Year Nine
Spanish
In our latest unit, our Year 9 Spanish students have been exploring the exciting world of media! We've delved into various TV shows and cinema genres, and music styles, learning not only how to talk about our preferences but also how to make comparisons in Spanish.
A highlight of last week's lesson was watching the animated short film *Cuerdas*, written and directed by Pedro Solís García. This beautifully crafted, touching film holds the Guinness World Record for the most-awarded short film in 2019. It's been an engaging way to practice our language skills while learning about Spanish culture.
In addition to exploring media, we've been using Pear Deck's 'Flashcard Factory' feature to create visual prompts for new vocabulary terms. Students had a great time with this activity, bringing their creativity to the forefront. It was fantastic to see everyone's artistic efforts, which made learning new words more engaging and helped reinforce our understanding of the vocabulary in a fun and memorable way. ¡Buen trabajo a todos!
Music:
School Band Rocks the Assembly with Stellar Debut Performance
We’re thrilled to announce that our school band made a remarkable debut at the recent assembly, delivering an impressive performance that captivated the entire secondary school. With just one song on their setlist, the band showcased their talent and hard work in a way that left everyone cheering.
Rehearsals took place during school hours, and the students dedicated themselves entirely to preparing for this moment. Their enthusiasm and commitment were evident in every note as they took to the stage. The song they performed was a high-energy rock/pop hit that had the whole assembly buzzing with excitement.
The performance was a testament to the students’ teamwork and the skilful guidance of our band directors. The band’s ability to come together and deliver such a polished performance in front of their peers was awe-inspiring.
A big thank you to all the students, staff, and parents who supported the band’s journey and cheered them on during their debut. We’re excited to see what’s next for our talented musicians and look forward to more performances in the future.
Congratulations to the band on a fantastic start you really rocked it!
If you would like to see the performance, please click on the link below.
Financial Literacy
Here are some student reflections from Term 3.
This term in Financial Literacy, we learnt about fiat money, gold standard, inflation, takes and more. Next term, I look forward to learning about different types of assets that can help us in the long run. - Bushra 9A
This term in Financial Literacy, we covered topics such as jobs, fiat money, mortgages, taxes, and asset investments. Using the information we had learned, we were then required to make a PowerPoint presentation covering said topics to explore our future prospects, allowing us to apply the skills we learnt. - Frank 9A
In Financial Literacy this term, I learnt about the concept of inflation, fiat money, the gold standard, and how money was once tied to a physical object. Something I realised that I previously did not know is how to calculate the percentage of items out of your salary. For next term, I am excited to learn about cryptocurrency and investing. - William 9D
In Financial Literacy this term, we covered many of the different exciting concepts. One of the things we covered was how inflation works, and personally, this was one of my favourite lessons as Mr Ma was able to make it really fun by making it realistic for us with the use of fake money. We also covered how money used to be linked to the value of gold before 1971 in the United States, and this was changed due to the Nixon Shock, a series of reforms by the former president of the United States, Richard Nixon. Near the end of the term, we started on a project in which we are trying to figure out how to financially manage our own lives for the roughly the next ten years. Overall, I really enjoyed financial literacy this term and moving on to Term Four. I want to learn how to set up a bank account and learn more about economics. -Jazzi 9A
Term Three Financial Literacy classes helped me to strengthen my thinking skills on money. For example, I never really thought about where the gold standard or fiat money originated from and how the value of fiat money actually worked after the gold standard was abandoned. A new skill I also learnt was learning the formulas to find a percentage of something compared to my salary. I definitely benefited from these classes, and I thought the project was an excellent way for everyone to use all the skills we have learnt. In Term Four, I would like to learn about methods and strategies on how to spend money more wisely ( eg. houses, amenities, food, etc...) - Cyrus 9B
In Term Three, during Financial Literacy, our class focused on revising our knowledge of Interest, savings, and mainly taxes. We learned how to calculate taxes, the different systems other countries have in place to tax their citizens, and why the tax system exists. We also looked at some of our aspirations later in life and calculated the tax for each of us based on our potential future jobs. - Vedant 9A
The things that we uncovered in Financial Literacy this term were the gold standard and fiat money, as well as some basics of financial literacy like income and expenses, needs and wants, budgeting and interest, etc. We also looked at some careers and the salaries for those careers, as well as taxes and take-home pay. We investigated further by looking at the houses we could afford and see if we could live comfortably. We are currently working on a research project going in depth about our future in our careers, houses, cars, etc. -Versace 9E
