Senior School News Yr 5/6

It has been a very exciting term, but as we come to the end of Term 2, we have some exciting things to share with everyone. The students have been working very hard and that hard work is about to pay off with two presentations in RE and Inquiry.  

Inquiry 

Throughout the term, the students have been putting together apresentation based on a sustainable idea. Our students have been workinghard to put together a pitch on their chosen idea. These ideas were basedon an initiative on a way we could make our school a more sustainable place.  Some examples of the initiatives are, tree planting; package free days; adopting endangered animals; and even a bike to school day.  

This week, the students will be presenting their pitches to the class. Their debating lessons will definitely come in handy here as their job will be topersuade their audience of why this pitch should go ahead.

RE 

Throughout Term 2, we have been discussing the seven sacraments and exploring their significance to us as Catholics. Students reflected on how these celebrations impact their lives and faith through various activities and thoughtful discussions. In small groups, they have carefully and creatively prepared presentations on one of the seven sacraments. This week, their presentations will be shared with the Year 5/6 cohort to help us better understand how we can nurture and grow our faith in the years ahead.

Maths

Over the past few weeks, students have been diving into the fascinating world of time. We have focused on converting between 12-hour and 24-hour time ensuring they grasp the differences and can switch between the two with ease. They have impressed me with how quickly they learned this concept. They have also been practicing how to calculate elapsed time.

Additionally, we've introduced them to reading and interpreting various timetables, including those for trains and movies. 

Looking ahead to next term, the excitement continues as they will have the opportunity to plantheir own journeys using real flight schedules to destinations of their choice.

Brain Breaks

We love our brain breaks in 5/6. These are important between lessons toget the kids up and moving. Brain breaks are great to help us reset after sitting down for too long. They improve blood circulation to improve our mental and physical health. Additionally, they lower stress levels and help our students to maintain higher levels of focus of concentration. One of our favourites is called Just Dance. The kids have to follow dance moves from a video while one of their favourite songs plays. The students love getting up on their feet and getting their groove on. 

Report of the Advanced Presentation Skills Debating “Grand Finale”

Congratulations to all the grade five and six students who graduated from the Advanced Presentation Skills Debating Course this term. All students impressed their teachers with a very high standard of 'Debating and Off the Cuff Speeches'. This year a large number of students and one of the teachers were absent due to the flu, but thank you to the amazing team efforts of the remaining teachers and remaining students, they pulled all three debating teams together!  

Trophies were awarded as follows: Grade Topic Best Debating Speaker,

Best Off the Cuff Speaker and Most Improved Speaker

5/6B: 'That AFL players areoverpaid. 

(Is a footballplayer worth six times as much as a nurse?)

Caleb Jones, Thurston Nguyen and Elston Mai

5/6P: That Teachers should be replaced by computers 

Portia Foley, Michael Pastore and Eric Chen

5/6K That artificial colours and additives should be banned from food.

Chizara Agu, Victoria Dang and Lila Butler

In the beginning the students found the course quite challenging with students at varied academic levels, not to mention confidence levels. Some students LOVE arguing and are more than happy to perform in front of the class, others started off very shy and close to tears. However seeing the outcomes on the final day proved to me that Our Lady of Good Counsel students draw on the irresilience to improve every week.  

The delivery from all debating and Off the Cuff speakers was strong and persuasive. Also very well prepared for their roles were the chairmen, Xavier Pagano, Giulia Pellegrino and Mason Savage. The Off the cuff presenters, Matty Louey and Oliver Moore demonstrated their leadership skills. The timers and adjudicators also performed to a very high standard. I must make a special mention to the extraordinary team work from Miss Carrie Kudelka and her class who ended up with only 10 students at school on this day. Their team work was extraordinary and were able to come up with a full debating team AND we still ran the Off the Cuff Questions! The students helped and supported each other and continuously encouraged each other. It was a delight to witness them striving for excellence under very trying circumstances.

A very big thank you to the teachers who encouraged and supported the students work and helped the program a success – Mr Brophy, Miss Perrin, Miss Kudelka and Mrs Peron. Thank you to Mr Grace for attending all three classes and for helping on the panel of judges. The most important thank you of course, goes to the parents and families for helping their students through the accelerated learning program. We were so happy that many of the parents and grandparents were able to attend and be entertained by these very talented children. They certainly made us all proud.

Sandra de Geest, Advanced Presentation Skills