A fun and colourful day was enjoyed by over three hundred of our students at our Swimming carnival held last Friday at the Werribee Pool.
There was some stiff competition and friendly house rivalry but ultimately, it was McCormack House who were victorious on the day. Well done to all those who competed and we look forward to our Athletics Carnival in term 2.
From jumping off of boats to swimming alongside Australian Fur Seals, our Year 11 Outdoor Education & Environmental Studies class started out with a banger excursion! Our theme for the day was to go “full send” so that we could fully immerse ourselves in the marine environment, give everything a “red hot go” and engage in the water activities going on around us.
We christened our wetsuits with a snorkel at Chinamans Hat, which is a wooden structure that is used as a resting site for Australian fur seals. As we snorkelled around, we were greeted with some very friendly fur seal pups, who playfully swam next to us and showed off their diving skills. We also were lucky enough to encounter Dot the stingray who is a local to the area and feeds off scraps that the seals discard.
Once we clambered back onto the boat, we were presented with more activities to engage in, some of which included jumping off the boat, chilling in a net, and holding onto the back of the boat or a rope we were transported over to Portsea. At Portsea, we went for another snorkel however this time we were on the hunt to find Victoria’s marine emblem, The Weedy Sea Dragon! With a collective of 29 pairs of eyes and a lot of hope, we scoured around the dock looking for the Sea Dragon. Our efforts eventually paid off as we encountered two of the threatened species.
Overall this excursion was one filled with adventure, positive encouragement and lots more marine knowledge. We would like to give a huge thanks to the staff and volunteers at Sea All Dolphins Swims who helped make our trip the huge success that it was. We would also like to express our gratitude to the wonderful teachers, Mr Farley, Ms Fortmann and Ethan for making this excursion possible and for pushing us to always go “full send”.
Written by Sharla Eddleston, Natalie Balfoort, and Sarah Price
The College will host a series of workshops for parents on Wednesday 10 March from 7:00pm. These in-person workshops were held last year prior to COVID and feedback from participants was that the sessions were informative and beneficial. If you would like to attend, please go to the Events page of our website and complete the form. You will need to select ONE workshop from each session list. Click HERE to register.
Here is a snapshot of the session topics:
