Year 7 News

The students in year 7 have had a successful and very busy transition to high school. In the classrooms, teachers have been focusing on entry routines and the students have been challenging teachers to remember their names to greet them at the door. 

KPA's

Our Kurnai Positive Acknowledgements (KPA’s) have been exceeding 100 per day, I think that’s a school record! In year 7, I set a goal for our second week to reach 500 KPA’s in 5 days, the students took up the challenge and achieved 565 KPA’s resulting in a hot chip lunch to celebrate their effort and achievement. 

Year 7 BBQ

It was such a wonderful afternoon, on Thursday 8th Feb, for our Meet and Greet BBQ. We had some fantastic lawns games happening and live music thanks to the Kurnai School Band. Paula and Mr White cooked a feast of burgers and sausages, and the weather was perfect for the year 7 team and teachers to get to know parents and check in with any questions. The afternoon was truly a credit to the year 7 team, our advocate team and our education support staff who all contributed to making the afternoon a success. Thanks to everyone who came and helped out!

SRC

During homegroup, each class nominated 2 SRC representatives. The whole cohort then voted on the 8 nominees. The year 7 Team was so impressed by the candidates and how responsible the students were with their nominations, that the team decided to have 8 SRC representatives/ year 7 level leaders! Congratulations to Liam Thomson, Molly Mulder, Declan Morley, Riley Ottey, Ebby Griffiths, Tyler Aarons, Lachy Lindsay and Blake Russel the year 7 2024 SRC representatives and student leaders. 

A few messages from our SRC members: 

Our first week was great, the PE teachers are nice, Ms Gruis is kind, Mr White is a great maths teacher. The second week was as amazing as the first, Woods is great, Mr DeSouza is really great for People and Me. I hope you all have enjoyed it as much as me – Riley.

 I have really enjoyed my first 2 weeks of Highschool. I was also really nervous on my first day, but now I have settled in and I reckon I can take on anything – Lachy.

I have really enjoyed the first few weeks at Churchill Kurnai. Coming in I was really excited, but now I am settled, and I think it is a really good school – Liam.

The first two weeks at school were scary and exciting. I have met many new friends and people who have made Highschool really fun and enjoyable – Molly.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN is now in Term 1 for year 7 and year 9 students and is completed entirely online. At Kurnai we believe in “doing our best on the NAPLAN test”, this means we might be doing some practice and exposure activities to build familiarity and comfort with the layout and format of the test. 

These activities are designed to encourage and support students in knowing “what to expect” on the day and reduce testing anxiety with some low stakes practice and hints and tips on how to use the software work out any problems before the testing situation and really enable us to create a positive environment for students to feel confident. We don’t believe in “teaching to the test” and be assured this is not what we are doing, we just want our students to know what to expect and feel prepared.

Tech School

Next week, on the 22nd and 23rd of February classes will be attending the Morwell Tech School for a 'Tech Taster'. Students will be catching buses to the tech school leaving Churchill at 8:45am and returning at 2:30pm. Students will need to bring a backpack with a snack, packed lunch, and drink bottle on the day.

Athletics Day

On the 27th of February we have our college Athletics Day. Students will catch buses to and from the Joe Carmody Athletics track Newborough. Students are allowed to wear their team colours (if you’re not sure it is listed on their compass page) and dress up if they wish to. Lunch is provided on the day and the canteen will also be open. There are both competitive and non-competitive events on the day including water balloon throws, three legged races and limbo.  

Immunisations 

Year 7 and Year 10 secondary school students can receive free immunisations as part of the National Immunisation Program. Vaccines given as part of the Secondary School Immunisation Program are delivered in school settings by nurse immunisers from Latrobe City Council Immunisation Team.

You will receive information in the mail about providing or declining your consent for your child to be immunised. You will be asked to do this online, through the Central Immunisation Records Victoria (CIRV) portal. Paper consent forms are also available from school if unable to complete online. Your child can also receive immunisations at your GP or Latrobe City Council immunisation service. 

Online consent forms: www.latrobe.vic.gov.au/year7vaccinewww.latrobe.vic.gov.au/year10vaccine

Learn more about the Secondary School Immunisation Program in Victoria at: www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/immunisation-in-secondary-schools

Mobile Phone Policy and School Uniform

Year 7 students have been doing a sensational job of keeping their mobile phones in their lockers for the day. Just a friendly reminder, that the Departmental Policy is that students are not to have mobile phones during school hours. This means that if you need to reach your child, please contact the front office and they will facilitate any messages, collect students, notify teachers of any arrangements that need to be made. 

This term we have also been impressed with students' uniform, students have been doing a great job taking hats off inside and not hiding under hoods! We are supporting some students to access navy shorts/pants as they are arriving in black which is not school uniform. Also, a quick reminder students need a separate top for PE classes, if you do not own a specific PE shirt, any Kurnai polo is acceptable. If you require assistance purchasing uniform, please let us know and we will do what we can to help. 

BYOD

IT challenges have been keeping us on our toes and the recent “weather event” reminded us all how much we rely on being connected. If you need support purchasing a device/computer, please get in touch and we can discuss options to ensure all students have access to technology in the classroom.

Erin Gruis

Tear 7 Team Leader