Secondary School

On this page: Year 11 Forensic Psychology: Crime Tours / Culture Day / Year 7 Orientation / Class of 2024 Exhibition / Year 9 Slam Poetry / Paris Plage

Upcoming Key Events

For all calendar dates, please see the School Calendar.

Year 11 Forensic Psychology: Crime Tours

The ‘Bicycle Bandit’ robbing ten Adelaide banks while on shift as a police officer, notorious criminals trading bikie gang secrets with police for pizza, and powerful Australian gun laws rapidly reducing firearm crime in our country. These are just some of the fascinating South Australian ‘behind the scenes’ criminology cases explored on our crime tours with our amazing forensic psychologist tour guide Nikki Gent over the past two weeks. 

Nikki’s career includes Police Officer and Criminal Forensic Psychologist, and she currently works as a clinical psychologist helping young people who have committed serious crimes.

The SACE Forensic Psychology unit for Year 11 aims to unpack what life events and personality traits can cause people to commit crime, how forensic psychologists are involved in defending or prosecuting criminals in court, how criminal profiling is done, and how the criminal justice and prison systems aim to rehabilitate people who have committed crime. 

These Crime Tours were a fantastic addition to our Forensic Psychology course. They took us through different Adelaide locations related to local crimes that have occurred over the years. Nikki connected the fascinating events of these crimes with criminology theory and practice, and shared how practices such as DNA testing have advanced strategies over the years to become the sophisticated methods of catching criminals that we have today.

The students were regaled with these real life cases, and engaged with Nikki about how many of these cases have been crucial to changing the face of criminology as well as criminal law in Australia. We learned how using a jury in our legal system can mean that societal perceptions of a crime can become just as important as the crime itself. 

It was highly engaging and a great walk through town. Thank you, Nikki.

Sarah Grieger and Georgina Lampard

Year 11 Psychology Teachers

2024 Culture Day

Last Monday we celebrated Culture Day with the focus on unity in diversity. What a beautiful way to celebrate our lives in Christ and recognise the many different peoples we have represented at our school. We are reminded of the nature of grace and how God loves us for who we are before we worry about how we fit in the world. 

From Junior School to Year 11, we enjoyed the dance and drums of Sun of Africa’s performers and the multitude of national dress and inspiring costumes on display. How wonderful that we are loved for who we are beyond the beauty of our race, culture and lives. What a wonderful God and a wonderful day to acknowledge that our diversity is beautiful and part of His plan.

Below is a poem written by a Year 11 student, Hannah B:

Home At Sea:

Growing up, I would often get confused when people asked where I was from.  

I mean sure, I knew I was from Kerala, South India. 

God’s own country my grandparents would say. 

But how much I wished I was from somewhere else. 

Somewhere perhaps not so far away. 

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my home, 

The family, the people, the land. 

But if somewhere were to ask, Australia or India?, 

I honestly didn’t know where I'd stand. 

 

Australia’s been my home since 2008,

But India's been mine through descent. 

So when people thought I was lucky to have both,

I questioned if they knew what they meant. 

 

I had to think twice about the choices I made, 

In hope that my so-called homes wouldn’t collide. 

Do I eat with a spoon or with my hands today?

Should I really wear those clothes outside?

 

How can I eat my rice and curry at school,

When my friends all have their spread and bun?

How can I speak with my parents in public, 

When their accent is different from every one?

 

Trapped in the lifestyles of two cultures, 

Yet to both I'm an immigrant left to roam. 

Who am I without a belonging?

Who am I without a home?

 

I'm lost, that's what I am.

While you're on land, I'm in the ocean that stands between. 

I'm choking for breath, and somehow I'm the lucky one?

If only others have seen where I've been. 

 

You see, just look at the ocean,

The flowing waves, colours and sun combined . 

You see beautiful landscape, but I, 

I see the boundaries that separate mankind.

 

The wind drifts water into waves

And tickles the sand and trees.

Change comes along the passing of such wind,

Such wind that strands young children like me. 

 

Keeps us lost and confused, 

Unknowing of the direction we should head.

And somehow society expects us to keep afloat, 

When we ourselves don’t know what lifestyle we’ve led. 

 

Whose lifestyle we’ve led. 

Our own or the one others made for us. 

Whether back at India or in Australia,

How I want to live is never an option to discuss. 

 

Maybe I want to just eat with hands 

and not have to worry with others will think,

Or bring my leftover curry with pride to school 

without any fear that it may stink. 

 

Only then will I be able to swim safe to shore,

And realise that it doesn’t matter where I live tomorrow .

Instead of trying to conform to the rules of different cultures,

I can choose the rules in which I want to follow. 

 

I speak for those around the world, 

Drowning between cultures just like me. 

I speak for those embarrassed about who they are,

And in denial about who they want to be. 

 

In a society ever changing, 

Our sense of home changes more,

But as long as you stick with the right people, 

You can at least know that you are cared for. 

 

And that you are loved, 

Not for your location, skin or ethnicity

But for the values and choices you make, 

Cause that's what makes your identity. 

 

Ask me now then where I’m from, 

Because no longer am I an immigrant left to roam,

I can proudly say I’m from two beautiful countries,

Two countries that I can now call home. 

 

By Hannah B

Andrea Grear

Principal, Secondary - South Plympton

Year 7 Orientation

On Friday, we hosted a wonderful Orientation Day for Year 7 Students of 2025. Blessed with perfect weather, students arrived eagerly and were warmly welcomed into the school community. They participated in four engaging sessions—The Amazing Race, PE, Art, and English—that helped them work together, make new friends, and build lasting connections. The Wellbeing Staff cooked a BBQ lunch, adding to the joyful experience.

In the evening, families returned for a community dinner. With delicious food and ice cream, families mingled, children played, and connections blossomed. House leaders and many staff members offered a helping hand, demonstrating the values of our school: faith, learning, community, and service. 

The words of Jeremiah 29:11(NIV)—“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”—encouraged students to feel embraced by the love and support of the Emmaus community. 

We thank God for His hand over the day and for the memorable connections made. A big thank you to all who helped create such a special day.

Lucia Mangos

Secondary School Teacher

Class of 2024 Exhibition

Last Friday night the Class of 2024 Exhibition treated guests to a stunning display of Secondary School artwork, including the impressive Year 12 Visual Art, Design and Technology work. 

Prints, photography, woodwork, digital design, paintings, and digital pieces were displayed, just to name a few mediums. 

Catered for by our dedicated teachers and hosted by Esther Amoy and Jim Brown, the Emmaus Performing Arts Centre was full of admiring family and friends.

We are very impressed by our students’ work and trust they are pleased with what they have achieved this year.

Year 9 Slam Poetry

You need three things for this competition: 1) Pen. 2) A piece of paper. 3) A soul. Thus began the Year 9 Poetry Slam 2024.

We told them if you have these things, (and each of you do) you can write a poem. You love poetry, even if you don't know it yet. Yes, even you. You love the way words echo off each other, the way that sounds collide and wisdom sings and rhymes giggle. So write a poem. Read it to your class. Choose the best three from your house. Then gather before all of year nine, a gaggle of Year 3 and 4 poetry fans and a panel of "expert" judges. Stand in that lonely spotlight and perform your poems.

Sounds daunting and it is. Sounds like a lot of pressure for fledgling poets and it was. But, if you were there, you may have been as surprised and delighted as we were at the result. 

As one after another of these spontaneous poets spoke, we laughed, almost cried and mainly clapped a lot. They were great. Emerald House took the prize but everyone was a winner at the 2024 poetry slam. Thank you to all participants and a special thanks to the brave Year 3/4s who took the stage to share their jokes!

Nigel Eaton

Secondary Teacher

Paris Plage

The Year 8, 9, and 10 French students recently visited Paris Plage, a crêperie where they enjoyed French food and practiced speaking in French. Each student ordered their meal using the French skills they’ve learned at school, showing confidence and excitement to use the language in a real setting.

The students had a great time tasting traditional French crepes and enjoyed connecting with one another in a new way outside the classroom. Their respectful and enthusiastic behavior throughout the trip highlighted the success of their language studies at Emmaus and their commitment to learning.

This trip to Paris Plage was a fun and valuable experience that brought their classroom learning to life!

Neven Daoud

Secondary School French Key Teacher