Year Seven-Nine
Coaching Parade Campus

Year 9 YLC Report

The Year Nine students have had a fantastic couple of weeks, with plenty happening across the cohort. Students recently received their Year Nine leavers jackets and have been proudly wearing them around the school. It has been wonderful to see the excitement and sense of community they bring.

Students have also completed their Morrisby career testing, which will support them in exploring future pathways and career interests. In the coming weeks, students will participate in their individual Morrisby interviews to further discuss their results and future goals.

This week, the Year Nine cohort is hosting their exciting Decades Day Fundraiser to help raise money for the Year Nine Graduation. We look forward to seeing the creativity and school spirit on display throughout the day.

Next week is Education Week, and we are excited to welcome families into the school for our Learning Walks on Thursday 21st May. This is a wonderful opportunity for families to see student learning in action and engage with the school community.

Students are also eagerly anticipating the upcoming Year Nine Camp next month, which promises to be an exciting opportunity for teamwork, challenge and memorable experiences.

Saltwater College VS The Grange College

On Friday 8 May, our Year Nine students had the opportunity to travel to The Grange P–12 College for a practice volleyball match against their students. The day provided a valuable chance for our teams to put into action the skills and tactics they have been developing during their Enrichment subject.

Our boys team performed strongly throughout the day, showing exceptional teamwork and skill to secure victories in two sets.

Year 9 Boys - Lincoln (c) Keanu (vc) Mehad Fainlov Maahir Mason Mehar

Our girls team also demonstrated great determination, competing with heart against a much more experienced opposition.

Year 9 Girls - Aaleahya (c) Ava Ange Eseta Lizzie Fleur Roxy Arinya Hannah

We would also like to congratulate Mehar and Mason, who impressed enough during training to play in the Year Nine team.

We would like to thank The Grange P–12 College for hosting us and providing such a positive experience for our students. We look forward to returning with our Year Seven and Year Eight teams.

Mandarin Chinese

Year Seven

Our Year Seven students have commenced their first year of Mandarin Chinese at the Secondary Campus and have made a fantastic start. During Term One, students explored foundational Chinese concepts such as pinyin, Chinese characters, greetings, numbers, and introductory questions about identity. This culminated in students participating in short conversations with their teacher, responding to questions about themselves such as “你叫什么名字？(nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?)” – “What is your name?” and “你多大？(nǐ duō dà?)” – “How old are you?”

In Term Two, students have continued building on these foundations through the topic of family. They have been learning vocabulary for different family members and pets, as well as how to ask and respond to questions about the number of people in their family, siblings, and pets. This learning will lead into students creating a presentation about their own families, where they will introduce each family member in Mandarin Chinese.

Year Eight and Nine

Students in Years Eight and Nine have continued their Mandarin Chinese studies at Saltwater, focusing on the shared topics of Chinese festivals and weather. In Term One, students explored important Chinese celebrations such as 春节 (chūn jié) – Lunar New Year, 端午节 (duānwǔ jié) – Dragon Boat Festival, and 中秋节 (zhōngqiū jié) – Mid-Autumn Festival. Students learnt about the folktales and cultural traditions associated with each festival before researching a celebration of their choice and presenting their findings in a medium of their choice.

More recently, students have been studying the topic of weather, learning how to describe weather conditions, express seasons, discuss temperatures, and suggest suitable activities for different types of weather, all in Mandarin Chinese. As part of this unit, students are currently creating their own weather report videos, acting as news presenters and applying the vocabulary and sentence structures they have learnt throughout the semester.

We look forward to sharing more of the wonderful work students have been completing throughout the year.

Digital Technology

The Digital Technology curriculum teaches students how to think critically and creatively using digital systems. It helps them understand how computers work, how to write code, and how to design digital solutions to real-world problems. Students learn important skills like problem-solving, data handling, and safe and ethical use of technology, preparing them for a future where digital tools are part of everyday life.

Year Seven Highlights

This semester in Digital Technology, our Year Seven students have been building their problem-solving skills and developing their confidence with code. They kicked off the year with a hands-on paper tower challenge, working collaboratively to apply logical thinking and creative design before moving into the digital space.

From there, students progressed into an introduction to Python—one of the world’s most widely used programming languages—where they explored the fundamentals of coding through interactive exercises and mini-projects, ultimately creating their own Python programs from scratch.

Alongside their coding work, students have been exploring the world of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. They investigated how AI is being used in everyday life and examined how machines can be trained to recognise patterns and make decisions.

These discussions helped students develop a deeper understanding of the technologies shaping the world around them and encouraged thoughtful conversations about the role of AI in society.

To round out the term, students turned their attention to staying safe online. They learned how to identify digital scams and phishing attempts, developing practical skills to protect themselves and others in an increasingly connected world. It was a great opportunity for students to think critically about the information they encounter online and to build habits that will serve them well beyond the classroom.

Year Eight Highlights

Our Year Eight students have continued their coding journey this semester, taking their Python skills to the next level by exploring how Artificial Intelligence can be incorporated into their programs. Students experimented with AI-powered features and gained insight into how intelligent systems are built from code—connecting their classroom learning to real-world applications in exciting ways.

Students also explored the fundamentals of how computers think, diving into binary numbers and discovering how digital systems represent everything using just two states, off and on. This foundational knowledge helped students appreciate the logic underpinning all digital technology, from the simplest calculator to the most advanced AI. A big highlight at the start of Term Two was a trip to an escape room in Fitzroy, where students put their problem-solving skills to the test in a real-world setting—working under pressure, thinking critically, and collaborating to crack the codes and puzzles.

Now, students are channelling their growing expertise into individual skill-building projects across a range of exciting areas. Some are designing and producing objects using 3D printing, others are developing their own games, while several students are creating AI models or exploring the possibilities of Redstone circuits in Minecraft. It’s been fantastic to see each student pursuing their own interests while continuing to develop their technical and creative abilities.

Year Nine Highlights

This semester, our Year Nine Digital Technology students have had the opportunity to choose between two specialist streams. In one stream, students have been learning all about 3D assets using industry-standard software, creating simple animations and preparing content for use on our VR headsets. This pathway has given students a taste of the creative and technical skills used in fields like game design, film, and immersive media.

In the other stream, students have been exploring how the web works, learning how HTML and CSS are used to build and style websites from the ground up. Beyond web development, they have been developing skills in areas that interest them most—from using AI effectively to enhance their websites, to exploring networking and cybersecurity concepts, and even using Redstone to design and build their own escape rooms in Minecraft.

The capstone project this semester brings it all together: students are developing a web application that the school can use to run the upcoming soccer mini ‘World Cup’ and potentially the House Cup. It’s an exciting chance for students to apply everything they’ve learned in a meaningful, real-world context—and we can’t wait to see the finished product in action.