question if it’s the teachers or students who are feeling it more at this point of year. But I can say with certainty that everyone has been reaching their personal goals. The trials and tribulations of a school year have seen nothing but success for all our students. And I would like to implore all members of the red community to celebrate your successes. If for some reason you cannot determine your success, think of a skill or knowledge point you now know/can easily complete that you couldn’t at the start of the year. That is your growth.

Change is inevitable, particularly in the world of education. Both Craig and Mia have moved out of the red CET in 2022 to become Community Directors of the Gold and Blue communities. I would like to provide both past members of the red community team my highest congratulations on their positions in their new communities. Without a doubt, the red community would not be the cohesive unit it currently is without their hard work and dedication throughout the years. Change also brings new opportunities. Fiona Wightman transitioned flawlessly into her role as community leader earlier in the year, and we are excited to bring on board new prize recruit James Paraskeva. I would like to thank you both pre-emptively for the efforts you will be putting in place to ensure all students in the red community have access to a high-quality education without barriers.  

Many parents will have received a phone call from Rebekah Burrell, the red community admin assistant. Her tireless efforts have helped keep the community afloat. Thank you, Rebekah. The wellbeing team have an endless source of problem-solving techniques, many of which have been utilised this year to care for the mental health and wellbeing of our students. We could not provide the education we do without their support. A huge thank you to the wellbeing team for all your efforts. 

I would also like to send a massive thank you to Cherish Ossai and Daniel Gray for their contributions as Red Community student leaders throughout the year. Personally, I was sceptical about running a whole community naughts and crosses game in the PAC, but somehow the students still talk about it as a highlight. With the seeds well and truly planted for our community, Sky Crawford, Tanja Fekonja and William Ganat will be able to grow these seeds into a forest. Congratulations to our newly appointed student leaders. 

Quite often we are growing, whether that is academically, or more importantly, holistically, without even knowing it. The end of year holidays is a perfect time to sit and reflect on who you are, who you were and who you want to be. Set the goals to achieve the latter for 2023. 

See you all in the new year. 

Regards, 
Stevenson Knight 
Red Community Director 

Lead to Sustain

On the 21st of October, the Lead to Sustain team 2022 went to Currawong Bush Park to present a workshop to primary school students about wetland wildlife. We had a great time collaborating to create a series of fun activities (searching through water samples for marine life, such as bugs and larvae, with pipettes and microscopes, telling the Story of a River and seeing how clean water can become soiled by lots of small and seemingly insignificant actions, and writing a pledge to the environment) and presenting them to groups of children. “It was so much fun running these activities with the primary school kids, beautiful weather as well,” recalls Leon. During the excursion, we all tried something new and made valuable connections with each other. Abby says, “I really enjoyed teaching the children about our environment, I had an amazing time and I got to bond with my classmates.” It is important to spread awareness of sustainability and develop our community into a place full of environmentally conscious people. Imogen reflects on Lead to Sustain as “An awesome learning experience and ability to further build leadership/teamwork skills. Just a great day overall.” Well done to all those who participated in and helped the Lead to Sustain team and I am excited to see what we can do next year!

By Jessica

Entry Science

Term 4 saw Entry students visiting Melbourne Museum for the day. Buses from school dropped us into the city, with heavy rain and strong winds predicted. In smaller groups we moved around the museum spaces before heading to IMAX to watch Asteroid Hunters, exploring their cosmic origins and potential threat to our world. We were introduced to asteroid scientists and the cutting-edge tools and techniques they use to detect and track asteroids, and the technology that may one day protect us. We started with lunch outside, to the sounds of the free DJ at the museum entrance, before wind and rain drove us indoors. It was raining heavily by the time we made a final dash for the bus to take us back to TC.

Solutions

The focus for Term 4 in Solutions Using Science has been 'Heathy Oceans', which covers a range of scientific and geographical concepts including ocean currents, seasonal changes in ocean salinity and sea ice, effects of global warming and enhanced carbon dioxide levels and acidification on ocean biodiversity. We looked at bioaccumulation in food webs and learnt all about plastics. Students made their own potato starch 'bio plastic' and designed experiments to compare compostable plastics with other types of plastics. This tied in well with Earth Week and we organised for all of the Solutions students to go down to Ruffey Creek to clean up the local environment. We found an amazing range of things including balls, containers full of food, masks and even a car tyre! Unfortunately many students were caught in a downpour but those who persevered helped to sort the rubbish and were astonished at how much junk ends up in our waterways. Guest speakers from Going Green Solutions and Yarra River Keeper enhanced the student's knowledge of these issues on the day also.

Finally students worked on a project to explain a solution to the 'plastics problem' and presented these to the class. 

In the last couple of weeks students learn about Light and Sound and tried to make tuned instruments from lab equipment - it's harder than it sounds!

Zoology and Ecology

In Zoology and Ecology this term we continued training Comet, the eel, who graduated from touching a ball to starting to be trained to swim through a hoop! We also learnt about reproduction of different types of animals, symbiotic relationships and conservation of endangered species. We also developed our dissection skills by carefully examining the contents of powerful owl pellets (the balls of bones and fur that owls regurgitate) that were kindly collected for us by a TC parent. We were able to identify the skull of a baby ringtail possum in one! 

A highlight for many students was the scientific illustration unit where we learnt some techniques for drawing accurate representations of animals. We went down to the reptiles room and practices drawing some of the locals, although some were more patient models than others! You can read below our children's story about a symbiotic relationship.

forensics Science

In forensic science this term students wrote up their own experiments to practice writing lab reports. The best part was performing the experiments to see if they worked!

VEX Robotics Nationals

Templestowe College had seven teams representing Victoria and our school at the Australian National Robotics Championships held at the Quaycentre Olympic Park sports centre in Syndey from December 2 until December 4.

This was a positive student-centred competition which saw the entire Sydney Olympic Arena full of robotics students, building, modifying, and programming to get the best out of each other and their robots whilst making new alliances and friendships from schools across Australia. This collegial and communal focused competition lends itself to cooperation over competition and extends the design, engineering and collaborative skills or our students providing a breadth of opportunity for future pathways.

TC students showed just how strong they are with robotics at the VEX Robotics National Championships.  TC joined 140 of Australia’s best robotics teams. The TC teams crossed 3 divisions, VIQC Middle School, VRC Middle School and VRC High School in our largest nationals showing to date. Through out the day teams competed in qualifying matches, ran autonomous routines and met with judges. By the end of the day all TC teams were placed in the top of their divisions. On Sunday teams returned to the fields to finish their last few qualifying matches before moving onto finals. TC Teams made the semi-finals in each of their divisions and 2 of the TC teams pushed on to the final matches. Team 1002X consisting of TC students Alex Sleeman, George Thornber, Danu Kusuma and Westin Ou made it all the way to the finals match against Sydney’s 5D College. Unfortunately, they lost out in that match, but for a new team the accomplishment of making that final match was unheard of. Over in the high school division Templestowe 1002T, consisting of Noah Lau-Hicks, Thomas Radford, Jack Greatorex, Jamie Smith and Will Melville were fighting it out against an alliance between Adalaide’s Pedare College and Sydney’s Barker College. The matches were played in a best of 3 format and the TC Students worked hard and won the first 2 matches titling them the tournament champions.

On top of the divisions that TC students competed in there is the VEX University division. The University of Melbourne’s team is made up of students from Copperfield and Templestowe Colleges. The University team volunteered their time and made the nationals happen. TC alumni referred and ran the VRC divisions while university teams from NSW and Queensland worked on their robots. Sunday was the big day for the VEX U teams, they competed against their university counterparts and went undefeated. Seeing our TC alumni succeed at such a high level was inspiring for all our students.

On top of the head-to-head matches students are interviewed by judges where they share their engineering notebooks and answer questions about their process, community outreach and team dynamics. The judges then select teams for a verity of awards. TC team 3107 F made up of Zacky Phillips, Fin Kent, and George Haviaridis Impressed the judges with unique robot design and earned themselves the VIQC Create Award. Team 1002 X had a very interesting design that worked amazingly well and that earned them the VRC middle school Judges Award. Finally team 1002 T Impressed the judges with their exceptional performance, detailed design, sportsmanship and overall robot skill. The judges awarded them the highest possible award available in robotics competitions, the VRC high school Excellence Award. Our alumni on the Melbourne University team also impressed the judges with their insane work effort and performance earning themselves the VEX U Excellence Award. This April Templestowe team 1002 T and Melbourne University team will be moving on to represent Australia  at the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas.

Yarra Valley Chocolaterie

On Wednesday 16th November students from the Food Technology and Café Culture classes headed off for an adventure to the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie. We were greeted by the friendly faces of some of the workers and chocolate makers. The large group was divided into 2. One group had time to look around at all the amazing chocolate creations and to watch how different products were made. While the second group ventured into the hands-on class. Here they were given a presentation on the history of chocolate and how it is made. They were given a taste test of many of the different flavoured chocolates on offer at the Chocolaterie. Students then had the opportunity to make their own chocolate block. They had approximately 30 different ingredients which they could select to add. These ingredients ranged from hazelnuts and macadamias to freeze dried raspberries, lolly snacks and licorice.  Students then had a fun time making their own large lollipop where they could be as creative as they liked. Finally they were given one more sugar fix of handmade inhouse chocolate ice cream. Everyone jumped onto the bus at the day ready for a nap after a fun and exciting day.

BAKING

Baking recently learnt all about yeast and how to make a yeasted dough. Some students made donuts and level 3 students make brioche...we so proud of what they all created! They were made over two classes, first class we made the yeasted dough and let it prove in the fridge overnight before rolling, cutting, cooking, glazing, filling and of course eating! It was so much fun and they were as delicious as they look.

LUNE

Baking students went on an Excursion to Lune Croissanterie where they were immersed in the art of making the perfect croissant. There was taste testings as well as a talk about 'how to make the perfect croissant'. The students had an opportunity to watch the pastry chefs at work and take some goodies home.

YARRA VALLEY CHOCOLATERIE

Baking students also went on an Excursion to The Yarra Valley Chocolaterie where they had the opportunity to taste a variety of chocolate flavours, design and create their own chocolate treat to take away. The owner of the chocolaterie also spoke to the group about sustainable production of chocolate which was very interesting and sparked great conversation amongst the group. There was ice-cream as well!

2022 VCE Product Design and Technology Outdoor Seating Completed

5th Dec 2022

As the end of 2022 come to a close, David Payne's VCE Product Design class marked the occasion by installing their outdoor seating collaborative works onsite at Templestowe College. The VCE students worked in small groups over the course of semester two to solve an issue of seating at TC by designing, manufacturing and installing unique outdoor seating on the campus. The student designs featured a range of influences from Scandinavian design to Modernist furniture and the results are captivating, functional and cause for discussion.

Enquiries: David Payne and Bree Gonella

Backyard Permaculture

This term in the TC Farm, Backyard Permaculture students helped to construct the new orchard and worked hard to dig holes and plant a variety of new stone fruit trees. Students had to trouble shoot an encounter with an old concrete drain and measure distances between trees and set up irrigation to ensure their best chance of survival.

The new livestock shelters are now fully completed to protect the animals from the elements and students also helped to clear the caged area so it can now be used as a livestock pen. We also worked on tree planting for our school’s agroforestry project along the back fence and a student team continued landscaping the seating area around the pizza oven.

We prepared the plots and planted the Summer crops including strawberries, lettuce, melons, pumpkins, zucchinis, broad beans, kale and tomatoes and harvested heaps of delicious produce for the weekly market including asparagus, salad and stir-fry mix, apricots and garlic. Catherine and her team also completed the cob wall in the market area which will be planted up next year.

A highlight of the term was an excursion to Sugarloaf Produce Farm where we learnt about trials and tribulations of growing organic vegetables for a living. We learnt about farming mushrooms, chicken tractors, deer proofing and helped with some planting. On the way home we enjoyed yummy, crunchy apples from Apted’s Orchard.

And as usual, we had lots of tasting of our produce and honing our baking skills using the pizza oven.

VISIONS

VISIONS is finally back! After three years, the annual Art & Design show had its opening night on Tuesday the 22nd and was open to the general public until the 25th. The exhibition was a celebration of student work across the arts and technologies subjects (Architecture, Jewellery, Design & Technology, Media, Art, and VCD) and "encapsulates the creativity of our students as well as the conceptual ideas behind artworks and the interpretation of these by an audience". The opening night was accompanied by, live performances from Music and a tasty banquet of bites supplied by Cafe Culture students. Awards were also handed out, on the night. For Demi, she selected students who showed "exceptional growth throughout the year or semester, and not necessarily on just one artwork". 

Read the full TCNEWS article here.

Visual Arts Instagram - TC Visual Arts (@tcvisualart) • Instagram photos and videos

Lunch time wellbeing sessions

This term our Specialist Wellbeing Services team, had the opportunity to co-collaborate and run lunchtime activities.

Nillumbik Council, Youth Services ran a lunch time wellbeing session to celebrate Mental Health Month. Students were able to participate in mindfulness activities that included:

• Loom Bands

• Diamond Dots

• Mindfulness Colouring In

Lots of fun was had.

For World Mental Health Day, Manningham Youth Services and Headspace Hawthorn ran a wellbeing session on self-care. Our students came up with amazing strategies and ideas on how to look after your mental wellbeing. They also ran a painting pots lunch time session which allowed for our students to show their artistic and creative flare. 

Breakfast club

Our Monday morning breakfast club continues to be popular. Facilitated by our amazing school leaders who have been busy making a variety of toasties, fruit toast and warming up pancakes (cooked by food tech classes), as well as handing out fruit cups and fresh fruit. Thanks so much to Food Bank Victoria who donates to our breakfast club.

Care Net

Specialist Wellbeing Services and Manningham Care Net have collaborated over the year and are looking at building stronger ties with the TC Community in 2023.

Art Therapy

Minnie from Creative Kids Therapy ran an Art Therapy program where a cohort of our students were able to build on their emotional awareness, build positive connections, learn problem solving and build in confidence. Some amazing artwork was produced as these students were able to engage in painting, drawing and other activities, as a non-threatening way to explore and express how they were feeling. The group focused on topics such as:

• Exploring self

• Building confidence & self -compassion

• Exploring friendships

• Exploring anxiety

• Exploring Mental health

• Exploring self care strategies

The students involved received an art journal that they worked on each week, as well as having the option to use different art mediums on different types of canvas's to explore, find strategies and new techniques to better deal with life challenges. This group was able to run thanks to funding from School Focused Youth Services.

Raise Mentoring Program

Term 4 saw the celebration for a cohort of our students who graduated from the Raise Mentoring Program which ran over two terms. Students had the opportunity to have weekly face to face mentoring which led to friendships, confidence building and strengthening their connection to school. Congratulations to all.

Parenting Sessions

In partnership with Eastern Parentzone, the Specialist Wellbeing Services organised two free parent sessions which were run by Dr Deborah Tengove. The first session which was held in October, was called ‘Dads Tool Kit’ and we had several fathers who came along to this session where they had the opportunity to share information, ideas and participate in activities and helpful discussions. Our second session was held in November and the topic was on ‘Positive Conflict resolution’. We had many parents who attended this interactive workshop where strategies for managing teenage conflict and finding solutions were discussed and shared.   

Happy Holidays!

Astrid regularly hangs out in the Specialist Wellbeing Services area and always greets students with a smile whenever they visit. Astrid hopes you all rest well and have fun!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from all of us in the Specialist Wellbeing team!!
Have a fabulous break! See you all in 2023
Amy, Mei, Amanda, Rita and of course Astrid. 

Every week TC journalist Bonnie-Mai Smith provides the community with a insight to life at TC. 📰
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