English

It has been a busy and exciting Term 3 in English. Our wonderful Year 7s visited the Immigration Museum and the Sandridge Bridge as an Introduction to the concepts of immigration and refugees – one of the central topics our new Year 7 text, The Bone Sparrow. Students got a chance to trace a bit of their family lineage – here you can see them hard at work finding a country on the bridge that connects students to either their own family heritage or that of a friend or a family member. It was wonderful seeing students stretched out along the Bridge, visiting information about countries as diverse as Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Portugal and Vietnams and Zambia.

Students were also lucky enough to be treated to a talk by the author of The Bone Sparrow, Zana Fraillon. Zana talked about her methods for writing, her major sources of inspiration and information and her life as a writer in Melbourne. Our students were prepared with wonderful questions for Zana both the teachers and the author were very impressed with the depth of thinking behind these

Our hardworking VCE team have just completed marking our Year 12s last English SAC. Year 12 students will now be embarking on revision both over the holidays and through to the very first exam. We wish our Year 12s all the very best for their upcoming exams, in English and all of their subjects.

Karen LYNCH

Kew High School Debating teams

During Term 3, the Kew High School Debating teams have been working hard preparing for and competing in debates in the DAV regional competition. Debaters have developed their critical thinking and logic skills, and improved significantly their ability to think on their feet, especially when writing rebuttal arguments. It has been wonderful to see how much all of our debaters have learned and improved over the year. 

Our B Grade team won their final debate in the DAV regional competition, where they debated the topic ‘that all laws passed should go through a referendum’. Congratulations to them for this achievement, especially considering they had only an hour to plan a for this debate. A special congratulation to Jamie Lester from year 11 who was awarded best speaker in this debate. Our 5 D grade teams, made up of students from year 7 and 8, debated the topic ‘that refugees should have full access to the Australian Welfare system.’ Three of our five teams were victorious in this debate, with Henry Nguyen and Michaela Joyce winning best speaker in their respective debates.

Two teams of Year 7 students participated in the DAV’s Junior Speaking Program (JSP) where they attended skills workshops and demonstration debates in order to develop their skills, as well as competing in a friendly debate each night to consolidate what they learned. Both of the participating teams won two of their three friendly debates. An excellent effort!

Well done to all those who participated in the debating program and attended meetings throughout the year. We hope to see you back again in 2020 to continue to build on your public speaking skills. Finally, a special thank you to our debating captain Aaron Korczak-Krzeczowski for sharing his wisdom, enthusiasm, and time with the club this year. 

Elizabeth SPENCE