7/8A

Secondary 7/8A has had a great term 2.

In Literacy, our topic has been How can I look after my mental health?. We have read the books Dear You, Love From Your Brain, Ups and Downs, Hey Awesome and Hey Warrior. These books were used to explore our brain, its function and how to keep it helpful.

We started our unit through dissecting sheep brains, explaining through. We then explored the Amygdala. Lastly, we explored meaningful activities that help our brain when our Amygdala is trying to protect us. Throughout these books we have explored cause and effect and pronouns, as well as answering literal questions.

In Maths, we have been learning about counting and place value. We explored how to count to 150 and skip count by 2s, 5s and 10s. Additionally, we practiced writing and reading two digit, three digit and four digit numbers.

Not only have we been working hard in our learning, we practiced independence through attending camp. Students had a go at many activities including archery, possum glider, flying fox and high ropes.

Secondary 7/8A should be very proud of what they achieved in term 2.

7/8B

Term 2 has been an action-packed and engaging term filled with memorable experiences, hands-on learning, and exciting challenges. Students have continued to grow in confidence, strengthen their friendships, and develop their independence across a wide range of settings.

A major highlight this term was our overnight adventure to Camp Toolangi, where students challenged themselves with activities like the possum glider, frisbee golf, and flying fox. It was wonderful to see students step out of their comfort zones, support one another, and build resilience while enjoying the natural surroundings and making lifelong memories.

Another exciting opportunity has been our ongoing involvement in the 7/8 Spectacular rehearsals, where students have been learning choreography as part of this year’s performance of Rock and Roll all Night. Their dedication, teamwork, and enthusiasm have been impressive, and it’s been fantastic to see them shine on stage and build confidence each week.

In our Learning Program, we explored the theme of mental health and the brain, gaining a deeper understanding of how emotions affect our thoughts and behaviours. A standout moment was the dissection of a pig's brain, which gave students a fascinating, hands-on look at the structure, parts, and function of the brain and sparked many thoughtful conversations.

We’re incredibly proud of the growth and curiosity shown by every student this term. Their willingness to try new things and support one another has made Term 2 a great success.

Bring on Term 3!

7/8C

Secondary 78C has enjoyed an action-packed term. Toolangi camp was a great start, and so much fun. Some of our class attended overnight, and others did the ‘day trip’. No matter the choice, we all had fun participating in the activities – flying fox always being the favourite, on which I was excited to get a turn this year!

We celebrated some birthdays, including our ES Emily, and welcomed a new student, Jalal, into our class. Scarlett won a lunch order in the Student of the Week Wheel Spin. Our Discovery topic, Mental Health, allowed us to explore different ways to look after ourselves. We discussed ‘The Big 5’, that is Meaningful Activities, Healthy Thinking, Goals and Plans, Healthy Routines and Social Connections.

In Maths, we worked on Number. Some of the class consolidated number values, some worked on 10-frames, whilst others used MAB blocks to represent numbers. We finished the term with a focus on the language of Position.

For the culmination of ‘Goals and Plans’ we discussed and planned a special class activity. Secondary 78C first learnt how to vote, then voted on different aspects of the party, food, drink, the day of the week and entertainment.

The class of 78C wish the Concord community a restful Term 2 holiday.

Lise

7/8D

During Term 2, Secondary 7/8D have been learning about the different parts of the Brain such as the Amygdala, Cerebrum, Cerebellum and Brain Stem. Students also got to look at a Sheep’s Brain and touched it to see how it felt.

Secondary 7/8D have been focusing on Mental Health and strategies to keep the brain healthy, such as exercise, meditation, eating well and good sleep. Students have enjoyed participating in discussions about what activities they can do for their Mental Health, eg:. playing sport, colouring, drawing, listening to music, dancing, playing games.

During Art, Secondary 7/8D have been learning about one point perspective. Students have their name on the piece of paper and draw lines using a ruler from each point of a letter to create their artwork. Students enjoyed learning about the different ways they could design their name.

In Food Technology, Secondary 7/8D students were learning about the topic healthy eating. The students enjoyed learning about the colours of the rainbow by going through the different fruits and vegetables for each colour and naming them. Secondary 7/8D have also been cooking yummy food and learning about what they can eat for breakfast such as toast with vegemite and making a salad sandwich for lunch. The students also enjoyed practicing their chopping skills while cutting up fruit and vegetables.

Secondary 7/8D had lots of fun learning in Term 2

7/8E

This term Secondary 7/8E have enjoyed many different experiences such as attending Camp Toolangi, and incursions such as Project Rockit and the visit from Police Liaison Officer Nicole. All of these experiences focused on building connections and healthy relationships with peers.

Our main focus for the term has been Mental Health. Students have learned about the Big 5 of Mental Health - Meaningful Activities, Healthy Routines, Healthy Thinking, Goals & Plans and Social Connections. We read various mentor texts in literacy related to Mental Health, such as “Up’s and Downs”, and “Hey Awesome”.

At the beginning of the term, students took part in dissecting a lambs brain, where we learned about the different parts of the brain and their functions. Students then learned about how to support their own mental health by doing things they enjoy, setting goals and looking after their bodies. We enjoyed a class party as a meaningful activity which we planned as a group.

In Maths, students learned about a variety of topics under the umbrella of number and place value. We practiced partitioning numbers, skip counting and subatising. Students particularly enjoyed whole class activities where we skip counted using a hundreds chart, or identified 10 more and 10 less.

We also began Spectacular rehearsal for our show Rock & Roll All Night, where students began learning their dance for the show, “We Built This City”. Students really enjoyed dancing with Hallie from The Australian School of Performing Arts, and I cannot wait to see them shine on stage.

Overall this term has been fantastic and very busy! I look forward to seeing what Semester 2 brings.

Madeleine.

7/8F

We started off Term 2 with a bang at Camp Toolangi, where everyone enjoyed each other’s company away from school. We ate yummy food, we danced up a storm at the disco and we faced our fears with some really cool activities such as the flying fox, possum pull, high ropes and archery. It was fantastic to see our class thriving in this different environment.

Callum - The high ropes were the best because I got up so high!

Yuann - I enjoyed hanging out with my friends.

Back at school we’ve been learning about our brain and mental health. We even did an experiment where we dissected a sheep’s brain, which was both fascinating and a bit gross! We could clearly see the cerebrum (the part responsible for thinking and imagination), the cerebellum (the part responsible for balance and motion) and the brain stem (the part responsible for bodily functions like breathing). We also learnt about our amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for our emotions. We used our hands to represent our brain to show how we ‘flip our lid’ when we start feeling a big emotion. We built a house to show the different rooms our amygdala can take us and practiced different ways to help get us back to the green room (calm and happy).

Jess - The brains were cool but I wanted to throw up!

7/8G

Secondary 7/8G have worked together to learn and have fun during Term 2.

Students began the term by having a great time at Toolangi Camp, where they had many positive experiences while doing fun activities. Some favourite activities were the High Ropes, where some students almost got to the top and the Flying Fox. Some girls also starred at the evening Disco, showing off their dance moves and singing skills.

A highlight was doing a ‘Brain Dissection’ lesson, which was heaps of fun. Students had lots of different emotions and feelings, but most were curious and happy to; touch, cut and investigate the sheep brains. We read and wrote about the brain and now know the 4 main parts and their functions.

We built an amazing 3 storey, ‘Emotions House’ and students each have a room on each level. The ground floor is blue and this is where we go if we are sad or lonely, the middle floor is red where you would find us if we were angry or mad and the top floor is green. We spent most of our time on the top floor because we are calm and happy. Our learning and participation in meaningful activities leads to all of us having better individual mental health.

We are all Spectacular! Students had fun rehearsing to learn all dances and their lines for our performance of ‘Rock and Roll all Night’. “Let’s Rock”.

7/8H

Secondary 78H started the term off having a wonderful time together at Camp Toolangi. It was great to see the confidence of the students grow over the two days and they had such a fun time.

Back at school we continued on with our learning about the different areas of the brain and what the function of these are. The class learned that each area is in charge of something different, such as our emotions, our balance and involuntary actions such as breathing. We learned all the different ways to care for our brain such as creating healthy routines, setting goals and partaking in meaningful activities.

ALLIED HEALTH

School Holiday Program