Secondary News

Year 7 2021 Transition

On Tuesday, 9 November, we welcomed our Year 7 students for 2021. This day encompassed a variety of secondary based activities and lessons; showcasing what Stage 4 in St Philomena's Catholic School is all about. 

Overall, the students had a great day, participating in practical PDHPE, Music, Art, Science and Japanese lessons. 

Year 10 Excursion

Year 10 are had a wonderful time at Lake Ainsworth Recreation Centre in Lennox Head. They spent their days kayaking, playing basketball, exploring the headland, improving their aim at archery, swimming at the beach and ten pin bowling. The cohort returned last Friday. 

Two of the Year 10 students have written a personal recollection of their week away.

"Last week, Year 10 jumped on the bus at 6 am and headed to Lake Ainsworth in Lennox Head. We were welcomed to the Recreation Centre and guided towards an archery range. Stepping up to the bar, we gazed in awe as Jacinta Davis, without error, hit a bullseye time and time again. On the other hand, Mrs Lam's aim was rather questionable; however, so was Mr Clark's. 

Stand-up paddleboarding was a favourite among the group. Beginning with some wobbles, we eventually transformed into fully-fledged-Olympic-medalist stand-up paddleboarders ... within a matter of minutes. Some decided to expose their concealed quarrels, by pushing others off their boards into the tea tree leaf infused lake. Jackson Morris, being the speed demon he is, pushed people off their boards left and right — but all in good fun. 

Sailing was also a favourite between us. We got into groups and set sail into the extremely high-speed winds of Lake Ainsworth. As Lilly Chimfombo and I effortlessly glided through the water, in the distance, we noticed something not so strange. Piper Phillis, Courtney Brazel and Rachel Jennings had capsized and were left stranded in the middle of the lake. But not to worry, they were rescued — unfortunately, along with Piper. The next day, we were taken to a nearby beach and discovered a scatter of jellyfish adjacent to the shore. My first instinct was, "throw one at Lilly", so I did. And as usual, elucidating an overly dramatic reaction from her.

After a long week of activities, laughs and fun, we loaded back onto the homebound bus. Compared to the first bus trip, everyone was rather quiet  — it must have been all the late nights, especially in Mrs Lam's case."    

Ryan Devney

"Last week the Year 10 students, along with Mrs Lam and Mr Clark, travelled to Lennox Head to stay at the Lake Ainsworth Sports and Recreation Centre. While we were there we took part in activities including archery, stand up paddleboarding, kayaking and sailing. 

When we arrived Monday afternoon, we were straight to archery where Wyatt did not live up to everyone’s expectations of him. Whereas, Jacinta was by far the best out of us all with Mr Clark not far behind. Monday night we went for a walk into town for some groceries and ice cream and everyone was very amused by all the crabs that were on the beach on our way home. 

The next morning, Dan, our instructor, took us for a walk up to Lennox Point and then back down for a swim at the beach. That afternoon we did stand up paddle boarding where it was hard to say who was the best because as soon as you stood up the boys were right there to push you off back into the water again. Although, Lukey does deserve an honourable mention considering if he stood up he was off without any assistance from anyone! We made the decision to stay in for Tuesday night and enjoyed a campfire, made some damper, I also attempted making pizza which ended being a lot more difficult than anticipated.  

On Wednesday morning, we took the kayaks to the other side of the Lake and went back down to the beach for another swim. Again, Lukey was the worst falling out of his kayak more times than I can remember. However, Ed and Jackson definitely did live up to their best bromance status by being the only ones in a double kayak. In the afternoon, our last activity at the Sport and Rec Centre was sailing. Everyone did fairly well, although Piper, Courtney and I did manage to nearly tip our boat leading to Courtney and myself ending up in the Lake swimming after Piper as she continued on in the boat. After that, we were very nervous, especially when the front of one of our hulls went underwater. After these few hiccups, we managed to do just as well as everyone else. 

That night we went to Ballina to do some bowling, where Ed Montgomery showed up everyone there with an impressive score of above 200. On Thursday we travelled to Tweed City for a day of shopping, which the boys did not look forward to at all. Then, on Friday, we made our way home with a bus full of very tired people."   

Rachel Jennings