Year 8 News

Hello everyone, 

Not long now until the end of term, and how quickly has this term flown by? There is lot’s going on in the school, as always, and I look forward to sharing a few of those with you. 

Our students are hard at work completing their CAT’s (Common Assessment Task’s) and starting to review their learning from across the term, identify areas of future learning and celebrating the new knowledge and skills they have consolidated. Students are also getting a lot of green KPA’s and hopefully you have been getting lot’s of texts home letting you know about the positive learning behaviours they have been displaying. With the end of term nearly upon us, let’s take a quick look at a few things our students have been up too.

LBU Reward Lunch

Recently we acknowledged the strong start to the year our students have achieved by giving students who achieved an LBU of above 3.5 a certificate at assembly. We had many students across the year level get above a 3.5, or get very close to, which is amazing to see. As well as being acknowledged at assembly and receiving a certificate to put in their professional portfolio; students who achieved a score above 3.5 also were rewarded with a hot chip lunch and can of drink. The next round of LBU’s are due out shortly after me writing this article and I look forward to seeing the amazing effort our students have put in recently, be acknowledged in those reports. 

KPA and Attendance Awards

Each year level assembly, we celebrate the hard work our students are putting into their learning. One of the ways we do this is to have a raffle. Each green KPA a student gets counts as an entry. We are averaging over 430 green KPA entries a week, a significant increase from the 140 we averaged last year. There are three winners each week, the first person drawn chooses a random number from a hat and get the associated reward. These rewards include drinks, chocolates and the mystery prize. There is a lot of interest in the mystery prize, and while no-one has been lucky enough to draw the mystery prize, I’m sure it won’t be too far away. The 2nd and 3rd student drawn get a chocolate prize.

Another focus we celebrate each week is attendance. Those who have attended the full week prior to assembly, go in the draw for a prize. There are many legitimate reasons our students may be absent from school, and this can be unavoidable. I am looking for ways to acknowledge those who have been able to maintain a high attendance level and am working with students on how to best acknowledge these individuals beyond the weekly draw. I have shared the following statistics with our students to highlight the impact that a day off 'here and there' can have on learning:

If you miss 1 day every 2 weeks.

That’s 20 says in a year.

Which is about 4 school weeks or almost half a term of learning missed.

As we head towards some cooler weather, it is important that our students do what they can to look after themselves. If they are unable to attend school, especially if for an extended period of time, it is important that they keep an eye on Compass or contact their teachers to be supported with learning material, so they can reduce the impact of the absence on their learning. If you need support with this, any absences or other issues, please contact the school.

Kurnai Athletics Day

On Tuesday 27th of February, a group of our students participated in the Kurnai College Athletics day. Although we had a number of our students absent from the day due to attending camp, the day was still well enjoyed by those who attended. Forsyth (blue house) once again got the win. Well done to all the students who participated on the day and to those who were successful in making to the next level of competition. Well done to Leah Tassell for her individual success and for being the age group champion for the college.

Parent Student Teacher Conversations

At the end of this term, we have the opportunities for families to come to the school and have a conversation with staff about their child’s learning. These opportunities are a great chance for families to sit with their child and staff to talk about the learning that has occurred across the term, celebrate their achievements and plan for continued growth moving into term 2. Below are some key details:

Dates: Wednesday, March 27th, from 3:30 pm to 7:00 pm

             Thursday, March 28th, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm

Location: Our conversations will be held at the Churchill Campus

Bookings: Bookings will open in Compass from 9am on Wednesday 20th March: 

https://kurnaicollege-vic.compass.education/

Classes will proceed as usual on Wednesday, March 27th, and students are required to attend. There will be no scheduled classes on Thursday, March 28th, and students are not required to attend school.

Year 8 Karoonda Park Camp

On the 26th of February, a group of our Year 8 students headed up to Gelantipy to Karoonda Park for a 5-day camp. During this time, they had the opportunity to participate in many exciting experiences, such as white-water rafting, horse riding, hiking, abseiling and much more. A great time was had by all, with fun activities, awesome food and stronger bonds formed. It was great to see the growth of our students over the week as they faced new challenges and grew from each experience. A big thank you to both the students, for being and awesome group, and parents for supporting your child to have this unique experience. I also want to thank the staff who gave up their time to attend the camp and help make the camp a success. 

"Camp altogether was a great time and we had so many highlights along the way!

Our main highlights were the activities we did and the experiences we got to have. For most of us it was our first time doing these activities but some of us had done them before, giving support to each other along the way.

The first highlight was abseiling next to the lake. Some of us were really scared to give it a go but with the help of the amazing staff that came and participated at camp giving confidence and comfort to all students.

White water rafting was an epic experience, going through the rapids and taking a swim at the side of the river, getting splashed by the surrounding rafts and laughing having a good time. After the rafting heading back to our campsite next to the river then getting changed was a good feeling.

Some people are afraid of heights so horse riding didn’t sound as exciting to them but they still gave it a go and loved it in the end! Its surprising to see everyone have a go and feel the excitement and thrill.

Doing the Flying fox after or before abseiling had a breath taking view of the lake and Australian bush area surrounding us. Some of us holding the rope and others letting their hands free enjoying the wind hitting them.

We even had dance parties in our dorms before bed to get tired then go to sleep. These are our experiences from camp and we hope you have an amazing experience like we did!"                                                              

 - Andy, Sage, Mia, Amira, pippa 

Art

3D models of Game Characters

Game Character Posters

Two-point perspective city street

Concerns or queries

If you have any concerns or queries about any of the items mentioned above, Year 8 student matters, or just general inquiries, please do not hesitate to give the year 8 team a call on 51323700 or email Matthew Suter.         

Matthew.Suter@education.vic.gov.au

Matt Suter

Year 8 Team Leader