Beaconsfield Campus – 4 April 2019

Uniform Shop – School Holidays Hours

Click here to view the School Holiday Hours for our College Uniform Shop.

Beaconsfield LRC – Holiday Opening Hours

The LRC will be open in the first week of the upcoming holidays.

8:30am to 4:30pm every day from April 8 until April 12.

Students and staff are welcome to use the LRC space for private study or small group work during opening hours.

The LRC – your vital resource. Use it!

Caritas – Project Compassion 

This year, the Senior VCAL students created chocolate Easter Egg Hampers in their RE class. This is to raise money for Project Compassion. Also, over the past couple of weeks, senior VCAL students and House Captains have been selling raffle tickets for hampers. These hampers will be drawn tomorrow.

Alyssa Hayes 

Positive Learning Partnerships

Positive learning partnerships are lived out within our school community. We went around and asked a range of students and teachers on their views on the partnerships, and how they see these lived out in their everyday school life. We presented a short video highlights of the views and experiences of the staff and students of our college.

We can all see these partnerships lived out among the St Francis Xavier College community each day. Just a few important things to remember for both staff and students:

• Show unconditional respect
• Interact with each other in a calm and just
• And, look to challenges with optimism

Susmitha Raju and Conor Hinds

College Vice-Captains 

Student of the Term

We congratulate all the Term 1 Student of the Term recipients:

Year 10 Students of the Term:

Year 11 Students of the Term:

Year 12 Students of the Term:

College Colour Recipients

Bronze:

Tahlia Dickson

Catrine S

Ellis Tanner

Silver:

Zara Addison

Taeyah Lock

Paige Robertson

Teia Hill

Grace Sajn

Jordan Mani

Gold:

Lyndseiy Limosnero

Evie Van Dam

Niamh Kenny

Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship (WISE) Program

We congratulate Holly Dyason, Merna Hinen, Sarah McRae and Alyanna Trajano for being accepted into Monash Univerity’s WISE Program. The girls will have the opportunity to develop their Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills by participating in workshops and completing an ongoing inquiry-based project.

The girls will learn how to develop and market innovations that could benefit the community. It is inspiring to see students take opportunities to pursue their love of learning in new and exciting contexts. We wish the girls all the best for their project.

Hope – College Captains Kailee McAuley and Matthew Lawless

I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed, the words from Michael Jordan, a man that never gave up on his dreams, because he had hope.

Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen, something we experience all of the time. We go through life day by day interacting with each other, and it’s the hope within us which keeps us doing this, but it’s also our drive to seek what the future holds and who we want ourselves to become.

Students and teachers interacting together positively, brings a sense of hope to our school community by being able to further develop these positive partnerships. By everyone getting involved in the College, it creates a more fun and inclusive environment. This can bring hope to not only our school, but it demonstrates what the students of St Francis Xavier College can do when we work all together.

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths, from the famous Walt Disney. Having hope and being hopeful, two things which determine who we become as people. We encourage everyone to consider what do I hope for in the future.

There is a quote that says a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for. Hope is by its very nature positive. The opposite or negative of hope is fear, so it is important that we work to grow a hopeful environment in our friendship groups, in our school and our broader society.

There are many ways in which we can demonstrate hope. It can be as simple as the way we speak, such as, when we use language that puts people down or swearing, it creates a first impression of ourselves to the people we do not know. We are then creating an environment that is disrespectful of others and we are not presenting ourselves as the best possible version we can be. Sometimes we are challenged to see the best in situations; a disappointing result in a SAC or test we have studied for, a problem in your friendship group, not making a sporting team. A hopeful attitude leads us to reflect on how we can solve the problem and not just give up. We can study smarter, train harder, work to reconnect with people. These are positive approaches that reflect a hope-filled attitude. They also make our world at school, in our families and in the broader society better.

VET Hospitality

On Wednesday 27 March, whilst most students left school early, our VET Hospitality class stayed at school to commence our first function. The goal consisted of serving over 100 teachers, so that they had a cooked meal after staying at school for the Student Progress Meetings.

We prepared the ingredients for the main meal, which was lasagne, as well as baked potatoes, garlic bread, salad and drinks. When the teachers flooded in at 5.00pm, majority of the students were assigned to serving. The rest of us were at the back restocking on food that was running low and getting a head start on the cleaning.

We learnt many skills that we can apply in the future, such as time management, infusing flavours into ingredients and having an impeccable appearance. The experience was very enjoyable and could not been completed without the help of our teachers/helpers in the kitchen and the preparation from the other Hospitality class. When the teachers returned to their interviews, we ate the meals we cooked, cleaned up all the equipment and finished at 7.00pm.

Emmanuela Pandelopoulos, Year 10

This was my classes first function of our VET Hospitality course. This night was a lot of fun (for how long we were doing it for – we started preparing at about 1:30 pm). We started making the white sauce for the lasagne, which was easy and taught me how to infuse flavours into liquids like milk. We also had to set up the dining area, and then we served the teachers. This was a lot of fun but also challenging because while you were serving the teachers you didn’t want to do something wrong, otherwise you could embarrass yourself.

After service, we were able to eat our food and talk about the night. Overall the night was a lot of fun and it was good experience for jobs we can have in the hospitality business in the future. 

Damon De Kauwe, Year 10

VCAL NEWS – Term 1

It has been a busy term in VCAL. However, it has been a very rewarding one with many learning experiences for our students. All VCAL students have had the opportunity to attend various excursions supporting the work they are undertaking in their studies. We finish the term with the Year 11 and 12 Urban Challenge, where students are experiencing all that Melbourne City has to offer.

Year 12 VCAL has had a focus around DIVERSITY. Students have been planning for their teaching experiences at Officer Specialist School and preparing afternoon tea for Outlook. Students are being assessed on a variety of skills including: communication, decision making, leadership and teamwork. A small reflection from one of our Year 12 students.

The purpose of the visit was to interact with the kids and to teach them new sport skills in each new week and to see what it is like to be with somebody who has a disability. When working with the kids we felt happy and proud because the kids were having lots of fun interacting with new people and playing games.

Ben Davis & Brock E

Year 11 VCAL has had a focus on Road Safety. Students have covered many aspects of this topic including preparing an entry for the RACV Safe Mates project, potentially having the chance to win money for their team and attending the Grand Prix Driver Learning Program. Students have also undertaken a bike ride ensuring the road safe rules apply.

These students now can plan their own bike ride to be conducted later in the year. Some students have also been successful in undertaking a small fundraiser for a local charity. A small reflection from one of our Year 11 students:

On Thursday 28 March, VCAL B hosted a Car Wash to raise funds for a charity called Bikes For Humanity. After washing 15 cars over the day we ended up raising $150. This is all it takes to send 15 bikes to those in need. All students participated and used team work and communication skills to ensure the day ran smoothly. We would like to thank all the teachers who came in and donated their money as well as the maintenance staff for letting us use the facilities and equipment.

Brodie S

Year 10 VCAL has had a focus on Life Skills. Students have had the opportunity to attend Beaconsfield Primary School Athletics event, learning some important skills. Getting to know each other while undertaking set tasks, students were required to practice communication and responsibility. Throughout all VCAL levels our local Primary Schools are an important part of how we practice and demonstrate several skills required by all industries.

Work placement Dates

Year 11 and 12

Term 2: 3 – 17 June

Term 3: 9 – 20 September

Term 4: 7 – 15 November (Year 11 only)

Kerry Little

VCAL Curriculum Coordinator

Our VCAL Students engage in number of courses such as Carpentry, Plumbing, Child Care and Beauty at Chisolm Berwick, every Wednesday. Students started these courses at the beginning of term and as we come to the end, I observed how well students have improved in their skills within this little period of time. It is fascinating to see the student’s enthusiasm for their future careers and enjoying as well. I believe it is the secret of self-believing and driving towards achieving what they want to be. 

Well done all VCAL students, you all are champions!

Shamila Mendis

Learning Enhancement Staff