English and Science News
English News
It has been another productive term in the English faculty, with all year groups completing high quality learning experiences.
Our new Year 12 students have started their HSC courses with enthusiasm. It has been wonderful to see many students reading their prescribed text during the study breaks in the library. The classes have been preparing well for their first assessment task in Week 10. It is important that Year 12 students use the summer holidays to reflect on the first unit of work, and read their texts for their upcoming modules.
The English faculty was impressed with the positive attitude and engagement displayed by Year 10 during the Taster Lesson week for the Stage 6 Preparation Program. Year 10 students were provided with an opportunity to experience English Advanced, Standard and Studies style lessons. They are now encouraged to reflect and decide which course suits them best.
Year 9 classes have been working on a range of creative tasks this term. Some classes have been learning about the Horror genre, and are working towards completing a range of engaging tasks. Other classes have continued with the media and manipulation unit and are currently finishing a digital newspaper. A number of Year 9 students attended the Making Waves English Enrichment Day held at Ourimbah University. Here, there were a number of workshops that developed a range of important English skills. Award winning young adult novelist Will Kostakis ran creative writing workshops, and students also had the opportunity to work with a live action Shakespeare company, multimedia production experts and a slam poet. It was an enjoyable day and I’d like to thank Mr Herring for accompanying the students on the excursion.
As the year draws to a close, we are sadly saying goodbye to some colleagues in English. Mr Mitchell Herring, who has worked with us in English for the past two years, is moving into the HSIE/LOTE faculty next year.
He has been a passionate member of the team, and we will miss his humour in the staffroom. We are also saying goodbye to Mr Daniel Quilty. Mr Quilty has been successful in gaining a permanent teaching position at a school closer to home in Sydney. He has been an integral part of our faculty and school over the past four years, and he will be very much missed by the whole school community. We wish him well in his future endeavours.
We would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday break.
See you in 2020.
Mr Blake Wawrzyk
Head Teacher English
Science News
Term 4 has been very endothermic (requiring lots of energy) for both students and staff. Students have worked hard to complete their final assessments and teachers have provided students with quality feedback. Overall the students did well and we encourage them to have a restful and safe holiday.
Year 7 and 8 YAP students have spent the term studying energy. We have learnt about the different forms of energy and how they transform from one to another. They have learnt to distinguish between parallel and series circuits and where these are used in their everyday lives. Year 8 have been investigating the Earth and all the resources we obtain from it. We hope that they have also developed an appreciation for the importance of protecting and conserving our environment, so that it can provide for us long into the future.
Year 9 have been closely examining the structure of the Earth, in particular the crust and how its movement produces volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. They have enjoyed modelling volcanic eruptions and have developed an appreciation for how many earthquakes occur in Australia, even though we are in the centre of a tectonic plate. They have hopefully come to realisation that the topography we see around us is due to the movement of the plates that make up the Earth’s crust. Unfortunately they have also seen the devastating consequences that these natural disasters can have on people’s lives.
Year 10 was only with us for the first 6 weeks of this term and spent this time looking into the past at the stars. They had their minds blow trying to fathom the scale of the Universe, struggling to understand the time continuum and how this fits into their day.
Year 11 have moved into their Year 12 courses at the beginning of this term and have been working hard to make a solid start to their final year. We encourage the students to have a restful holiday and spend some time reviewing and summarising the content they have completed this term. These summaries can be shared with their teachers to seek feedback that they are on-track to what they need to be including. Glossaries of key terms are also a great way to build knowledge of course content.
A special congratulations to the two students in Year 11 Chemistry who entered the Australian National Chemistry Quiz. Tai Ho received a High Distinction with an amazing score of 29 out of 30 and Xiang Qiu received a Credit. Well done to both students!
Starting Term 1, 2020 we would encourage students to consistently review their class work and produce summaries to help prepare for their formal tests. This could include highlighting key words and ideas and using these to formulate glossaries and a couple of sentences that can be written in a separate book as a summary to be reviewed in preparation for an assessment task.
Ms Louise Watkiss
Head Teacher Science