High Potential Learners

Janelle Santolin

Leader of Pedagogy

As this term draws to a close, our students reflected on how they are feeling about their time in the HPL program. Here are some snippets of these reflections:

I was very happy to be able to be a HPL student and I still am. I have enjoyed being able to advance my learning the most in my HPL subjects. (Elyse, Yr 7)

So far in HPL, I have loved the experience of going that one step further in all my core subjects to stretch and test my abilities.  (Cade, Yr 7)

I felt that the opportunity to be able to participate in the HPL program for all of the subjects was amazing.  I enjoyed that I was able to extend my learning capabilities throughout Term 1 with my core subjects in HPL. (Elia, Yr 7)

This term in HPL English I have learnt so much and have had a lot of fun. I am loving studying our novel, "The Giver". (Elise, Yr 7)

HPL has been fun and enjoyable. I have enjoyed testing my abilities and learning new things. (Jacob, Yr 7)

I feel very grateful to have the privilege of being a part of the HPL English community and am excited to continue challenging myself in this subject next term. (Jasmine, Yr 7)

So far the HPL program has helped challenge and improve my learning abilities, and I have loved that I can advance my learning in the new program.(Bella, Yr 7)

HUMANITIES (HISTORY): MUMMIFICATION EXPERIMENT

This term, the Yr 7 HPL Humanities class participated in an experiment to test the ancient art of mummification. This was achieved with apple slices, salt, and bicarb soda. The trickiest part of this experiment was getting the measurements correct! We deduced that not only did the apple slices need to sit in the powder mixture for longer, but a more effective ratio of ingredients was needed to effectively draw out the moisture of the apples. I don’t think we’ll be taking on the role of ‘professional mummifiers’ any time soon, however it was amazing to get some hands on experience for our unit of study. - Ms Benedetti

Because this project was such a great opportunity for historical inquiry, it wasn’t only the HPL students who participated. 7.5 Humanities also mummified a range of fruit, including pear, plum and cucumber. (Yes, cucumber botanically is a fruit as it grows from flowers and contains seeds.) We predicted that the weight of each piece of fruit would decrease after being mummified, however we did not expect how withered and shrivelled each piece of fruit would become. Most fruit pieces reduced in weight by almost two-thirds, which told us they were very high in water content. Whilst most of our mummified fruit didn’t look or smell so appealing, the plum was another story.

Ancient Egyptian salty plum

After three weeks of being mummified, this plum reduced its weight by more than two thirds. We predicted that if it had another 6 weeks in the solution, it would look like a salty plum that you buy in the shop today. It certainly smelt like it! It was sweet and salty at the same time.

SCIENCE

Year 8 HPL science students had a delicious end to the term. As an end of term task, they had the opportunity to apply their learning and use their creativity to design and construct a solar oven to cook “S’mores”. With assistance from Miss Hallal, they implemented technology in their ovens, through using Micro:Bits to digitally track the temperature in the ovens. - Mrs Chapman

TESTING FOR HPL 2022

Applications for our HPL program have now closed. For those of you who have submitted applications, you will receive an email early next term with further details of the testing time and procedures. Please note, the testing date for the program will occur onsite at St Mary’s, on Thursday 29th April starting at 2:15pm. If you foresee any problems with your child being able to attend, please contact the college as soon as possible so we can make alternative arrangements.