Middle School Report
Message from the Director of Learning
- Mr. Tom Tahos
Term 3 is a very busy time as all students are making important decisions regarding their course selection for 2019. The key is to do the research and talk to key people. If you are selecting subjects for Year 11 2019, then you need to have your course selection form completed for your interview on Wednesday, 8th August. For students selecting subjects for Year 9 and 10 2019, your interview day is Thursday, 9th August.
Please be vigilant with your learning. This means your attendance, punctuality and engagement with your learning, all need to be a priority.
All students should be clear about the school’s expectation with wearing correct school uniform.
Mr. Tom Tahos
Year 10 Work Experience
We have had 95 Year 10 students undertake Work Experience for one week at the start of this term. Many of them sourced their own employers. Students had a taste of work life, where they had to show greater independence and initiative in getting ready, getting to work on time and doing tasks outside their comfort zone.
From all the reports from visiting staff and feedback from the employers, our Year 10 students did an amazing job. Comments included: students were positive, respectful and carried out their tasks with diligence. Our Year 10 students have come away from the experience with a greater understanding and respect for the world of work, as well as, a clearer view of what they are interested in pursuing.
Astronomy
Students in Middle School have the opportunity to pick elective subjects relating to their personal areas of interest. A number of students from Years 9 and 10 are currently studying Astronomy, which was a new subject offering this year. Two students have written below about their experiences of the subject this year.
“Welcome to Astronomy. As you may know, this is a new elective subject introduced this year. We are all space fanatics and have been studying about the solar system and the universe. Our subject includes a range of things about space. If you think this is boring, we get to watch interesting movies and documentaries each week. Although this is a new subject this year, it has progressed well and we have added a number of resources. Early this term, we got two expensive telescopes which had been ordered at the end of last term. We can use these to view the stars and planets up close!”
And another student,
“In Term 1 & 2, we learned a lot of stuff about our solar system and the universe. We desperately wanted to see the planets of our solar system, so the school bought us two telescopes; the Skywatcher 909Eq2 and the Skywatcher 1021eq3.
We’ll be able to see the bands on Jupiter and watch its four major moons orbit. Saturn will reveal its ring system and Titan watches over it all. Mars will show the tiny pearls of its polar caps and dark surface features. Brilliant Venus will reveal its phases, while Neptune and Uranus show their softly coloured orbs. We are looking forward to observing the planets of our solar system and study their orbit or movements. That’s it from the astronomy class.”
As the students have indicated above, we recently purchased two telescopes, through which we will observe the Solar System and beyond. When assembling the telescopes, the students took responsibility for them, helping to assemble the first, and then taking a leading role in assembling the second with little input from me.
Mr. Joseph Mangelsdorf
Science Teacher