Contents
- Year 7 Murray River Paddle
- Year 7 OES - Around the Bay Adventure
- Year 9 - Climbing/Paddling
- Hobart Trip
- Tractor Camp
- A Tree a Minute
- Year 9/10 Woodwork
- Physics & Chemistry
- Year 12 Drama Ensemble Performance
- Winter Soiree
- Jan "Yarn" Wositzky's William Buckley Incursion
- Flamenco Performance
- Kitchen Garden
- Photo Club
- Sports Report
- Congratulations
- Community Notices
Year 7 Murray River Paddle
Long ago, during the final week of Term 1, the Alice Miller and Candlebark Year 7 students joined forces to commandeer a fleet of canoes and circumnavigate the Murray River. On the bus ride over, salient questions burned bright in the minds of many:
"What is the difference between a kayak and a canoe?"
"Wait, which side is New South Wales?"
"Can I drink the water?"
Once these were answered (again and again), we launched from the banks of Yarrawonga for Cobram, splitting into three groups and heading out into the murky unknown to ply our trade as sailors, sirens, and some salty pirates. We floated from picturesque beach to beach, setting up camp on the sand for the night only to tear it down the following morning and continue our journey, fuelled by Kooka’s Country Cookies and the allure of capsizing our vessels for research purposes once we arrived at our next destination. All up, we paddled some sixty kilometres across the week, arriving at Thompson’s Beach in Cobram for the final night as one grand coalition, a tapestry of students and staff from both schools, as though we had known each other a lifetime, united by the treacherous journey we had embarked on days earlier.
Highlights included, but were not limited to, an Easter Egg hunt on the shores of the Murray, our very own lazy river amusement ride (complete with a designated splash zone for adventurous park visitors), and a Michelin-starred menu sampling a tour de tastebud of worldly cuisines, from Italian to Mexican, Thai, and wherever Sam’s famous porridge plants its flag.
Some of us were so taken by the experience that we decided to bring a little bit of the Murray back with us—half the beach, by my estimation—shuffled into tents, backpacks, shoes, socks, beanies, and any other viable vessel, a symbolic reminder of the impact of this camp; I can’t speak for everyone, but I also returned with something that wasn’t there before. Thank you to Madeline, Sam, Adrian, Sarah, Shaun, Wendy, and all the fantastic students for creating such a memorable experience. As the Year 7s remarked on loop, it was ABSOLUTELY BONKERS.
By Conor Dimasi, Physical Education.
Year 7/8 OES
Around the Bay Adventure
The Year 7/8 Outdoor Education elective class completed a three day, two night journey around Port Phillip Bay by bike, train, and ferry, covering Melbourne's bayside suburbs, Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine Peninsula and Geelong.
Students who completed this journey were: Albert Cahill, Deacon Cherry, Seraphina Ferguson, Cooper Gillies, Tyler Hinrichsen, Marigold Joyner, Daisy McCrum Canny, Polly Sawyers, Amity Spicer and Isobel Weston, with Matias Edmonds from Year 10, who helped plan and lead students on the trip as part of his Work Experience program.
Congratulations to the students for embracing this experience and making the most of this wonderful adventure.
The Year 9 climbing trip was really fun and even if it was your first time climbing outdoors, everyone was kind and supportive! The views at the top of each climb made the struggle to the top worth it, as we could see far into the trees and fields surrounding us. Although the weather was more than a bit freezing, we somehow managed to avoid any rain and even got some sun for a few days! On the last two nights, our campsite had a wallaby visit who had absolutely no sense of survival and was super friendly. The climbing trip was awesome until we got stuck in traffic because of road works for a few hours, which resulted in a lot of energy somehow contained in one minibus. Overall it was super fun!
By Stella-Lu Zantop, Year 9.
Paddling
Everyone arrived at school around 7:00 am. Most people felt awake with excitement and quickly we bundled onto the bus with Adrian and Jojo and were on our way. Our group was pretty small, consisting of 11 students and two staff.
We stopped a couple of times for lunch and various breaks and finally, after around five hours of driving, we reached the river and looked for a place to camp. After a lot of bumpy roads, we came across a beach with vehicle access and decided to camp there. Adrian took the bus to our end destination and rode back on his bike.
The next day most of us woke up early, got ready and packed up our tents. Adrian and Jojo made us breakfast and we loaded the boats up and got paddling. Weather wise it wasn't too bad, though it was our coldest day for the whole trip.
The stretch of river we paddled on was deep hence, not too many snags. No one capsized the whole trip, though there were some close calls. We saw quite a few goats on the bank of the river, as well as lots of bird life such as pelicans, terns, cormorants and ducks.
Our five days on the river followed the same pattern, pack up camp, paddle to the first beach, and stop for morning tea (some days with a campfire). Back in the boats for an easy paddle to our next campsite and after we set up, we ate lunch and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. Some of us would help Jojo cook dinner, while others would still be setting up or, just sitting around chatting. One day we buried Liv in the sand up to her neck! Another time Elliot, Nina, Liv and I went for a swim in the water. It was extremely cold!
Another highlight was on our second last day when we paddled past a huge flock of pelicans flying around in the sky. It was crazy how many birds there were. It was very beautiful.
The last night we camped on an island 1 km away from where the bus was parked.
We woke up early and packed everything up by 8:30 am so we could get moving. Then we arrived at the bus and a group of us including Jojo cleaned up the canoes in the river, then the rest of the group loaded them onto the trailer.
We returned to school around 5:30 pm and unloaded our bags, then everyone left in high spirits to go home.
By Scarlet Anderson, Year 9.
Hobart Trip
On Tuesday 21st May the students of 8M along with Matt, Conor, Jo and Skye boarded a flight from Melbourne, bound for Hobart. After a quick flight, we touched down and headed for the accommodation in central Hobart. We explored the area around our hotel and went in groups for dinner at restaurants nearby.
Wednesday, our first full day, saw us walking out to the Cascades Female Factory to learn about the transport of female criminals and their punishment upon landing in the colony. We learned that the site is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Of the 20 UNESCO sites in Australia, 11 are in Tasmania. From there, we walked into central Hobart, through Hobart Linear Park along the Hobart Rivulet. Everyone was excited to get started on a treasure hunt through central Hobart. After a picnic in St David’s Park, the groups were away to complete a series of Treasure Hunt tasks. Alice, Ava, Ariel and Poppy won the challenge!
On Thursday day we caught a bus to Port Arthur, another UNESCO World Heritage site. We took a cruise out to Point Puer, the site of the boy’s prison, and learned that it was the first successful example of a prison focused on reform in the country. After the cruise, we had time to explore the amazing site at Port Arthur, including the Silent Prison and the Commandant’s Quarters. No ghosts were seen during our visit. Port Arthur is beautiful but also incredibly sad.
On Friday we jumped aboard the ‘MONA Roma’ ferry and sailed down the Derwent River to visit MONA. There was so much to see, including the “Poo Machine,” “Botox Car” and a room full of TV monitors that displayed people singing Madonna songs! We had a picnic lunch on the lawn to sustain us, as you need a lot of stamina to see all there is to see at MONA!
Saturday was our last day in Hobart. After having breakfast at the hotel, we headed through St David’s Park to the bustling Salamanca Market. There was so much to see and a lot of delicious food to eat. Although we were sad to get on the plane to head home, we had a fantastic time in Hobart! Thank you to everyone in the group for making it such a terrific trip!
By Skye Myers, VCE coordinator.
Tractor Camp
We were lucky to see the return of much beloved former Alice Miller teacher Pauline to lead the autumn 2024 tractor camp. A small team of Year 9 and 10 students ventured out to the Harry Ferguson Tractor Club shed at the Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally site where volunteers from the club taught them about two-stroke and four-stroke engines, gearboxes, bearings and brakes and helped them to take apart and service some vintage farm machinery.
They were also lucky enough to take a tour of the steam rally site and see ancient stationary engines and steam engines in operation.
By Conan O'Brien, Maths, Science.
A Tree a Minute
This month, a green tsunami of tree guards swept down the hill at Nulla Vale. In two short hours, the Grade 3 - 6 students from Candlebark planted between 600 - 700 plants, doubling what we thought might be possible in the limited time available! Before and after photos do not do justice to the transformation that took place, and to be honest, we were too busy to take many photos anyway. However, it was remarkable to see these kids in action, and to see what could be achieved with so many hard working helpers. We were fortunate to have the support of three helpful parents as well - thanks Maegen, Michael and Libby for the extra watering, quality control, and planting assistance.
On Saturday, we set out to finish the work the Candlebark kids had started the day before. This involved planting a further 800 plants, to bring the two day total to around 1500 plants. Conditions were near perfect for planting, and for possibly the first time this year, we had more than enough of just about everything - including hammers, buckets, guards, and stakes. More importantly, we had a wonderful supply of people to help with the planting. We swept across the paddock, enjoyed morning tea among the granite boulders, and continued until we had reached the final few holes in a distant corner of the paddock. Looking back up the hill, it was more than a little inspiring to imagine what the same landscape might look like in ten years' time. By then, the Grade 3 kids who helped with the planting will have finished school!
When combined with earlier plantings at both Alice Miller and Nulla Vale this year, the students, staff and families of Candlebark and Alice Miller have planted around 2500 plants this season.
This feels like a rather significant achievement, given that we plant on a part time basis, among many other things. This comes with a massive thanks to everyone who volunteered their time and energy, often on weekends, to assist us in so many ways. This includes the many people who have planted trees, but also those who have been involved 'behind the scenes'. A special thanks to Penny and Hillary Roberts and the Newham Landcare group for the use of their excellent auger. To Gerrard Morel at Melbourne Water for the generous donation of second hand guards and stakes. To Marty, Peter, Lachie, Miles, and Jarno - for many hours of chainsawing at Alice Miller, or whipper snippering and hole digging at Nulla Vale. To Marisa at Candlebark - for preparing / supplying plenty of good food to keep us going. To the volunteer growers at Tree Project, who propagated and cared for our plants for many months, before kindly delivering them to us. And to our school leaders, for their ongoing support of a project that grew into a larger and more time consuming undertaking than originally planned.
We have enjoyed sharing these tree planting adventures with you all, and we look forward to following the growth of these plants and the greening of these places in the years ahead.
By Sam Ford, Outdoor Education Coordinator.
Year 9/10 Woodwork
The Year 9/10 woodwork class set the challenge of not buying any new timber. Students have been making stools inspired by Japanese mid-century design from second-hand floorboards. The floorboards are a mix of Queensland rainforest hardwood: beautiful timber with plenty of life left in it!
Physics & Chemistry
Students in the Year 11 physics class and the 9/10 elective physics class had the opportunity to feel physics in action on their recent indoor skydiving excursion. Students learned about drag and terminal velocity and the engineering involved in making enormous volumes of air move at over 150km/h. Year 9/10 students performed calculations of the terminal velocity of balls of different sizes and weights while Year 11s calculated their drag coefficients and predicted their terminal velocity before these predictions were tested in the tunnel.
Term 2 saw plenty of acid-base chemistry in the science labs of Alice Miller. Here we see Year 11 students doing titration decked out in the latest tie-dye designs from the Year 8 science classes. Reactive cotton dyes use acid-base reactions to prepare the cellulose fibres for the dye. Year 8 students have also been applying their acid-base chemistry to making sherbet from citric acid and sodium bicarbonate and making soap from vegetable oil and sodium hydroxide. They also tried their hands at growing both molecular and ionic crystals.
Organic chemistry was another feature this term. Year 11 and Year 12 chemistry classes both combined carboxylic acids and alcohols to make a range of esters that smelt like bananas, apples, berries and whiteboard markers.
By Conan O'Brien, Maths, Science.
Year 12 Drama Ensemble Performance
This year’s Unit 3 Drama students were instructed to write and perform an ensemble theatre piece that combined storytelling with a murder mystery performance style to come up with hypothetical explanations for the disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926.
Last Friday night they performed the 30 minute piece in the Black Box and although the audience was small, they delighted in the mix of absurdism, physical theatre, comical characters and committed storytelling that Rhys, Lucas, Scarlett, Rosie and Hugo delivered. Having worked with Ed Boyle in term 1 who brought his experience as a physical performer and director of Circus Oz to the teaching space, they embraced every opportunity afforded them. The result was a funny, polished and highly original response to the stimulus. Agatha Christie would have been proud!
By Anne Browning, Drama and Production Coordinator.
Winter Soiree
Lachlan Barber, Year 7
Kai Hagan, Year 11, with instrumental music teacher, Emily Bennett.
Thomas Fleet, Year 7.
Emma Dalton, Year 11, with instrumental music teacher, Dan Marsh.
Louis Green, Talia Hoskins-Green and Tyler Hinrichsen, Year 8.
Jessica Frankenberg, Year 8.
Gus Burgess, Year 11, with instrumental music teacher, Luke Collins.
Freya Trikojus and Hope Warlow, Year 7.
Maggie Falloon, Year 7.
Marilla Faircloth, Year 7.
Leo Crawshaw, Year 9, with music teacher, Rohan Sherlock.
Charlie Grobler, Year 9.
Milo Waterhouse, Year 11.
Eli Spencer, Year 9.
Jan "Yarn" Wositzky's William Buckley Incursion
On Tuesday 28th May, all of the Year 7s and the 9/10s Humanities class were treated to a dramatic incursion from Jan "Yarn" Wositzky. Jan has been writing and performing for over 40 years. As a founder of the Bushwackers Band he toured extensively around Australia and Europe. These days, among other things, he performs one-man shows rooted in Australian History. On this particular occasion, he visited to tell the story of Murrengurk / William Buckley. William Buckley was a one-time military man turned convict, who escaped an early settlement at Sullivan Bay (modern-day Sorrento) to live with the Wathaurang people for 32 years before confronting some of John Batman's party in 1835 as they were trying to establish a foothold in what would become Melbourne. It's an incredible story of survival, adaptation and nous. Jan's show used clever stage design, compelling storytelling and facsimiles of various artefacts to bring this incredible tale to life. Three Year 7 students were involved in the performance having received scripts a week prior and performed their roles brilliantly. If you're not familiar with the story of William Buckley, I recommend getting yourself up to speed; it's one of the great Australian stories. For more info see here: https://www.janwositzky.com.au/buckley/ .
By John Collins, Humanities.
Flamenco Performance
On Friday June 7th Alice Miller was treated to a world-class Flamenco Guitar and Dance recital by the wonderful Paco Lara and Deya Giner. The students and staff sat enraptured as Paco Lara started playing, instantly transported to southern Spain by the incredible, passionate and intricate sounds he coaxed from his guitar. It's always a transformational experience when you experience art that evokes a country’s culture and image so beautifully.
The sounds, as evocative as they were, served only as an introduction, for after the students erupted in applause, Deya Giner entered the stage in full Flamenco costume and, with proud charisma, demanded our attention as only a Flamenco dancer can. At this moment our internal cultural journey to Spain was complete.
Our students were a fabulous audience and their applause thunderous as the performance continued, then all too soon ended.
It is always a great thing to experience art forms which are richly connected to the culture and history of places around the world. In Australia the Art music and dance of our indigenous cultures defines the place we live in to the world as much as the geography.
What a wonderful thing for our kids to experience!
By Andrew Blizzard.
KITCHEN GARDEN
The term has flown by and much has happened in the Kitchen Garden Class. We have nearly finished renovating the soil in the extant garden beds near the house and we have done some planting of garlic, winter greens and various peas/broad beans. We've also been working to protect our nascent crops with some structural material to support nets in order to combat the hungry and curious kangaroos who like to come for a nibble. We caught them on a trail camera lent to us by the Outdoor Ed crew. All of this is a work in progress and soil improvement is an ongoing labour of love, but we've made a good start. We have several composting systems in place: a two bay system, a conventional bin which we layer lasagna style, a worm farm and a caged leaf mulch pile. We've also been composting in situ in some of the beds, digging trenches and filling them with kitchen scraps, manure and straw and topping with some lovely processed compost donated by Macedon Shire council. In the kitchen we've been equally busy. We had our hands full making all sorts of things with apples while the trees in the orchard were bearing fruit. We also picked blackberries and made some delicious treats. As it started to turn colder we turned our attention to potatoes and made some galettes. We also explored the fascinating and fiery world of Sichuan cookery with some veg based dishes: potato threads, dry fried green beans and fish fragrant eggplant.
More recently we've been foraging some pine mushrooms (lactarius deliciosus) and having them simply on toast. It's been a great opportunity to explore our surrounds and see what fungi are growing around Alice Miller - and to have the serious conversation about the dangers of foraging wild mushrooms. This old adage has been getting a fair run: "There are old mushroom pickers and bold mushroom pickers, but no old, bold mushroom pickers."
Lastly, we think we are pretty close to perfecting a gluten-free churros recipe. Suffice to say, we've been enjoying the fruits of our labour. Check out our blog (https://alicemillerkitchengarden.blogspot.com/) to see some of the things we've been up to. More to come....
By John Collins, Humanities.
Photo Club
Motion
Every month, students and teachers are encouraged to submit a photo inspired by a prompt. This term we saw entries inspired by motion and showcased in the morning meeting.
Sports Report
Alice Miller's Revenge
As I write this from the frosty floor of my tent, nestled in the scrub at the foot of Mount Arapiles, I am reminded how lucky I am to be part of this place.
As Sports Coordinator, I am constantly reminded of this, including at interschool events when our students compete fiercely against much larger schools, who often hang around to cheer us on in our following games. I’ve lost count of the number of staff and students who have enquired with great curiosity about who we are and where we’re from and complimented us on our teamwork, fair play, enthusiasm, and, of course, lunch options (thanks again to Sally, Vee, Will, Craig, and anyone else that has packed tortillas, sliced tomatoes, or hand-picked the best muesli bars to fuel our hungry competitors). Or when a group of young people approach me to organise training sessions, enter Frankenstein teams with competitors from every age group to make up numbers, and offer (or, sometimes, insist on) line-ups, gameplans and strategies to carry into our next event. These kids could coach themselves — but keep that between us.
Equally inspiring is the number of teachers and parents willing to give up their priceless time to drive a bus or stand on the sidelines, call substitutions, manage personalities (you know how athletes can be) and smack a clipboard on their knee when the referee makes a blue. Thank you to everyone who has supported the sports program this term. Those who read my wrap-up in the last edition of this newsletter will remember that while we experienced different types of success in all our events, the paramount prize of glory ultimately eluded us. If Alice Miller is Rocky Balboa, then last term was Rocky I: we dance-ran up steps, fought bravely, and won in the eyes of many, though the history books will not bear our name in gold. But, as the Italian Stallion puts it, it’s not about how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. This term was Rocky II. Dun-nun-nun…
It all started with Year 8 Girls’ Soccer in Week 6, coached by Adrian, one of our most esteemed sports gurus. Many of you will know that when it comes to sports at Alice, soccer is no joke—a passionate congregation of students from Year 7 through to 12 live and breathe the beautiful game. If you ask these futbol purists the highlight of their term, I wager they would say the facelift of the school’s pitch. Towards the end of Term 1, I was approached by a Year 9 battalion of Bailey Road Hooligans with a request: fix the soccer nets and goals and, for the love of all things spherical, paint some sidelines and penalty areas. Thank you to these students for their initiative and Michael and Craig for bringing their vision to life. As made clear by our participation in interschool soccer, this field of dreams proves that if you build it, they will come… first.
In a very-Alice-Miller turn of events, half of our Year 8 Girls’ Soccer team was at camp in Hobart during the tournament. While others may have considered pouring this half-full glass down the sink, our crew took it as an opportunity to blood new players, entering a twelve-person squad comprised of five Year 7s: Miwa, Emily, Amity, Rilla and Seraphina. The team fought tooth and nail all day, narrowly missing out on a win but placing themselves in fantastic stead for future soccer success—hats off to the girls for their persistence, tenacity and camaraderie.
The next day, three of the team’s rising stars joined Marty and ten other students from various year levels to compete in the Divisional Round of Interschool Cross-Country. The fruits of our Friday running program were evident in the day’s results: all ten of our competitors finished in the top echelon of their age groups and qualified for the next round, which determines the state competition. A special shout-out to Elsie, Essie and Jonty, who came second in their respective events, and Eva, Eli and Ethan, who finished on top of the podium and, by all reports, ran their own race (though, Jonty quite literally gave Eli a run for his money: the latter promised Marty a small fortune if he didn’t win and narrowly escaped the clutches of his training partner). Every Alice Miller competitor came in the first ten or eleven, with most finishing in the top five or six. As Marty put it, we certainly saw the most success per capita.
That same day, an elite task force of navigators joined Andy at Brimbank Park for the annual Victorian Secondary Schools Orienteering Championship. The team comprised Year 9 students Arlo, Charles, and Finbar, who put on a spectacle, coming ninth, tenth and twelfth, respectively. You could say they had it all mapped out from the beginning… Or that they left their competitors disorientated… Or they have a magnetic connection. That’s enough — I’ve lost my direction. Congratulations to the three students on finding a route to success. This day of aerobic triumph across cross-country and orienteering will live on forever in the hearts and minds of those present at either event. And we were just getting started.
The following week, the Year 8 Boys’ Soccer team travelled to Melton with Sam to stake their claim against the best eleven our local collection of schools has to offer. I knew they meant business when they arrived on the morning of the competition in rich debate, notifying me they “were considering some significant changes to the gameplan”. I am pleased to report that whatever decisions they made worked: we won all four games, scoring seven combined goals and only allowing a sole goal against the whole day, thanks largely to our goalkeeper extraordinaire, the Henry Brothers (House and Astuto) upfront and Banjo and Marta in between. The teams’ prize was an invitation to represent the region in the next round of competition. In an inconvenient turn of events, the event is hosted during our first week of school holidays. While I have my suspicions that this is yet another ploy from our opponents to dodge healthy competition, there is nothing to be done about the matter but sit and wait for our next opportunity… Rocky III.
Tomorrow, Donna is accompanying the Year 8 Girls’ Netball team to the Badminton and Year 11/12 Basketball before the term is out. We also have 9/10 Soccer in Week 10 and Regional Cross-Country for our qualifying runners to look forward to. While I can’t report on these events yet, I can guarantee a few things: our students will try their hearts out, cheer for one another relentlessly, ask me if we get ice cream on the way back to school, and have a whole lot of fun doing it all.
By Conor Dimasi, Physical Education.
Congratulations
Angus O'Farrell - 11th IN THE WORLD in Irish Dancing
For those of you that don’t know my name is Angus O’Farrell and I do competitive Irish Dancing. This March, I was fortunate to qualify and dance at the world Irish dancing championships in Glasgow, Scotland. This was an amazing opportunity, and I had an absolute blast. There were 83 boys my age competing for the title of world champion. I did my first two dances and luckily qualified to do my third and final dance and in the final result, I placed 11th in the world. It was lots of fun and I’m really grateful to have been able to attend.
By Angus O'Farrell, Year 11.
Poppy Taylor's Success in the Climbing Youth National Championships
Poppy competed in two events in the Climbing Youth National Championships in Queensland. Poppy finished 8th in the country in bouldering and 13th in lead climbing. Well done Poppy, a fabulous achievement.