Year 7 & 8 News

The Year 7 and 8 Team would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Kurnai Learning Community back to Term 3. The new semester is already proving to be an exciting term full of events and changes in Year 7 and 8. 

Year 7 News

Camp Coolamatong 

Late last term, 84 year 7 set off to Camp Coolamatong on the Banksia Peninsula in East Gippsland. The camp aimed to build teamwork, confidence, and relationships through the theme of resilience. Students arrived in the late morning where they enjoyed their home packed lunches and received an official welcome from the camp staff and interns. 

After lunch, the students settled into their bunk rooms and enjoyed a little bit of free time before heading off to their first rotation of activities. 

Over the next four days students participated in a range of different activities including bush cooking, climbing, and abseiling, bike orienteering, low ropes, farming, combat archery, tubing and sailing and an Indigenous session led by Aunty Cass. Students also got to enjoy a boat ride over the Raymond Island, where they took a walk around the Koala conservation and enjoy a chip sandwich lunch. 

During the evenings, the students settled into camp life, establishing routines including setting up the dining hall, enjoying a meal together and participating in various evening activities. It was great to see so many of our students come together in a different environment and flourish.

Lockers

Over the last few weeks, most Year 7s have been moved from their lockers in the yellow building into our brand-new locker bays that were completed earlier this year. This has provided an opportunity for Year 7s to share spaces with the rest of the school, which in previous years, has not occurred. We believe this fosters further community within the school, provides our Year 7 cohort additional independence and supports responsibility now that they have settled into our community. 

Electives

With a new semester, Year 7s also have the opportunity to experience new electives and languages. At Year 7, we offer five electives; Textiles, Design Technology, Digital Technology, Drama, Music and two languages; Chinese and AUSLAN. Year 7 students have four hours of electives and two hours of language a week and it has been great to see students developing their skills in new classes. 

“My electives are DigiTech and Textiles, In DigiTech we are learning about electronics. While in Textiles, we are making our Projects that contain our designs, fabric, fiber, yarn and cardboard.”

• Logan Soall, Year 7

Year 8 News

Year 8 Camp

Year 8 Camp planning is underway, and the event will be available on compass for consent shortly. The camp will run Week 1 of Term 4 (2nd -6th of October) and will be at is Kooronda Park, in Glenatipy, and is an exciting camp with a range of activities not many other camps offer including, but not limited to, horse-riding, white-water rafting, indoor rock climbing, and cave tours. As a team, we believe this camp is an important opportunity to further build resilience and relationships within the cohort, especially as they approach their final term in Year 8. If any families have questions about the camp, please contact assistant Team Leader Sarah Lewis via email sarah.lewis@education.vic.gov.au0

Electives

Year 8 students have also changed electives and languages this term. At year 8, we offer four electives; Visual Communications, Art, Cooking and Design Tech, in addition to our two languages; AUSLAN and Chinese. By the end of Year 8, students will have completed two years of languages and eight electives, which supports their skills and decision making when it comes to choosing electives in later years. 

Year 7 & 8 Swimming

This semester, Year 7 and 8s will participate in a compulsory swimming unit for one term at the Gippsland Regional Aquatic Centre in Traralgon. Consent is already live on compass. It is important that students attend swimming. Activities and skills covered include non-swimmer water confidence, stroke improvement, safe lifesaving practices, and fitness/ fun activities in the aquatic environment. All abilities will be catered for, and swimming instructors will be present. 

Year 7/8 Focus

At the beginning of every term, the Year 7/8 Team implements foci for Year 7 and 8 students. This term, we have started with the foci of being on time and brining correct equipment to class.

KPAs (Kurnai Positive Acknowledgements)

In the first two weeks of Term 3, Year 7 and 8 students have received 2,838 KPAs. This is an all time high since the introduction of KPAs. KPAs are a great talking point when speaking to your child about their achievements and how they demonstrate our school pillars. Every single KPA is a positive experience your child is having with staff and is a massive achievement.

Attendance 

I would like to take this opportunity to promote attendance; going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day. Attending and participating in school will help your child develop: important skills and knowledge to help them learn social and emotional skills such as good communication, resilience and teamwork. Children who attend school every day and complete Year 12 have: better health better job opportunities higher income across their lives. There is no safe number of days for missing school. Each day a student misses puts them behind.

Daniel Murphy

Junior Sub-School Assistant Principal

Year7/8 Team Leader