TOOLEYBUC Central School students have been extremely busy over the last few weeks with a number of activities being held in the lead-up to Education Week.
They have recently started up a Book Club where students spend a lunchtime reading books in the library, in the first five weeks they have already had 15 students read up.
Year 4 students Jakeb and Milla are both in the Book Club and are currently reading Megamonster by author David Walliams.
“I really like it, I think it’s a great idea,” Milla said.
“We are getting book bags as well, and we get to choose the design and colour them in.”
Both students are really enjoying Book Club and the book they are reading with Jakeb, giving Megamonster 100/10.
Milla’s favourite authors include Walliams as well as the timeless Roald Dahl while Jakeb enjoys reading comic books and his favourite author is Dav Pilkey who is best known for his work on the Captain Underpants series.
Another popular club has been the introduction of a science club by Mr Spargo which covers a variety of different activities related to science.
Younger students aren’t usually in the science classrooms as this club gives them an opportunity to explore some different ideas that they usually wouldn’t be able to.
“I try to give the younger kids a bit of a chance to explore some of the equipment and ideas that they wouldn’t get exposed to until they’re older,” Mr Spargo said.
After working at a selection of both primary and secondary schools, he has found that the younger you are able to expose them to ideas the better they can grasp them.
“I’ve found that primary school kids can be introduced to some very high-level ideas younger and they usually are better for the experience,” he said.
The club is held every Monday during lunchtime, and gives students flexibility in attendance, meaning that if they miss a week they won’t be left behind.
“We have planted some plants and we are going to monitor how they grow,” Mr Spargo said.
“I’m going to take a photo every day to monitor growth because this is a senior lab and the younger kids are not here all that often.”
Beau and Deegan are two of the students who attend Mr Spargo’s Science Club and they have enjoyed learning about different ideas.
“I enjoy doing the activities and learning a lot,” Beau said.
“It’s quite fun because Mr Spargo is a very energetic person.”
Students last week attended the Murray Mallee LLEN’s Career Expo held at the Swan Hill Grain Shed, which aimed to help students decide if they are interested in pursuing a career in the health sector.
Tara Andrews and Taylen Blachford were two of the students in attendance and found the day to be very rewarding.
“They were giving out advice and informing us of pathways we can take if we wanted to get into the health sector,” Tara said.
“We learnt about possible apprenticeships and jobs we can get into if we want to work in the health care field.”
Tara is hoping to be a secondary teacher but was open to how different qualifications can align with her education ambition.
“Qualifications like social work ties in with my education and opens possibilities to be working with special needs students.”
The expo was very beneficial for Taylen, who was interested in going into the health sector but wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to pursue.
“It was really good to ask questions and learn about the different professions including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology and osteopathy,” she said.
The trip also included a trip to SuniTAFE Swan Hill where they had a look at the different courses students could take including automotive, construction and education.
The trip ties into an event the school held last week, where students were asked to come dressed as their dream profession.
Year 10 students Keisha Andrews and Ella Hazlett helped organise the dress up day as part of their work studies class.
“We organised a casual dress up day where you needed to dress up as what you want to be when you’re older,” Keisha said.
“We then went around to all of the classrooms and we got them to tell us about what they had dressed up as and what inspires them about that profession.”
Some of the more popular dress ups included doctors, nurses and hairdressers while some of the more unique attires involved marine biologists and architects.
Keisha is currently completing a school based apprenticeship through SuniTAFE Mildura in cooking and hopes to become a chef one day.
However Ella is hoping to chase something a bit more unique.
“I am the youngest winner of the Australia’s Greatest Horsewomen competition,” she said.
Her father has trained horses for a long time and recently gave Ella his best horse so she could get a start of her own and she hopes to be horse trainer in the future.
“He has taught me everything I know and I enjoy it a lot,” she said.
Another part of the day was an activity where students would try and match their teachers and the first job they had.
