Secondary 9/10 Learning

Welcome

Camp 1 (SSB, SKA and STH) is ready to depart the first Wednesday back next term. Please send in any medication for this camp as soon as you can in a prepared Webster pack from your local pharmacy. If you have any questions regarding this please contact Rosemary our School Nurse.

Latest date to hand in medication is the first day back on Monday 16th July for Camp 1 and we require all medication for Camp 2 and 3 by Thursday July 19th. If your child takes medication you should have received a medical administration form which needs to be checked, amended, initialled, signed and returned by the end of this term. As you can imagine there is a lot of organisation pre camp and your cooperation with this helps make things run smoother.

Please remember to keep the evening of Wednesday 8th August free for our Celebration evening. You will have received a compass notification and early next term an invitation will be sent home with your child. We ask that you RSVP using the return slip so we can prepare for the evening.

Police Basketball Game

The Secondary 9/10 students were lucky enough to be involved in a basketball game against 5 local police. Senior Constable Shanice Vilone arranged the basketball game with and against students at lunchtime on Thursday. At first, students from years 9/10 and 11/12 played against the Police team and even though they were bigger and seemed more experienced the end result was a win to Concord students 20 to 19. After that, another friendly game was played where police and students were mixed. Overall it was a great experience for students, teachers, ES and police alike.

Mathematics 

Students continued to look at patterns with a bigger focus on number patterns in the last two weeks. Students designed their own number patterns with a rule and gave it to a peer to see if they could work out the rule and continue the pattern. This was a great activity with many creative patterns both ascending and descending.

English 

In writing the students have used their knowledge of persuasive text to write an ad. They incorporated all their knowledge of features of print to enhance and persuade readers to purchase their product. Students have begun to incorporate visuals, fonts in different sizes and styles. Some students even wrote their own slogans!

In reading the students continue to focus on word level grammar, identifying adjectives and adverbs and how they are used to enhance meaning in a sentence. Students have read different types of text including newspapers and identified and sorted words into groups of nouns, common and proper, verbs, adverbs and adjectives.

Integrated Studies

As we wrap up the term a few classes have had the opportunity to go on incursions to consolidate their learning. This last week SSB and SJG travelled to the city. The students walked their way around Flagstaff Gardens, learning about its history and discovering that it was once called ‘Burial Hill’ and its importance to the indigenous people. The next stop was Queen Victoria Market where students learnt the carpark was once a burial ground. Next semester students will begin learning about Solids, Liquids and Gases and Electricity.

PreCAL

Kevin Heinze

The PreCAL classes visited Kevin Heinze Garden Centre. It is located in Doncaster and students travelled via public transport. The Centre runs a GROW program which is an acronym for Gardening for Recreation, Occupation and Well-being. Students met the volunteers and looked at safety hazards when working out in the garden. They also identified different PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) required to keep them safe when working outside with different plants. These experiences have been a fantastic opportunity for students to see learning in a real world application and make connections in their own lives.

In the PreCAL classes we try to incorporate English, integrated unit and Mathematics. The learning is all based on the PreCAL Community Experience Excursions. As mentioned in earlier inewsletters students have attended Polytechnic in Heidelberg  and Bunnings in Mill Park  with a focus on workplace safety and OH&S regulations.

The Maths focus has been location, students explored how to get to the various venues and use local maps of the centres to locate different buildings and aisles. Students had to follow a public transport planner to get to the numerous venues and back to school on time. It has been exciting seeing this all come together in the form of a workplace safety poster. Each student has designed their own which will be on display in their classrooms.

STEAM

The PreCAL students have been learning how to code Bee Bots, the Go Mouse and Dash and Dot robots. This has been a wonderful way for students to also incorporate Maths – location using language like left, right, up, down, forwards and backwards. Coding incorporates many aspects using the robots directly or using ipads for more complex coding.

Duke of Edinburgh

Students have enjoyed all activities on offer this term, but are excited to know we have a few new programs on offer next term. Dance and Ball games are two of the new activities students can participate in from Term 3.

STEAM

In the final weeks of STEAM students have had the opportunity to assess their learning based on a self-assessment and teacher based assessment. Students have been able to reflect on their learning and how well they work as part of a team or individually. Next semester we will be introducing some new STEAM units. These include jewellery and Crafts, LittleBits- Electronics and movable machines.

Caroline Inglis

Secondary 9/10 Teaching and Learning Leader