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Softball State Finals

November 23, 2015, 1:24 pm
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On Thursday 19th November the Year 8 Softball Team competed at the School Sport Victoria State Softball Final.

The girls trained hard in the run up to the finals and this work paid off. Their first game was against Wodonga who they defeated 14-2. The weather then decided to turn up the heat and the girls rose to the challenge with a 15-7 win against Montmorency High School, their final group game was against Creekside who they comfortably beat 14-5 to take them into the Final.

The girls played exceptionally well throughout the final, having 3 innings where Sunbury were unable to score any runs, however, were just defeated 6-3 in a nail biting innings, making them 2nd in the State.

Congratulations to Lara Van Zyl, Katrina Gill, Tess McCartney, Catrin Watkins, Rose Evers, Alex Enever, Luciana Martinez, Georgie Jukes, Olivia Whitehead, Hollie Smith, Kathryn Polendakis on an excellent Softball Season.

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Year 9 French Language Trip to New Caledonia

November 23, 2015, 1:30 pm
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On the 10th of October 2015, Mme Zimmermann, Mr King and fifteen Yr 9 students (Orlando Buttie, Ryan O'Donnell, Helen Tran, Naomi Warren, Wilson Hu, Hugo Veselik, Braydon Ross, Daniel Ernest, James French, Helena Manoussios, Elinta Sen, Sophie Furman, Isabelle Khenkin, Mia Lopez and Lilli Soprano) left Australia and arrived 4 hours later in tropical French-speaking New Caledonia in the South Pacific.

On their first weekend, students discovered New Caledonian music, foods, market life and flora through a walk along the Anse Vata Beach, the famous Baie des Citrons and through the lively and colourful Noumea market. On Monday, students started their first out of five 3-hour sessions of their intensive French language course at the Creipac Centre with their warm, clear and helpful teachers, which was followed by a discovery of Kanak culture via the Museum of New Caledonia on a first afternoon excursion. In the late afternoon, the students left their in the meantime familiar waterfront hotel, where they previously slept, had breakfast and three course dinners and a swim in its large pool, to move in with their host families for five nights, 2 McKinnon SC students per family. Although challenging at times and often walking around with a dictionary in their hands, students loved their welcoming and helpful host families and learned a lot during their 5 day stay in their ‘famille d'accueil’. Students soon got used to the rhythm of morning school, lunches together, afternoon excursions with the McKinnon SC teachers and evenings with the host families, also summarising their day in French in a written form, as asked to keep a journal during their stay in New Caledonia. Parents back home were kept informed about events on a daily basis by being part of a Facebook page just devoted to the New Caledonia trip and students and teachers contributed to this page on a regular basis.

One afternoon, as we were spending some time at the Baie des Citrons Beach, students started playing prison ball with some local adolescents... immersion at its best!

Trying to also make the most of opportunities that presented themselves, the teachers on their side got talking to a few people in the hotel lobby being in Noumea clearly for some kind of international sporting competition...it turned out that they were there for the world championship of Pétanque with teams from New Caledonia, France, Australia, Martinique, Malaysia and Thailand.  We got invited to attend and so by the next day, teachers had organised a bus to take the group to the first day of the competition and two of our students (Sophie and Isabelle) were even the flag bearers for the Aussie team!

The rest of the week, students spent a full day with their host family, as well as visited the Tjibaou Centre, the local Noumea market and the Noumea aquarium and had a couple of French lessons with Mme Zimmermann before returning to Australia on the 19th October with their mind and heart filled with images, sounds and feelings instilling in them a love of learning languages, travelling and trying out new things.


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The Year 8 Girls Table Tennis State Finals - Runners-Up

November 23, 2015, 1:43 pm
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Congratulations to the Year 8 Girls Table Tennis team on coming 2nd in the recent state finals.

The team did extremely well just to make it to the State Finals, winning the Southern Metro Region Finals without their top 2 players, after number 1 player Ashleigh Hoffman broke her foot on Year 8 Camp and number 2 Bianca Denisenko fell ill on the morning of the tournament.
Despite missing their top 2 players they still managed to win through with the help of gun recruit Sades Kyrou who was drafted onto the team literally as the bus was leaving school to ensure the girls had 4 players to make up the team.

In the state finals the girls played extremely well throughout the day, finishing on top of their pool against Thornbury and Warnambool, then comfortably defeating Irymple Secondary College in the Semi Final 4 rubbers to 2, with some crafty serving and punishing forehands.

In the final the girls came agonisingly close to taking out the title against Bayside College. After the 6 matches both teams were tied on 3 rubbers each, however on countback Bayside were the winners, having won a total of 12 sets to McKinnon's 9.

Congratulations to  Bianca Denisenko, Ashleigh Hoffman, Luciana Martinez, Anna Chapman and Gemma Brandman on their fantastic achievement.


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Sports and PE Representatives Lunch

November 23, 2015, 4:35 pm
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Last Thursday we had a special thank you lunch for our Sports and PE Representatives.
These students help the Sport and PE classes by assisting teachers with setup and pack-up of sports equipment, especially when the teacher is absent. They also assist with gaining valuable feedback on issues associated with sport and PE classes. SAP representatives are selected by teachers from years 7 - 10 and are given their position for 1 year.




We held a special lunch to thank them for all their hard work this year and they were surprised with a special guest….. Madi Robinson.

Madi has played over 40 games for the Australian Diamonds and plays for local team Melbourne Vixens, who play in the Australian Netball League (ANL). Madi unfortunately ruptured her ACL last year which ruled her out for the Diamonds world cup team. She looks set to become the Vixens captain this year after recovering from her ACL.

Madi spoke about her experiences in sport and all that she had been through with ups and downs in her career. She also has a degree in teaching which was a surprise to many students. Madi also answered questions and was kind enough to sign memorabilia and have photos with students. We thank the VIS and Madi again for her time and wish to thank all Sap reps for a fantastic year.

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Year 7 Boys Tennis State Finals

November 29, 2015, 2:49 pm
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Congratulations to Grant Sandler, Christopher Siang, Daniel Gershenzon, Ryoku Nishikawa, Christian Sjostrom and Oliver Lopez on a superb tennis season as members of the Year 7 Boys Tennis Team.

In February this year, the boys began an undefeated journey that would take them all the way to the State Finals, which were held on Friday 20 November at the Boroondara Tennis Centre.

The boys were dedicated and worked hard throughout each stage of the competition.

In the lead up to the Finals, they trained on a weekly basis and were rewarded with an excellent result.

In the Preliminary stages of the Finals, they accounted for Notre Dame six sets to love, St Helena 5-1, and Trinity 6-0, topping their group and setting up a sudden death Semi-Final showdown against the mighty Box Hill Tennis Academy – winners of seven of the last ten State Finals. The boys needed to dig deep and they did.

They defied their underdog status, playing their best tennis of the year, winning a nail biting Semi-Final 4-2 to earn their spot in the Grand Final against Maribyrnong Sports Academy, winners of two of the last four titles, and hot favourites for the 2015 title. The boys put up a brave fight, and were still in contention entering the last two doubles rubbers of the year, but an undefeated season was not to be and Maribyrnong won 5-1.

The boys’ effort to come second in the State was unbelievable. They displayed great sportsmanship and supported each other throughout, winning over many supporters on the day. Well done, boys!

Dean Weingarten

Coach

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Soiree Night

November 30, 2015, 7:59 pm
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On the evening of Monday 23rd November, the saxophone and clarinet students of Ms Su Rogerson entertained their friends and families with a soiree. For some it was their first performance, for others their last at the school. Congratulations to all those who performed. Many thanks to our piano accompanists, Jenny Stengards and Helen Griffiths who gave up their time to rehearse and perform with our students.

Performers on the night were: Mia Borowitz, Liam Constantine, Eloise Williams, Gabi Basman, Raymond He, Nina Lopez, Gizelle Sakr, Lee-Ling Bristow, Callum Charles, Alan Pan, Bethany Evans, Danny He, Ana Mistric, Lachie Edis, Isabella Eikelis, Jenna Macleod, Petar Glavinic, Emily Kilmartin, Ben Exell, Matt Phyland, Romy Greenberg, Evelyn Yeh, Dexter Percival-Cobb, Tia Shizas, Lovisa Soderstrom, Chloe Rance, Phoebe Ho, Wes McKinnon, Jessica Wu, Tom Gao, Eliza Cowley, Ethan Wasserman, Jeffery Guan, Pranav Dasari, Ivan Glavinic.


Thank you to the parents and carers for all the support you give our students with their musical endeavours.


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Year 11 Theatre Studies Night

December 1, 2015, 2:01 pm
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On Thursday 29th. October the Year 11 Theatre Studies Class presented a simply brilliant piece of self-devised, non-narrative Physical Theatre, with an impressive 3 showings in one night at 6pm, 7pm, and
8pm. The pieces utilised many different spaces throughout the Alan Lawrence Theatre with the audience moving from space to space the same way you would in an art gallery/installation. Each space and each group of performers explored a different human emotion, through the use of their body; blocking, movement, dance, and a small amount of text/dialogue. The piece culminated with the entire class in the theatre exploring the idea of euphoria, as the piece concluded the audience were invited to get up and join in the free flowing dance that brought performers and audience members together, to share in the feeling of elation and happiness.

I’m pleased to say that at each showing every single person got up to join in and therefore experienced feelings of happiness and joy. It was a beautiful sight to behold. The entire class should be congratulated for producing such an innovative and creative piece, I’m sure these performances will be talked about for a long time.

 Lastly I’d like to mention the fact that two students not only designed all of the lighting and sound elements but were also the technicians on the night-a truly amazing achievement.

1. Happiness-Foyer
Ellie Beach, Nevoh Fridberg, Jones Luo, Trisha Michelis

2. Grief-Side Room
Multi-media presentation-Kate, Ellen, Freya

3. Anger-Theatre
Sam Barta, Nina Diaz, Hanna Gutkin, Maddie Kellaway, Yasmin Lamb-Tjahjono, Honey Pedersen

4. Confusion-Hallway
Julia Behrens, Ella Harold, Ursula Kirk,   Ella McEwan, Rylee Pedder, Jessie Wu

5. Love- A1
Katina Bechter, Anna McCooke, Bryce Morley, Bianca Pardo, Freya Parker

6. Euphoria-Theatre
The entire cast

Lighting Designer and Technician-Kate Baldwin, Sound Designer and Technician-Ellen Nichols


Ms. Doctor

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Arts Show

December 1, 2015, 2:08 pm
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The opening of our Annual Arts Show was held on Thursday November 5th. After months of preparation and organisation, the Arts Show was again a sensory delight. The level of talent showcased, the variety of materials mastered and the individual styles developed, was astounding. Ms Katherine Zachest was the guest speaker who officially opened this year’s Arts Show. She is a huge advocate for arts education and recently published her first book 'Drama for Early Childhood.


As always, the artworks were excellent, and the guests were kept busy looking at the artworks that filled thesix arts rooms and foyer.

I would like to congratulate all of our Arts Award recipients who were chosen by their class teacher for their talent and creativity and for their diligence, in both prac work and theory.

 
I would like to thank Lewis Timber for their extremely generous and continuing financial support of our Arts Show. If you need any wood, for renovating or building, we highly recommend Lewis Timber in Jasper Rd. Support the people who support our school! Thank you also to our other sponsors; Zart Art in Box Hill North, Jim Bonikos from Campion and Colour Products in Moorabbin, Office Max, The Pug Mill, Northcote Pottery and Spotlight.

Thankyou to the extremely hard working Arts staff - Mrs Cowland, Ms Doctor, Ms
Levy, Mr Perry, Mrs Pryor, Mr Quinn, Ms Rodin and Mrs Turner, without whom the show could not go on!

Ms. H. Kuriata

Arts KLA Manager

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Strings Night

December 1, 2015, 2:11 pm
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On Wednesday 4th November over 80 students were involved in String Night. 

Performances included large ensembles, chamber items and solos; ranging from beginners through to accomplished musicians. 

Students should be congratulated for their achievements and for providing an entertaining evening for those that attended. 


Clare Bugeja


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Super 8's State Final

December 3, 2015, 2:13 pm
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The year 8 girls super 8’s team played in Cricket Victoria State Final at the MCG on Thursday 3rd December.


The girls played some really good cricket and put up a strong fight for the state title but unfortunately were beaten by a strong bowling attack.


Congratulations to all the girls for making it to the ‘G’- Lilly Felder, Em Williams, Eloise Williams, Rose Evers, Tea O’Leary, Amelia Marino, Arwen Verdnik, Lara Ozenir, Lisa Winkler and Sabrina Humphrey. Also part of the squad who played throughout the team's journey to the MCG were Kat Hart, Tess MCartney & Jess Ponsford.


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Year 8 French Incursion

December 3, 2015, 4:02 pm
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The Melbourne French Theatre Company is a renowned bilingual company who perform plays in French and English and run workshops with students.

On Wednesday the 2nd of December, the seven Year 8 French classes participated in a workshop where they prepared scenes from a play adaptation of the classic French text, Le Petit Nicolas. Led by ananimateur, the students were divided into small groups and rehearsed scenes set in the home, the market and the mechanic.

They were given scripts in both French and English and all students took on roles of the characters. Some even performed as inanimate objects like clocks, trucks and tables.

The small groups performed to the rest of the audience and the best performers were awarded with a 'prix'. The workshop was engaging and lots of fun, but also promoted language learning and theatrical skills.

Director of the company, Michael Bula, closed the session with a comment on the value of language learning and getting involved in theatre. The animateurs were all bilingual, some French and some Australian, but all passionate about language skills and sharing this with students.

Kellie Dickson

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All Schools National Basketball Championships

December 6, 2015, 6:41 pm
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McKinnon Secondary College sent 2 teams to this years all school national basketball championships to play.

We travelled by bus to Canberra on Sunday November 29th and attended the Opening Ceremony at 6pm. The team stayed at Alivio Tourist Park and throughout the week played many games of basketball, completed a Canberra Tour, went to the movies, out for dinner and hung out by the pool! Games were played at Belconnen, the AIS and Tuggernong basketball stadiums.

The girls team played 3 matches in the qualifying pool games winning 2 and losing 1 to rank 2nd in their pool. They went on to win their quarter final on Thursday morning but lost their semi final and the play off for 3rd position by narrow margins. This left the team in 4th place in their division.

The boys team played 4 pool matches winning 3 and losing 1 match. This ranked them 2nd in their pool and the boys lost their semi finals and play off for 3rd place, also finishing 4th in their division.

A great week had by all.

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Great Victorian Bike Ride

December 6, 2015, 8:13 pm
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At the completion of an event it’s not uncommon to say that it’s done and dusted. Never has this been more appropriate than on the completion of this year’s Great Victorian Bike Ride.

The ride took in the gold rush towns of Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine and their surrounding areas. Many days were spent riding past dusty, drought-affected paddocks containing desperate looking sheep. That same dust was experienced in the camp-sites, and the cleanliness experienced after a post ride shower or a swim in the local pool was very short lived! However, this dry and dusty environment didn’t affect the hospitality of the towns that we travelled through, which was always warm and generous.

Our team of young riders from McKinnon displayed similar character to those living in the area. Despite being confronted with a number of challenges over the nine days of the event and, by the end of the ride, being exhausted, they showed great team-work and resilience to completed the ride in wonderful spirits. My congratulations go to those students that finished the ride, commiserations to those that, through no fault of their own, couldn't and endless appreciation to the teachers that helped them all have such a positive experience.

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Year 9 French Excursion

December 7, 2015, 2:17 pm
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As a celebration of their Year 9 elective studies in French, the three Year 9 French classes enjoyed a meal in the iconic French restaurant, Bergerac, in the city on Monday the 7th of December. Students got to experience snails as an entrée, a traditional French main meal of either steak or chicken and then a dessert choice between a chocolate tart and a creme brulee. The meals were thoroughly enjoyed, savouring every bite. The students' behaviour was impeccable.

In the afternoon, we visited the rare books section of the State Library to see an exhibition about some of the earliest books printed. Students took particular note of those published by French authors. We are continually on the search for links to French history and culture in our studies at McKinnon.

Thank you to Mme Antal for organising the day's events.

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National All Schools Knockout Competition

December 8, 2015, 3:06 pm
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On Monday the 7th of December, at the early time of 7:15 am, the junior boys athletics team travelled to Albert Park, to compete in the National All Schools Knockout Competition. The team, consisting of: Xavier Verdnik, Sam Kristensen, Jackson Hannah, Lucas Thompson, Jason Clayton and an injured Will Sharp, competed both for individually and for points in the team event. Across the day everyone performed well. Jason and Sam both had big PB’s in the 800, Jackson and Lucas did well in the 100, and Xavier ran a fast 100m hurdles. In the field Jackson threw the 5kg shot put and Lucas came second in the long jump. Will threw the javelin against boys who were twice his size. The day built up to the 4x200 metre relay. Tired and sore, we were runaway winners in our heat winning by 30 metres.

Thanks to Miss Carter for driving and organising the day and for Mrs Pemberton for coming along on her day off!

Written by Xavier Verdnik.

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Incy and Helena take gold at PC4G

December 15, 2015, 5:45 pm
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On 11th November two of our year 9 Coding girls, Incy Lin and Helena Huang, travelled to Melbourne University to compete in the Programming Challenge 4 Girls. This event run by the Engineering School at Melbourne University introduced the students to a free programming environment called Alice before setting the teams a challenge to complete on their own by lunchtime. Alice is a 3D graphical world and the students had to create a given storyboard before completing their story in their own way.

There were about 40 teams competing - mostly from independent schools - and our team, named the Pineapples, were one of a few teams who were awarded a gold medal. Well done, girls!

Incy and Helena both said they enjoyed the day and would recommend girls next year also getting involved.

Ms Hatch
ICT Learning Area Manager
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Presentation Night

December 15, 2015, 9:39 pm
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Presentation Night is a celebration of our students’ talents and hard work in their academic pursuits, music, sport and the arts during 2015.   The students being presented with awards on the evening were our highest achievers and we are exceedingly proud of them.

These include:

  • Academic Excellence Awards for students who have achieved outstanding academic results in their subjects, and
  • Student Management Commitment Awards for students who have displayed a genuine desire to do their very best.

Please follow the link for photos of this wonderful event.
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Jessica Brzozowska: Tennis Star

February 2, 2016, 7:51 pm
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Jessica Brzozowska (Top row, third from the left) of Year 12 recently represented MCC at the Asia-Pacific Tennis League. The ATL is the highest form of team tennis held in Asia-Pacific.

Outside countries, Japan and New Zealand were represented. Players such as Nick Kyrgios, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Daria Gavrilova and Casey Dellacqua are just some of the high profile players that competed in the League this year.


MCC made it through to the South Conference which qualified them for the Australian Open Play-off's. It was was a remarkable effort that the team made to make it to the final, bumping out teams from New Zealand and Japan. Victorian team Royal South Yarra were the eventual Champions however MCC gave a great fight going down by one single set in the final.

Jessica played a big role in making it to through to the Australian Open play-off's.

Congratulations to Jessica.

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Year 12 Camp

February 4, 2016, 6:15 pm
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On Monday 1st of February, the Class of 2016 headed off to Phillip Island Adventure Camp for the Year 12 Study Camp.

The camp has a series of activities across the jam-packed 3 days.

Guest speakers, including author Archie Fusillo, and motivational sports psychologist Mark Dobson inspired us all with their words of wisdom.


A day of physical challenges was presented as groups of students completed activities including High Ropes courses, Flying Foxes and the crazy Giant Swing.

The students were all fantastic on the camp and it really was a great start to a very exciting year for our most senior students at McKinnon S.C.

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General Assembly 5/2/2016

February 7, 2016, 7:46 pm
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The first general assembly for the year commenced with the National Anthem performed by Ella Zagroon of year 12 with Mr Kurowski accompanying on the piano.

The musical item for the assembly was performed by Jessica Earls of Year 12 singing "Freddy's Cousin" by Arthur Lipner.

Mrs Binnion was then welcomed on stage to present her inspiring principals address.

Mr McLeod presented the Junior school captains and house captains with their badges. These positions were announced in the Junior school assembly last year.

The Senior school leadership positions were then presented at the assembly.

Ms Papworth presented the music captains for 2016.
The captains are:
Chisholm house music captains: Honey Pedersen and Jason Pun
Deputy music captains: Yasmin Lamb-Tjahjono and Paul Poulios

Flynn house music captains: Ella Zagroon and Chang Dae Yoo
Deputy music captains: Madeline Kellaway and Jordan Walters-Brown

Gilmore house music captains: Caitlin Cohen and Thomas Strudwick
Deputy music captains: Jessica Earls and Alexander Henry

Monash house music captains: Catherine Flavell and Conrad Bria
Deputy music captains: Alina Wang and Jamie Morrissey


Mr Bridges presented the house captains for 2016.
The Captains are:
Chisholm house captains: Tahlia Austin and Theo Papageorgiou
Deputy house captains: Maree Taig and James Hackett-Smith

Flynn house captains: Freya Parker and Joshua Dembo
Deputy house captains: Stephanie Adlington and Jack Strangio

Gilmore house captains: Phoebe Ponsford and Jesse Maxfield
Deputy house captains: Alycia Alexiades and Aristotle Otis

Monash house captains: Caitlin Arneil and Thomas Stevenson
Deputy house captains: Mikaele Sharman-Smith and Cale Hirschman

The School captains and the senior school council president were then presented by Mr Noble.
The Captains are:
School captains: Bianca Pardo and Max Schepisi
Deputy school captains: Sarah Andrew, Cassandra Semple, Thomas Hourigan and Matthew Wilkins
Senior school council president: Sarah Mullane.

There were also some awards presented at the assembly including the 2015 Rotary awards for citizenship presented by Ms Andrieux and Mr Peter Gutman (President of Rotary Bentleigh).
As well, Mr Hughes presented the Premier's spirit of Anzac prize to Anita Volishin.


There were many reports and event promotions including the Antipodeans Abroad trip to Peru presented by Phoebe Ponsford and Anthony Paxinos. 
The upcoming events that were promoted included the  24/7 relay challenge presented by Ms Schmidt, the swimming sports presented by Mr Blackwood, the house music festival presented by Ms Kirk and the debating program at McKinnon presented by Mr Cukierman. 

The Assembly was then concluded by Mr Evans.


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