Junior School settles into Term 2

Both our Year 7 and Year 8 students have hit the ground running in Term 2. Across both year levels, students have engaged in purposeful goal-setting linked to our Learner Behaviours, reflecting on how they can grow as learners and peers. Our Year 7s have also begun receiving regular, planned homework in their subject classes, helping them build strong study routines and develop greater independence. 

We’re excited to be further strengthening our Home Group program this term with two focused and age-appropriate themes: 

• Strive & Thrive (Year 7): Encouraging students to challenge themselves, step outside their comfort zones, and grow in confidence 

• Mindset Matters (Year 8): Supporting students to develop resilience, problem-solving skills, and a growth mindset as they navigate the middle years of schooling. 

Earlier this term, we completed a full locker reshuffle, now organised by house and gender. This change was made to ensure that our locker bays remain respectful, inclusive, and safe spaces for all students. 

Farewell to Kiran 

This week we say farewell to Kiran Tibb, our incredible Junior School Admin Support, who has accepted a well-deserved promotion in the Disability and Inclusion team, working alongside Lucy Maxwell. Kiran has been a constant in the Junior School for the past four years and has played a huge role in shaping and supporting Year 7 and 8s. She brings warmth, compassion, and a sharp sense of humour to everything she does, and for so many students, she’s been a trusted adult and safe, familiar face. It’s no exaggeration to say that we’ve had a steady stream of Year 9–12 students visiting the Junior Office daily, simply to check in with her. 

Kiran has been right beside me as I’ve led three different teams within the Junior School. Her continuity in the role has been invaluable, and I’ve always felt confident entrusting her with countless requests, tasks, and new initiatives. No matter how busy things were, she approached everything with positivity and reliability. 

Kiran, thank you for everything. Your dedication, warmth, and humour will be missed more than you know. 

In Week 5, we’re excited to welcome a new member of staff, Jessica Simms, to the Junior School admin role. 

Student Reflections 

Finally, we’ve asked some of our wonderful class captains to reflect on Term 2 so far and what’s happening in the classroom. Their insights are shared below: 

Vaahin N – Year 8  

Term 2 has started with some really fun and interesting lessons. In German, we're learning about different kinds of food and how to say them in German, which will lead to us going on an excursion to the Queen Victoria Market later this term. We're studying the film Black Panther in English, which helps us learn about storytelling and different cultures. In Law and Order, we’re preparing for a mock trial based on Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which will give us some insight into how court cases work. In Science, we’re using microscopes to look at plants up closely and study their cells. I’ve enjoyed the start of this term and am looking forward to everything coming up. 

Mohammad – Year 8 

After a wonderful School Holiday break, our cohort has seen a wonderful term with a well settled, back to school routine. We have had many events and activities throughout the Year, and which were all fun whether for CAT’s or for other school activities, they were all great! During Week 2 on the 1st of May, our school’s Open Afternoon had class captains, and many other leadership roles at the school, participate in touring and guiding families around the school throughout the different exhibitions as well as helping them understand, school standards, expectations, extracurricular activities and many other things, It was an honour to represent the school, and I personally loved the experience!  

For our Elective and Academic Subjects, in Law and Order we have had to write and make an Advertisement and Speech to present for a specific cause, my group had chosen the Raise the Age campaign. For Science, we have been learning about Cells and different types of them, and other units of life accompanied with Cells. In English we are doing a Movie Analysis on the Movie of Black Panther. In Moneywise we are doing budgeting and analysing money flow by helping others in different scenarios, calculate their budget accordingly to their Savings, Income and Expenses. In Geography we have done a lot like learning about how to read specific Maps (Topographic) and about Plates, Tectonic Borders, Mountains and Glaciation. Lastly for Maths, we have been doing Index Laws of which we will have a CAT very soon! What we have been doing so far has been very interesting and fun and I hope we do much more in the future!   

Careena – Year 7 

We have kicked off the term with a blast, with everyone in good spirits and ready to learn. We have gotten used to unlocking our lockers, learning our folder colours and timetable plus overall adjusting to high school.   

In Geography, our topic has been about 20-Minute Neighbourhoods, and this is about creating more local, accessible neighbourhoods, reducing urban sprawl and aiming for a more sustainable future. Our learning has been applied in creating a presentation showcasing our neighbourhood and whether we are able to deem ours ’20-Minute Friendly’, including designing a map, taking photos around our neighbourhood and giving in-depth explanations for how we accumulated our data.  

Science this year has allowed me to learn so much since this was not a subject for me in primary school. This term, we are learning about cells and biology, and the learning material has been easy for me to comprehend. Even prior to the start of this topic, biology has forever fascinated me and continued to make me want to learn more.  

I hope that everyone can continue with this energy throughout the term and year, and let’s crush term two like we did for term one!   

Azaan – Year 7 

Our first term of high school has been fantastic with term wo already living up to it. Term two has been filled with many exciting events and many more in class activities.  

 In English (GAPP) we have been reading ‘City of Ember’ by Jean DuPrau and have started an analysis project on the characters. In this project we break down different things about the character including their traits, the important things that they do and how the character grows and changes throughout the text. It even has a creative aspect to it in which we design costumes for the characters that we think fit their personality. 

In Music we have been doing an analysis on a chosen musician or band and have been researching different aspects of their music as well interesting facts about the band, how it got its name etc. We also are required to choose a song by them and research the musical elements of that piece. 

So far term two has been amazing and is bound to get better. We can’t wait to see what term two (and the rest of the year) has in store for us.