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Principal’s message

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Josie Millard
Principal

Thank You for Term 1

As Term 1 of 2022 draws to a close, I would like to thank every staff member, every student and every parent and school community member for ensuring that Kew High School was a wonderful place to be this term. We commenced the term determined to provide our students with a predictable and normal learning environment, and we have done exactly that. Despite the many students and staff who have been impacted by the ongoing COVID situation, we have not only continued our complete learning program but also have conducted a huge range of co-curricular activities. At times, the school community has had to work very hard to ensure the best experience for students. The exceptional work of the Year Level Coordinators, the Wellbeing Team, the Learning Area Leaders, the Co-curricular Leaders, the teaching teams and the education support staff has meant that we have not only taken our first major step back to our usual way of life and learning but we have, once again, become a vibrant and connected community. We have enjoyed exciting House Swimming and Athletics Carnivals, Sports Round Robins at all levels, Beach Volleyball competitions, Debating competitions, Year 7 Camps, Outdoor Education Camps, Harmony Day, Student Leadership conferences and many other excursions and activities. We have also begun the preparation for our significant performances that will occur throughout the year, including our music concerts and the much-anticipated school production of ‘The Addams Family’ musical.

Community Canteen this term

Another such example of our exceptional community doing everything they can to ensure a safe and health environment for our students is the parents who have been running our Canteen this term. When it became apparent that we would not be able to get the new Canteen in place until Term 2, our wonderful QNetwork parents offered to ensure that our students had access to affordable healthy food at school. Every morning they have been preparing food offsite before arriving at school to serve it from the Theatre Kiosk. I most sincerely thank every parent helper who had done a shift, either cooking or serving. Thank you particularly to Cat and Michalle who have been the driving forces behind it. Kew High School is indeed fortunate to have such a wonderfully caring community to draw upon when we need it.

STEAM Centre opening early Term 2

Term 2 will see Kew High School move into our long-awaited STEAM Centre. The many teams who are working together to bring this magnificent facility to our school have done an amazing job in the final stages. Teaching teams are preparing curriculums for the new spaces, we are ordering the equipment and the furniture, and we are imagining ourselves in the new marvellous learning and teaching spaces. The first few weeks of the term should see us putting the final touches on the new building and allowing the teaching teams to move all the equipment in. We anticipate that students should be learning in the classrooms by Week 4 of Term 2 – and we can’t wait!

Level 1 classroom upgrades

Over the term break we are also taking the opportunity to upgrade the classrooms on Level 1. The rooms will each be having a fresh coat of paint along with new whiteboards, screens, pinboards, carpets and furniture. Thank you to the Kew High School Council who approved the upgrade through the Building Fund. Thank you most sincerely to every family who was able to contribute to that fund during Course Confirmation each year, as you have enabled us to improve the learning environment for our students.

I would also like to most sincerely thank School Councillor Angelo Sansano whose expertise, leadership and huge commitment of time has meant that this project became possible.

Open Morning

Over the course of Term 1 I have conducted many School Tours for prospective families. Students and families have come from a huge range of schools and have all had the privilege to our school in action as it operates on any usual day. Our Year 10 Peer Support students have assisted in leading the tours and they have each been fine ambassadors for our school.

On Thursday 28 April, Kew High School will hold an Open Morning commencing at 9.00am in the Gymnasium. We look forward to seeing many prospective families and showing them our wonderful school.

It has indeed been a wonderful term and I thank everyone who has contributed to its success. Thank you, particularly from me, to the Assistant Principals Pamela Dunstall and Jane Thornton, to our Business Manager Ruchi Patel and to the whole Leadership Team at Kew High School. We are an exceptional team and I am truly grateful to work with such amazing, caring people.

Kew Soccer

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The Kew Festival of Football returned after two years in the wilderness. It was great to see so many players take part, and they were crucial in ensuring the event was a success. Match reports were filled for the respective tournaments below.

YEAR 9/10 TOURNAMENT

The semi-finals could not have been more different with Barker taking care of Wilsmere comfortably, while it took penalties for Cotham to edge out a gritty Boroondara in the second semi-final.

The Grand Final looked set to be a similar nail biter, with both teams heading to half-time at 2-2. However, the speed and finishing of the Cotham side was too much for the Barker boys to handle, running out convincing 5-2 winners. Player of the Match, Alex Tsimidinov, commended his players for a balanced, team-oriented performance, with clinical finishing in the second half making the difference at the end of the day.

YEAR 11/12 TOURNAMENT

After controversy wreaked havoc in the preliminary rounds, it was pleasing to watch the Grand Final in front of a packed Kew High Arena. But this wasn’t just any Grand Final. With the two opponents having clashed earlier in the tournament, this was built as a battle of the year levels, with the predominantly Year 12 Cotham team facing a Year 11 heavy Wilsmere.

Early in the match, it was all Wilsmere. They were clinical in front of goal with Thomson, Jowett and Price putting an early 3-0 margin on their opponents. But then the comeback happened. Inspired by some incredible goalkeeping from Bayley Waldhorn and a worldie from Noam Geva, Cotham came back to force the match into extra time.

With no team able to break the deadlock, it came down to a tense penalty shootout. Ultimately, it was that man, Bayley Waldhorn, who guided Cotham to a come-from-the-brink victory – stopping all three penalties and fittingly winning the Player of the Match award.

This year, we have teamed up with the Human Rights Commission’s ‘Racism. It Stops With Me.’ Campaign. The soccer students unanimously selected this as the cause they wanted to promote, and players have signed a banner to show their commitment to speaking out against racism.

Next term looks set to be just as jam packed. We have Year 7 to 12 students playing soccer and the Year 9 to 12 competing in Futsal at the Melbourne School Titles at Monash University in May. Meanwhile, back on campus, the Festival of Football will shift focus with our girls’ tournaments taking centre stage.

Cultural Games, Year 10 PE

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Building on year 9 PE – where the students led a 20 minute minor game for their class mates – the Year 10 PE students this term have extended on this concept by planning and delivering a cultural game that can be undertaken by their peers within a 50 minute time slot. Non-traditional sports from around the world have been introduced to the class, and students have done an amazing job preparing and delivering these activities to their peers. Sports such as Spanish Pesapello, Tchoukball, Torball, Gaelic Football and Indian Kabaddi are a few of the activities undertaken so far this term. Many future PE teachers have been identified via this process!

International Students Term 1

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We warmly welcomed two new international students from China at the start of Term 1 this year, amid the first omicron wave. Holiday and Jingmei joined our Year 12 after completing online Year 11 with another school. Their perseverance, determination and optimism made their travelling back to Australia possible and we are fortunate to have them. Term 1 was busy but also fun. On one hand, our international students adjusted themselves well to onsite schooling and doing RAT tests with due diligence; on the other hand, they threw themselves into the sporting festivals that were missed for two years. Helen Vu, the 2017 Dux, now in her final year of Medicine studying at Monash, kindly came back to school and gave Year 12 EAL students a valuable workshop on final year EAL learning. She also revealed an exciting news that her younger brother in Vietnam is going to join our school from Term 3 this year!  As the Term break is coming up, we would like to wish our students a safe and relaxing holiday period, and we are looking forward to welcoming back more new international students in Term 2 and 3.

Top Arts 2022

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Kew High School exhibitor for 2022 – Studio Arts 

Spores of Confidence 2021 by Clay Gaia-Butcher

Ideas behind the work …

Spores of Confidence is about growth of identity and self, and finally feeling confident in my identity and body through the realisation of my being non-binary. The lockdown allowed me to analyse my subconscious and what brings me joy and comfort. In the work, each of the small characters reflect a small part of my personality, or express an emotion or human connection, despite being alien in nature. The mushrooms represent many things including the feeling of otherness, as they are not an animal and not really a plant and are viewed both as something mystical and fairytale-esque and as a parasitic fungus.

Top Arts is exhibiting at:

The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia,
Fed Square Ground Level,
NGV Studio17 Mar 22 – 24 Jul 22
Open 10am–5pm daily

Afternoon
Morning
Evening

House Swimming photo gallery 2022

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Anytime Fitness gym, Year 11 PE

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As part of our study of the musculoskeletal system, we recently visited Anytime Fitness gym in Kew to explore the role of agonists, antagonists and stabilisers in upholding reciprocal inhibition when participating in weight training exercises. We experienced, first-hand, different muscle contraction types and reviewed muscles, bones/joints and movements around each joint. Afterwards, students completed a review activity in class where they reported on the application of these terms/movements from the exercises they participated in at the gym. A big thank you to Simon Olive, the owner of ATF Kew, for showing us around his gym and letting us use the facility free of charge.

Year 9 Outdoor Education camp

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The following are some quotes from the students camp reflection.

Honestly, I didn't have very high expectations prior to the camp because I wasn't really close with many people and it wasn't really my usual crowd. However, as soon as we got on the bus, I was proven wrong. I really enjoyed the camp and got closer to so many people I don't think I would have interacted with before, if it wasn't for the camp.

I mainly took the role of navigator for the first bushwalk. I learned how to read a map and a compass throughout the leadership role, though it was challenging at first. On this camp, I had just about everything that I needed; but next time I would bring soap steel wool to make cleaning the Trangia stoves easier.

My favourite part of the third night was the games we played. Chatting and socialising with everyone there, whilst we competed in such silly activities, was really fun; and not to brag but I totally won my challenge. I believe that night was really important in the friendships we created.

For my bushwalk pack, I found the easiest way to pack everything was to lay everything out and see if you are able to reduce the amount of clothing and food you bring, and then distribute everything between my day pack and my big back pack.

I think Emily and I made good decisions during the hike. We did turn the wrong way but Emily remained really level headed; she asked what I wanted to do and we decided together what we were going to do. At the start we often needed help in decision making but, by the end of the hike, we were really assertive.

Even though we did not know each other very well, the atmosphere of the class was really good. Everyone got along well and there weren't many feuds between the class. Lunch at shallow inlet was good, the sand dunes were fun and there were great views. I was excited before the surf lesson, although the waves were somewhat small, and I wasn't focused enough to catch a good wave.

Yarra Bend golf range, Year 9 PE

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As part of our unit of study on Skill Acquisition, each year 9 PE class has visited the Yarra Bend Golf Driving Range this term. The student had an opportunity to hit 50 balls each onto the driving range as an example of massed practise, and captured their swing on camera to analyse back at school. The students will be writing an extended response, analysing aspects of their golf swing using the gathered footage, and comparing and contrasting their skill execution against footage of a professional golfer.

Q Network update

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It has been great getting back to something approaching normality in Term One of 2022. The QNetwork has also started to resume more of our typical activities and we even managed to have a face to face meeting. We provided volunteers for the Meet the Teacher’s night,  which included an outdoor barbecue this year. We fired up the barbie again at the Athletics Day and a special thanks goes out to Carolyn McCabe for leading these efforts. The school canteen needed volunteers this term and Michelle Patterson and her team have done an amazing job keeping the canteen buzzing.

After a successful event last year, the QNetwork will again be hosting a Wine and Cheese Night in Term Two. Please save the date of Tuesday the 17th of May for the Wine and Cheese Night in the STEM centre. It is a great opportunity to socialise with other parents in a relaxed setting. Look out for more details when next term commences.

The QNetwork is eager to build an even stronger sense of community for the benefit of our students and the school community more broadly. One aspect to assist with this is the opportunity for parents to get to know each other, especially for those students and families who are new to the school this year or have joined during COVID times. We are looking for Year 7, 8, 9 parent volunteers to help coordinate a coffee catch up for the families in these year levels, some time in Term 2. If you have an hour to spare and are interested in getting involved, please contact Angela at angela.taylor@plan.org.au or on 0447 385 116.

Everyone is most welcome to get involved in the QNetwork, whether it is attending meetings, joining our volunteer list or turning up to our social functions. We hope to see some more of you soon and, if you have any questions, you can email us at qnetworkpfa@gmail.com

Thanks,

Ken Brown
QNetwork President

National Youth Science Forum 2022

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by Dean Baxter Gregory-Walker, 12M

The NYSF (National Youth Science Forum) is a 2-week program, run in January of the summer holidays, where you get the opportunity to meet and talk with many different members from the STEM community, as well as discovering information about university courses offered around Australia. It is a great opportunity to learn more about aspects of areas in STEM and career pathways.

Acceptance to the NYSF program involves a written application and two interviews, all of which are organised by your local Rotary club. Through this process, you will get to know your local Rotary leader and gain the opportunity to obtain a sponsorship, which will help pay for the expenses of the course.

The core of the forum involves taking notes during lectures you choose to attend. These lectures cover every corner of stem from meteorology to rocket science to palaeontology and everything in between. At these lectures you experience an amazing array of scientists, from the likes of Dr Karl to Peter Doherty – making for some awesome insights and, even better, selfies!  At the end of each day there was a social event in your constellation group or the Staffis (NYSF alumni) who have come back to run it.  The Staffis eliminated the need for awkward social ice breakers, making meeting people super easy and enjoyable. Fun games were organised so you could meet people who share your STEM passion. These social events made up the other big half of what made the NYSF such an enjoyable, unique experience. Added to these were countless group chats and voice channels for an array of hobbies and interests. Everyone was super lovely and always up for a chat.

The NYSF ensures that over its course you will have plenty of activities that open a range of opportunities after the completion of the program. An example is the ag2030 $100 billion challenge, in which students were asked to make a proposal for a new agricultural plan to assist Australia’s agricultural sector in making $100 billion by 2030. Apart from being a fun challenge, the winner had the opportunity to propose their plan to the Australian Department of Agriculture and further move on to bring their proposal to the Prime Minister. This was just one of the many opportunities offered to give students a head-start into a possible STEM career, while doing it in a way that made it super easy to get involved and give it a go.

I would highly recommend the NYSF to everyone anyone interested in STEM. It’s an opportunity you won’t want to miss!!

by Uyen Pham, Yr 12F​

The National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) is a program held annually during the summer holidays for those keen on a career in STEM; in other words within the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics. I first heard of the NYSF through a year level assembly but initially thought I’d not get in. However, I thought giving it a try wouldn’t hurt. There were two rounds of interviews which may seem daunting, but in fact you just got to be yourself and show that you really have a passion in STEM. They might ask you ‘Why do you want to attend NYSF’ or ‘How do you demonstrate leadership’. (A handy tip: in the Rotary interview make sure you have an idea of what the Rotary organisation is and what they do).

In the program you are able to meet with industry professionals who discuss current issues, their daily work life, their experiences, tips throughout their journey and much more. Representatives from universities all over Australia take you through the courses they offer, as well as the steps needed to get into specific courses. This definitely helped in broadening my perspective of tertiary education options. The program is also full of social events where we could get to know other NYSFers who have shared interests.

Some of the program highlights were Dr Karl’s session: he has such an amusing way of spreading STEM knowledge, making the whole session feel like a stand-up comedy. What really struck me was when Dr Karl emphasized the importance that politicians have on influences in STEM, thus our votes really contribute to STEM advancements. The University of Queensland Integrated Pathology Centre also held a session where we were able to see real life specimens and understand what diseases actually look like, through explanations of how specific diseases can develop. After the critical thinking session, I understand the value and importance of critical thinking in everyday life and how it’s able to help us see different arguments and viewpoints.

Participating in the NYSF brings opportunities such as being able to be part of the NYSF Connect Program for NYSF alumni, where a bunch of networking opportunities arise. I would definitely recommend this program to year 11s doing science, who are keen to learn more of the opportunities within STEM, as well as just to get to know other kids your age with common passions.

Year 12 Media class goes to TOP SCREEN

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On Thursday 26th March the year 12 Media class travelled to the city to see TOP SCREEN for 2022, which showcased the best films made by year 12 media students in 2021. There were over 250 entries but only sixteen were selected. The screening was held at the grand Capitol Theatre. The screening ran for over an hour with a question-and-answer session afterwards. There was an array of films and topics including animations, documentaries, dramas and comedies. The standard was very high. Even if some films weren’t to the students tastes, there was enough to inspire and get the students thinking about their own productions; this includes students choosing to do photography. The class was joined by Sean Stockman, who did year 12 Media last year and did very well in the subject. All in all, it was an excellent excursion. It is hoped that some of our students will make terrific productions and get chosen for TOP ARTS 2023. 

The Comedy of Errors, Year 12 Literature

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Ellie Hobbs
12I

On Tuesday the 15th of February some of the year 12 literature class travelled to the Royal Botanic Gardens to watch the Australian Shakespeare Company’s production of ‘The Comedy of Errors’. The Comedy of Errors is one of the earliest works of playwright William Shakespeare wrote. It’s his shortest play and certainly one of his most comedic, teeming with slapstick, puns, mistaken identity, old timey wordplay and, in the case of this production, oddly placed Darryl Braithwaite references.

The play served as some historical context and background research into the renowned English playwrights’ techniques and habits, which will be great insight when the class begins studying ‘Othello’ later in the year.

We had such an amazing time and definitely recommend checking out some other productions performed by the theatre company, regardless of whether you plan on studying Shakespeare this year. Going to events like this is so much fun, and you won’t feel bad about going out to the city on a Tuesday night if you can class it as ‘homework’.

Sports Captains’ report

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Thanks to everyone for getting involved in the sport program throughout term 1.

The House Swimming Carnival was the first event of the term and beautiful weather made for an entertaining day of events, highlighted by some great swims, spectacular dives and with student DJ sets setting the vibe. Congratulations to Cotham House on retaining the House Swimming title.

With House Athletics relocating to the Box Hill Athletics Track for this year, it was great to see student engagement and participation in all of the events. We are looking forward to sending a really strong team of athletes to the Division Carnival in term 3. Thank you to the students who have signed up for catch up events commencing early term 2. Currently, Cotham is holding a strong lead with points from the catch-up events still to be included.

Hey everyone! Mia and Will here. We are your sport captains for 2022. We are SUPER excited with the participation and performance levels at both house swimming and athletics so far, and keen to see everyone down at the cross country in term 2.

As the sport captains of Kew High School, we are proud of the outstanding efforts everyone has put in in all sporting events this term.

We’d like to mention some of the highlights of the year so far:

The 450+ students who participated in inter school sport in term 1, including the 7 teams who have progressed to regional events, and the inter girls and senior boys’ volleyball teams who are through to state finals;

  • Mayan Bhasker, coming home strong in the last 25m of his 100m butterfly winning the event and progressing through to state swimming finals;
  • Archie Critchell (Kew High School’s very own rower), winning the STATE championships in rowing;
  • Tao Murasawa of year 8, who competed in an 8-week Bouldering competition and won in the women’s advanced competition – truly an impressive feat;
  • Ferdinand Feath, who has been named emergency for the Victorian 15-16 Boy’s Triathlon team

An awesome achievement by all who participated! We are so keen for another big term ahead!

Vertical gardening program

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Phillip Naughton
Gardener

Maintenance of the gardens at Kew High School has continued to keep the grounds tidy. Andrews Gardening Service kept the lawns mowed, weeded and trimmed shrubs as needed. To enhance the appearance of the entrance to Musicland, the concrete pavement was painted over the summer break. Good summer rain, high humidity and not so hot temperatures benefitted the gardens.

Work along the vertical green wall has continued with the holes backfilled with garden soil. Some erosion control was needed under the Theatre walkway. Volunteer day on Thursday 31st March was well attended with students led by environment teacher Kristen Lomax, two alumni with director Elise Dunstan and visitor Bev Middleton. Plants were donated by Elise, Bev, Calli Varoussiadis and music staff. Fertiliser, mulching and planting were the order of the day.

An area to the east of Musicland is being changed to a garden. This will provide visual relief to the view out of the windows of the Musicland rooms. The Landscape Lads have formed a new team, and are now working on cleaning up the area in preparation for laying a path and building a garden bed.

The last of the design plants for the Jacaranda perennial garden have been placed. This should give more colour to the area next year in the late summer autumn period. Bridget Naughton, the landscape designer of the perennial garden, came in to review progress and help with the planting. 

Next term there will be ongoing work on the vertical wall garden and the addition of more plants. Preparation of the soil in the War Memorial Garden will take place with the assistance of the alumni and environment students. This area will have a rejuvenation program, blending shrubs and perennials. Some out of sight grassed areas will be sown with meadow and insect benefitting flowers. The veggie boxes are to be planted with a mix of picking flowers and veggies. Future planning will need to look at reversing the degradation and erosion in the parkland below the soccer field.

Year 10 Leaders report

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Talia Barrett and Jade Bolwell
Year 10 Student leaders

Term 1 of 2022 has moved by so fast. Though it’s already April, I keep forgetting to write 2022 instead of 2021! This term was so hectic and filled with activities and schoolwork that you could barely find time for to sit down and relax. I will say, it was a refreshing start to the year, compared to all the lockdown experience we’ve had.

I’ve always been mildly fearful of year 10 but we’re now in the beginning of the end of our school life. I mean, we’ve all heard how VCE is – so horrible and stressful – and how we have to just study, study, study and have no time for fun. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Many of us have already got a feel for VCE and, I for one, have been loving our schoolwork so far (for the most part); for example, we’ve been cooking fabulously delicious dishes in Home Economics, such as choc-chip banana bread and handmade gnocchi in our pasta sauce – a welcome change from spending the whole of lockdown stuck doing theory on cooking. In Theatre Studies, we have spent weeks planning our play that will be completely run by students (with a little help from Mr Crawford). It is so satisfying seeing all the little designs and ideas spring to life. As well, many of us have already experienced our very first SAC, and some of us our second.

Yes! VCE is hard, but if you find a subject that you are interested in and are good at, it makes doing the content-heavy work much more enjoyable. I see this process of picking subjects I enjoy as an introduction to choosing my career in the future, and how many different options there are out there. Just like one of the Alumni said in the Pathways Assembly, “There is no point in choosing a career that you’re good at but don’t enjoy. It’s all about having the balance of loving it, being good at it and how much of a demand there is for the job.”

Since the beginning of the term, people have been in and out of school due to unexpected isolations, leaving our hallways lacking the full chaotic fun that usually flows through it. Although I haven’t been in a class with full attendance since before I can remember, there has been no shortage of effort in class from people who are able to be at school, to make up for all our missing classmates. I am so incredibly proud of the resilience that our year level, and the rest of the Kew High School community, have shown through this ongoing shared life experience that is the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, finally, we can look toward the future without the fear of the cancellation of planned events. We can look forward to all our arts based performances: such as this year’s school musical production, The Addams Family Musical; the Year 10 Theatre Studies play; Kew’s Got Talent; and many other musical performances that people have been preparing for. As well we can look forward to all the sporting events coming up.

I can’t wait to see what 2022 has in store for the class of 2024.

House Athletics photo gallery 2022

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The Addams Family School Production

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Michael Brandt

There have been over 60 students rehearsing every week – after and during school hours – since November/December 2021 for the 2022 School Production of ‘The Addams Family’ musical, to be performed from August 2nd to August 5th. We are all extremely excited to put on this amazing show and we hope the Kew High School community will come out in droves to support the students who are continuing to work tirelessly to create something special.

Please keep your eyes on the Newsfeed in late May for the release of tickets!

Beach Volleyball

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In March our Volleyball students had the opportunity to play Beach Volleyball on South Melbourne Beach in the Victorian Beach Volleyball Schools Cup. The tournaments were held over 3 separate days based on age groups. Students were able to select their own teams of 4s or play as a pair. The weather was pretty nice each day, with Wednesday being the windiest. This caused a bit of a challenge for the Year 8s who were playing beach volleyball for the first time but they handle it really well.
Congratulations to all students who participated!

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