VCAL Students just love projects
This semester, the projects for the Personal Development Skills classes at Cire Community School covered Sport, Beauty, Landscaping and Woodwork, Cooking, Art, Upcycling and The Amazing Race. Students participated enthusiastically and there was a strong community involvement focus in all the projects.
In the Sports Project run, at Mount Evelyn campus and organised by teacher Mark Hunt, students played a variety of sports including basketball, futsal, squash, volleyball, trampolining and footy nines. Students developed their skills and fitness and worked on teamwork and leadership. The students also organised and ran a lunchtime indoor soccer competition at Mount Evelyn Primary School. Students were responsible for designing the coaching program, creating a fixture and ladder, coaching, umpiring, and running games for the primary school students and they completed a certificate in Community Coaching.
In the Beauty Project, run at Mount Evelyn campus and organised by teacher Megan Small, students were involved in two community projects. The students visited an aged care facility, Alexandra Gardens Assisted Living, on a regular basis. On each visit they set up a manicure table in the dining room and invited residents to have their nails groomed and painted and they gave hand massages. The other was work placement experience at Meggahair Salon, owned by Megan, where the students learned some of the tasks of a first-year hairdressing apprentice. In class each student researched a history of hairstyles and makeup for an oral presentation in class, supported by power point slides.
In the Landscaping and Woodwork Project, run at Mount Evelyn campus and organised by teacher Ash Kirkwood, students improved and maintained the school grounds at Mt. Evelyn campus, to make it a better place to learn while studying at Cire Community School. The students were responsible for designing and constructing outdoor student spaces and a chicken enclosure, as well as maintaining children’s playgrounds in the community and the community garden.
In the Art Project, run at Mount Evelyn campus and organised by teacher Bernie Miller, students researched a number of art themes. The major focus was on street art and they attended a stencil making workshop with Yarra Valley artist Paul Sonsie. They researched, prepared and delivered a presentation on an art movement of their choice and prepared art work from the themes for exhibition at Lilydale Show and for the Cire School mural. In all, fifteen entries were submitted for the Lilydale Show-Art Show and Cire Students won five prizes in three sections.
India Moffat won 1st and 2nd prize in Adult Novice- Mixed Media Art
Jacinta Lammertse won a Commended Award in Adult Photography
Jye Holden won 3rd prize and a Highly Commended Award in Junior (under 17) Drawing Class
In the Cooking Project, run at both campuses and organised by teacher Ian Seppings, students researched cuisine across the globe and identified suitable recipes for the project. Ian designed the program to improve cultural understandings among the students and to promote healthy eating. To introduce these dishes to a wider community audience, students each week prepared dishes to be shared with Cire Community members at Mount Evelyn. Students used fresh produce grown in the community garden for the project. At Yarra Junction, the students also prepared dishes that were culturally inspired, and then shared among the members of staff and visitors to the school. This semester, the students prepared vegetarian versions of their chosen dishes.
The Art Project, run at Yarra Junction campus and organised by teacher Jacqui Tarquinio, celebrated several different areas of focus, culminating in a fundraising event. Jacqui developed students’ skills with clay, canvas, wood-burning and street-art inspired graphics, as well as developing their skills in researching, planning and organising. The culmination of this project was the sale of various pieces of art made by the students to raise funds for the Starlight Foundation and fund some school art resources.
The Upcycling Project, run at Yarra Junction campus by teacher Willa Vale, students created beautiful and functional items out of old scraps of material. Students developed hand sewing and machine sewing skills and created items such as heat packs and cushions that were highly sought after when they joined forces with the Art team, selling these to raise funds for the Starlight Foundation.
In the Amazing Race Project, run at Yarra Junction campus and organised by teacher Kelly Charman, students prepared and ran an event full of mind-boggling challenges. Their focus throughout the planning process involved learning through trial and error, what type of activities could be successful and what resources they would require to run the event effectively. Students had to pick challenges that were physically, mentally and/or socially challenging. They organised routes, clues to locations, organised trails for their challenges, wrote meeting minutes and participated in team problem solving activities. The final race day was held with the remaining students of the Yarra Junction campus taking part.
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