Year in Review 2022

YEAR IN REVIEW

22

LEAD: OUR STUNNING VCE RESULTS CREATE: NEW ARTS PRECINCT COMING SOON INSPIRE: GETTING BACK TO NORMAL AFTER COVID

YOUR FAITH IN US PAYS DIVIDENDS

2022 turned out to be a fantastic year for APC. It was our first - mostly - uninterrupted year for some time. What to do?

We decided the best antidote to Covid was to get things back to normal by insisting on excitement, creativity and academic rigour.

It was the story of a full return to normality, making up for lost time, and returning to the positive environment we’re known for. You can see the evidence of this great year in the following pages.

To our students, their families, and to our wonderful staff, thank you for all your achievements in 2022.

We got our domestic camps back up and running. Our Da Vinci Exhibition, Art Show, Vaudeville, Music Concert, Lit Fest, Year-12 Formal and Graduation Breakfast were all back. Our sports teams too were back in action, with some notable performances.

In just a dozen years we have managed to create a fantastic local public school.

It is a great tribute to our community.

Thank you once again for putting your trust in us.

And our efforts paid off at the end of the year with some stunning VCE results, lifting our Median Study Score to 32, putting us up there with the best schools in the state.

Steven Cook Foundation Principal Oona Nicolson School Council President

This year we thrived academically, achieving some of our best-ever VCE results.

Our Median Study Score lifted from 30 to 32 – statistically a highly significant jump. For our SEAL students it was 35. And 21.7 per cent of our students received an ATAR above 90. This puts us in the top 5 to 7 per cent of public secondary schools in Victoria. And we expect this excellent score to increase when our IB students get their results in January.

OUR VCE STUDENTS THRIVE, AND THE RESULTS SHOW

This is an amazing result that again proves what a school can achieve when the community gets behind it. Your faith in APC has paid off.

Around 300 people attended the APC Families Picnic in the Gasworks Arts Park to launch the first term.

After the Covid restrictions of the previous two years, parents, students and teachers welcomed the opportunity to come together on a balmy summer’s evening to re-establish the rapport that makes APC such a wonderful community.

FAMILY PICNIC KICKS OFF THE SCHOOL YEAR

The annual swimming carnival was held early in Term 1 with every year level competing vigorously for House bragging rights. As is the custom, the year-12s chose the dress theme – country and western – and led the cheerleading.

The event’s special traditions ended the day – the epic student versus teacher relay battle, followed by the entire year-12 class lining up to take a plunge.

It was a great way to end the day …. and start the year.

BRAGGING RIGHTS ON THE LINE

A full range of camps and expeditions made a welcome return to the APC this year.

Camps included mountain bike riding from Londrigan to Bright, horse riding in Gippsland, skiing at Mt Hotham, and exploring the reef and rainforesst in far north Queensland.

All our camps and expeditions are designed to foster socialising, teamwork and other important life skills, while focusing heavily on our need to love and care for the environment.

EXPEDITIONS MAKE A COMEBACK

There was no shortage of students eager to be part of the school’s flourishing club scene.

While the Library Club, Enviro Club, Diversity Club and Chess Club are perennial favourites, they were joined this year by a Dungeons and Dragons Club, and an E-Sports Club to satisfy the cravings of the school’s gamers.

But a round of applause must go to the Music Department, which signed up musicians for its 23 – yes, 23! – different ensembles.

A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR CLUBS

Our library continues to be the beating heart of the school. Classes are held there throughout the day, and it’s an inviting space at lunchtime and after hours for students to hang out and read or play games.

This year, it hosted many special events, such as a dress-up day for Book Week, Litfest and the Rotary Book Fair.

Our ongoing collaboration with Albert Park Rotary Club, whose book selling venture is based in the library, ensures our bookshelves are constantly being refreshed with new titles.

BEATING HEART OF THE SCHOOL

An important part of our teaching philosophy is to invite special guests to join the school community to support our liberal arts program.

This year we welcomed Saanjana Kapoor as our writer in residence and Jeanne Browne as our artist in residence. Both provided students with invaluable insights from their own creative experience.

EXPERTS LEND THEIR INSIGHTS

Litfest made a welcome return to the APC calendar and the three-day event at the Danks St campus was well attended.

Our guest speakers were writers Jennifer Down, Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, Yves Rees, Laura Elizabeth Woollert and Rebecca Lim, who were each interviewed by our incredibly articulate students who teased from them the secrets of writing.

LITFEST LIGHTS UP THE SCHOOL

To the delight of students and their families, the two Year-9 Da Vinci Exhibitions went ahead for the first time in two years.

As part of their Environmental Inquiry subject, students were asked to use photography, painting, film, song or artistic devices to convey the results of their research.

Their work highlighted powerfully and creatively our college’s care for the environment.

DA VINCI EXHIBITIONS MAKE A STATEMENT

A highlight of the year is the Year 12 Formal and it was a pleasure to see our senior class dress up and thoroughly enjoy themselves at The Park on Albert Park Lake in June.

The formal is a major milestone in their year and gives them the chance to take a breather from their studies, reflect on all their hard work throughout their high school years, and celebrate the fact that their high school education drawing to a close.

It was a fabulous night.

YEAR 12s DRESS TO IMPRESS

It was a clear winter’s day at Lakeside Stadium as APC hosted its annual House Athletics Carnival.

Competition between Freeman, Flannery and Winton houses was fierce but it was Freeman who won, edging out Flannery by a mere 11 points.

FREEMAN TAKES OUT ATHS HONORS

APC’s annual arts event, Vaudeville, made a welcome public return in 2022.

Vaudeville is an APC tradition and one of the most enjoyable events on the school calendar.

This year, about 100 students practiced tirelessly to deliver a spectacular evening of music, dance and drama performances.

The students received a standing ovation from an appreciative crowd at the Phoenix Theatre in Elwood.

VAUDEVILLE MAKES A COMEBACK

Two of our top performers - Sofia Cofano and Scarlet Christensen-Barnes - also starred in the State Schools Spectacular. You can see it online on 7Plus.

In July, our musical students and teachers presented ‘All Together Now,’ at the Lawler Theatre in Southbank.

It was an amazing show of talent, featuring percussion groups, rock bands, jazz ensembles, choirs and more.

The show celebrated the joy of playing together and we were delighted to welcome back students from the past two years who missed out on being in the concert because of Covid. It was a delight to see them perform, too.

A MUSICAL SHOWSTOPPER

The APC Dance Show, ‘Rise and Fall’, was performed to full houses over two nights in August.

Powerful choreography provided by professional artists, teachers and the students themselves, combined with skill, talent and hard work, made for memorable performances.

The show confirmed APC as one of the premier public dance schools of the state.

PASSION OF THE DANCE

The waters of Port Phillip Bay in the middle of winter are no place for the faint of heart.

So it takes plenty of courage to even consider jumping into the bay.

But that’s what the Year 12s did in August. The annual ritual is a wake-up call that reminds them that VCE exams are not far away.

At least the sun was shining for their dip – a rare event this year.

WAKE-UP CALL FOR THE CLASS OF 2022

APC welcomed the return of its international exchange program this year as we welcomed students from Germany and France and farewelled a number of our students who headed off to French and German destinations.

The program brings our languages program alive and we’re planning for even greater participation in 2023.

EUROPEAN EXCHANGE RATE LIFTS

Maths and science subjects continued to flourish in 2022 with the opening of the STEM theatre and new STEM rooms.

Students in Years 7 and 8 engaged with a vast array of projects, including coding, robotics, renewable-powered machines and engineering.

A highlight was the STEM Camp to Canberra where students had the chance to meet professionals from some of Australia’s most decorated STEM fields and see where their learning could lead them in the future.

THE FLOURISHING WORLD OF STEM

Students are beginning to prepare for exciting extracurricular projects in 2023 such as the STEM Games coding challenge.

Studio 120 continues to inspire our students to push the bounds of their creativity. Walk through the New York loft-style campus and it’s easy to see why such great work is produced.

This year Studio 120 shrugged off the shadows of Covid to open its doors for a number of special events, such as the Year 9 Da Vinci Exhibitions and the college’s annual art show.

We never get tired hearing visitors comment that is the most innovative learning space they have ever seen.

STUDIO 120 A HUB FOR SPECIAL EVENTS

It was a long time coming but finally the soundtrack for ‘Eden: An Original Musical’ was released, after being disrupted by Covid-19.

All songs were written and performed by APC students, and the album was released on Spotify, Apple music and YouTube music.

This was an amazing achievement for the college and we want to thank students and staff for their perseverance over the past two years to bring this project to its wonderful conclusion.

EDEN SOUNDTRACK RELEASED

Our parents organised a wonderful breakfast event in October to thank the staff for their incredible dedication over three years of Covid-affected work. It was really appreciated.

APC has a wonderfully supportive parent community. None of our success is possible without them.

OUR FANTASTIC PARENTS

In October we farewelled our year-12 students with a special breakfast for parents and families at The Park at Albert Park Lake.

Parents were treated to fantastic student-led proceedings, which included singing, musical performances and a short film that looked back over six years of APC life.

Many students took the opportunity to “redesign” their school uniforms and wear them to the event. After all, they’d never have to wear them again.

YEAR 12 FAREWELL

It made for a memorable morning.

On the evening of the last day of VCE and IB exams, our year-12 students and their families filled the vast space of the St Kilda Town Hall to acknowledge their perseverance and academic achievement.

Graduation certificates were presented to more than 200 students and excellence and achievement awards for our top performing students were given in the more than 40 subjects offered by the school.

It ended another great academic year for APC.

WE HONOUR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS

One of the sad parts of the end of the school year has been saying goodbye to our college captains Alyssa, Maddy, Ella, Jitse and Sophia, who fulfilled their roles with great distinction.

Next year a new team of more than 80 students will fill the important roles of college and house captains, portfolio leaders and SRC ambassadors.

They will be led by new college captains Alex Dahlberg and Molly Dalziell, and vice captains Mia Dourlay, Samiksha Kumar and Tamar Storey.

We know they too will do a great job.

FAREWELL TO OUR STUDENT LEADERS

Every APC student is an important part of our history, which is why the college is building its Alumni program. Past students can register on the APC website.

The Class of 2017, which held its five-year reunion in Prahran in November, was the first to receive support from APC as part of the Alumni program. We had a sizeable turnout and more events will follow.

ALUMNI PROGRAM TAKES ANOTHER STEP

The APC leadership team and architect firm Jackson Clements Burrowes continue to work on the details of our next campus, the Victorian Youth Arts Precinct, before construction begins in Gasworks Arts Park.

To fit out this beautiful and impressive precinct to the highest standard, APC has launched an ambitious fundraising campaign. Our target is $5 million.

For details visit our website.

A NEW CAMPUS BECKONS

We look forward to announcing the successful project builder shortly.

Despite the threat of Covid outbreaks, APC has had a memorable year.

We thank our hard-working staff, and the many and varied contributions from the broader college community, who ensured our students had a year full of fun activities and educational events to create memories that we hope will last a lifetime.

And, to our students, thank you for working hard every day to inspire each other. We couldn’t have done it without you!

THANK YOU

Have a safe Christmas and see you all in 2023.