Director of Pedagogy and Innovative Programs Years 7-10

Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Year 7-10 Programs Update

It has been a very busy start to Semester 2, with lots of extra-curricular opportunities on offer for our Year 7-10 students.

Study skills

We are constantly exploring avenues to promote the development of study skills in our younger year levels. As part of this focus, we had Elevate come in to run a study skills session in the final week of Term 2 for our Year 9 SEAL students.

In order to develop a well-rounded home-study routine, it is imperative that students learn the difference between homework and study. Homework includes finishing classwork activities and/or completing consolidation tasks set by the classroom teacher, whereas study includes things such as active revision, summarising notes and consolidating knowledge/skills through a variety of means. If students do not have set homework tasks to complete, you can rest assured that there is always study to be done.

For students who are looking for a little bit of extra assistance with their studies, the Middle School Voluntary Home-study Club provides an excellent opportunity. A Communication and a Discovery teacher are present at each session and other teaching staff members are often willing to attend on request.

Course Counselling and Pathways

During the coming weeks we have a number of important information sessions and meetings for students across Years 7-10. Alongside these sessions, students will be making important decisions in regards to their subject choices for 2019. We strongly encourage all parents/guardians to attend the sessions with your child to enable you to continue these important conversations at home.

Some of the events include:

Year 8 into 9 Information Afternoon – this was held on Monday after the Marketing Madness Expo.
Year 10 into 11 Course Counselling – Thursday 26 July.
Year 9 Mainstream Course Counselling – Friday 27 July. Students should attend their regular classes all day and come out of class for their course counselling appointment.
Year 7 into 8 Information Evening – Monday 30 July
Year 9 SEAL and Advance Course Counselling – Tuesday 31 July. Students should attend their regular classes all day and come out of class for their course counselling appointment.

SEAL Program News

Year 7-10 SEAL Competitions

During Term 2, a group of dedicated 7-10 SEAL students have flexed their intellectual muscles and sat the annual Australian student competitions in Digital Technology, Geography, History and Science. In 2018, all SEAL students were given the opportunity to compete in optional national competitions, alongside the compulsory competitions, to test out their skills against students from all around the country.

A delicious afternoon tea was provided each week for the participants, as they elected to stay after school to attempt the challenging papers. Beginning with Digital Technology, the intrepid students then travelled the world in the Geography test; cast their minds back to Ancient China and World War 2 for the History competition and delved into scientific notation in the Science paper.

Prior to the commencement of each competition, students heard from Senior School teachers regarding options for study in Senior School. This gave them the opportunity to hear in detail about elective units available in the various subjects as well as directions that they could take in the future. A big thank-you to Ms. Webber, Mr. Puibello and Mr. Brooks for coming along to speak to the students.

We hope that the students enjoyed the opportunity to compete against other students nationwide. It was fantastic to see the enthusiasm and commitment they showed in attending and striving to do their best during some very challenging papers.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all students for their dedication and I am sure many students will be eagerly awaiting the results this term.

Year 8 Marketing Madness Expo

During the first week of Term 3, Year 8 students have been busily designing, building and marketing their very own toys as part of their Marketing Madness Project. Students applied their understanding of energy from Science to produce a toy that demonstrated energy transfer or transformation. Additionally, students used their Business and Economics knowledge to create their marketing campaign with the intention of running a successful business.

This week students had the opportunity to display their learning at the Year 8 Marketing Expo on Monday. We welcomed a number of visitors over the course of the afternoon and it was fantastic to see students sharing their learning with members from various parts of the Mordialloc College community. I would like to pass on a big thank you to everyone in the Year 8 team for supporting students throughout the project. Also, thank you to all the parents and guardians who came along to support the event. It was incredible to see the array of creative products on offer; all students should be immensely proud of their efforts!

Upcoming events for SEAL students

All SEAL Students

Year 7-10 Starlab Incursion – Monday 30 July
ICAS English Test – Tuesday 31 July (Year 9 SEAL will complete the paper on Monday to minimise disruption to course counselling)
ICAS Mathematics Test – Tuesday 14 August

Year 7

Chinese Museum Incursion – Wednesday 8 August
Medieval Day (with the Year 8 cohort) – Thursday 13 September

Year 8

Japanese Film Excursion (half of the class) – Thursday 9 August
French Film Excursion (half of the class) – Tuesday 21 August
TAASS (The Academy of Accredited SEAL Schools) HUB Day with Mount Erin SC and Rosebud SC – Monday 27 August
Sovereign Hill Excursion – Friday 7 September

Year 9

Course counselling – Tuesday 31 August
MEX City Experience – 13 August/ 21 August/ 27 August

Year 10

Course Counselling – Thursday 26 July
Year 10 Camp – Monday 27 – Friday 31 August

Alice Leppin

Director of Pedagogy and Innovative Learning Years 7 - 10