The Principal, Mr Blaikie with 2022 College Dux, Manjot Bhullar who achieved an ATAR score of 99.8
The three living Principals of Wellington Secondary College, John Coulson (1987-2004), Mary-Jo Putrino (2004-2012) and Hugh Blaikie (2012-Present) presented keynote speeches at the 50th Anniversary Dinner
Welcome
This will be the last Journal for the year. It is fair to say that although the festive season is fast approaching, there is still plenty happening at school. There will be a number of detailed reports and photos in other parts of this edition, however, there have been some genuine highlights over the last couple of weeks. On behalf of all of us, I wish to thank Ms Deniece Hiew for her work throughout the year in compiling our much-loved fortnightly report to the community, and for seamlessly taking us to our fully digital and online platform.
VCE Results – 2022
Our VCE students received their results on Monday, and I congratulate all 246 students who presented for the exam program this year.
The Dux for 2022 is Manjot Bhullar with an ATAR of 99.8 – a stunning result! Manjot also achieved a perfect Study Score of 50 in his Further Mathematics Class with Ms Naidoo. He hopes to be studying Medicine at Monash next year.
I also congratulate the 35 new inductees into our “90+ Club” – a great effort and reward for the hard work by teachers and students alike. As we often say, the ATAR is but ‘a moment in time’ – so, for all students, the most important element is not the number, but where the number might lead you.
To all students in the Senior School, we are proud of you and your results. They are all the more remarkable given the challenges you have faced throughout your senior years. I thank the teachers, Wellbeing and support staff who have worked for many years alongside our young people in the Class of 2022.
Ms Huffer and the Pathways Team are available to work through any change of preference issues with all students.
50 Year Anniversary
It seems just like yesterday, but our massive weekend of celebration earlier this month went off without a hitch. The dinner on Friday night was well-attended, with a focus on the original class of 1973-78. There was also a significant group of former staff in attendance, and in particular it was great to be joined by the only other living Principals, John Coulson and Mary-Jo Putrino. Mary-Jo and John shared some insights about their time as Principals at Wellington. On Sunday, our highly curated exhibition, ‘The Wellington Way – Then and Now’ was very well-attended and the positivity of the feedback has been universal. A copy of the compendium of the same name will be uploaded onto the school website. It is a great read and updates the 50 Year History of our great school.
As part of the formal part of the Sunday program, I had the great pleasure to officially open and name the Peter O’Bree Wellbeing Centre. Peter was instrumental in his 20 years of service and leadership at Wellington in establishing and reinforcing “Caring” as the key plank of our school motto, “Caring, Striving and Learning”. I can think of no better person to be recognised in this way.
I sincerely thank everyone involved in the planning and execution of these milestone events in our history, but in particular to Council Treasurer and former student, Eric Du who was the inspiration and leader of the planning team.
Grade 6 Orientation Day – December 13
On Tuesday, we welcomed the 247 Grade 6 students who will join Wellington as the Year 7 cohort for 2023. I thank Ms Wallis and the Junior School Team for an engaging and structured “Wellington Way” introduction to our latest cohort of Wellington students. They seem a very happy bunch and we look forward to getting to know them a lot better at our ‘Wellington Welcomes You’ program in Term 1 next year.
End of Year Arrangements
Our end of year activities program was wrapped up on Wednesday and I thank Ms Louise Clarke for her incredibly thorough planning in this popular program. The weather certainly did not help on Monday, but from what I saw, the activities were a fantastic array of challenge and fun. The program concluded with the traditional visit from our friend from the North Pole on Wednesday. Semester 2 Reports were distributed via Compass yesterday and I urge all students and parents to reflect on the messages contained within them and use these to prepare for 2023.
In 2023, the school and General Office will re-open on Friday January 27. Students in Years 7 and 12 will commence on Tuesday January 31, with all other year levels commencing on Wednesday February 1.
In closing, I thank everyone for your continued support this year and wish you all a happy and safe festive season.
Hugh Blaikie
Principal
On Monday December 12 and Wednesday December 14, Year 7 and 8 students participated in the End of Year Activities program. Students were able to choose to participate in five different activities from a wide range of activities on offer as a fun way to finish the year. There were many exciting activities to choose from, such as sport games, craft activities, Christmas-themed cooking, Chinese dumpling-making, digital games, board games and more. The activities were run by our WSC staff, with the exception of two incursion activities: Archery Warz and Virtual Reality. Our Year 7 and 8 students participated enthusiastically in their chosen activities and made the most of their final days at school for the year. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t kind with showers throughout both days of activities, however, the rain didn’t dampen our spirits and everyone had a great time!
Thank you to all the staff who assisted with the organisation of this event and also to all staff who ran and supervised activities across the two days. It was great to see everyone engaged in creative, social and skills-based activities! I wish everybody a safe and happy holiday break as we near the end of the school year.
Louise Clarke
End of Year Activity Coordinator
On Friday December 9, five WSC students performed at the Wellington’s Got Talent Show Finale, which were all worthy of first place. Each performer was amazing, and the sound of their powerful voices could be heard across the theatre.
The 2022 Wellington’s Got Talent winner is Daniella from 8L who performed ‘No Time to Die’ by Billie Eillish. April from 9M chose to display her Voice Acting talent, earning her second place. A special recognition went out to Tanishka from 8M who performed ‘You Belong with Me’ by Taylor Swift.
It was a great pleasure to bring back Wellington’s Got Talent after not being able to go forward for a few years. Thank you to Mr Dwyer and Ms Wallis for approving this great event. Thank you to the following teachers and students who contributed to the event:
Thank you to everyone who applied, and also to the performers for all their wonderful performances. Also, thank you to the audience who came to watch the performances and who were a part of this event.
I feel grateful for the support I received to make this special day happen, especially from Ms Wandoch, with whom I worked together closely to make this event happen and turn it into a huge success. Thank you, Ms Wandoch, I couldn’t have done it without you!
Aminah Haneef (8M)
Junior School Captain
Once again, a select group of Year 9 students had the opportunity to participate in our 3-day 2-night Future Leaders camp. Typically, our November camp is all about being safe in the sun, and keeping an eye out for snakes in the heat, however, this year was much cooler. We were fortunate enough to have only a drizzle of rain, and while the sun did break through the clouds for short bursts, the overcast weather made for the perfect walking conditions.
With only a small group of 11 students on this camp, they set a cracking pace and made the rocky mountainsides of the Brisbane Ranges look easy. Perhaps it was their flavoursome and nutritious dinners that gave this group the extra energy needed to push on.
I would like to congratulate all students on their great work and thank Ms Reinhardt and Mr Burge for coming along as supervising teachers.
Troy Diaz
Head of Middle School
As the Year 9s get closer to the end of the year, this only means one thing – it’s time for the annual Year 9 Design Challenge week.
This year, with consultation from current and past Year 9 students, we came up with our challenge for the year – “How might we improve Wellington Secondary College’s outdoor spaces?”. From Tuesday December 5 to Friday December 9, students underwent the design thinking process (empathise –> define –> ideate –> prototype –> test –> pitch) to come up with creative solutions for our outdoor spaces, which included (but were not limited to) the oval, the courtyards and the black/green courts. These areas are in desperate need of an upgrade.
The first day started off with an introduction to the challenge and a presentation from the architects who were responsible for some of the new buildings that have been built over the last few years. The architects from LAW Architects challenged the students to enter a creative zone to come up with ideas, while the architect from Whisker Architecture outlined the responsibilities when designing spaces for clients. With these introductory speeches out of the way, the students were ready to come up with ideas as to what they want to see in our outdoor spaces.
From the second day onwards, students were able to make use of our new A-block break out space to create their prototypes. They had access to cardboard, clay, hot glue guns, paint and many other craft items to bring their ideas to life. Some students spent a lot of time here, which was reflected in the final products that they produced. Virtual models were also made in the classroom using Minecraft. During this time, students were challenged by their teachers to keep improving their prototypes to ensure that they come up with the best possible outcome.
The week concluded with an exhibition of their work. The Middle School Precinct was opened to Year 8 classes so that the Year 9s could pitch their ideas and prototypes to them. It was fantastic to see students confidently pitching their creations to their peers and to their teachers and principals. The work of all students was commended by Mr. Blaikie at the awards ceremony, and prizes were awarded to many outstanding groups. The winners are outlined below:
This Design Challenge week is intended to be a way for students to spend the last week of their schooling collaboratively and creatively for the year and a transition from Year 9 to Year 10. From the energy that was felt throughout the week, we have met our objective. The skills used in the Design Challenge are skills that will help students grow as citizens of the future. The school has committed to investing in some of the ideas that the students have come up with throughout the week and implement them as we continue to upgrade our facilities to create a better environment for our students. Thank you to all the staff and students who made the program a success – particularly, Mr Tom Wyldes for stepping in on short notice to help with the preparation and running of the event.
Jackson Keat & Teresa La
Year 9 Design Challenge Coordinators
This semester, Wellington Secondary College participated once more in the Global Youth Forum. Many students got the opportunity to interact with their peers all around Victoria and Asia.
The three-day forum started off with keynote speeches by several inspiring individuals, including Aunty Georgina (Aboriginal Elder), Jahin Tanvir (2021 Young Canberran of the Year) and Sizol Fuyana (2022 NT Young Person of the Year), who discussed their thoughts on identity and the globalisation of the world. Throughout the three days, themes of cultural identity and global connectedness were explored in depth. Students were required to think about a problem that exists in the world, identify the root causes of these problems, then focus on one of the root causes and come up with a solution. This solution was then pitched to other schools around Victoria and Asia.
The biggest highlight of this event was when we were talking about national animals, and students from Taizhou High School in China showed us (a photo of) a panda.
This forum allowed students to improve their collaboration and leadership skills, as often during the breakout rooms, the students had to decide on roles, such as facilitator, time keeper, recorder, encourager and spokesperson. It was amazing to see so much growth in these students over such a short period of time. Well done to our participants (Andy Bui, Rouvin Chou, Chris Doan, Sarah Edwars, Natharie Gunatissa, Haolin Huang, Imethma Kalahe Gamage, Kevin Liu, Filippos Lykotrafitis, Kellie Ngo, Cecilia Nguyen, Giovanna Pak, Aaron Sabino, Darnell Toelau, Joshua Tran, Melinda Tran, Rebecca Tran, and Fiona Wee) for taking the initiative to participate in this forum.
We also then participated in a focus group feedback session held at the University of Melbourne. Those students who attended this could meet some of the other participating schools, form groups and debrief about their whole experience, as well as give the Global Youth Forum hosts suggestions for improvement for this program and new upcoming programs, too. It was an engaging day that was well-catered, and I thank the students (Andy Bui, Chris Doan, Sarah Edwars, Haolin Huang, Kevin Liu, Giovanna Pak, Aaron Sabino and Melinda Tran) for giving up their day off from school and contributing to the improvement of this program.
Teresa La
Director of STEM
Student reflections:
One of the opportunities my peers and I were given during the Global Youth Forum (GYF) was talking to students from another school. We got a chance to evaluate and discuss various controversial topics and make new relationships. We met peers from Taizhou High School and got their WeChat. It was great that we make new friends and learn lots of new knowledge from them. On the last day, we got a chance to create a prototype for one worldwide issue and present it to the forum. We (Chris, Kevin, Josh, Cecilia, Rebecca and Giovanna) developed a prototype for the land grabbing issue, which is a building of apartment-style housing for the use of people affected by land grabs. We got lots of valuable feedback from other schools and mentors to improve our prototype. Ultimately, we would like to express our sincere thanks to the DET, the AEF, Wellington SC, and Miss La for giving us the opportunity to participate in this forum. This forum gave us many opportunities to improve ourselves and get along with other communities.
Chris Doan (9M)
As a part of the Victorian Young Leaders Global Youth Forum, I had the amazing opportunity to listen to guest speakers and communicate with schools both in Australia and around the world. As part of the ‘Opening Keynote’ for the forum, we heard from an Aboriginal Elder, Aunty Georgina, in which she discussed the many factors to acknowledge when recognising the traditional owners of the land of which we live on. A guest speaker who stood out during the ‘Opening Forum’ day was Jahin Tavir, who is a CEO, Entrepreneur, Youth Mental Health Advocate and Public Speaker. The part of his speech that resonated with me throughout the entire three-day forum was to ‘get out of [my] comfort zone’, which I found was very encouraging and could be applied to any challenges or setbacks I would encounter. During the main event, my group had the opportunity to discuss what it meant to be a ‘global citizen’ and the effects of ‘globalisation’ with schools around the world such as Taizhou High School, located in China. My group also had the opportunity to share our ideas with schools across Victoria such as Narre Warren High School and Melbourne Girls Grammar. Overall, this experience was both enjoyable and mind-opening.
Andy Bui (9L)
The Global Youth Forum aimed to encourage interactions between different students, and it has achieved such. Although students were staying in their own school groups, everyone, including I, felt comfortable in the space and environment the staff created. The prompts and topic discussions created good conversation between everyone. Although I feel as though the times were inaccurate at times, as lunch went longer from what was expected, the feel and environment was comfortable. We appreciate the staff who set this up for us, as we have enjoyed the whole program itself.
Sarah Edwars (9G)
On December 7, we, as well as many 2023 student leaders, were invited to take part in a student leadership development program where we were joined by guest speakers who hosted different workshops to enhance our skills as we progress to lead the Wellington Community in 2023. The day was facilitated by Andrew Jones, a professional in leadership culture and school improvement, Hannah Priest, the St Kilda’s AFLW team captain, who also has a Masters degree in teaching, and finally, Michael Hines, a registered psychologist.
The student leaders worked collaboratively and engaged in multiple group discussions, allowing them to have the chance to get to know one another and enhance their leadership skills. Andrew Jones started the forum by discussing ‘The Leader Within’, encouraging us to understand that being a leader is a mindset and not just actions or a role. Hannah continued the forum by running a workshop on ‘Leading Self and Others’. One of the main points we took away from this discussion were Hannah’s ‘Three Ps’ of leadership – Presence, Perspective and Perseverance. These three points summarise the values of an effective leader. Our last guest speaker, Michael introduced us to ‘Mindful Leadership Practices’. Through displaying attention, awareness and the attitudes and mindsets of mindfulness, Michael discussed how we, as leaders, are able to improve our leadership skills and values.
On behalf of the other leaders, we would like to thank Andy, Hannah and Michael for taking on the roles of guest speakers and providing us with an interesting and engaging learning experience. We would also like to thank Mrs Stergiou, Mr Dwyer and Mr Blaikie for organising this wonderful opportunity. We are looking forward to implementing the leadership strategies that were discussed in the forum into our roles as Wellington Secondary College’s Student Leadership Team for 2023.
Sonita So & Ajuni Ghai (2023 Middle School Captains)
Leadership Day was a magnificent and amazing experience for me and I loved every part of it. The speakers, AJ, Hannah and Mike were wonderful and treated all of the Wellington leadership team amazingly. We went through many things, including mindsets, such as the 3Ps: Perspective, Presence and Perseverance. Perspective is what I thought about the most because I had to learn and did learn from Hannah that different people have different opinions on different topics. What is important is that you are able to respectfully agree with them and have a good time. We went through different mindsets, such as using our senses, noticing and acknowledging other people around us, and what I took away were two things: trying your best to stay in the present and not live back in the past or escape to the future. I thought about past experiences where I have stayed back in the past and thought about what I could’ve done instead of what I should be doing. It made me realise that I shouldn’t sulk over my regrets, which leads me to my next insight that I took, which was not to be regretful of myself because I cannot change the past. What’s in the past stays in the past. Overall, this day was a great experience for me. Not only did I learn a lot from the speakers, I met new people and had a fun time bonding with them. I cannot wait for next year and to write about my experience as a leader in 2023.
Sachin Humcha Prasanna (2023 Junior School Captain)
Leadership is a significant aspect of life, as individuals should be capable of leading a group. At Wellington, we have the student leadership program, and last week, all 2023 leaders gathered for a development forum with Andrew Jones, Hannah Priest, and Michael Hines. Andrew Jones (AJ) is an expert in learning design and teacher professional development. Hannah Priest is the current captain of the womens’ St Kilda AFL team, and is a passionate leader. Michael Hines is an expert in mindfulness and is working at Smiling Mind. Throughout the session, some key details that were covered include Hannah’s journey as a teacher and as the current captain of the St Kilda AFLW team, Mike’s mindfulness session and AJ’s leadership overviews. This program helped the future 2023 leaders to enhance our knowledge of leadership, and give us an insight of what it would look like for us, as well as becoming our best possible selves.
To begin with, AJ helped us outline some norms and protocols, which connect to the expectations of a leader. To get to know each other, we had discussions amongst the table groups. Following some tasks with AJ, Hannah joined our session, and we were all able to see how she is a very friendly and approachable person. Hannah described her school life in Mildura and how small it was there compared to large urban schools. She expressed her interest towards teaching and leadership. A notable message Hannah believes in is the ‘3 Ps’: presence, perspective, and perseverance. Another guest we had was Mike. He provided us with an outline of what mindfulness means; to control ourselves to try to think about the present. He also described how as a leader it is important to relax our minds and be able to face difficulties. I found that trying to stay in the present was much easier when you could just sit back and relax, and notice what you can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. At the end of the development forum, we wrote postcards to our future selves next year, regarding how we handled leadership and our experiences as a leader. I really enjoyed this program, and am looking forward to implementing some of the skills I’ve learnt in this leadership development forum.
Aishani Murugananda (2023 Junior School Captain)
Leadership is engraved in anyone, but it takes willpower for one to find it within themselves. I believe that Wednesday was a special day for Wellington’s 2023 future leaders. We all gathered, ready to have a day-long lesson on leadership and its importance towards our roles. We had three special guests invited to Wellington to speak about the ways leadership can impact people to become their best possible selves.
We started to build many leadership qualities and skills with our ‘host’, Andrew Jones (also Andy Jones or AJ). Students learnt important norms and protocols of being a leader, such as ‘being here now’, creating space for all voices, assuming positive intentions, bringing a beginner’s mind and supporting and helping others at Wellington Secondary College. We also discussed the importance of student leadership and the reason we wanted to be leaders at Wellington. Our first guest was Hannah Priest, a footballer and captain of St Kilda in the AFLW, who explained many methods she uses to strengthen her team both physically and emotionally. Our second special guest was Michael Hines, a leading mindfulness expert and registered psychologist at ‘Smiling Mind’, who described that mindfulness is putting your mind in the state of the present. Mike shared numerous attitudes and mindsets we need to acquire as leaders. These include the beginner’s mind, being non-judgemental, acceptance, compassion, patience, being able to let go and gratitude. We were shown the practice of meditation, which was one of the many ways to eliminate stress and negative thoughts. The session ended with a calm routine of meditation. To conclude, the 2023 future leaders of Wellington had a great session with inspirational speakers.
Chrissy Zhang (2023 Junior Vice Captain)
The leadership forum held on December 7 was a fantastic opportunity for some of the 2023 leaders, not only to bond and begin to communicate but also a fantastic day of teaching. The forum taught our 2023 leaders the mindset that leaders need to have and how to be a good leader. Personally, I found this super awesome as it has made me question the style of school captain I strive to be next year. The forum was fantastic in assisting in our learning, it taught many of us how to be outstanding leaders in the Wellington community. Personally, my favourite seminar was done by St Kilda AFLW captain, Hannah Priest, who taught us that leadership is challenging and the best way to face it is to persevere through the challenges. Overall, this was a fantastic forum run by host, Andy Jones (AJ) and has taught me many different things in terms of my leadership for 2023.
Ben Wellman (2023 College Captain)
On Wednesday December 7, a group of the 2023 Wellington student leadership team had the amazing opportunity to take part in a leadership training day that enhanced both our leadership capabilities and our mindsets as leaders. We heard from three different speakers who talked about what it means to be a good leader, the most important aspects of leadership, how to demonstrate them, as well as a session on mindfulness and its effect on our goals as both leaders and people. My highlight was hearing from Hannah Priest, an AFLW player for the Saints, who is now captain of the team. Hannah spoke about the three Ps of leadership; perspective, perseverance and performance. These aspects contribute to a great leader, as well as many others we were able to learn about. Overall, this day was an amazing opportunity organised by our teachers and we all learnt a lot, as well as getting to meet some amazing people!
Hemita Chandramoorthy (2023 SRC President)
On Wednesday December 7, the 2023 student leaders attended a student leadership program, in which we were spoken to by three amazing presenters. We were taught in depth the meaning of being a leader and our attitudes and mindsets towards being a role model. The leaders also completed group discussions and activities where we talked about our ideas in table groups and presented to the rest of the group. We were able to share personal experiences of leadership, as well as how we deal with self-compassion when dealing with the role. Overall, it was a fun and beneficial experience and I learnt so many great tips throughout the session on how to be a better leader.
Victoria Nikolaou (2023 College Captain)
I was privileged to attend the Wellington Student Leadership Development Forum. It was a fantastic learning opportunity for our students, with each seminar presenting useful strategies for the students to apply in the context of their roles in the Wellington community. It was also a great opportunity for me to meet the student leaders and have some exciting conversations about our shared roles in student voice and agency in 2023. The ideas shared by students were innovative and I am looking forward to working with our wonderful team of student leaders next year to make meaningful contributions to our school community.
Louise Clarke (2023 Learning Specialist for Student Voice and Agency)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mr Blaikie, Mr Dwyer and I would like to acknowledge all the Year 10 and 11 students who returned to school, and all Year 7 to 9 students who left the programs they were involved in on the day, to participate in the Wellington Student Leadership Development Forum. It was a rewarding experience for all students and staff who were involved.
We would like to thank Andrew Jones for facilitating our Student Leadership Development Forum and for arranging special guest speakers, Hannah Priest and Michael Hines.
Thank you to Ms Louise Clarke, our Learning Specialist for Student Voice, Agency and Leadership for her participation in the day.
Finally, thank you to the Resources Team who provided staff supervision for the day.
Marina Stergiou
Assistant Principal
Sunday December 4 was a big day for our Technology department – we had to split up our team between the 50th celebrations here at school and the Monash Maker Faire at Monash University’s Clayton Campus. The Maker Faire highlighted the physical makerspaces, labs, and studios found in the engaging Woodside Building for Technology and Design, collaborative Monash Makerspace, and entrepreneurial Monash Generator. The Victorian community was also represented with over 300 artisans, developers, hackers, inventors, and tinkerers of all descriptions converging to share their passions with attendees of all ages.
At the Maker Faire, we were located in “The Classroom” and we shared this space with various other schools from our local area. We proudly displayed the banners that were produced as a result of the Year 7 Design Challenge earlier this year where they designed our new House logos. A small display was also added to explain the Design Challenges that we run to the public.
In addition to this, Mr Tim Clarke brought along some products that our students had produced throughout the year – some of these products were from Year 9 students and some from VCE Systems Engineering students. Connor Eade (9J) accompanied Mr Clarke to showcase the work that students of all year levels made at Wellington Secondary College. The Arduino steering controller was a big hit among the crowd.
A big thank you to Connor, Mr Clarke, Ms Watt and Mr Liousas for helping at the Maker Faire throughout the day. Thank you also to Monash Tech School for making the day a huge success.
Teresa La
Director of STEM
Bonjour tout le monde (hello everyone). On Friday November 18, the Year 9 French students were honoured to get the opportunity to use the kitchens to cook and bake French foods that they learned about in class.
The students were divided into groups and assigned a dish to cook and eventually, after it had been cooked, they got to taste everyone’s tasty dishes. Some of the desserts that were cooked were ‘tartes’, ‘tarte tatin’ and the iconic ‘crêpes’. To make the lesson a bit of a challenge for everyone, there was a prize at the end for the best desert cooked. But because all our dishes tasted too good, Mrs Stergiou could not find the winner and we all won a prize!
The origin of the dish Ava and I made is an upside down apple pie dish. This renowned dish is known as ‘tarte tatin’. This cooking session immersed us in the French cuisine and the methods people in France use to cook.
If you have been to France or a French restaurant, you might have stumbled upon a French dessert called ‘Tarte Tatin’ and you probably wondered what it was. Contrary to other desserts, like ‘Tarte au Chocolat’ or ‘crème Brulee’ (Chocolate cake and burned crème), the name does not betray its contents. Named after the woman who invented it, the ‘Tarte Tatin’ (tart tah-TAN) is a famous French “upside-down” caramelised apple tart or ‘Tarte aux pommes (caramélisé)’. Basically, the apples are underneath the dough – topsy-turvy, indeed. The history behind this famous dessert is by far no less fascinating – it is immersed in tales of culinary accidents.
According to the history of the Hotel Tatin:
1888 – Two French sisters, Carolina (1847-1911) and Stephanie Tatin (1838-1917) created this tart. The sisters lived in Lamotte-Beuvron, a small rural town in the Loire Valley of France. They owned and ran the hotel called l’Hotel Tatin in 1888. The elder sister, Stephanie dealt with the kitchen. She was a particularly fine cook but was not the brightest of people. Her specialty was an apple tart, served perfectly crusty, caramelised and melted in the mouth. One day during the hunting season, during the midday scramble, Stephanie placed her tart in the oven the wrong way round. The pastry and apples were upside down, but nevertheless, she served this strange dessert without giving it time to cool.
The French call this dessert ‘tarte des demoiselles Tatin’ (the tart of two unmarried women named Tatin).
This dessert gained its popularity when famed ‘Maxim’s Restaurant’ of Paris, France put it on their menu.
Melina Lim & Ava Rausa
The dish we created for our French Cuisine Appreciation incursion were tarts. Tarts tie into French culture as they are found in boulangerie (bakeries) all over France and have been thought to originate from the country. We created our tarts from scratch including the tart pastry itself and the filling. Overall, the incursion was extremely enjoyable as we were able to educate ourselves on French gastronomy while creating delicious dishes!
Shereen Wang & Ajuni Ghai
We cooked egg-less crêpes, which are very thin, delicate pancakes that can be made in two varieties of sweet crêpes or savoury galettes. Sweet crêpes can be served with Nutella, cream cheese or jam. Savoury crepes are usually served with spinach and cheese, ham, eggs or caramelised onions. We opted for sweet crepes with strawberries, syrup, and whipped cream. Crepes originate back to the 13th century from Brittany, France. The history comes from when a housewife accidentally spilled some thin porridge on a hot cook top.
Hiya Bhatt, Mia Ma & Erryn Dang
For the French Cuisine Appreciation incursion, our group, Ian, Vincent and Jayden made crêpes. Crêpes were created in the 13th century by Henri Charpentier, a 14-year-old assistant. This is one of the most well-known dishes from France. Creating the mixture was a breeze, but the true challenge awaited us on the frying pan, flipping. We discarded two crêpes, however, our group quickly adapted and made six successful crêpes. The incursion went well and was enjoyable.
Jayden Ho, Ian Trang & Vincent Dam
Crêpes originated from the 13th century France where a housewife accidentally spilled porridge on a hot flat pan and since she didn’t want to waste it, she ate it and that was the origin of the crêpe dish. We then got inspired by this sensational dish, decided to cook it with a chocolate filling seasoned with sugar and sliced strawberries. We enjoyed making crepes with easy ingredients and recipes. What we learned in our dish was how to make crepes, and we’ve experienced how to use cooking facilities as a team.
Niranjan Sathishkumar & Ketan Karnati
The Year 9 French class and teachers would like to take this opportunity to thank the cooking staff for their support and kindness in creating this wonderful experience.
Bushan Sookhareea
Director of Languages
The opportunity to participate in various enjoyable excursions has made this year particularly memorable for the French students. For one of the excursions, both Year 9 and 10 students studying French had the chance to visit the National Gallery of Victoria towards the end of Term 4. We were lucky enough to see several works of art by well-known artists, and our wonderful guide was able to enlighten us on the background of each one. We learned a lot about the French history behind the beautiful artworks and thoroughly got to enjoy looking around. Many pieces of artwork were created in France, and we even got to see Pablo Picasso’s famous painting “The Weeping Woman.” Along with the paintings, we also saw a number of historical-inspired structures, such as the largest stained-glass ceiling made by Leonard French and the Greek Temple in a contemporary version inspired by the Parthenon in Athens’ Acropolis. We are incredibly appreciative to the teachers, Mr Sookhareea and Ms Fry, and also the National Gallery of Victoria for providing the opportunity to go on such an amazing excursion.
Yea One Seung (10I)
As the year draws to an end, once again it’s time to celebrate the reading achievements of our Year 7 students. All Year 7 students participated in the Principal’s Reading Challenge as part of the Reading Program run by the Library fortnightly for each class. The challenge recognises all reading with a range of awards, including Digital Badges, Principal’s Reading Challenge Certificates, Top Readers and Year 7 Reading Champion. Many students received Digital Badges throughout the year, including Robust Reader, Serial Star, Manga Master, Humour Hero, Fact Finder and Topic Taster. Earlier this term, 30 students were awarded Principal’s Reading Challenge Certificates by the College Principal, along with canteen vouchers.
Recently, our Top Readers and Year 7 Reading Champion received engraved medallions and shopping centre vouchers in recognition of the extensive reading completed. Congratulations to Top Readers, Joanna Tan, Kinza Mohammad, Alice Rojas, Ashley Xinjie Zhang, Lily Tran, Vrisha Patel, Aishani Murugananda, Michael Agustinus, Thenuki Manchanayakage and Shameera Shanthakumar. Special congratulations to our Year 7 Reading Champion 2022, Paige Triantafillopoulos. These students read a combined total of 452 books.
Well done to all participants.
Heather Bowles
Teacher Librarian
Well done to our Junior Baseball Team. After becoming 2022 Monash Division Champions earlier in the year, the team continued to have fun, practise, and play well to become runners up in the group regional competition! Just two runs short of the state final. Well done for playing so well and having so much fun on the way.
Anthony Zahra & Louise Clarke
Junior Baseball Coaches
The Wellington Year 10 boys volleyball team competed at the 2022 Australian Volleyball Schools Cup from December 4-10, where they took on 10 of the best schools from across Australia. Wellington’s pool matches were against four other schools: Rossmoyne (WA), Rowville (VIC), Brighton (SA) and Kelvin Grove (QLD). The Wellington boys started the tournament very strongly, winning 3 sets to 0 (25-22, 25-14, 29-27) against a strong Rowville team. They then played Rossmoyne at 10:30pm the same day and lost in four very close sets (24-26, 23-25, 30-28, 23-25).
The following day Wellington were up against a very strong Kelvin Grove team, who ended up coming second overall. The boys played exceptionally well but were slightly outmatched and went down in three sets (17-25, 21-25, 22-25). Our last pool game was against an undefeated Brighton team (ended up winning the gold medal and did not lose a set the entire tournament), who had four players who were six-foot-four and one player who was six-foot-ten in height! Having said that, the Wellington boys played their best match of the tournament so far to narrowly lose the first set 29-31. Brighton carried that momentum into the second and third sets to run away with the match 12-25 and 17-25. Brighton did not lose a set the entire tournament, and to go extremely close to being the only team to take a set off this formidable team was one of the highlights of the tournament.
The reverse pool matches saw Wellington up against Kings College (QLD), Craigslea (QLD) and Aquinas (WA). The Wellington boys got off to a nervous start against Aquinas and trailed 2 sets to 0 (21-25, 17-25) before they found their rhythm and won the third set 32-30. They had a chance to close out the fourth set, but a crucial block by Aquinas and a serving ace finished the match in the fourth set 24-26. The next pool match against Craigslea was the highlight for all the boys, as well as coaches Argus Stagg and Kim Durrant, as we had over 20 Aquinas boys in the stands of the show court all cheering for our team. Craigslea had only lost one match in the tournament so far and we knew it was going to be a very tough battle. With the Aquinas boys on our side, the Wellington boys certainly made a game of it and lost narrowly in 3 close sets 23-25, 17-25 and 22-25. The final pool game was against Kings College, who had not lost any games so far. The boys tried hard but tiredness and a very strong opposition saw Kings win comfortably in 3 sets 18-25, 15-25, 10-25.
Wellington missed the quarter finals by one game and were now playing off for 9th-11th places with Rossmoyne (WA) and Mazenod (VIC). These matches were only best of 3 sets and also timed games (60 minutes). The first game was against Rossmoyne, who we had already played in the first pool matches and finished off with a tie 22-25, 26-24. Our final game on finals day was against Mazenod, who beat us previously in the four-day schools cup tournament earlier in the year. Unfortunately, Mazenod were again a bit too strong and despite leading almost all the way in the second set, we couldn’t quite finish them off and went down in 2 sets 19-25 and 21-25.
Overall, the Wellington boys learnt a lot from the Australian School’s Cup Tournament. We discovered that we are one of the best schools in Australia and that we can match it with the absolute best, despite being significantly shorter than all the other teams. All the boys played exceptionally well in every match and their defensive efforts in particular were a highlight against very attacking and tall teams. Argus, Bree and I cannot be prouder of the Wellington Year 10 boys for even making it this far, and whilst 11th place wasn’t the goal at the start of the tournament, the difference between 5th-11th was only one game. The set scores against all those other teams, even the top four teams showed us just how close the teams were and that we deserved our place in this tournament as one of the top 11 teams in Australia. Bring on Australian Schools Cup in 2023!
Mr Kim Durrant
Co-coach of the Wellington Year 10 Boys Volleyball Team
This year, Wellington Secondary College celebrated its 50th anniversary. The past students and teachers who attended the school’s 50th year celebration would have observed how the WSC Community has become so diverse over the span of 50 years.
Melbourne and its suburbs have attracted many migrants over the past decades because of the education and employment opportunities it provides. Without a doubt, migration to Mulgrave and the surrounding suburbs has resulted in enrolment of many ethnic mixes of students, which reflects the multicultural nature and diversity of our school.
This is one of the reasons that makes our school so special and stand out from the rest.
As a student at Wellington Secondary College, I had the opportunity to be a part of this diverse school community, where a positive and inclusive environment is promoted, and students from diverse backgrounds are welcomed and embraced.
Each student builds friendships and gets to know different ethnicities, cultures, and races during their time at Wellington, and we all have the opportunity to get to know each other and work together collectively and collaboratively.
While students and people from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities live their days in harmony at WSC, unfortunately, racism still exists in the broader society.
It would be easy to overcome and put an end to racism if people choose to get to know each other, instead of giving others false labels and focusing on differences rather than embracing the differences.
To highlight the importance of racial acceptance and to discourage racism, I have worked on the diversity project, ‘Inclusiveness’ and focused on the aspect of racism. Together with our Director of Inclusion, Mr Hose, we put together a powerful short film to raise awareness, which was streamed during our school’s 50th anniversary Family Day celebration.
The purpose of this short film is to cover the stereotypes and false labels given to people from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities. In the short film, people stand up to these false labels and claim their true identities.
The short film is remarkably effective, as it highlights the particularly important message that people should look beyond the differences and be proud of our diversity, which makes us special and unique. We can all play a part to build a world beyond discrimination.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Mr Hose for working on this project with me, Mr Liousas for the technical support in putting the movie together, Dhruv for helping with the voice-over, and everyone else who contributed to bringing this special project to life.
Aminah Haneef (8M)
Junior School Captain
We would like your family to engage in the next Respectful Relationships* topic, as outlined below. This could happen in the car on the way to school, on the weekend, at the dinner table or on the couch – wherever the family unit is in the one place.
| TOPIC 7: GENDER & IDENTITY – is about human rights and responsibilities. Goal: Resisting stereotypes that limit our rights and choices Activity: With a family member, discuss this scenario: Aysha loves cricket and John loves to dance, however, they often hear comments such as ‘girls can’t play sport’ or ‘boys don’t dance’. Which strengths might be useful to help Aysha or John as they follow their interest in cricket and dance? |
*Respectful Relationships – is a teaching and learning program integrated into the curriculum within all government schools, including Wellington Secondary College. It is designed to help students learn and practice social skills and apply them in positive ways to learning, life and relationships, such as, treating others as equals and with respect. Respectful Relationships is broken up into eight topics of social and emotional learning.
David Hose
Director of Student Services – Inclusion
How to be SunSmart:
Slip on clothing: Clothing can be a great barrier between the sun’s UV and your skin.
Slop on sunscreen: Sunscreen should be considered the last line of defence. No sunscreen blocks 100% of UV radiation.
Slap on a hat: Look for a hat with a tight weave and broad brim that provides good shade to your face, head, neck and ears.
Seek shade: Shade can be natural, built or portable.
Slide on sunglasses: Choose a close-fitting wraparound style of sunglasses.
What is UV? Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a type of energy produced by the sun and some artificial sources, such as arc welders and solariums. You can see the sun’s light. You can feel the sun’s heat. But you can’t see or feel the sun’s UV radiation. UV can reach you directly from the sun. It can also be reflected off different surfaces and scattered by particles in the air. Australia experiences some of the highest levels of UV in the world.
For more information, please visit: https://www.sunsmart.com.au/
Danielle Delaney & Olivia Thompson
First Aid Officers
An opportunity exists for Wellington students in Years 10 and 11 in 2023 to take part in a once in a lifetime Space and STEM-based trip called ‘Space-X-plore USA’ heading to the United States of America for 11 days in the September 2023 school holidays.
Destinations include: NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Orlando, Florida, followed by STEM-based activities in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. Highlights include: ATX Astronaut training program, Mars Base 1 program, Kennedy Space Centre complex, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco City Tour, USS Hornet aircraft carrier program, The Exploratorium, Knotts Berry Farm ‘Energy in Motion’ program, Hollywood Tour, Universal Studios, and Disneyland!
The current cost is $9,495.00. This rate may be reduced once airlines release airfares in the next week. The College will also subsidise part of the cost of this trip. The trip departs from Melbourne international airports and includes the following: International and USA domestic airfares, transfers, accommodation, travel insurance, breakfasts daily and most meals and admissions to attractions.
The program is open to five schools in the Monash and Waverley area. Please use this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZmJDCFNFYU for a live-streamed recording of the information session, which was held earlier this week.
Students need to register their interest on the trip page here: Waverley & Monash Space-X-plore Group – Global Learning Expeditions (glexpeditions.com) (or using the QR code on the flyer they collected at the meeting) and then complete Task 1. If students do not complete this, Global Learning Expeditions will not know to send them any updated information or add them to the master list of interested students.
To secure a place on this tour, a $500.00 deposit is required to be paid by Monday, December 19.
Marina Stergiou
Assistant Principal
