PDHPE

This Term Year 10 Child Studies have been studying Food and Nutrition, as part of their studies students have explored the pros and cons of Breastfeeding vs Bottle Feeding. Below are some responses to the in class statement: Breast is best. Breastfeeding is better than bottle feeding.

TAS

“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”

The O'Connor TAS department recently purchased an industrial plastic shredding machine, to produce their own granulated raw materials, to add to their recycled plastic plant.

This will be a key component that will accompany their plastic extrusion machine & plate mould which was purchased 2 years ago from Melbourne company Precious Plastics.

Recycling is an important part of creating a sustainable future which is a key element in Technology programs at O’Connor.

Precious Plastics commented on their website:

"We're creating disruptive design to positively impact the planet, striving for better outcomes for traditionally non-recyclable products, and providing accessible, local manufacturing solutions Australia-wide."

(https://www.plastic.org.au/)

The new machine and associated machines allows students at O'Connor to recycle old milk bottles (HDPE), milk lids (LDPE), into usable products and materials that can then be used to create new designs.

It is already being put to good use by Yr 12 HSC DT student Zoe Walters who is designing and creating a range of indigenous inspired weaving projects from recycled plastic.Zoe’s aim is to also raise awareness of the importance of recycling plastics to prevent them ending up in our oceans and landfill.

It is hoped that the recycled plastic plant will be used in a number of technology classes including textiles, DT, STEM & food technology.

Recently purchased industrial plastic granulator

Examples of plastic products that will be recycled to form new products.

CAPA

Music

Yr 7 and 8 have been learning about rhythms while playing the buck drums. Here is an example you can try out at home We Will Rock You - Queen Bucket Drumming 🥁 By BucketDrumming.net 🥁

Visual Arts

Yr 7 have been learning about the elements of art and are currently working on their title pages

Year 9 elective students have been looking at colour charts.

Drama

Community Evening

Welcome done to all students who were involved in performing at the community engagement evening and a special mention to Arts Captain Lily Croft who organised students to perform at the event.

HSC Composition Workshop

As part of the Music 2 course, students are required to create their own original compositions. This week Music 2 took part in a workshop run by experienced composer and teacher Luke Byrne. Students examined a range of pieces from the 21st century, then broke into small groups working with students from other schools to create their own motifs and short compositions.

Year 9 and 10 Music day

This week year 9 and 10 elective music students enjoyed a day of music making at NECOM. Students got to experience the Junk Orchestra, Sing! with Luke Bryne and a variety of other world music styles.

Eisteddfod

The Eisteddfod season will soon be upon us early next term. We will be entering our class and extra-curricular ensembles including music, drama and speech. We will also enter our senior students into the relevant HSC sections. If students wish to enter into any events individually please do so via the eisteddfod website

The Sydney Youth Orchestra - Holiday Camp

Over the April school holidays the Sydney Youth Orchestra will be running a camp in Armidale for students in year 7 and above, playing orchestral instruments. If you would like more information please see their website

Year 12 student Maxwell Buckland, will be performing the 1st movement of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Sydney Youth Orchestra while they are here in April. Max completed his HSC music programme last year as an accelerated student, receiving full marks in his Music Extension Exam.

English

In our English classrooms, engaging with the learning takes place by examining examples of literature and using those as models as students develop the skills and technical language to create complex texts. In all of our years, students have the opportunity to analytically and creatively respond to complex ideas. It is through exploring how to create settings, characters and analyse the construction of these that English classrooms become the most exciting places.

Year 7 English - Survival

Year 7 continues to move through the ‘Survival’ unit, exploring the fictional tale of Brian Robeson who survives a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness. This has given students an opportunity to look at foreshadowing and flashbacks, and how the author is utilizing these in his text.

7.2 English continues to grapple with the concept of 'Survival', four members of 7.2 English won the Island Survivor Challenge leading them to a treasure chest where they discovered richess of their wildest dreams (canteen vouchers!). Year 7 is encouraged to not lose hope as we continue to strive towards not just surviving, but thriving in their new school and classes!

7.3 English composed excerpts of a narrative based on this image, titled ‘Stranded in the Desert’. Here are some examples of the awesome work;

Year 8 English - Happily Ever After

Year 8 continues to explore the fantasy genre, specifically looking at the differences between high and low fantasy, making use of the P.E.T.A.L writing structure in order to create more complex paragraphs. Most students have completed their initial investigation into the film and are starting to analyse key scenes.

8.1 English has started to investigate the context within the text, ‘Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ by looking at the Blitz in England during World War II. Students have been watching the opening scene of the film, identifying key elements that reveal the location of place and time.

In these two frames students were able to identify the German bombers, the technology of the time, the river Thames and the Tower Bridge. All of these assist in understanding the context within the adaptation created by Andrew Adamson.

Year 9 English

As students continue to explore the core text, ‘The Giver’ by Lois Lowry, they are beginning their investigation into the dystopian genre and what defines it. In order to do this, students have been working together in small groups to create presentations that explore different features of the genre.

9.3 English has created these presentations to share with the rest of their class.

Year 11 Standard English

Year 11 Standard English continues to explore the concept of ‘Voice’ and what makes a voice powerful by discussing Amanda Gorman. Most famous for her presidential address in 2020 of ‘The Hill we Climb’. In order to understand why her voice is powerful, students are exploring social, political and economic issues in the last ten years and considering what issue that they feel just as strongly about. This has led to some very engaging questions in class about changes in Australia over the last couple of years.

Year 12 Standard English

With the submission of Task 2, Module C: Craft of Writing has come to a close and students will begin working on Module A: Language, Identity and Culture. In this module, students will explore the text Reindeer in my Saami Heart directed by Janet Mereweather. This will provide students an opportunity to examine how composers use gaps and silences to create clear messages for the audience, it is by examining the perspectives of the text that real meaning is identified.

Maths

Term one is already in full swing and I take this opportunity to welcome everyone to our college community for a fantastic term of learning opportunities.

The Mathematics Team welcomes a new staff member this year – Mr Petar Grulovic.

Petar brings much experience to his role as a Mathematics teacher. He has spent most of his teaching career in Northern Queensland and has worked predominantly in the Townsville diocese.

I look forward to working with Petar and welcome him and his family into our community.

We are lucky to have a strong Mathematics staff at O’Connor and students are in good hands.

Here is a list of the teachers in each year group for 2024.

Year 7 Mrs Kath Czinner , Mr Shane McCann, Mr Mark Fulloon, Mr Petar Grulovic

Year 8 Mrs Irene Mitheu, Mr Mark Fulloon, Mr Petar Grulovic

Year 9 Mrs Irene Mitheu, Mr Mark Fulloon, Mr Petar Grulovic , Mrs Kath Czinner

Year 10 Mrs Irene Mitheu, Mr Mark Fulloon , Mr Petar Grulovic, Mrs Kath Czinner , Mr Shane McCann, Mr Mark Harris

Year 11 Mathematics Advanced Mr Mark Harris, Mr Shane McCann

Year 11 Mathematics Standard Mrs Kath Czinner , Mrs Irene Mitheu

Year 11 Mathematics Extension Mr Mark Harris

Year 12 Mathematics Advanced Mr Shane McCann, Mr Stephen Chapman

Year 12 Mathematics Standard 1 Mrs Irene Mitheu

Year 12 Mathematics Standard 2 Mrs Kath Czinner

Year 12 Mathematics Extension 1 and 2 Mr Stephen Chapman

It is the perfect time to remind students of the expectation of being prepared for school.

Make sure as a student that you have a book and stationery (pens, pencils, ruler, etc…), a calculator (available for purchase at the school front office) and a fully charged device each day for class.

I look forward to working with everyone this year and witnessing the growth of all students in thier learning.

HSIE

Last week was all about the Tutankhamun Roadshow. In its own words, the Tutankhamun Roadshow is a world class, museum quality travelling exhibition which brings the wonders of ancient Egypt to school communities and students who may not have to opportunity to visit museums and exhibits in the capital cities. The roadshow includes state-of-the-art multimedia displays and includes both authentic and full-size replica artefacts from Egypt and the Near East. Students moved through three theatrettes which told the stories of the Rosetta Stone and Champollion’s cracking of the hieroglyphic code; Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Science

On Wednesday the 6th of March, 27 students from O’Connor competed against other schools in the Armidale region in the Highlands Science and Engineering Challenge. In this event, students work in teams of 4. Their team will work through 2 challenges over the course of the day. The challenges that each team faces are different. The table below outlines how the challenges are set out.

The students need to bring a variety of skills to each of these challenges because the challenges are so different. In the “Helter Skelter Shelter” activity, students make a tower from straws, tape and some coffee stirrers. Their masterpiece is assessed on its strength i.e. how much weight it can hold, and its rigidity - how well it supports a weight during an earthquake. The “Confounding Communications” activity requires a different skill set as this activity gets students to develop a code (like Morse code) to send a message using combinations of different coloured lights (red, green and blue).

At the halfway point the score update revealed that O'Connor was coming fourth with the motivation that the winning team would get to compete in Newcastle the pressure was on to do their best. At the end of the day, the scores are tallied up during the testing of the final activity - The Bridge.

The Bridge activity is the only one which takes the whole day to complete. In this activity, students build a bridge that crosses a gap in a model train track. With their bridge in place, the track is laid down over the top of the track (which is heavy in itself) and a mining cart is rolled down a ramp and over the bridge. If the cart gets safely to the other side then a weight (called an ingot) is added to the cart and it passes over the bridge. There are 4 ingots in total that the bridge needs to hold to start with and it is safe to say that the O’Connor bridge team was able to hold these 4 ingots with ease. After this test, the 4 ingots are replaced with the “super ingot” which has a much greater weight than the combined weight of the 4 smaller ingots. Again, O’Connor passed with flying colours, with the students cheering enthusiastically even before the cart crossed the bridge such was the confidence that we had in our bridge. The final challenge for the bridge team is to carry the weight called “Bertie’s Bridge Buster” which is a much bigger weight than the 4 smaller ingots combined and this is loaded onto the trolley with the super ingot. This proved to be too much for the O’Connor bridge and it collapsed under this great expectation. That being said, the only other team to carry the same load as the O’Connor bridge was the team from ASC, even so, the O’Connor bridge was lighter than the ASC bridge and therefore had a better load-to-weight ratio thus giving us more points in this activity than ASC.

After the conclusion of the bridge activity, the scores were announced, drumroll… O’Connor came fifth in a tight contest for 1st place. Although this is an excellent result there was a slight tinge of disappointment from our team. That being said, the solutions that our students put forward in their challenges were exceptional, but even greater than that was the teamwork and camaraderie that the O’Connor team displayed on the day. Truly coming together to solve the challenges that they faced and this is the greatest thing I would like to commend them for on the day.

Events For Your Calendar