Design and Technology

Mr Jon Hawthorne

Year 9 iSTEM

Aeronautics in iSTEM "Flying High with their Learning"

As part of the Yr 9 iSTEM course, students experiment with different types of plane design to determine the most efficient aircraft. The SKYLAP pivot system enables model planes to fly around a central position two at a time. The planes use small motors connected to a central battery pack. The students collect data to redesign and laser-cut new wing prototypes.

VIDEO: Using a power anchor to fly a plane.

Food Tech

PHOTO: Sophie Stace and Klaudia cooking up Burritos in Year 9 Food Tech!

PHOTO: Patrick Chapman with his 'Yum Bowl' of healthy food in Year 8 Food Tech.

English

Miss Lauren Donnelly and Mr Michael Wooster

The start of Term 4 sees a range of exciting new units beginning across the years. Year 7 in particular is working on a picture book unit looking at how the codes and conventions of picture books can be manipulated to build engaging and powerful texts that challenge meaning. Year 8 is exploring the literary value arising from dramatic performance and Year 9 is exploring narrative and character through the poetic form.

We have rearranged the Year 10 English classes this term around the students' choices of English level next year and we are working on developing their analysis and writing skills in preparation for year 11 in 2021. Year 11 now begins the HSC journey with all levels beginning the common module Text and Human Experiences heading to their first assessment later this term.

PHOTO: Year 7 English using games to help learning.

HSIE

Mrs Cherie Stoessel

Welcome back to the Spring term to all in the O’Connor community. As we move into the warmer weather Year 7 will continue to investigate life along the Nile river in Ancient Egypt while Year 8 will commence their learning about Japan under the Shoguns.

PHOTOS: Exploring the ancient world in Year 7 HSIE.

Year 9 will begin learning about the experiences of Australians at war in the 20th Century. Year 10 will have the opportunity to choose the topic of their learning through an historical inquiry into an aspect of the modern world that interests them.

PHOTO: Mrs Leggatt's Year 10 HSIE class commencing their historical inquiry.

All of this begs the question ‘why’? Why is the study of history mandatory from Kindergarten to Year 10? Former Doug Anthony Allstar and now host of ABC Radio and podcast series Conversations, Richard Fidler, explores this question in his 2014 book Ghost Empire:

A love of history can sometimes come across as a distraction from the more urgent business of the here and now. But without a grasp of the flow of events that have carried us to the present day, we are all a bit untethered from our place in time and space, condemned to live in an eternal present. A child’s interest in history is a particularly lovely thing because it arises from some larger philosophical questions pertaining to life’s deepest mysteries: how did we come to be here? History also offers us a defence against the sickly sweet temptations of nostalgia, the conviction that in times past things were simpler, people nobler and children more obedient.

Edward Gibbon, author of History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, joked that the discipline of history was ‘little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind’. For me, history has always seemed like a trove of riches, an everlasting storehouse of stories that will never ever be depleted.

Winston Churchill...wrote history to fend off the depressive episodes that sapped his energy… [He] understood the value of placing yourself in the timeline of world events, noting that ‘the longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward’.

It is that grounding in and knowledge and understanding of our shared human past that the HSIE staff aim to impart to the students at O’Connor Catholic College.

PHOTO: Year 11 Ancient History hard at work.

GALLERY: Delving into the past in Mrs Stoessel's Year 11 Ancient History class.

Sam Bible awarded scholarship for double degree in history and law

Year 12 Student Samuel Bible has been awarded a substantial Scholarship from the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation. The O’Connor Catholic College Vice-Captain has been keen to study in the subject areas offered and is excited about the opportunity before him.

Sam will be undertaking a double degree comprising a Bachelor in Western Civilisation Art combined with a Bachelor of Law at the University of Wollongong from March next year. Sam’s studies will be spread over 5 years and in that period of time there will also be a pathway provided through the Ramsay Centre for participation in a period of study at a university abroad.

According to Sam “The western art degree focuses on interacting with some of the great works of the Western World, as we engage with its art, literature, religion, philosophy, history and political achievements”.

Funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, the Centre was established in 2017 through an extraordinary endowment by the late Mr Paul Ramsay AO in order to ensure others, and especially young Australians would be able to advance their education by engaging in the study and discussion associated with the establishment and development of western civilisation.

Mathematics

Have you ever seen a sign like this at a casino or gambling venue? I bet you haven’t! Casinos don’t want you to know that the odds are stacked against the punters. But they are. This forms the Learning Intention for the current Year 9 5.2 Maths Unit.

Learning Intention

We are learning that if you gamble, you will lose!

To help learn this, Mrs Czinner’s class and Mr Chapman’s class will run a Year 9 Casino. Not with real money, of course. Just coloured counters. Each pair of students are currently designing an original Casino game. They need to calculate the theoretical probability of the punter winning their game. Then, they adjust their payout figure so, on average, their game will make money for the Casino. Most games use a pay out figure of between 70% to 90%. If it’s too low, punters won’t want to play. Selected classes will come and gamble at the Casino on game day. They will be given 10 counters each. Some will win and some will lose, but one thing is sure. The house (the casino) always wins! In the end.

PHOTO: Dominic Magann helping to make one of the casino games. Pictured with Mr Anthony Kelly.

PDHPE

Ms Camilla Clydsdale

During the College's first stage of the master plan build our school gymnasium is undergoing a re-build. For the duration of this time our PDHPE students will be without their indoor PDHPE learning space. During the recent wet weather our PDHPE teachers have been using a pavilion at the Armidale Show ground to run some alternative wet weather practical lessons. This week many classes have been enjoying rounds of table tennis. Pictured below is Year 8 PDHPE enjoying their NET & COURT Games unit.

PHOTO: 8.1 PDHPE enjoying a hit of table tennis at the show ground pavilion.

Term 4 Topics for Junior PDHPE:

Year 7: Risky Business and Striking Games

Year 8: Mind, Body, Spirit and Net and Court Games

Year 9: First Aid and Contemporary Games

Year 10: The Next Chapter and Summer Sports

A reminder that all students need to wear a College hat or cap for all practical PDHPE lessons.

PHOTO: Year 8 students improving their racquet skills and hand eye coordination.

Year 9 Child Studies

The Year 9 Child Studies class have been learning about child’s play this term. They participated in making play dough and were able to discuss the benefits of making it themselves as opposed to purchasing it.

Students were able to create different shapes and reflect on what and how this activity could help a child learn and develop.

Religious Education

Mrs Channon's 7RE had a special guest on Thursday. Mr Kelly spoke to the students about the Rosary and the history behind it. He also had some great stories to tell about some of the history of our amazing school. We then visited the Archives Room where there is so much amazing information that can be accessed. What a wonderful resource it is. Thank you Mr Kelly. And thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who spend many hours archiving information.

Science

Mr Daniel Fittler

In Science, students in Year 7 have begun to explore our solar system and are deepening their understanding of space. This will lead into building an understanding of ecosystems halfway through this term. Students in Year 8 have been conducting investigations and learning how to perform experiments and get valid and reliable data (data that is true and reflects with consistency, what is being investigated). Later on they will be learning about chemical reactions and further develop their understanding of the atom.

Year 9 students have begun learning about energy and how it can be transformed from one form to another form and how this relates to efficiency. Year 10 have begun learning about our climate and will be deepening their understanding of climate change and things that we need to be doing to reduce our impact on the environment.

Year 11 - Biology, Chemistry and Physics

PHOTO: Year 11 Physics learning about projectile motion in Mr Fittler's class.

Year 11 have begun studying the HSC material for the Biology, Chemistry and Physics courses and are bracing themselves to sit the HSC exams in one year’s time.

PHOTO: Mr Lush explaining a part of the process of Thursday's Biology experiment to Elinor Summers.

PHOTO: Hain van Eyk exploring the world of Biology through the microscope.

GALLERY: Year 11 Biology at work.

Agriculture

UNE Smart Farm

PHOTO: (L to R) Emily, Tilly and Emma investigate pastures at the UNE Smart Farm.

On Wednesday 21 October, Year 10 Agriculture students visited the UNE Smart Farm.

PHOTO: (L TO R) Joel and Aaron conducting electronic pasture measurement.

PHOTO: Emma Gray, Tilly Brown, Emily Lockyer at the UNE Smart Farm on Wednesday.

2020 DAF Hermitage Research Facility Schools Plant Science Competition

A number of students participated in the DAF Hermitage Research Facility Schools Plant Science Competition and were awarded certificates of participation on Friday this week. The competition is a nation wide agricultural science research task based event and involves individual plat experiments, detailed scientific reports, international agriculture based research and a compilation of data as a presentation to a conference.

Eliza Hine (pictured far right) was runner up in the Yer 9 section this year. She received a book, certificate and bound copy of her project.

Assistant Principal - Learning

Mr Stephen Chapman