High School
Class 8A Drama Main Lesson presents - A Midsummers Nights Dream by William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most well-loved and well-known comedies.
It is a delightful weaving of stories:
The Greek hero and Duke of Athens, Theseus, is to marry the Amazon Queen Hippolyta, when Hermia, daughter of Egeus is forced to run away secretly into the woods with her true love Lysander. In hot pursuit is the jealous Demetrius who has been promised to marry Hermia, and desperately following him is Helena who is infatuated by Demetrius.
Meanwhile a group of tradesmen, or “mechanicals” are in the woods rehearsing a play which they hope to perform at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. They are hilariously amateurish but loveable and soon worlds collide in the forest.
A fairy conflict between King Oberon and Queen Titania has disturbed the seasons. As revenge on Titania, Oberon plays a trick with a love potion which makes the target fall deeply in love with the first thing he or she sees upon waking. Sent to carry out the mission is Oberon’s cheeky servant, Robin Goodfellow or “Puck”, who anoints the eyes of Titania but also both Lysander and Demetrius by mistake.
Mistaken love and magical transformation ensues, everything goes wrong, but then the antidote is applied, the mechanicals perform their ridiculous play, and everyone lives happily ever after!
Our Class 8 students have worked together, striving to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream come to life. By stepping into their roles, they transport themselves to a strange and enchanting fairy world and personally develop as growing young people.
PWS staff have worked hard to make this play possible: Justin Crossley, Eva Rinaldi, Gabriela Morales, Ian Lawrence, Shanelle Schramm, Sarah Boyle and Megan Rowley.
Families are encouraged to attend evening performances together, from all High School and Primary year levels. Entry will be by donation.
Austine Castiglione
High School Drama Teacher
Classl 10 Geography Main Lesson - The Earth in Movement - Plastic Art
In this main lesson, we explored the oceans, ocean currents, and our relationship with nature and the sea (because honestly, who doesn’t love the beach?). One of the major environmental issues we discussed is our reliance on single-use plastics—whether intentionally or not, humans use a lot of it. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the world has produced over 9.2 billion tons of plastic since 1950—that’s the equivalent weight of around 56,250 blue whales! Alarmingly, nearly half of that amount was produced just between 2010 and 2023.
In class, we learned about where all this plastic ends up—most notably in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), a massive accumulation of marine debris located in the North Pacific Ocean. This floating plastic island is held together by ocean gyres—giant circular currents that act like a whirlpool. The GPGP is enormous, spanning an area roughly the size of Queensland, or three times the size of France.
We also examined the impact of this pollution on marine life and humans. Surprisingly, only about 1% of the plastic in the oceans is found floating at the surface of the GPGP. Most of it sinks to the ocean floor in the form of microplastics—or worse, enters the food chain, eventually making its way back to us.
To reflect on this issue creatively, students were invited to produce a piece of art—be it a drawing, painting, or sculpture—to raise awareness about plastic pollution. Here are some of their thoughtful and inspiring creations:
Jo Doernberg
HS Humanities & German Teacher
CLASS 12 PROJECTS
Linnea Pericles
My name is Linnea Pericles, and I’ve always had a strong interest in human health. Living with type 1 diabetes for the past four years and staying active in my free time, I’ve learned to prioritize my health and well-being. This year, however, I wanted to delve deeper.
Nutrition is the fundamental aspect of health along with exercise. We are what we eat, so to pursue a heathy lifestyle, consuming the right food is very important. But how many of us look at the nutritional information on the packaged food we buy? And more importantly, if we do look, who understands what that all means?
This year, I set out to discover exactly what I’m putting into my body and how it affects my health—and the research blew my mind. Four in five adults consume less than the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables, which contributes to a range of adverse health effects, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. With the rise of fast food, Australians now get 42% of their energy intake from ultra-processed foods. Even more concerning is the impact on children and adolescents, who receive 55% of their dietary intake from these highly processed items. This is a frightening statistic when we consider the long-term health consequences of such overconsumption.
All in all, Australians have a terrible relationship with food, we are overfed in macronutrients but undernourished in micronutrients. I have a passion to change those statistic into something more positive. Through intense research, brainstorming with my supervisor and reflective journal entries, we finally established my project topic question;
“How can Australians improve their nutritional intake at an individual level to support better health?”
My report explores nutrient requirements for health and current nutritional challenges in Australia — including the rise of ultra-processed foods, increasing sugar consumption, and declining fruit and vegetable intake and the health issues associated with these trends.
Another key aspect of my research is how do we counter / mitigate the nutrient deficit. My focus has been on fermented foods, microgreens, and a comparison of organic homegrown crops with commercially produced alternatives. This has been one of my favourite parts of the report. I love the potential for positive change, because it gives hope to the declining health of Australians.
It has also given me an opportunity to establish my own microgreen supply. I have started growing trays of microgreens and I love it! I have become a big advocate for them. They are extremely easy to grow, they taste amazing, and of course, they are super healthy.
The statistics I talk about are heavy and distressing, but along with that, there are easy, affordable changes an individual can take. We can make a change, and it only involves a bit of effort to create fresh, nutritious food. To fuel this change, we need to recognise the unhealthy habits we are engaging in, get educated on what we should be eating, and make the change.
This year has been a thoroughly enjoyable (at times stressful) investment in a topic I am extremely passionate about. It has given me insight about who I want to become and what I would like to study at university, but not only that — it has also taught me to think before I eat; it's all about awareness and knowledge, and once you know more, you can slowly start integrating it into your life. The Project has made me more aware of what is happening inside of my body at any moment, and how food can support me in the best way possible. I look forward to sharing this with others to improve community health.