Aleesha Gillett – Page 2 – Student Portfolio

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Bronze Medallion

February 19, 2022 / Aleesha Gillett / 0 Comments

In the Summer holidays of 2021/2022, I achieved my Bronze Medallion. The Bronze Medallion is a nationally recognised lifesaving award that was established in 1892. It teaches people how to keep themselves and others safer around water, recognise an emergency, and perform safe aquatic rescues.

As well as learning how to perform rescues, the Bronze Medallion course also teaches and improves many other valuable life skills such as teamwork, communication, problem solving, and effective decision making. It has been my goal for many years to achieve this award so that if there ever was an emergency, I would have the knowledge and confidence to act.

Bronze-Medallion-Certificate Download

Progress Update 2

October 28, 2021 / Aleesha Gillett / 0 Comments

In the Humanities course in year 10, we were able to choose and research a project of our choice to showcase at the final exhibition in term 4. The topic Amelia and I have chosen is Civics and Citizenship. I was very happy when we chose this discipline as there are so many things we could do. We decided to focus on a cold case, specifically the murders and disappearance of the Dupont de Ligonnès family. For our presentation, we will be creating a report detailing a timeline of events and information about all the family members that were involved in the crime. Also, we will have a pin-up board with a map of the area and pictures of potential sightings.

We have completed our 10 annotated references each and this has helped us to collate all the information we need to construct our project. We are now working on making our report with all the elements in that and we will be creating our pin up board next week. The sheet below is a planning document which helped up come up with ideas about what we wanted to focus on and how we wanted to present. Also, it allowed us to think about what steps were involved and to reflect on some key values which we needed throughout this project.

A few key values that we need are:
– Communication
– Problem solving
– Creativity
– Organisation
– Collaboration.

Communication is very important as we need to make sure everyone knows what they are doing and when we need it done by. Creativity is needed as we are creating our own project and want it to be interesting and unique. The other value that we need is problem solving, there is no doubt that we will come across bumps in the road, but we need to find solutions so we can continue on with what we are doing.

Progress Update 1

September 23, 2021 / Aleesha Gillett / 0 Comments

So far, we have completed our 10 annotated references, made a rough timeline of what we need to do each week, and started generating ideas of what our presentation might be. Our plan for continuing this project in term 4 includes completing notes on the links we have found and creating our presentation. The sheet below is a planning document which helped up come up with ideas about what we wanted to focus on and how we wanted to present. Also, it allowed us to think about what steps were involved and to reflect on some key values which we needed throughout this project.

A few key values that we need are communication, problem solving, creativity, organisation, and collaboration. Communication is very important as we need to make sure everyone knows what they are doing and when we need it done by. Creativity is needed as we are creating our own project and want it to be interesting and unique. The other value that we need is problem solving, there is no doubt that we will come across bumps in the road, but we need to find solutions so we can continue on with what we are doing.

Our timeline below is only a preliminary draft and may change as we progress further along in this project. We will update our timeline in term 4 and outline what we will be doing in more detail. Even though it is only a rough draft, the timeline will help us to stay on track and to make sure we aren’t falling behind.

Anglicare Sleepout 2021

September 18, 2021 / Aleesha Gillett / 0 Comments

On Friday 20th of August 2021, I travelled to Optus Stadium with other All Saints Students to take part in the Anglicare Sleepout that raises money to support people experiencing homelessness.

Throughout the evening, we completed a simulation activity in groups with students from other schools. The people in each group had the same character card and needed to try and find things, such as a place to sleep, identification, and Centrelink, amongst other things. I found this activity really eye-opening into the struggles that homeless people face on a daily basis.

To simulate the experience of what it is like to sleep rough, we all had a piece of cardboard to sleep on as well as our sleeping bags, and were provided a light meal for breakfast and dinner. I found the sleep cold and uncomfortable, but it really highlighted to me how lucky I am to have a bed to sleep in at night and food in the fridge that I can have at any time.

I feel that this was a really great event that raised a lot of money and awareness for the issue. I had a really good time and I learned a lot about the daily struggles that homeless people face.

English Capabilities

September 7, 2021 / Aleesha Gillett / 0 Comments

When I was introduced to the task of writing a dramatic scene, I was unsure how to start. I had never written a dramatic scene before, and I had only ever performed scenes in past school drama classes, and assessments. I knew I had to start somewhere, and that was to form a group with people I knew I would be able to work with well. This task gave me the opportunity to collaborate with, both people I have worked with before and those I hadn’t. Throughout this task I displayed many capabilities, including communication, collaboration, problem solving and organisation, just to name a few.

As a group, we needed to come up with an idea that we wanted to create a scene about, so we chose to write about wealth inequality in the justice system. We needed to communicate with each other about who was doing what, so we divided up roles so that some people were looking into court language that could be used and others were creating the framework for the script. We all collaborated with a shared document so we could work on the script together at the same time. Collaboration and communication were key components in this task, as we needed to make sure everyone knew what they were doing and when it needed to be done by.

Towards the end of the project, organisation became crucial, as we needed everyone to finish their section of the script and for all props and costumes to have been organised. We needed to problem solve, as we realised that on the day of the performance one of our group members wouldn’t be there, so we needed to find someone else from our class to stand in and read their lines. In the end we managed to organise everything, and our performance went very well. Overall, this task has helped to further develop many skills, including communication and problem solving, which I will be able to use in the future.

Wind Waves Water

June 14, 2021 / Aleesha Gillett / 0 Comments

Throughout Semester 1, I did an outdoor education elective called Wind Waves Water. The activities which I participated in were sailing, stand-up paddle boarding, synchronised swimming, and diving. Many of these activities involved teamwork and communication with people that I didn’t know too well.

My first activity that I participated in was sailing. This was a great experience as I have never done it before. We learnt all the parts of the boat, how to steer it, control it, and use the wind to move. At points there were times where we didn’t have much movement because there was no wind and times where we were moving at quite a bit of speed. The times where we weren’t moving much provided an opportunity to teamwork and find ways to solve the problem. On each boat, there were two or three people. One person would be the skipper, another person would be controlling the ropes, and the third person would be the lookout. If you were the skipper of the boat, you would basically be controlling it. It gave me a great opportunity to improve my communication skills and improve my overall sailing skills. The lookout would have to be clear and always attentive. We took turns rotating through the roles and this enabled me to improve lots of different skills, including communication, awareness, and knowledge of how to read wind patterns. Overall, I feel sailing helped me in not only just boat skills, but also everyday skills like communication.

The second activity I did was stand-up paddle boarding. Though this was a lot more independent, it still required a lot of communication and teamwork. We worked in pairs, however predominately only one person was on the water at a time. We learnt multiple paddle strokes which allowed us to move forwards and turn. I didn’t realise how much technique was involved in just standing properly in stand-up paddle boarding. When I was on the board individually, I still had to communicate with other people to make sure that we didn’t run into each other. On a few sessions towards the end of the lesson, we went on the board in pairs. One person would be standing and paddling at the back and the other would be sitting at the front. This was actually a real challenge as balancing was a lot harder. Teamwork and communication were both key concepts when we were doing this, the person at the back would have to tell the person at the front whether they needed to move to balance the board correctly and the person at the front would be looking for other boards to make sure that we didn’t run into them. I thought stand-up paddle boarding was really fun and I learnt lots of different techniques which I didn’t know I would need.

The last two activities were synchronised swimming and diving. Diving was very much individual but was a very fun experience as I have never done it before and we were able to jump of springboards and different heights of platforms. Synchronised swimming definitely required teamwork as we worked in groups of 3 or 4 when first learning the different positions used. Throughout the sessions, we would learn little routines and practice and perform them. Towards the end in groups of 4 or 5, we choreographed a routine with everything we had learnt and chose music to go along with it. Teamwork was heavily required for this as we had to decide what we would do in the routine and would need to count at first to synchronise our moves. I found it really fun as I had never done synchronised swimming before and learnt a lot of new things about it.

I feel that all activities which I participated in throughout the Wind Waves Water elective where great experiences as I have never done many of them before. Also, they allowed me to work with people I haven’t previously worked with and improve my communication and teamwork skills.

My Personality Test

February 15, 2021 / Aleesha Gillett / 0 Comments

I took a personality test at 123tests.com to find out who I was and how I might react in different circumstances. Some of the results I did expect but some did surprise me.

My personality test showed that I have a strong work ethic. I agree with this because once I start a task, I want to finish it to the best of my abilities. It also says that I am well organised. I feel this is me as I like to have a plan about what is going to happen and have everything organised before hand.

However, it also says that I am serious, quiet, and avoids direct leadership roles. I do agree that I can be shy when I meet new people, but I do enjoy taking leadership roles and feel that, even though I can be serious, I like to have a good laugh and am cheerful.

It also states that I am prone to feelings of anxiety. Even though I do get anxious when doing things I have never done before, I am able to cope with the stress and not let it drag me down.

I feel that this personality test was a great way to find out what type of person I am, and what areas I could improve on.

Save the Human

December 6, 2020 / Aleesha Gillett / 0 Comments

Over the last few weeks of term 4, we worked on a project to investigate an area of sustainability and how we can link maths with it. I focused my project on the Gender Pay Gap and the Wealth Divide between a developing country and a developed country. Throughout this project, I learnt many different ways which data can be presented, including examples and comparisons and even rice! I decided to present my information in a PowerPoint which included graphs and a representation of data through rice. This was an excellent project to do because I feel I learnt that sustainability isn’t just protecting the environment, but also looking after our society and the people in our community.

I am proud of the product I created and feel it clearly represents both the gender pay gap and wealth divide and highlights were we need to improve in our community. I learnt many skills, including how to think outside the box when it come to presenting. I could have improved by showing both issues over time, perhaps with an animation. Even though there are a few ways I could improve, I’m still happy with my finished product overall.

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Year 9 OLP 2020

August 31, 2020 / Aleesha Gillett / 0 Comments

On the 27th of July 2020, half of the year 9 cohort, including myself, embarked on a journey to the unknowns of Kalbarri. When I first arrived, I was dreading the week to come, thinking it would be hard and tiring and not much fun. I was right on two of those things, it was hard and tiring, but not at all boring. I did things I thought I would never be able to do and saw sights I never thought I would be able to see.

During the week, we did a lot of things I rarely do, including, setting and packing up tents (everyday!), abseiling and rock climbing, swimming in gorges, and hiking. Although I didn’t enjoy the hiking as much as the other activities, it was still a great experience, which I will probably never get to do again. One of my favourite things to do was the swimming, even though the water was ice cold. I normally swim in swimming pools rather than natural bodies of water, and I found it really fun to jump off the rocks, it was also a great way to cool off, after the hike in to the gorge. Each night, we cooked our dinner with our cooking group on the Trangias. This was a great way to show leadership and responsibility, because we had to bring the Trangia with us and carry the food round as a group. Even though I struggled on the rock climbing, due to an injury, I still enjoyed challenging myself, and pushing myself beyond my comfort zone. On the night we were in 4-Ways campsite, we played some games after dinner, which I really enjoyed. It was a great way to unwind from the long day and have fun with my group mates, and learn a little more about them.

During the week, we had different positions where we could show leadership; cooking, hygiene, environment, and leadership groups. In these positions, we had to instruct the group and lead the group in those specific areas. In cooking group, had to find a spot to cook and eat and put the methane spirits bottles at least 3 metres away from the flames. They also had to tell the group what food we needed. The hygiene group set up the portable hand wash and the ‘toilet’ when we were camping in the gorge. The environment group, made sure everyone was wearing sunscreen and was drinking enough water during the day, as well as wearing hats. They also carried the shelter with them, for if it was need. The leadership group, was the voice for the group and told us what we were doing that day and held group meetings for extra things we might want to do. Although, decisions about times, like what time to get up and leave for activities, were made as a group. I first started in the hygiene group and went through the different positions during the week. I did enjoy all the positions, as they gave me a perspective of the different types of leadership and the different ways you could be a leader. Overall, I feel camp gave me valuable lessons in leadership and experiences I will remember for life.

Muir – Snorkeling

April 27, 2020 / Aleesha Gillett / 0 Comments

Before I chose Muir as my elective, I had never really been snorkeling before. I was excited that we would be able to go to Rottnest Island as I had never been there before. Even though Rottnest was our main excursion to test the skills we had been practicing, we went to Coogee as well so we had some real life experience before going to Rottnest. Before we even thought about hopping into the water, we had to to learn all the safety rules before using the water. To help us with this, we used the acronyms SAFE SNORKEL. This stands for Safety, Accident, First Aid, Emergency/Sun, Nourishment, Ocean, Reef, Keep in Pairs, Environment, Leave no Trace. When we had learned all the precautions about using the water, we went down to the Aquatic Center and learned all the skills we would need for snorkeling. We also learned water entries, and rescues. The entries we used were the Compact jump, Stride entry, Slide entry, and the Back Roll entry. We also learned how to tow someone from one side of the pool to the other, even though we probably didn’t need to know this, it is good to be prepared just in case something happens and we need to pull someone out the water. Once we had learned all these skills, we were ready to put them into use.

Coogee

Coogee was a great place to put our newfound skills to the test for the first time. Not only did it have a shipwreck we could explore, but it had a Maritime Trail we could go round. We found the Omeo Shipwreck had become home to loads of marine life. There was so many marine animals like fish and octopus that we saw. The conditions on the days we went on we really nice, the weather wasn’t too windy and the water was clear, most of the time. In regards to the Maritime Trail, there we things plotted on the seabed which you could swim down to see. There were also signs we could swim down and read which provided us with some information with what we were looking at. The think I liked the best about the trail was the big star on the seabed. It was approximately 6 meters below the surface. Because it was quite deep, we needed to equalize to balance out the pressure from inside our ears and the water pressure outside. To do this, we had to cover our nose while blowing out as we swam down. I never ended up going through the star as I couldn’t properly equalize yet, but if I go again to Coogee, I will definitely try going through the star.

Rottnest Island

I was so excited about this excursion because I had never been to Rottnest before. We boarded the bus at 7am and arrived at Victoria Quay, in Fremantle, at around 7:40am. The ferry left at around 8am and took around 25 minutes to get to Rottnest. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise I got seasick and didn’t take anything before the ride. Luckily the sickness wore off when I was back on land. We walked across the island till we reached the Basin. While we were walking to the beach, we saw a Quokka. This was really amazing as I had never seen one before. When we had finished setting up at the Basin, we went over SAFE SNORKEL. My group was the first to go into the water. It was quite cold when I first got in, I was very thankful I had my wet suit in that moment of time. We went out and explored the reef for 20 minutes with our buddy. It was quite wavy but in most parts of the water, it was easy enough to snorkel in. When the other group had got back, we went out to the cave section and had the opportunity to swim down through a cave. It was really amazing because the cave was filled with marine life that was living there and there was so much to look at. After our lunch break, we went back out to another part of the Basin where we could look at the reefs. I loved that there were some deep parts where we could dive down and look at the reef on the seabed. After we arrived back at school, I was tired from a long day. Overall, this was an amazing experience where we could use the skills we had been practicing, and I was able to see a place I had always wanted to go to.