Junior Secondary 

Industry Week

This term in Year 9 Humanities (Open Village) focuses on 'The Making of the modern World'. We study in parallel; the Industrial Revolution as part of our History curriculum, and the realities of the modern world of work that our Year 9s are stepping into.

Students are led through processes of resume writing and mock interviews, before they must actually apply and interview for positions within our Industry Week company.

In Week 6 there are no regular classes for Year 9 students, as the week is solely devoted to 'Industry Week'. It is like one massive week-long incursion, where the students live in the space between their present reality, and their future possibilities. It is fascinating to be in this week with them and watch as some successfully obtain positions of leadership – over their own friends, and how they all navigate that! 

There is a lot of excitement and anticipation in the build up to this week, then the real work begins and more often that not there will be many students who experience the stress and strain of deadlines and working alongside each other in a pressure environment.

This year, as staff, we were filled with pride as we saw them step up, grow in their maturity, design and create high quality products, and enjoy themselves along the way.

Thank you to all the parents and members of the community who came along to Hometown’s Market Night to support this program. Your presence and positivity contributed to making it a notably positive event that will be etched into the memory of so many Year 9 students. 

A huge thank you must go to the selflessly dedicated staff who support this week and give up their spare time, and other classes, to contribute to the success of this massive experience. Namely, Alyce Vanderjagt, Anne-Maree Forbes, Beth Smith, Doug Allison, Mairead Capon, Paul Joiner, Tim Wright and Yvonne Verhagen.   

Tim Eddy

Year 9 Coordinator

From the Manager

Industry Week went well. It was fun, exciting, and kept everyone on their toes. There were lots of meetings, and there were people looking for me most of the time. 

On Monday everyone was figuring out what to do and how to deal with the big job ahead of us. By Wednesday though when I was walking around, I was blown away by how much everyone had gotten done in 3 days, part of my job was just telling people how good they were doing.

The Market Night went really well, I think it was super successful and everyone had a great time. 

As the General Manager I created values for our week of work for everyone to focus on. The two main values were; having fun while working hard, and our company would be a place of belonging together. I chose these values because we need to respect people, and if we don't respect them we wouldn’t have gotten to make all of these amazing products. 

'Hometown' (the name we gave our company) is like a comfortable place and your town is like where you are the most and where the people you love are, and the theme ‘country’ went with the name. 

Some of the highlights I had were seeing all the smiles on all of the people’s faces on Thursday night, and hearing the singing while I was walking down the halls from random people after listening to music and getting the songs stuck in their heads.

I think that everyone has gained more respect for one another throughout this week, and people have made friends with people who they wouldn’t normally talk to. I think that I have grown in the aspect that I now know how hard it is to have a business and be a teacher, and that I understand how the business world works more now, and how hard it can be to be working on a deadline. 

I just want to thank all of the Year 9 students, teachers and assistants for how hard they have worked and how amazing they have been through this week. 

Eli B

General Manager, Hometown

Medieval Day

Reflection on Viking Incursion

On August 28, we participated in a Viking-themed day featuring three exciting activities: Dance/Music, Arms and Armour, and Viking Hierarchy.

In the Dance/Music session, Class 8A explored Viking music and instruments, including the hurdy-gurdy which sounded similar to bagpipes but with strings and it had this buzzing sound that sounded like a bee buzzing inside the instrument. We learned about various types of songs, from church hymns to tavern tunes, and enjoyed a Viking line dance set to traditional music where we would weave under each other and around each other with some cool viking music.

For our second part we learnt about what people in viking times wore. Lots of people in the class joined in. There were: peasants, monks, tradesmen, kings, queens, bishops and more. We learnt where these people were placed in the hierarchy of the viking times. We learnt about how fabric and dyes were very expensive, discovering how fabric and dye indicated social status and helped show worth. Peasants had basically no color other than browns and beiges (which were natural and cheap) while on the other hand kings and queens had purples and reds, which were very expensive and reserved for the elite. People in viking times used their clothes to show they were rich. Queens had layers upon layers of fabrics, while peasants had basically no fabric at all.

Finally, in the Arms and Armour session, we explored Viking weaponry and armour. We examined a range of weapons including axes, long axes, spears, swords, and maces, and learned about the different types of armour used throughout the Viking era. There were many different interesting types of armours. We even had the chance to try on fencing helmets and use foam swords in mock battles. The hands-on experience of sword-fighting was a highlight, really fun and interesting. I personally won 4 to 2!

Overall, the incursion was really fun and educational. I learnt a lot and I know my fellow class mates learnt a lot too. I highly recommend similar events for future students to enjoy.

Hunter W

Year 8 Student