Junior School Update

Year 7 Update

Lucy Anderson, Sophie Balfour and Keeley Aglinskas

It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through our final term with this incredible group of Year 7 students! Term 4 is always busy, and this year is no exception.

Our students have jumped straight into their final units of study, focusing on completing their classwork and final assessments. We are incredibly proud of the progress they’ve made throughout the year. Our students have a few more weeks left of their Year 7 classwork before they start Year 8 in the Jumpstart Program.

So far this term, 12 of our students participated in a transition event, where they welcomed teachers from local primary schools to explore our new facilities. They shared insights into our Year 7 classes and highlighted our successes, showcasing the wonderful representation of our school. Additionally, three students accompanied Miss Balfour to Hastings Primary School to assist with their athletics day. They helped run events like hurdles, the 100m sprint, and long jump, demonstrating impressive leadership skills while interacting with the younger students.

We also had a strong showing in the WPSC Maths Competition, with many Year 7 students participating. A special congratulations to Noah Doll, who took first place! The top 10 students will now compete against peers from all year levels in the whole college round.

In sports, our junior lawn bowls team, represented by two Year 7 students, finished 3rd in the junior competition. Our Year 7 girls’ and boys’ hockey teams also competed at the regional finals at Malvern Hockey Centre, with the girls finishing 3rd and the boys coming in 4th.

We’re looking forward to an exciting finish to the term! Please keep an eye on your emails for information about upcoming term events.

Year 8 Update

Tiegan Whitby, Jade Kairys and Tim Bunawan

We are closely reaching the end of Year 8, which is really exciting for our amazing cohort! There is lots of chatter about electives and they are all ready to embark on their next year of high school.

Our year 8s are currently working really hard with the preparation for their Shark Tank Day, all students are currently working in small groups to create and market a product. They are all competing for a massive prize and the ideas are amazing, we have Christmas candles, cleaning products and lots of friendship bracelets. We will keep you posted with the results from the day.

We have also been starting the week with homegroup all together to ensure we start the week off on a well, this has allowed us to communicate our goals for the week and ensure all students are aware of an events that are upcoming. This has been a great way to celebrate the achievements of our students and has been helping towards building the excitement for our ‘Best and Carest’ afternoon later in the term.

It has also been really good to see students actively trying to complete their maths homework on time, just a reminder that students are required to complete this 30 minutes of homework every week. With redemption sessions running on a Thursday at lunch time.

To wrap up the year we are also excited for our excursion to Melbourne Zoo, there is more information coming up on this but it will be a great way to wrap up the year. 

Year 9 Update

Robyn Williams, Georgia Skilton and Lenita Engelke

On Wednesday October 23rd – Mrs Skilton took 16 students from Yr 8, 9 and 10 into the city for the Future thinkers event. Students took part in a day to explore the design process. Students were given the opportunity to work hands-on with industry mentors from WSP Australia which is an Engineering company based in Melbourne. Students heard about how they use the design process to tackle problems of practice to ensure they remain effective and competitive in the industry.

Students worked in small groups with a mentors on a problem and then went about identifying the key stakeholders, constraints and limitations, possible solutions and explored their ideas through brainstorming and teamwork. Students worked together with the mentors on their project for the entire day and finished the day presenting back to the whole group on their solution and action plan for tackling their problem. This was a great experience and opportunity for our students.

Our Year 9’s braved the elements for day one of city experience on Friday October 18th. The Year 9 team and ICARE teachers took our students into the city for a tour of a number of major iconic locations. Students were guided around using public transport and visited key sites around the CBD area. The students didn’t let the 25mm of rain stop them from enjoying the opportunity to wander the Queen Victorian Market and enjoy a lunch stop at a Melbourne eatery.

Day two of city experience presented with beautiful clear skies, however, saw us deal with a different kind of interruption buses replacing trains on the Frankston line in the morning. Our students got to experience firsthand the annoyance of transport delays and the impact was a loss of time for our Amazing race activity. 

Once we eventually arrived in the city students set off to visit and photograph key landmarks and managed to navigate the CBD using the transport network of trains, trams and by foot to their planned stops and locations. This excursion has allowed students to building confidence in travelling around the city and use the public transport network as well as, see some interesting sights along the way.

Day three of our city experience will be our final outing on Thursday November 14th, where our students have planned their entire day with their groups and are looking forward to a fun filled day.

Numeracy Learning Specialist Update

Matt Wright

We’re thrilled to share the impressive achievements of our Year 7 and 8 students with the introduction of the Sparx Maths Homework Program this term. This new initiative has not only enriched our students' learning experience but also brought an extra level of excitement and engagement to their maths homework.

So far, our students have truly risen to the challenge, collectively answering an outstanding 39,000 questions. This effort translates into an additional 576 hours of focused maths study outside the classroom—a remarkable demonstration of their dedication!

The Sparx program includes a points system to keep students motivated and engaged. Students earn points by completing assigned questions as well as taking on independent questions, allowing them to explore more challenging concepts and reinforce their skills. This approach has helped foster a positive, competitive atmosphere among students as they strive to increase their scores and achieve their personal best.

A special mention goes to our leading students in the program: Summer Farrell, who has earned 12,456 XP points, Chaz Harrison with 11,984 XP points, and Maverick Gibbons with 11,347 XP points. 

Their achievements reflect both their hard work and enthusiasm, setting a fantastic example for their peers.

We’re proud to see how engaged our students are with this innovative approach to homework, and we look forward to more impressive results as they continue their Maths journey with Sparx. Thank you for your continued support in making learning at our school engaging and rewarding!