Philosophy at Mac.Rob | Term 1 Update.
VCE Philosophy students take to the airwaves.
On short notice, our VCE Philosophers were interviewed on the big questions facing young people on Live FM! Firstly, a huge thank you to Ms. Rehana Ziyad, Mac.Rob’s Community Partnerships & Cultural Understanding Leader, and Ralph from Live FM, who made this fabulous opportunity possible for our young philosophers.
The quality of the interviewers are key to the success of any radio interview, and we were lucky enough to secure two excellent interviewers. Our School Captains, Raga B (12A) and Salma F (12C), brought the interview to life with extraordinary interview skills and pertinent questions to reveal academic responses from Mac.Rob’s young thinkers. We were honoured to have them interrogate our philosophy knowledge and skills live.
Luckily for us, they loved the session around philosophy and commented on the high quality and engaging responses. Isabella F (11A) led the students studying Y12 Philosophy in a lively debate around how philosophy has changed their thinking and contributes to their daily lives to be better equipped to understand themselves, friends and the issues they face in contemporary society. Nancy (11K), Huyan (11A), Grace (11E) and Alma (11K) discussed and built on each other's ideas and linked them to philosophies from antiquity, modern and contemporary thinkers.
The recording of the session will be available soon, and we will be sharing it with some Universities interested in the value of studying philosophy in high school, and it will be presented at the Victorian Association of Philosophy in Schools at their annual conference. Congratulations and thank you to all those who gave up their time after a long day of classes at very short notice to participate in a wonderful initiative to share our love of philosophy.
Year 10 Philosophy presents a Greek Chorus - Mac.Rob values.
On a bright sunny day, the Indigenous Yarning Circle doubled as a Greek amphitheatre where Mr. Kenricks and Ms. Williams were treated to a stasimon - an interlude generally performed between episodes of a Greek Tragedy, but was today performed during a busy lunchtime in between classes!
Durva P (10L), Jiya P (10F), Prisha S (10L), and Aikantika B (10G) created and executed a moral perspective focusing on the values of Mac.Rob using their knowledge and skills from Year 9 Drama classes for their Y10 Philosophy assessment. The four students presented the contemporary myth as a Greek Chorus, and integrated rhyme and allusions to contemporary culture to reveal the embodiment of the four values of Mac.Rob. Each student stepped forward to present and test the values of community, growth, responsibility, and compassion, as the chorus chimed in unison to place emphasis on certain features to show how our values are presented throughout the school’s learning environment.
Of course the Greek Tragedies, especially the Chorus, are designed to expose the human condition but that is for the attending audience to experience. However, to give you a little teaser of the performance, the chorus sang “Silently come, silently go - Parallel to goddesses… I am, you are, we are Mac.Robbian” to evoke an emotional atmosphere. As a contemporary myth created for the first Year 10 Philosophy assessment, the students were outstanding. Congratulations to our exceptional Greek Chorus: Athena would be impressed.
VCE Cafe Philosophy.
Continuing the French Café Culture of Philosophy in Cafes for our VCE Philosophers.
Post WWII, in a bid to return philosophy discussion to the people, French café culture boomed as a vital incubator for philosophical, artistic and political ideas in the heart of Paris. Intellectuals, authors, artists and philosophers gathered to argue, share and produce major works amongst the perpetual aroma of coffee and hot pastries. The collective and functional thinking spaces, “public salons,” transgressed class divisions, passive thinking and encouraged public debate around important ideas, which continue to be as important today as in yesteryear. In other words, philosophers and artists rationally discuss the current milieu and test ideas and practical applications intellectually.
With this in mind, our young philosophical thinkers have taken up the tradition again. We invited Nalini Jacobs to guide our thinking at our local café, Flo. Now, Nalini is no ordinary guest; she achieved a VCE raw score of 50 for Philosophy at one of our fellow SEN schools, Nossal. After her success in VCE, Nalini authored and published a VCE Philosophy booklet as a study guide, with lots of practical and good advice to support VCE Philosophy students to achieve their best. All our VCE students use Nalini’s booklet as a positive learning tool and our library has copies catalogued in their collection. At Mac.Rob we admire young entrepreneurs who share their knowledge for the good of others and we reciprocated by buying the booklet to ensure everyone is successful.
Students were served a choice of beverages while preparing and discussing ideas to improve their writing skills for their first School Assessed Coursework (SAC) in Unit 3. A range of different teaching strategies were presented by Nalini amongst the bustle of patrons as they played witness to our young philosophers growing their knowledge and skills in a public forum. VCE Philosophy will continue to thrive in our local cafés throughout 2026 as we value the power of philosophical dialogue in honour of our French intellectuals. Watch this space for further updates.
Ms. Deborah Cordingley | Y10 & VCE Philosophy Teacher