QUEST

Year 10 English – An experience of Shakespeare 

Year 10 students recently had the exciting opportunity to see a live production of Shakespeare during their recent excursion to see the Sport for Jove production of Romeo and Juliet in Sydney. This unique outing transported our students into the world of Shakespearean drama, offering them a chance to witness the timeless tale come to life on stage. 

Accompanied by our dedicated teachers Mrs Douglas and Ms Smith, 55 enthusiastic students embarked on this cultural journey, immersing themselves in the captivating performances, stunning set design, and masterful storytelling that the production had to offer. The excursion provided an invaluable opportunity for our students to engage with classic literature in a dynamic and interactive way, deepening their understanding of the themes, characters, and language of Shakespeare's iconic play. 

Recycling for wellbeing 

The wonderful Mrs Miller has been hard at work facilitating some recycling in the main quad using her mini-bins. Not only does this ensure recyclable materials go to the right place instead of into landfill, she has been saving the money from the Return and Earn deposits for student wellbeing! She plans to use these funds to provide the students with rewards to make them smile – what a wonderful initiative for our students. Please encourage your child at home to recycle so we can continue to save funds. 

New curriculum approaches 

The English faculty have been hard at work planning for the new English curriculum and we are so excited about the opportunities this will afford our students to engage with all things English in a new and refreshing way. We hope to have parent volunteers involved in classrooms in 2024 so if you are interested (or if you have extended family who may be interested) please email me at samantha.golding5@det.nsw.edu.au so we can discuss this. 

Year 9 Getting ‘hooked’ into their learning 

Year 9 have been studying the topic ‘Movement of Peoples’ in History this term, learning about the Industrial Revolution period and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade with a specific focus on child labour and slavery; and how child slavery continues to be an issue in modern society. At the beginning of the topic, students engaged in an in-class ‘Hook Event’ aimed to help build some empathy for children of the past. Students were given tasks such as using tweezers to repeatedly pick up paddle pop sticks and arrange them in specific colour pattern to give them some understanding of the repetitive and physically difficult nature of working in British match factories in the 18th and 19th centuries. Another task was for students to measure and mark out the dimensions of space that each African slave was provided on the slaver ships travelling from Africa to America in the 16th-19th centuries; and attempt to sit and lay within this small space for a few minutes to develop some understanding and empathy for the horrific conditions experienced during this time in history. The hook event was a great start to our learning this term and as the term has progressed, students have also had the opportunity to investigate the issue of forced child labour in today’s chocolate and fashion industries and consider the social and economic power they have as consumers to make ethical decisions about which chocolate bars and fashion brands they buy. Feel free to ask your child which chocolate companies make the ‘naughty and nice’ list!   (See photos in photo folder). 

In Week 3, Year 10 students had the opportunity to attend an excursion to Stockton Beach to learn about the devastating impacts of coastal erosion due to human interference with the natural processes of oceans. As many are aware, the erosion of Stockton Beach is a significant geographical issue having severe consequences on a local community and this excursion linked the syllabus to real world issues and provided students with valuable experience in learning to use geography fieldwork equipment and participate in the national Ausmap micro-plastics study by gathering data on ocean litter to contribute to the government funded research project. Check out our kids in action in the photos below.  

Year 8 Quest “Liveability” Project 

In the past two weeks, our Year 8 students have been learning about the concept of liveability and applying this to their local community and school environment. In class, they have started a collaborative project in small groups to identify an aspect of KKHS that could be improved upon; and design a ‘product or service that would address this need. Some ideas being generated by our year 8 students include recommendations for a new school canteen menu; the introduction of an online canteen ordering app; a school beautification project utilising student artwork; and a new design for the already existing and very popular bucket hat, as we enter into the summer months. These are just a sample of some of the great ideas our Year 8 students are developing in class at the moment. The next stage of their project is to create a presentation and persuasive pitch that will be selected to present to Mr Hope and Ms Brady; and convince them to transform at least one of these projects into reality.  

Soul Hub - a special milk delivery

Thank you to everyone who helped us in our collection of long life milk to take to Soul Cafe.  Soul Cafe general manager, Matt Ortiger, spoke to our Year 12 English Studies class as a part of their Local Heroes unit.  Inspired by the work Soul Cafe does, the class decided to lend a hand and with your help, delivered 200 cartons of long life milk to the cafe earlier this term.  We'd like to share a part of the letter we received from Soul Cafe with you here:

Dear Abbey Noone & Kurri Kurri High School, 

Thank you for your incredibly generous & much needed donation of 200 cartons of long-life milk to Soul Hub. Your incredible support has been greatly appreciated by our guests and has hugely contributed to our Soul operations. We always describe Soul Hub as "a compassionate community response to some deep community needs". With no government funding Soul relies on the generosity & compassion of the Newcastle community for our existence. It is donors like you that fuels Soul Hub and supports our mission of serving all who walk through our doors. We consider everyone who supports Soul to be a Hero. Every donation of baked beans, every donation of $1,000, every act of volunteerism al I adds a bit more Soul to Soul Hub. Each week Soul Hub provides hundreds of free meals to some of the most vulnerable in our community and connects our Guests to critical support services including our Soul social work and medical clinics, podiatry, audiology, chiropractic, legal and accommodation services, Centrelink, and hairdressing....

Kind regards, 

Matthew Ortiger 

Soul Hub I General Manager