Senior School News
It has been a busy few weeks in the Senior School! Recently the students and teachers took an immersion excursion to Sovereign Hill, Leadership initiatives are in full swing and interschool sport has begun. Please enjoy some of the recounts of these below.
Sovereign Hill
The bus was buzzing with excitement as all of the St Joseph’s students arrived at Sovereign Hill! As soon as we got off, we were all assigned to go to an old fashioned wooden table to eat our delicious snacks and sandwiches. Not only did the St Joeys kids nearly burst out with excitement, they also could barely eat the snacks and sandwiches because of the outstanding view of all of the old streets that were held at Sovereign Hill! The adventure was just beginning.
Mining
The first thing we did at Sovereign Hill was go through the gold mines and experience what it felt like to be a miner in the olden days. One by one, we walked into the mines feeling excited and scared because it was almost pitch black! It took about 12 minutes to go through the mine, the first stage was climbing up the ladder. We were walking straight for a while, but then there was a shake and everyone screamed! Then we saw a replica of one of the biggest gold pieces that was found in Sovereign Hill called 'The Welcome Nugget'.
Gold making
As we were learning about gold, we needed to know how it was actually made! So we took a little tour to see how gold is made. We all sat in chairs like a cinema with another school. The smelter (his job is to melt gold), talked us through the steps of making a 24-carat gold bar. Firstly, he had a fire in a furnace set up and melted real gold. He told us it was like the game Minecraft (if you've ever played it before), and it really was like the game. Secondly, he did this really cool thing where he took the gold out with what looked like a giant spoon. Next, he carefully poured it into a gold bar mould. You might think it’s done by now, but not quite yet! Finally, he held out the mould with fireproof gloves and put it into a big bucket of water. Keep in mind the gold is still really hot, so lots of bubbles came up. Eventually, it came out amazing with a sparkling touch.
Gold panning
Panning for gold was a great experience. Each person got a pan or a sovereign shovel to search for gold. If you have ever been to Sovereign Hill you would have seen a small lake with rocks and little bits of gold that people can find when they put their pan in the water. You’ll collect many pieces of gold but if you find a piece it’ll be very small and it will be dark, but shiny and you could find yellow rocks they’ll be light but unfortunately not gold.
Lolly Shop
The lolly store was definitely a highlight! There were jars and jars of delicious lollies. They had red lollies, grapes, salted caramel humbugs and more.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our trip to Sovereign Hill was a complete success. Everyone loved the lolly shop, the gold mine, panning for gold, the gold pour and the whole experience in general. I think we can speak for everyone when we say that Sovereign Hill was an awesome way to experience what life would have been like back in the ‘good old days’.
Year 6 Mother's Day Leadership Initiative
On Friday the 9th of May, all of the St Joseph’s Mums and Special People gathered at school. There was a lovely breakfast with delicious snacks and scrolls which everyone enjoyed. The Year 6 Mother's Day Leaders helped out a lot with this event. Handing out flowers was a great way to start the morning, and it gave all of the mums a big warm welcome.
After the delicious breakfast, we all set off into the atrium to listen to the Year 3's present their wonderful assembly on their amazing Mums! It was a real tear-jerker! They told many stories, lots of fun experiences and made everyone laugh. The mums of St Joseph's are truly amazing in and out, and not even words could explain how grateful we are for them! Overall, the morning was a big success, and let’s just say we got through a lot of coffee!!!
The amazing Mother's Day was run by the helpful Year 6 Mother's Day/ Social Justice Leaders: Poppy, Liam, Lara Rose, Charlotte, Jamieson C and Penelope.
Both recounts were written by the Social Justice Leaders: Poppy, Liam, Lara Rose, Charlotte, Jamieson C and Penelope
Elaine Shanahan
Year 6 Classroom Teacher and Senior Level Leader
eshanahan@sjelst.catholic.edu.au