SECONDARY NEWS
From the Assistant Principal

Miss Kim Bailey
kbailey@arm.catholic.edu.au

Welcome Back to Term 4!

Welcome back to all students. The year is certainly passing very quickly. Students are reminded that this term, in addition to regular homework, assessment week is scheduled for Week 5 for Years 7 - 10. It is essential that each student apply a serious and committed effort to all areas of their work in this final semester. This should ensure that each student achieves the best possible results in their end-of-year report.

Term 4 will be very busy, with students involved in a myriad of activities in addition to the day-to-day lessons. It is essential that students employ efficient time management skills to ensure that all tasks are completed on time regardless of their participation in any of these activities.

Year 10

Transition beyond Year 10 is continuing this term. Most students have submitted their subject selections to either Inverell High or Macintyre High Schools. Each student now needs to complete the enrolment documentation and return to the school of their choice. Thanks to both schools for their assistance in this process. In particular, Mrs Snaith, Mr Gersbach, and Mr Dal Santo have been very generous with their time. We appreciate the excellent support and information provided to our students for this final stage of their school education.

Congratulations...

Rotary Public Speaking Competition - Hannah Bourke

Congratulations to Hannah Bourke, who competed in the next round of the Rotary Public Speaking via Zoom last Monday. She was awarded the winner and will compete in the district final in Forster next month.

Award Recipients

ICAS

Australian Mathematics Competition

Legacy Fundraising Volunteers

Work Experience

At the end of last term, some of our Year 10 students completed a very successful week of Work Experience. We are indebted to the local and out-of-town businesses that generously offered work placements and valuable on-the-job training to the Year 10 students of Holy Trinity School. Mrs Townsend & Mrs McLachlan worked closely with the students and various workplace supervisors to enable each student to gain maximum benefit from the Work Experience program. Evaluation reports already received have documented the excellent efforts of students in a variety of workplaces. Congratulations, Year 10!

Excursions

Students in Year 9 returned safely from their Sydney excursion at the end of last term. No doubt we will get detailed reports at an assembly shortly. Accompanying staff were pleased to receive compliments on the excellent manners displayed by the students at several venues. Similarly, Year 8 students returned from the Great Aussie Bush Camp and also had some tales to tell. The instructors at the camp made congratulatory comments about the behaviour and attitude displayed by the students. Well done to both groups, you were great ambassadors for Holy Trinity.

North Coast Nationals

The Holy Trinity Show Team competed last week at the prestigious North Coast Nationals in Lismore. Once again, the team experienced great success. Congratulations to the HTS Show Team!

Report from Mrs Townsend

Our competition schedule has now drawn to a close, with our team competing at their last show for the year, the North Coast National Show. What a show to finish on. It was the “icing” on what has been an impressive year for our show team.

The show team did an amazing job representing the school at the North Coast National Show, amassing some 13 broad ribbons for the 3 days of competition and an interview for the ABC Country Hour. The students worked tirelessly to ensure our cattle looked their best for their classes and their area was neat and tidy.

Eleven students from years 7 to 10 took 2 steers and 5 stud animals from the school stud – Willow Glen Limousin to the show. Thursday’s events consisted of the Paraders competition and the Led Steer classes. Three of our students made the final for their age group in Paraders. A great effort when there are 90 children in the age group. The Led Steer classes started with the school section and finished with the Open Led Steer. The results were:

School Section -

“Bob”, a Murray Grey cross Limousin steer bred by Mr Bob Lea, placed 3rd in the over 400kg class. The steer was by a bull the school students had bred – Willow Glen Secret Spy, who had his own successful show career.

“Bubba” is a Limousin steer supplied by Ben McMahon and Nathan Purvis. The steer was bought out of the Glen Innes Potential Steer Show and bred by Clifton Limousin Stud. He won the over 400kg class and was awarded the Champion Led Steer and 5th in the school carcass class.

Open Led Steer Section –

Bubba: 1st in the 481 to 550kg class. He was then awarded the Champion Open Led Steer. The champion school steer has never won both sections at the Lismore Show before. In the Pen of 3 purebred steers, the team of three steers were awarded the Champion team. Bubba also won the State of Origin trophy.

Bob: 3rd in the 431 to 480kg class. It is one of the largest steer classes on the day.

Stud Cattle Section -

Friday, we started very early with the Limousin Stud judging. The broad ribbons kept coming with the following results for our school stud, Willow Glen Limousin:

URA Star 11 months old bull - 1st place in the 9 and under 12 months class. Champion Junior Limousin Bull, Grand Champion Limousin Bull

Willow Glen Ultra Smart - 11 month old heifer. 1st place in the 9 and under 12 months class. Champion Junior Limousin Heifer, Champion Junior Heifer of the Lismore Heifer Show, Supreme Junior Interbreed Heifer of the show. This heifer is really special, and we look forward to showing her next year.

Willow Glen Tempest – 1st place 24 and under 30-month-old female. Reserve Champion Senior Female.

Willow Glen Universal – 1st place 16-month-old Limousin bull. Reserve Champion Junior Bull.

Willow Glen Vixen – 2nd Junior Heifer Show under 8 months of age.

The team won Champion School in the Herdsperson competition. It was great to see their efforts rewarded.

The team and I would like to thank Jay Sinclair for transporting our cattle to the show. Mr and Mrs Delaney for help to move our students.

The North Coast National Team:

Sarah Page

Jack Sinclair

Eliza McNamara

Eliza Thompson

Angus Norman

Josie Harvey

Kody Kasper

Lane Hosking

Joe Delaney

Aidan Readett

Chloe Worgan

Year 6 to 7 Transition

Transition continues this term with two more sessions. The first was today, with three lessons, and the second was on Wednesday, 30 October (Week 3). Students will continue to experience a variety of subjects on offer in the Secondary.

Year 10 Term 4 Calendar and Assessment Outline

Year 10 has been given a calendar and assessment outline for Term 4. It is a busy term, and this may help their time management and planning. They were given a hard copy, and an electronic copy was emailed. The schedule was also posted to Compass for both Year 10 students and families.

Year 10 T4 Calendar & Assessment Outline 2024.pdf

REMINDER

WEEK 5: Assessment Week

Students are reminded that assessments will be held in Week 5 for students in Years 7 – 10. For students to achieve the best possible results, they must prepare adequately for these important assessments. Students are encouraged to revise thoroughly in the coming weeks and seek their teachers' assistance if required. It is essential that students catch up on missed work if they have been absent from school. Students have been given a hard copy of their timetable; PDFs are attached below.

Years 7 & 8 Semester 2 Assessment Week Timetable 2024 .pdf

Years 9 & 10 Semester 2 Assessment Week Timetable 2024 .pdf

Uniform

Students are reminded to wear the correct uniform, including appropriate and safe footwear. It is an expectation that hair is moderately styled with natural tones and tied back if long. If a student is not able to wear the correct uniform please provide written information to the roll teacher indicating when the situation can be remedied. Hats and sunscreen are also required for all outdoor activities. Summer has arrived and it is essential that all students have a school hat or cap.

Sun Safe

The weather has been heating up rapidly and students are reminded that they should have a hat for all outside activities. Sunscreen is also available for Sport, PDHPE and other outside lessons, however, best protection is provided with the combined use of a hat and sunscreen. School caps are available from the Uniform Shop. Please ensure that your child has the correct school uniform cap or hat.

THURSDAY 31 OCTOBER: Crazy Sock Day and Coin Drop

Next Thursday, students can participate in Crazy Sock Day to raise funds for Catholic Mission. There will also be a coin drop, and students are encouraged to bring a gold coin donation.

FRIDAY 1 NOVEMBER – 2 NOVEMBER: Vinnies Sleepout

The Junior Conference of St Vincent de Paul is holding a sleepout at Holy Trinity School Hall from Friday 1 November to Saturday 2 November.

The aims of the sleepout are:

To give students an opportunity to spend time appreciating what it would be like to live without the privileges they have.
To allow students to celebrate the works of St Vincent de Paul.
To raise money for those less fortunate in our world.

STUDY SKILLS TIPS

PREPARING FOR BLOCKS OF EXAMS

For many students, a block of examinations can be daunting. Some students have no idea where to start and what they should work on. The first thing to do if you have examinations approaching in the next few months is to find out what topics will be tested. Even a simple question to teachers can get you started such as ‘are we being tested on the whole year’s work or just this semester?’. Once you know what topics will be covered, organize all of your learning materials and make sure nothing is missing, and you have everything you need to review those topics. The next step is to make study notes on these topics if you haven’t been doing this throughout the year (hopefully you have!).

Next it is time to start learning the notes (testing yourself on them over and over) and doing practice questions to make sure you can apply your knowledge to different types of questions.

If you have a number of weeks prior to the examinations, it is a good idea to make a plan in your diary or phone or on a whiteboard of what subjects you will study when. Try to allocate each subject once or twice each week, depending on the number of examinations you have.

Critical Thinking Skills

There are many things students can do to develop their own critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is your ability to think clearly and rationally, reflecting and developing your thoughts. Sometimes we can get a bit lazy with our thinking and we only consider things at a superficial level. Here are some things you can do to enhance your critical thinking.

CLARIFY YOUR THOUGHTS: The best way to clarify your thoughts is to try and explain your thinking to someone else. Even if you are talking to an imaginary person, you will find that explaining your thinking out loud helps you to see the flaws in your argument.
QUESTION ASSUMPTIONS: Don’t take your thoughts for granted, every now and then think about why you believe a certain thought or how you know things to be true. Get in the habit of pausing and looking at what you are thinking and questioning what thoughts underlie your assumptions. Don’t just conform and accept a view because it is the popular one; instead, pause and reflect on the arguments for and against that viewpoint and the strengths of each argument.
LOOK FOR OTHER PERSPECTIVES: When you are presenting an argument, imagine yourself in a debate and think about what the opposing side might say. What would someone with a completely opposite view to you believe? Can you understand why they might think that way? Can you see some validity in their viewpoint?
KEEP AN OPEN MIND: In order to look for other perspectives keep an open mind. If you immediately dismiss any thought that does not fit into the way you see the world, you will never be able to expand and develop your viewpoints, you will have a very fixed and limited view of the world.
BE CURIOUS: Start to look outside the things you normally read and watch and think about. Learn more about things you know nothing about and were not previously interested in. Listen more to what people say, we learn so much more when we really listen rather than spend time planning what we will say next.
MAKE INFORMED JUDGEMENTS: It is ok to not have an opinion about something because you don’t have enough information yet. Avoid rushing to judgements, take your time to gather information and evidence and assess it before making a decision. Try not to let yourself be swayed by emotion as this can affect your ability to assess information intellectually.

REMEMBER to accept the invitation to Google Classroom Guardian Summaries

Device Policy

Students are not permitted to use their devices unless instructed by a teacher. This includes both the classroom and the playground. The students are aware of this policy and receive constant reminders in Pastoral Care and their teaching classes. There are also many posters displayed all around the school.

If a student needs to use their device, they must first seek permission from a teacher and use it in an area designated by the teacher. This is usually under their direct supervision or outside the Secondary staffroom.

If students cannot follow this policy, their phones are confiscated and placed securely in Miss Bailey's office, where they are collected by the student at the end of the school day.

Teachers record each time a device is confiscated. After it is confiscated for a second time, it remains at school until it can be collected by a parent or carer.

Making Contact with Teachers in the Secondary

If you have any questions or concerns about your child's learning or wellbeing, please contact Miss Bailey, your child's Pastoral Care teacher or their subject teacher. We are only too happy to assist.