Calendar dates
Term 4
Presentation Night Years 7-9 - Monday 16 December
Some useful links
Dear all
welcome to Week 10 of Another GREAT Week
atEAST Awards Night
On Monday last week a group of our VCAL students attended the atEAST Awards night which was held at .... Our students have done an outstanding job this year and in turn many received awards at this awards night. Awards and recipients are as follows;
Barry L- Achievement Award Winner - Hospitality Commercial Cookery, Graduate
Certificate II Hospitality
Ben M- Achievement Award Winner - Bricklaying
Luke M- Industry Award Winner - Bricklaying
Nikhil D- Industry Award Winner - Warehousing
Patrick M- Achievement Award Winner - Retail
Stacey S- Achievement Award Winner - Hospitality Commercial Cookery
Taisei N- Industry Award Winner - Hospitality Commercial Cookery
Congratulations to all VCAL students!!!
World Challenge Borneo Report
Week 2
Day 7, cont. The boat ride took us nearly 4 hour from Kuching to Sibu. Starting off travelling down a very large river before venturing into the South China Sea and then entering another large river and heading inland. On the boat we had a choice of sitting on the deck, watching the view, with wind in our hair, but getting sunburnt or, sitting inside with freezing cold air conditioning, watching Sylvester Stallone movies. Let's just say we had to buy some Aloe Vera cream the next day lol. In Sibu we caught a local bus to the main bus terminal and jumped on another bus heading towards Bintalu. This was a three hour ride, that past many villagers and timber mills. As the oil fields dry, unfortunately the timber industry has taken off, meaning that Borneo is losing thousands and thousands of acres of jungle. We arrived in Bintalu for dinner, but instead of staying the night as planned, the students decided to catch another bus and get to Miri a night earlier. So they rang ahead to book accommodation, went and got us all takeaway fried rice and at 20.30 we boarded another bus. 4 hours later, tired and a little grumpy we arrived in Miri. Luckily we found some very over priced taxis, which took us to our hostel and were asleep within minutes of our heads hitting our pillows.
Day 8 we all enjoyed a sleep in and late breakfast. The day was mainly spent by the students planning, the food and budget for the next two weeks in Kelabit highlands. We all broke into groups and found our own lunch while exploring the city. Teachers sipped on cold bubble teas and fruit Lassi's while student's explore the local mall. We met Sampson our "in country agent" today for the first time and he talked to the kids for an hour or so about what they needed, the trek, the project and the villagers. Dinner was at Mings, a popular cafe in town and a favourite with world challengers. They have a big wall with hundreds of photos of WC groups, from the past. So we had our photo taken and added to the wall. After dinner we relaxed back at the hostel and tried to stay cool.
Day 9 woke up to another hot and sunny day in Miri and spent the morning packing as we were staying that night at another hostel tonight opposite the airport. We broke off into small groups, had lunch and then bought our individual trail mixes and snacks. The students in charge of meals bought all the food for our trek and while we are on project. Other members also went and bought donations for the village we will be staying at, such as sporting equipment and Christmas decorations for the long house and church. When finished we grabbed our stuff and loaded two taxis full of our food and gear and one teacher, while the rest of the group walked to the bus stop and caught a public bus to the hostel. On schedule it poured with rain as we all arrived. Dinner was across the street at an Indian curry restaurant with the Avengers playing on a big screen. Surprisingly no one really watched it! After dividing all the food up we all retired to our last comfy bed for two weeks.
Day 10 this morning it rained and rained and rained. As the planes to Bario are so small we had to break up into two groups and take two separate flights. 9 of us were scheduled for the first flight at 8.30 and the last three were scheduled at 11.15. However the rain delayed the first flight and the groups left only about 10 minutes apart. While on route to Bario we met two sisters and their brother in law who were flying to Bario for their older brothers appointment to tribe chief ceremony which was to be held in two days time. They invited the group to come join in the celebrations which, of course we excepted. The flight to Bario was quite an eye opener as we flew over thousands and thousands of acres of palm plantations which are used to make palm oil. The logging trails and the rows of of palms was quite spectacular but kind of sad as well, as what was once rich think jungle forest is now no longer. Massive winding rivers also lined the flight, until we reached the mountains of he Kelabit highlands. A very steep decent down the face of one mountain brought us down to the Bario runway and the one room airport. We were greeted by very friendly staff and then by employees of he lodge we were staying at that night. All of us piled into the back of a pick up truck and were driven to our accommodation. Bario is a small village with one road and surrounded by rice paddy fields and mountains. Our lodges was nestled at the edge of one of the paddy fields overlooking the mountains and required some 4wding to get past the knee deep mud on the drive way cause by a week of torrential rain. After settling into our rooms we were fed lunch and then went for a walk into the village to have an explore. Somehow the kids found the one little place that happen to sell semi cold coke and of course took advantage of it (actually so did the teachers). That afternoon with the arrival do the afternoon downpour (which seems to happen very regularly) we were all taught how to use our hammocks and enjoyed watching he rain in such a picturesque location. Dinner was followed by games that were quite hilarious then with generators turned off and solar power run out we hit our beds, which might be the last time for ten or more days.
Day 11 an early morning rise, which is definitely the norm here, was made easy by a delicious breakfast. We packed and by 9 we headed out the door and started the two hour walk to an even smaller village, deeper in the jungle called Pa'umor, where we would spend the next five days working on our project. We were met by he village chief Pascal and his wife in the village long house and our project supervisor Ryan (pronounce re-ann). The long houses which are famous in the Kelabit, are exactly that, long houses. This one in Pa'umor was about 75m long and housed 3 families but can take up to 7. There is a long common room that runs the length of the entire building with 6 fire pits and several kitchen areas. Sleeping areas were in an adjoining building that was attached to the long via walkways and the whole building was on stilts. We all slept on the floor but were divided into separate rooms for boys and girls. Lunch was served in the long house by one of the families (they also made us dinner) and then we were briefed about our project. World Challenge groups before us had built a dam about 1km away from the village and had connected piping from there to the village and buried in trenches. Our project was to connect the big pipe to smaller pipes which would feed to to the long house and about 8 other houses in the village. This meant digging trenches about 30cm deep and up to 30m long and connecting the pipe and burying it under earth again. That afternoon we hiked through the jungle to see the dam and then started on some of the trenches. The rain in the afternoons is always nice as it cools down the air, but it creates a different problem .... Mud! Suffice to say we all got covered in it.
All our meals are provided for us while in the village and a different family provides one or two meals each for us every day. Meals always consist of rice, chicken of some description, river ferns and either buffalo, wild boar or deer. Occasionally we get pineapple which, is the yummiest any of us have every had and orange coloured watermelon! Breakfast consists of these battered things which the locals call pancakes but look more like lumps of battered dough. Kids don't mind them though as they bare a close resemblance to unsweetened donuts. Day 12 was spent getting stuck into our projects. We broke up into three groups and spent most of the time digging trenches. Blisters and mud soaked shoes and clothes became the norm as everyone got stuck into it. Worked finished early today though as we had to clean ourselves up, pack and walk back into Bario for the "coronation" of the new chief. Jeffrey one of he local officials and the brother in law of the chief, met us at a lodge he owned and fed us donuts and sweet tea. We then walked about 2kms down the road to his family longhouse. It turns out that this longhouse is one of the longest ever built! It was four times the length of the one we were at in Pa'umor and just went on forever. Jeffrey invited us to stay in his long house and when we saw our rooms and the bathrooms we were blown away. Beds, showers, sit down toilets and hot water .... We were in heaven lol. But better than that he offered it free of charge. The kids were blown away by such generosity and kindness. We walked back to the community hall in the centre of Bario where the whole village had turned out. Our seats were up the front behind all the important people and for the next two hours we sat through very long speeches in a language none of us understood lol. It was occasionally broken up with a couple of traditional dances, but even they were long and tedious. When it was over and dinner was served, we were all very relieved. A buffalo was killed that day for the feast and served with .... you guessed it rice. On reflection it was kind of boring, but all the kids were glad they went as it only happens about once every 40 years and when they found out what the speeches were about, they saw the importance of it. The boys walked back to the lonnnnnnnnng house (girls got a lift) and we all enjoyed a great nights sleep in a comfy bed.
Day 13 started with long walk back to Pa'umor, lunch then back into the trenches. It was Sunday so nearly all the villages were in church, for most of the day. The team was split up into 2 groups, one working on pipes behind the longhouse and the second working on a house at the other end of the village. Unfortunately (for parents) or fortunately for the kids they hit a very wet muddy section of ground that had to be dug up. As dirt and water and feet combined it slowly turned into a mud pit and Rachel started the beginning of the end. Her boots got stuck in the mud and she fell face first into it (and yes we captured it on video). Of course the others couldn't resist and before long every one was covered in mud from head to toe. I'll apologise in advance for clothes that will no longer ever be white again. But the kids had fun and it was a great source of amusement for the locals who watched.
Day 14 was washing day! Surprise surprise lol. With clothes drying we started connecting a lot of the pipes and filling in trenches. This was actually quite hard as a lot of the dirt was squished into the ground or turned to mud. We found a couple of other houses that needed sections of piped dug into the ground which, turned out to be quite hard as the ground full of tree roots.
Three days of sleeping on floors, working hard in the heat and humidity, same food, not being able to get properly washed or use a sit down toilet and of course missing home, found many of our team becoming tired, grumpy and short tempered. By the end of today tempers exploded and opinions expressed. I mention this because one, it is kind of expected when living in such close quarters, in foreign lands away from family and the normality. And two, the maturity shown by the students, who used various strategies and skills taught during this trip, to solve these grievances completely on their own and move on. It was great to witness.Day 15 is the last day of our project and we were keen to see it completed. We had to finish one section of trench, then connect the smaller pipes to the main bigger pipe and then connecting it all up. We finished just after lunch, took a well earned break then started preparing for our trek which we leave tomorrow for. After dinner the village all arrived at the long house and we had speeches, farewells, thank you, food and entertainment. Villages danced and sang traditional songs and dances for us and the kids sang some Aussie classics for them, including sign. Everyone then joined in learning some of the villagers traditional dances and then some good old fashion line dancing, Kelabit style. It was a fun night and a great way to end the project. The kids donated a whole heap of sporting equipment and Christmas decorations to the village and a large some of money to go towards an unfinished project that was much needed. Anyway bedtime, a much needed rest before the jungle trek.
Year 7 STEM English Class
Over the past few weeks Year 7 students from Mrs Zemkalnis' English STEM class have been busy preparing for their big debates which took place throughout the week. For most of these students this was their first debate. All students should be very proud of themselves as they conducted themselves in a very professional manner.
Maths is Absolutely Fun!!!!
Year 7 and 8 Maths STEM classes have been busy using Maths to do
some great hands on activities in this last week of Maths. They have used
fractals to make some awesome 3D Christmas cards for family and friends,
origami to make some decorations for the Christmas tree and then a little bit
of Pythagoras in there with some amazing Pythagorean spirals. 
Year 9 Metal Class
A cassowary has landed in the courtyard garden at Forest Hill College. This magnificant sculpture is the result of a collaborative project involving Year 9 Metal students Jessica E, Cameron S, Josh N and Matt M.
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