News and Events

Country Education Partnership Rural Youth Ambassadors

This year, being part of the Country Education Partnership has given us the chance to travel to Melbourne, meet government leaders, and present on important issues facing rural schools. Through the forums, we built strong friendships, collaborated with students from other schools, and proposed solutions to improve education in rural communities. Overall, CEP has been an incredibly rewarding experience, both socially and educationally, and one we would highly recommend to others. By Keira Jewell and Willis Stimson Keira and Willis will be attending the Graduation Forum and Dinner from 15th to 17th October in Melbourne 

Kaniva College Senior Students Have Success at the Clay Target State School Students Championships

On Monday, 1st September ten of our senior students travelled to Echuca to compete in the Clay Target State School Students Championships. Evie Hendy, Byron Merrett, Xavier Stimson, Willis Stimson, Keira Jewell, Flynn Dodson, Caitlin Hendy, Brooke Crouch and Ruby Doyle did their best against some very talented competitors, with them all achieving excellent scores. Congratulations to Flynn Dodson who came 3rd in the Junior Boys division and to Keira Jewell who came 3rd in the Senior Girls division. We are so proud of all of our students’ success this competition season. Reaching the state level is a huge achievement. A special thank you to parents for taking the students to the competition and to Lisa Hawker and the Kaniva Gun Club. 

Kaniva College Junior Students Achieve at WWSSA

On Wednesday, 20th August 37 junior students, who qualified at the Kaniva College Athletics Sports day in March, travelled to Warracknabeal for the WWSSA Junior Athletics Carnival. Our
students put in an amazing effort and achieved great results.

Congratulations to everyone for their enthusiastic participation. Our students and their families showed incredible school spirit displayed. Kaniva College competitors were well supported and cheered on at every event they participated in. Thank you to the families who transported
students and cheered everyone on and to Mr Staehr, Mrs Staehr, Mrs Salt, and Mr V for all of their hard work on the day to make the event such a success. Thank you also to Mrs Dodson for all of her organisational work in the background and to Miss Gorry and Mrs Dodson for holding down the fort back at school!

RESULTS

Girls 7 Years:
75m Heat 1: 1st Elise Hawker; 75m Heat 2: 3rd Tahlia Walker Hanks; 75m Heat 3: 1st Alyssa Thomas; 75m Heat 4: 1st Zara Fisher; 4x75m Shuttle Relay: 1st Kaniva College (Elise Hawker,
Tahlia Walker-Hanks, Alyssa Thomas, Zara Fischer)

Boys 7 Years:
75m Heat 1: 2nd Jobe Lannin; 75m Heat 2: 1st Darcy Harris; 75m Heat 3: 3rd Henry Hendy; 75m Heat 4: 1st William Dodson; 4 x 75m Shuttle Relay: 3rd Kaniva College (Jobe Lannin, Darcy Harris, Henry Hendy, William Dodson)

Girls 8 Years:
75m Heat 1: 2nd Sophie Staehr; 75m Heat 2: 1st Indiana Leffler; 75m Heat 3: 1st Lexi Salt;
200m 1st Sophie Staehr; 4x75m Shuttle Relay: 1st Kaniva College (Sophie Staehr, Indiana Leffler, Lexi Salt)

Boys 8 Years:
75m Heat 1: 2nd Kade Merrett; 75m Heat 2: 3rd Max Carter; 75m Heat 3: 3rd Darcy Tink; 200m: 1st Kade Merrett; 4x75m Shuttle Relay: 1st Kaniva (Kade Merrett, Max Carter, Darcy Tink,
Jobe Lannin)

Girls 9 Years:
Discus: 4th Marlie Dunstall; High Jump: 2nd Stella Charalambous; Long Jump: 2nd Marlie Dunstall; Shot Put: 2nd Stella Charalambous; Triple Jump: 1st Stella Charalambous;
100m: 2nd Marlie Dunstall; 200m: 2nd Marlie Dunstall

Girls 10 Years:
Discus: 1st Annabel Carter; High Jump: 2nd Isla Lannin; Long Jump: 1st Zoe Staehr; Shot Put: 1st Abby Hawker; Triple Jump: 1st Isla Lannin; 100m: 2nd Zoe Staehr; 1500m: 2nd Zoe Staehr; 4x100m Relay: 1st Kaniva College (Annabel Carter, Abby Hawker, Isla Lannin, Zoe Staehr)

Boys 10 Years:
Discus: 6th Jake Coad; High Jump: 2nd Jake Coad; Long Jump: 1st Billy Salt; Shot Put: 4th Casey Hawker; Triple Jump: 2nd Billy Salt; 100m: 4th Jake Coad; 200m: 1st Billy Salt; 1500m: 4th Billy Salt; 4x100m Relay: 4th Kaniva (Jake Coad, Casey Hawker, Billy Salt, Max Carter)

Girls 11 Years:
Discus: 5th Lucy Harris: High Jump: 3rd Taylor Crouch; Long Jump: 6th Taylor Crouch;
Shot Put: 5th Lucy Harris; Triple Jump: 5th Lola Doyle; 800m: 4th Lola Doyle; 1500m: 3rd Lola Doyle

Boys 11 Years:
Discus: 2nd Archie Dunstall; High Jump: 3rd Christian Charalambous; Shot Put: 3rd Archie Dunstall; Triple Jump: 4th Archie Dunstall; 800m: 4th Otto Maddern; 1500m: 4th Otto Maddern;
4x100m Relay: 4th Kaniva (Archie Dunstall, Otto Maddern, Christian Charalambous).

 Girls 12 Years and Over:
Discus: 3rd Amity Foster; High Jump: 2nd Emily Dodson; Long Jump: 3rd Emily Dodson;
Shot Put: 4th Amity Foster; 800m: 3rd Emily Dodson; 1500m: 1st Emily Dodson;
4x100m Relay: 3rd Kaniva (Amity Foster, Emily Dodson, Lucy Harris, Lola Doyle)

Boys 12 Years and Over
Discus: 1st Harry Lannin; High Jump: 1st Liam Hawker; Long Jump: 3rd Harry Lannin;
Shot Put; 5th Tyson Harry; Triple Jump: 2nd Harry Lannin; 100m: 2nd Harry Lannin;
200m: 2nd Liam Hawker; 800m: 1st Liam Hawker, 2nd Jackson Staehr; 1500m: 1st Liam Hawker,
2nd Jackson Staehr; 4x100m Relay: 2nd Kaniva (Harry Lannin, Tyson Harry, Liam Hawker,
Jackson Staehr)

Congratulations to the following students have qualified for Little Desert Athletics in Stawell on Wednesday, 10th September:

Girls 9 & 10 Years
Annabel Carter: Discus; Isla Lannin: Triple Jump, 200m; Zoe Staehr: 800m, 1500m;
Abby Hawker: Shot Put, Stella Charalambous: Triple Jump; Team: 4x100m Relay

Boys 9 & 10 Years
Jake Coad: High Jump; Billy Salt: Long Jump, 200m

Boys 11 Years
Archie Dunstall: Discus, Shot Put

Girls 12 Years & Over:
Emily Dodson: High Jump, 1500m

Boys 12 Years & Over
Harry Lannin: Discus, 100m; Liam Hawker: High Jump, 1500m;
Jackson Staehr: 800m, 1500m

Book Week Celebrations

Book Week is a special time each year when schools across Australia come together to celebrate the joy of reading and the magic of stories. It’s all about inspiring students to
develop a love for books and to explore the amazing worlds that reading can open up.

This year, our Book Week celebration was a huge success ,thanks to the incredible efforts of our entire school community. Parents went above and beyond to help with costumes and support activities, staff worked tirelessly to organise engaging events and bring stories to life, and our students amazed us with their creativity, enthusiasm, and love of reading.

A big thank you to everyone involved for making Book Week such a memorable and
inspiring celebration!

Kaniva College Students Have Success at the North West Zone School Students Clay Target Championships

On Thursday, 14th August, 14 Kaniva College students travelled to Horsham to compete in the North West Zone School Students Clay Target Championships. The event was
20 targets Down the Line, shot in two visits, 10 targets per visit. All targets were
shot from 15m.

All of our students put in their best efforts and displayed our school values wonderfully throughout the competition. Here are their results:

Overall School Team: 1st Kaniva College (Byron Merrett, Zander Hawker, Xavier Stimson, Willis Stimson and Evie Hendy)

Senior Boys 15 and Over: 3rd Zander Hawker

Senior Girls 15 and Over: 1st Evie Hendy, 3rd Keira Jewell

Junior Boys Under 15: 2nd Flynn Dodson

Junior Girls Under 15: 1st Caitlin Hendy, 2nd Brooke Crouch, 3rd Ruby Doyle

Congratulations to Evie, Byron, Zander, Xavier, Willis, Keira, Flynn, Caitlin, Brooke and Ruby, who all qualified to compete at the State School Students
Championship in Echuca on 1st September.

100 Days of Prep

On Friday, 8th August, our Prep class celebrated 100 Days of School, dressing up as 100 year olds and engaging in a range of educational activities with the number 100 as the theme. They had the absolute best day! Well done to Mrs Staehr and Carolyn for making learning such a magical journey for our Prep class. 

Student Achievement

Congratulations to Year 9 student Aurora Merrett, who has been awarded a NAPLAN Certificate of Achievement for achieving an ‘Exceeding’ standard in Reading; and for achieving ‘High Growth’ and an ‘Increase in Proficiency Level’ in Numeracy. This is an amazing achievement. 

State Cross Country

State Cross Country Championships were held on Thursday, 24th July at the Yarra Valley Racing Club. Kaniva College was represented by Year 5 student, Zoe Staehr, in the 9-10 Years Girls (2km) and Year 12 student, Laila Ansell, in the 17-20 Years Girls (3km). Zoe raced in the morning in a field of 97 competitors. She had trouble getting out at the start, as they were near the back and frustratingly had to jog on the spot before they could get moving. She found a great rhythm once she got going and ran really well. She came 62nd and had lots of fun! Laila raced in the afternoon and was very happy with the weather and track conditions, but found the hills quite windy. She ran an excellent time of 14.47 minutes, which placed her 53rd out of 70 runners. We are so proud of both Zoe and Laila on their amazing efforts. It is an immense effort to earn a place at the State level. Congratulations on your outstanding results. 

Dress Up As A Teacher Day

On Friday, 4th July our SRC held 'Dress Up As A Teacher Day' to celebrate the end of the school term and to raise money for the Smith Family. The students enthusiastically took part in this special day, as did many of our staff members, dressing up as other teachers and students! 

Thank you to everyone for going to such an effort to make this day a hit and for your very kind donations to such a worthy cause.

(see our Mrs Staehrs, Miss Gorrys and Mrs Bones below and check out the newsletter for more photos.)

Bonnie Gordon Wins Top Honours at the
Premier's VCE Awards

Congratulations to Bonnie Gordon, who has received top honours with a Premier’s VCE Award for her outstanding VCE results in 2024.

Bonnie, who was the Kaniva College 2024 Year 12 VCE VM Dux, was recognised as an Outstanding VCE Vocational Major Student. This places her among seven top-achieving VM students among Victoria.

315 of Victoria’s top performing students were recognised at this year’s Premier’s VCE Awards, including three international students, seven students who completed the VCE Vocational Major program with distinction, and 23 Top All-Round VCE High Achievers who achieved study scores of 46 or higher out of 50 in at least five VCE subjects.

The entire Kaniva College community is proud of Bonnie and would like to congratulate her on being the recipient of such a prestigious award.

To view the full Honour Roll and to read more about the Premier’s VCE Awards, visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/premiers-vce-awards

Jump Rope For Heart

This term Kaniva College has been taking part in Jump Rope for Heart, being organised by the Unit 3 Personal Development Studies (PDS) class. On Monday we held our ‘Jump Off’ event, with students from Prep to Year 6 taking part. After the Jump Off we
celebrated with a delicious BBQ lunch cooked by the PDS students.

At the start of the program we set a goal for our students to log 40 hours of skipping throughout the program, and this was achieved by most of our participants. It was
amazing to see so many students taking part in the program with such dedication and
enthusiasm.

Our students have done an amazing part on the fundraising aspect of the program,
exceeding the original school goal of $500 and then exceeding our revised goal of $1000.
Thanks to the generosity of donations we have raised $1147.75 for the Heart Foundation, plus additional funds from the BBQ sales.

Congratulations to our leading Fundraising Super Heroes and thanks again
for your support!

WWSSA Winter Lightning Premiership

On Thursday, 12th June, students from Years 4-6 participated in the WWSSA Winter Lightning Premiership, held at Nhill College. Students competed in three sports: Tee Ball, Netball and Football, with Year 9 students assisting on the day by coaching and umpiring.

Our Netball team won three games, drew one and lost one, narrowly missing out on a grand final by the smallest of margins. Aurora umpired every game for the day, and showed exemplary leadership, even lifting the spirits of the team by dancing with the players at the end of their final match. Mrs Dyer was impressed with everyone involved at the netball today.

Our Tee Ball team finished the day losing the semi final after winning two games and
having a draw in another. There were some big hitters on the day, as well as sharp fielding on the bases, which helped the team have a successful day. Maddi and Bridey showed their creativity by wearing bright pink shark mascot costumes, providing a
highlight for the day. Students were seen making sure to shake the hand of the opposition when each game finished.

Our Football team won their first three games of the day, while showing fantastic
sportsmanship and comradery on the field. Unfortunately they came just short in their final two games. However, they finished the day on a high, playing Nhill Lutheran College in a nail biting ‘friendly’ game in front of cheering students. The football team finished 4th overall for the day.

It was another memorable Lightning Premiership, with students arriving back at Kaniva College tired, but proud of their efforts. Thanks to Mr Fed for helping organise the day, and Mr V and Mrs Dyer for their support throughout the day.

Greater Western Region Cross Country

On Monday, ten students travelled to Albert Park, Warrnambool for the Greater Western Region Cross Country. As is always the case, the competition was of a very high
standard with all state schools in South-Western Victoria from Ballarat to the border
represented, including independent schools from Horsham, Ararat, Hamilton, Ballarat, Colac and Warrnambool.

While the rain held off until the last race of the day, the wind made the conditions
difficult for running, with a last-minute course change to keep clear of potential falling limbs.

There were some outstanding Kaniva performances on the day, with several personal best times, despite the hilly track and weather. The top 12 individuals in each event
  qualified for the State Finals, to be held at Yarra Valley Racecourse on
Thursday, 24th July.

Congratulations to Zoe on qualifying for State by finishing 11th, with only six seconds
separating 5th to 11th. Also well done to Laila, who entered the oval with 250m to go in 13th at the back of a group of seven runners, sprinting into 12th place and a State spot with less than 20m to go, finishing only three seconds from 8th place.

All of our students should be commended for giving their best on the day. Good luck to Zoe and Laila at the start of Term 3.

Thank you to Mr Staehr for his coordination of our students for this event and to all of the parents who took their children and cheered our students on.

Here are the results from the day:

Little Desert Cross Country

On Monday, 12th May, Kaniva College hosted the Primary West Wimmera Division Cross Country (WWSSA) and the Primary and Secondary Little Desert Division interschool Cross Country events. Our students were very strong competitors on the day and achieved some amazing results. The first six competitors in Little Desert Primary ,and the first eight competitors in Little Desert Secondary, will go on to the Greater Western Region Cross Country in Warrnambool on Monday, 26th May.

Special congratulations go to the junior students who won the West Wimmera Division Cross Country Championships, the senior students who won their age level pennants, the students who placed at the West Wimmera and Little Desert levels, and all of the students who qualified for Regionals.

We also want to say a huge thank you to Mr Staehr for his excellent coordination of this event, all of the staff members who played important roles on the day, and our parents and friends volunteers who prepped food, set up and helped out on the stall.

Official Results
WWSSA
9 & 10 Years Boys: 4th Billy Salt; 12th Jake Coad
9&10 Years Girls: 2nd Zoe Staehr; 3rd Annabel Carter; 4th Isla Lannin; 8th Marlie Dunstall
11 Years Boys: 3rd Otto Maddern
12 & 13 Years Boys (Primary): 1st Liam Hawker; 2nd Jackson Staehr
12 & 13 Years Girls (Primary): 1st Emily Dodson
WWSSA Bannerette: 1st Kaniva College

Little Desert
9 & 10 Years Boys: 16th Billy Salt; 34th Jake Coad
9&10 Years Girls: 2nd Zoe Staehr (Q); 7th Annabel Carter; 8th Isla Lannin;
15th Marlie Dunstall
11 Years Boys: 9th Otto Maddern
12 & 13 Years Boys (Primary): 5th Liam Hawker (Q); 7th Jackson Staehr
12 & 13 Years Girls (Primary): 7th Emily Dodson
12 & 13 Years Boys (Secondary): 5th Colby Champness (Q); 14th Parker Rabone
12 & 13 Years Girls (Secondary): 8th Matilda Tink (Q); 10th Delta Stimson; 11th Ivy McLaren
12 & 13 Years Girls (Secondary) Pennant: 2nd Kaniva College
14 Years Boys: 6th Baxter Meyer (Q); 8th Ollie Dowler (Q)
14 Years Girls: 4th Pippa Vivian (Q); 6th Mikayla Hall (Q); 8th Aurora Merrett (Q);
11th Bridey Hawker
14 Years Girls Pennant: 2nd Kaniva College
15 Years Boys: 1st Kobi Stimson (Q)
15 Years Girls: 10th Evie Hendy
16 Years Boys: 4th Jack Hall (Q); 6th Byron Merrett (Q); 10th Jack Dowler (Q)
16 Years Boys Pennant: 1st Kaniva College
16 Years Girls: 3rd Ruby Gordon (Q); 4th Zahra Stephens (Q)
17-20 Years Boys: 1st Xavier Stimson (Q)
17-20 Years Girls: 2nd Laila Ansell (Q); 5th Lucy Mulraney (Q)