SCHOOL OF INNOVATION

Term 4 continues to provide many rewarding opportunities and experiences for our School of Innovation! We welcome back our Year 9s following their camp to Waratah Bay last week, and thank our staff for their efforts in supporting our students to have such an amazing time!

We are continuing to make the most of our learning time and opportunities this term, and are continuing to build on and develop our skills, celebrating progress, achievement and joy.

We thank you, our parents and carers, for continuing to support us in supporting your students.

Thank you!

Rach Chapman and Callum Thompson 

(School of Innovation Leaders)

To conclude their exploration of solutions and mixtures in Science, Year 7 students engaged in a practical application. They were tasked with sorting a complex mixture comprising nails, coconut, salt, and sand. The students employed various separation techniques, utilising a magnet for extracting the nails, flotation to isolate the coconut, filtration to separate the sand, and evaporation to recover the salt. The students enjoyed organising the mixture. 

As part of their assessment, students are now challenged to create a poster. This poster should feature images and detailed descriptions of the techniques they employed to successfully unravel and separate the components of the mixture.

In Maths, the Year 7 students finished their last assessment for the year based on Geometry. A group of budding artists completed a transformation project, where they skilfully drew, reflected, rotated, and translated an image on a Cartesian plane. Simultaneously, another set of students embarked on a fascinating Pythagorean spiral project, where they were required to draw a spiral and work out the length of the hypotenuse for the first nine triangles. After, they used creativity and colour to make their spiral in an image.

As an activity and to apply many of the mathematical principles learned across the year, Year 7 students completed a Paper Airplane tournament. Students had 30 minutes to research and develop the best plane they could, and then competed in a knock-out style tournament to see whose innovative design came out on top. In 7b we had Tom Harrington take out the first tournament, while Gurman Singh improved upon his design to throw his second plane across the entire stage area of our college.

There once was a man who hated the outside world- people, cities, towns- so basically

everyone and everything. He lived in a small town in a small neighbourhood. Everyday, he

woke up hearing kids outside yelling, screaming and cars driving past. He hated every part of it. His house looked like it was built 50 years ago and his plants at the front of the house

were fully dried up, the inside was full of cobwebs and spiders, it was dusty, and the walls

were fully grey because of the dust.

One day he woke up, brushed his teeth made some morning tea and started watching TV… like normal, but the man felt weird, his teacup was shaking on the table, soon his chair started shaking and his TV then the man had enough of it, he thought it was an earthquake. He hid under the coffee table until it stopped. He ran to see his window to see what had happened. But when he looked from the window instead of seeing people, houses, his neighbourhood, he saw mountains. The man was confused, so he had one thing to do and that was go outside. He didn’t want to but he had to, so he opened his door and opened his eyes. What he saw was the impossible. He was on an island, a floating island. For once he felt peaceful, the view of the mountains, no yelling or screaming kids, no cars racing past, no sounds of house parties, no nothing. Just the sky, the clouds, the mountains, the trees, his, house and his floating island. 

At first, he felt pretty remote and isolated, but then he saw three big trees. In the middle of the trees was a stone and on the stone was a light shining through. He slowly started walking to it. He started to raise his hand to touch it… he hesitated, but he touched it. As soon as he touched it, plants started to grow out of the stone. There was a whole tree full of any food you could ever want, a fountain that turned into any drink you wanted, and a whole wall made of plants giving you whatever you want.

The man turned his face and looked at his house. The plant on the front yard grew into

such pretty flowers, his walls inside were white again, the spiders and cobwebs were gone, his house was nice again.

His life was nice again.

You won't believe your eyes!

Over the last five weeks students have been looking at optical illusion art. Students were shown artworks from artists such Maurits Cornelis Escher amongst other artists of their own age. The students were asked to use this inspiration to complete three examples of an illusion artwork. The students were then to complete a larger scale illusion which merged and entwined their examples with each other in the same artwork. The students have been very creative and inventive in the way they have completed this task.

What can a strip of wire be turned into when placed into the creative hands of an artisan?

Well, a penny-farthing and rider, if you're Darcy Buttigieg.

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚!

With beakers, retort stands, clamps and a warmed milk mixture, Year 8 students put on their chemistry hats to create a spongey, crumbly and somewhat smelly reaction…CHEESE!!!

Taking extreme care to heat milk to 74°c adding lemon juice and stirring, the precipitation reaction was underway resulting in clotting. Allowing the milk-clot to sit for 10 minutes, the students then filtered the milk through a cheesecloth to separate the curds and whey before revealing CHEESE… but not the best kind to put on a cracker!

In Maths, the Year 8 students successfully concluded their final assessment of the year, focusing on the topic of Probability. Each student was provided with a bag of M&M's, tasking them with calculating both the experimental and theoretical probabilities. Additionally, they demonstrated their proficiency in simplifying fractions and showcased their comprehension in determining the sample space and its elements.

The students found this assessment particularly enjoyable, as they had the experience of indulging in the M&M's they had been working with throughout the task. 

Learners designing their dream homes!

A cross-curricular lesson with aspirational applications, students used a mathematics lesson this week to integrate  proportion and perspective (Art) with geometry and measurement.

 Year 9 Endless Possibilities Project

This is what it is all about!  Fascinating, in depth, inspiring, entertaining, today's Year 9 expo showcasing  the students' Endless Possibilities Projects was simply astounding.

From the historical significance of Anne Boleyn, to the origins of the universe, to the importance of physical and nutritional health and beyond, the students' impassioned and and engaging presentations were as diverse and impressive as the researchers themselves.

An opportunity to be thoroughly informed, the Year 9 students welcomed students from across the college to share their term's worth of rigorous inquiry and were also at the ready to answer eager questions.

With more news to be shared about the year 9's Endless Possibilities Projects in the final edition of il giornale, here are just some of the topics on display today:

The Wild West

Power over People

Healthy Cook Book

Space

What is Optimal Health?  

Criminology

Art in Islam

What Makes a Good Movie

The History of Mixed Martial Arts

The History of Ice Skating

The Importance of Fairy Tales

Sikh History 1984 

MCG Construction

...and much, much, more!

Surf's up and hang'n' ten 

Year 9 students and staff were up at the crack of dawn ready and eager to hit the pristine sands of Waratah Bay, west of Wilson's Promontory last Wednesday.

Though a tranquil location of effortless beauty, the Year 9s whipped up a storm of fun hitting the waves surfing, hiking the promontory and enjoying a whole host of activities that only a beach camp can offer.

Class Resources

Our iPads! Please ensure that any damage is reported to Pastoral Group Leaders and IT staff to ensure that it can be rectified as soon as possible. iPads must be fully charged each day and it is encouraged that we adopt good habits to assist us with this. 

We understand as we are in Term 4 that sometimes our resources such as folders, books and pens can be a little worse for wear. It is important that we continue to care for our resources and ensure we take all required items to class to best assist us with engaging in our learning. If an item has been damaged or lost, it will need to be replaced so we can continue to undertake our best learning in Term 4 as we complete the year. 

Term 4 Uniform Update

It is that time of year again where the sun is shining and our students are required to wear their school hats as part of the term 4 uniform. As we are a Sun Smart School it is vitally important that the students within the School of Innovation are able to role model this behaviour to our younger students within the School of Wonder. This is essential to ensure that all of the students at the College are protected from the damage the sun can cause during the Spring and Summer months. If your student requires a hat, they will be able to purchase one from the school uniform shop. 

Important Pastoral Group Information

At St. Anne’s College, all students within the School of Innovation are allocated to a Pastoral Group. These groups are overseen by a Pastoral Group Leader and currently comprise students from their respective houses: Montessori, Charles, Cooper, and Majella houses.

Each morning, students commence their day within their Pastoral Groups. This time involves participation in morning prayer, a welcome to country, and updates about the day's news and events at the College. This period holds significance in allowing our students to establish strong connections with their peers and their Pastoral Leader. Consequently, our students are able to cultivate a strong sense of community at St. Anne’s College.

Our Pastoral Leaders also seize this opportunity to implement the three core principles of Gratitude, Empathy, and Mindfulness (GEM), which stem from our school-wide program conducted by the Resilience Project. These principles encourage our students to contemplate and recognize the positive facets of their day-to-day experiences both at the College and at home. This practice ensures that our students embark on each day well-prepared for successful learning and meaningful connections with others.

Given that this session only spans 10 minutes each morning, it is imperative that students are punctual and actively participate within their designated Pastoral Groups. If students miss this period or arrive late, they will forfeit this crucial initiation to the school day.

We extend our gratitude to all parents and caregivers for your sustained support in ensuring that this routine is upheld for the continued success of our students.

Important Uniform Information

A reminder that all School of Innovation students are required to wear their academic uniform items each day, except for sports days or other nominated days when their sports uniform items can be worn. Please ensure your student is in their full academic uniform. If this is not possible on a particular day, please send a note, including the date your student will be able to be in full school uniform.

A dress code, in particular a uniform, provides a visual connection to identify students as members of St Anne’s College community. The way a uniform is worn makes a statement about our college and it represents the fact that the student is a part of the community.  The benefits of a school uniform include:

• Allows all students to feel equal

• Helps prevent bullying and competition on the basis of clothing

• Ensures students appearance reflects the expectations of St Anne’s College

• Enhances the profile and identity of the College and its students in the wider community

• Strengthens the spirit of community within St Anne’s College

• Enhances individual student safety and group security

• Ensured all students are dressed safely and appropriately for school activities

• Encourages students to develop pride in their appearance

• Prepares students for the expectations in workplaces

• Encourages students to present themselves appropriately for a particular role

Thank you for your support.