Middle School

Commedia dell'Arte workshop

On Thursday the 23rd of May, our Year 9 Drama class participated in a Commedia dell'Arte workshop. Commedia dell'Arte is an improvised comedic theatre form that originated in Italy in the 1500s. At the workshop, we learnt about the different types of masks, characters and expressive skills. We played lots of games and activities involving wearing masks and playing as characters. We also did many pop quizzes related to the Commedia dell'Arte characters and their connection to popular TV show characters. Rosa, who was the lady who took our class, was very knowledgeable about Commedia dell'Arte and was very confident in what she was teaching. Overall, it was a really wonderful and fun experience that we all enjoyed. 

Amelia S. 9A

Year 7 Molecular Gastronomy

For the past five weeks, students in Years 7A-E have been undertaking a Molecular Gastronomy STEAM integrated unit which has combined their Science, Food Technology and Maths lessons.  Students were tasked with trying to solve the problem “How can practices in Science and Mathematics be used to create new and exciting food?” This was achieved by looking at the Science behind food in terms of States of matter, Positive and Chemical Changes, Molecules and the Five Senses and how they all play a part in what we cook and eat. In Maths students investigated the role in which Measurement and Fractions play in everyday cooking and recipes.  

Students were given the opportunity to cook new and exciting things in Food Technology such as fruit spaghetti and for the first time actually got to do some cooking experiments in both Maths and Science.  N2 Extreme Gelato visited the school to demonstrate how they use molecular gastronomy to make gelato out of liquid nitrogen culminating with each student getting to create their own yummy gelato. Finally at the end of the unit student were tasked with designing in groups their own unique food that incorporated many of the molecular gastronomy techniques learnt in each of the classes with some exciting dishes such as “the dessert hotdog”, “dumplings and Bolognese sauce” “eggs on toast” and “Meatloaf cake”. Overall students agreed that the unit was a fun and exciting way to learn about Science, Maths and Food Technology!

Jodie Purches & Gillian McGuinness

STEAM Teachers

Student Selected Reading Program

During Semester 2, Doncaster Secondary College will run a ‘Student Selected Reading’ program in Year 7 & 8 English classes. This will be run for Year 7 in Term 3 and for Year 8 in Term 4. Instead of book-listing one novel for the whole Year 7 or 8 cohorts to study we will be providing students with a selection of 5 novels to choose from.

Offering a selection of novels for students to choose from aims to:

1. Provide students with an opportunity to have a say in their own learning
2. Offer reading options which cater for a range of reading levels
3. Enhance student engagement in reading

Students will be given a chance to find out about the genre, subject matter and the general plot of each text during their English classes and will also be provided with an opportunity to read a few pages of each text before making their decisions.

Students will be asked to rank the novels that they are interested in reading in order of preference, and then teachers will provide guidance to ensure that the selected novels will support students to further develop their reading ability, but will also not be too challenging to engage with.

Due to these reasons, students should be aware that they may not receive their first choice of novel and may be allocated to read their second choice.  Once students have had their choice of novel confirmed, a Compass Event will be created requesting payment for the text.  Parents are welcome to purchase the text that has been selected for their child second-hand or at any convenient book store.

We would like to thank you all very much for your support in assisting us to offer this exciting reading program for your children.

Fiona Cowan

Head of English