By Gabriella Payne
A special group of brainy young students from across Cardinia came together on Tuesday 30 March to test their problem solving abilities and have a bit of fun, as part of a ‘masterclass’ to celebrate their participation in the Victorian High-Ability Program (VHAP) this term.
The 19 specially selected students from grades five and six at Pakenham Springs, John Henry, Pakenham Lakeside and Bunyip Primary Schools all joined forces on Tuesday morning at Pakenham Springs PS to celebrate their achievements, mingle with like-minded peers and reflect on their learning over the course of this program.
Scott McKinnon, the Vice Principal at Pakenham Springs Primary School who organised the event, said that it had been a huge success and it was wonderful to see students working together to reach their full potential.
“We brought a lot of schools together for one day to learn off one another, and it was definitely a great success,” Mr McKinnon said.
“It’s wonderful to do these additional things for students, and all the kids just loved it – they didn’t want to leave!”
Mr McKinnon said that the VHAP had specially selected 4,000 young students from across the state to take part in weekly 55 minute Webex lessons throughout the term, with a special teacher that helped students focus on either literacy or numeracy during school hours.
Tuesday’s masterclass was a celebration of completing the program and allowed students to collaborate with one another, reflect on their learning experiences, reflect on themselves and their own dreams and also, to have a bit of fun with some code-cracking activities.
“For a bit of fun we did a break out room, which is like an escape room, but instead of locking kids in a classroom we had a box covered with locks and students had to solve clues around the room to figure out how to open it,” Mr McKinnon said.
Despite being labelled as some of the “smartest kids” at school, Mr McKinnon said that some still went straight to the locks, hoping to open them with just luck.
“It was great fun as they had to work collaboratively and at the end, we talked about strategy and what we’d do differently next time,” he said.
The school captains at Pakenham Springs Primary School, Janay Chiu and Jude Keyzer, who took part in the VHAP masterclass, said that it had been a great day and “an amazing opportunity”.
“I really enjoyed the masterclass,” said Jude.
“I love the challenge and it was really well organised. I also liked participating in the program this term.”
Janay agreed and said it was a fun way to meet like-minded students.
“I love escape rooms and the food was great.
It was an amazing opportunity to see the people that we have been working with for 10 weeks in person and work side by side with them,” Janay said.
Mr McKinnon said that this program and the masterclass would definitely be something the schools hoped to hold again in future.
“This is just one way that teachers and schools are supporting high ability learners,” Mr McKinnon said.
“It’s definitely something we are interested in continuing.”
