Junior School Update

Year 7 Update

Lucy Anderson, Sophie Balfour and Keeley Aglinskas

The second half of Term 3 has flown by for our Year 7 students. They have completed their assessments for all subjects, demonstrating the skills and knowledge they've acquired. We’re incredibly proud with their results their continued academic progress.

This term, our Year 7s participated in a cyber safety workshop, where they learned about staying safe online and the repercussions of negative behaviour. The session was engaging and offered valuable lessons. They also enjoyed a series of inter-school sports events, showcasing their sportsmanship and seeing their training come to fruition.

The term concluded with Wellbeing Wednesday and Fun Friday during our Spring Break week. Wellbeing Wednesday featured activities focused on mental and physical health, including incursions, sports, and art. The week wrapped up with an excursion to either Gravity Zone or the Enchanted Adventure Park, providing a fantastic end to a busy term. We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the students outside the classroom and celebrating their hard work.

We cannot believe that we are heading into our last term of Year 7 with this amazing bunch of kids. We look forward to a positive and successful term 4.

Year 8 Update

Tiegan Whitby, Jade Kairys and Tim Bunawan

What a quick 10 weeks this term has been for our lovely year 8s, we have had a busy term filled with subject selection, careers, incursions and excursions. Year 8s completed their year 9 subject selections early in the term which sparked lots of excitement about upcoming opportunities and career pathways. This tied in really nicely with students learning in ICARE where they have been working on creating resumes, cover letters and working through career tools which is a platform they will be utilizing until year 12. 

We were really lucky to celebrate this fantastic term with the year 8s last week with Wellbeing Wednesday and Fun Friday. Wellbeing Wednesday students were treated to some great activities in pottery, volleyball tournaments and incursions from ‘The Flourish Project’ and ‘Brother Nature’. These incursions  explored student self-confidence, the impact of peer pressure and how to navigate the tricky teenage years. 

We then finished off the term with a great excursion to ‘Gravity Zone’ and the ‘Enchanted Maze’. Students jumped, flipped and slid down slides all day. It was great to be able to have some fun away from the classroom with the kids and celebrate what has been a really successful term.

Year 9 Update

Robyn Williams, Georgia Skilton and Lenita Engelke

Term 3 has been all about career opportunities for year 9 with two big days out of the school for our students on excursions.

On Thursday 29th August a group of year 9 students went to the careers open day at the Newport Rail Academy. Students heard about the range of careers available through the rail network and got to explore the training facilities. Students took part in activities to explore the roles of signal box operators, they were given a tour of the museum which showed students how the signal box operations have progressed over time. They engaged with the engineers and got to play with the tools they use to direct and control trains throughout the network, we learned how they solve problems and control the movement of trains.  Students went out on track and experiences the work of rail engineers and rail line workers and were given a demonstration on safety when working on a trainline. Student toured a station and train and explored the train drivers cabin and saw how a train is controlled. They spoke to station operators and gain knowledge of the vast roles and opportunities across this industry. Students used VR headsets to explore working on the rail network and were emersed in a number of different scenarios. Students finished up the day in the classroom working with microbots to build their own trainline with stations and they programmed the bots to move through the student designed trainline and stations.

On Friday the 13th of September a group of Year 9 students headed off bright and early for a special opportunity to visit the Puckapunyal Military base which was opened up for the day to schools for a careers open day. It was a jam packed day filled with many experiences including: touring the base and visiting the training facilities for schooling, physical training, outdoor combat training and vehicle exercises. Students experienced a combat training demonstration and then practiced a mock combat training exercise. They saw multiple demonstrations by army personnel in the tanks and saw other military vehicles in action on the training grounds. Students explored the tanks, climbed inside and saw the workspace of a soldier/driver. During the tour students gained knowledge of the range of career options available in the army and defence forces.