Faculty News

Learning Assistance Faculty (LAF)

As a part of the school's well-being project, students and staff in LAF has revamped the garden outside the LAF admin office. They all worked collaboratively as a team to get the job done. They garden looks amazing!

This term during Food Technology in LAF, students studied the topic 'Food for Specific Needs' and learnt about different food and nutritional needs at different stages of the life cycle. They also studied different food needs due to personal preference, cultural and religious reasons as well as diet related disorders. Students applied their knowledge into the practical setting and made various dishes to cater for people with specific food needs which included gluten free chocolate chip cookies and brownies, vegan bean sausage rolls and lactose intolerant friendly pizza. Students definitely enjoyed sampling all these new and different types of food!

Ms Billie O'Toole wishes to bid all staff a fond goodbye and say thank you for the wonderful opportunity to work alongside staff at Evans since 2014. She will be moving to a permanent role as a Special Education Teacher at Lithgow High School in Term 4. We all wish Ms O'Toole all the best with her new role!

English

Year 7:

In Term 3, Year 7 have studied a unit titled 'Out of Africa'. We have been reading a novel called Journey to Jo'Burg by Beverly Naidoo which follows the courageous journey of two young siblings from their hometown to Johannesburg in the historical context of Apartheid, a perilous period of racial segregation in Africa. Students are working closely on improving their imaginative writing skills and they will showcase this in their upcoming Assessment Task. Students are engaging well with the novel and assigned activities in this unit. 

Year 8:

During their studies this term, Year 8 have been investigating the value of diversity, inclusion and kindness. They have been comparing the representation of these key ideas in both the novel Wonder by R. J. Palacio and its filmic adaptation Wonder, directed by Stephen Chbosky, which follows the story of August Pullman, a young boy with a facial deformity, as he tries to find acceptance in his new high school. Throughout the unit, students have been developing their critical thinking skills by analysing the various ways novels and films create meaning. Students have been working on representing their understanding of these ideas in their end of term assessment task - a comparative essay. Students were supported in completing this assignment throughout several lessons that were dedicated to analytical writing skills and using an ALARM scaffold to plan their responses during weeks 8 and 9. 

Year 9:

This term Year 9 read and explored Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. In this unit, students focused on analysing the play’s context and how Shakespeare used characterisation to represent ideas about human nature and motivations. In the last two weeks, students were supported in class to work on their essay assessment task on Macbeth, focused on extending their critical thinking skills. Students were provided with a detailed ALARM scaffold and quotes sheets to build their understanding of how to write a formal essay and their confidence in supporting their points with quotes from the text. Students are to be commended on how well they worked in class to build their skills in essay writing.

Year 10:

This term, Year 10 have undertaken a comparative study of William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew and the film 10 Things I Hate About You directed by Gil Junger. Students focused on the representation of gender roles and expectations and how these have changed over time. In their analysis of each text, students focused on identifying language and film techniques and how they were used by the composer to represent attitudes and perspectives. In their essay assessment task, students were provided with a detailed ALARM scaffold to assist them to structure their response. Several lessons were assigned in class to support students in their completion of the task and to build their confidence in their analytical essay-writing skills in preparation for their Stage 6 studies in English.

Year 11 Standard English:

Year 11 students have engaged in the analysis of a multimodal text, the BBC series ‘Sherlock,’ in Standard English this term. Through their study of the text they have developed an understanding and appreciation of the ways that different communication technologies shape the ways that we read, navigate, understand and respond to texts. They have worked on developing and refining their ability to identify visual and language techniques during the analysis of scenes from the three episodes and write analysis paragraphs on the themes conveyed by the composers of the series. Currently they are working on an enrichment activity where they have a go at adapting a short story, of their own choice, into a screenplay and creating a multimodal text of their own based on the screenplay.   

Year 11 Advanced English:

Students undertook a close, critical study of William Shakespeare’s play Othello this term. They explored ideas around jealousy, prejudice and the downfall of a tragic hero. Throughout the term, students completed analysis questions for most scenes in the play, creating TEE tables of important quotes and composing a series of structured paragraphs to continue to build their essay-writing skills. The class excelled in their critical thinking skills and showed skill in their ability to perceive the motivations of characters. Attached is a reflective/imaginative text composed in the recent Yearly Examination by a student in response to a given stimulus, showing a well-developed skill in engaging an audience through poignant and interesting critical reflection.

Year 12 Standard English:

This term, our HSC students have been undertaking a comprehensive revision of all studied modules in Terms 1-3. A range of activities have been developed to assist students with their essay, imaginative, persuasive and discursive writing. Students have been exposed to a number of sample works and critiqued their own work to refine it further in preparation for their HSC examinations. A collection of Past HSC Trial Examinations has also been provided to students on a weekly basis to prepare them for the short answer questions in Paper 1, Section 1 of the HSC. Students are working steadily towards preparing their study materials across all modules and are in good spirits. 

Year 12 Advanced English:

This term students completed their study of Module C: Craft of Writing and undertook their Higher School Certificate Trial Examinations. They have been undertaking revision activities in each module since their examinations, preparing and submitting practice responses from all modules for teacher feedback. Students are encouraged to maximise their attendance at this important time of the school year and continue to prepare and submit their draft responses.