Year Seven-Nine
Coaching Parade Campus
A Fantastic Start to the Year!
We are delighted with the positive and settled start to the year across our Secondary school. In particular, our Year 7 students have demonstrated impressive adaptability and resilience as they transition into secondary school life. Their confidence in navigating new routines, spaces, and expectations has been wonderful to see.
Over the past few weeks, students have been building relationships with their peers and forming strong connections with their new teachers. Classrooms have been busy establishing positive learning environments, with each class collaboratively creating their own Essential Agreements aligned to our IB Learner Profile attributes. This process helps set clear expectations and empowers students to take ownership of their learning culture.
All Year 7–9 students have launched into their new Physical Education programs, with a range of exciting off-site opportunities already underway. These include HIIT training and boxing sessions at Crew Gym, golf at Sanctuary Lakes, tennis at Saltwater Reserve Tennis Centre, and soccer at Brookdale Oval. These experiences provide valuable skill development while promoting teamwork, resilience, and healthy lifestyles.
Our Year 7 students have also begun their first rotation of electives, enjoying the opportunity to explore new interests and broaden their learning experiences.
In the coming weeks, Secondary students will select their Enrichment groups. These programs offer exciting opportunities to develop skills and passions in areas such as the Café Program, Chess Club, Music Enrichment, and sporting groups, including Volleyball, Netball, and Ultra Leagues Basketball.
Students will also have the opportunity to trial for and represent Saltwater in upcoming Interschool Sport competitions, with potential teams in Volleyball, Tennis, and Swimming. We look forward to seeing our students demonstrate sportsmanship, teamwork, and school pride in these events.
It has been a strong and positive start to the year, and we are excited about the many opportunities ahead for our Secondary students.
This week has also been important, as students participated in the student leadership selection process. Prospective student leaders were put through the wringer as they participated in group interviews, team leadership challenges, and problem-solving exercises to showcase their leadership skills and make their case for becoming a student leader in 2026.
Students were challenged through a series of gruelling tasks:
A share of what they thought 'leadership' was and what it entails.
A group discussion regarding a 'school issue' that they would like to resolve and develop solutions for solving it.
3. A team problem-solving challenge of trying to swap both teams onto the opposite side of the starting point by only moving one person at a time.
4. Working in arranging themselves from youngest to oldest without using their voices to communicate.
5. Students given a scenario where they intially had to self-determine what items were the most to least important if they were survivors of a plane crash. Then as a group they had to negiotate to a consensus to determine a final 'group outcome' in which they would all be happy with.
Scenario: Your plane has crashed in a desert. It is 40°C. You are 80km from the nearest town. You have salvaged 15 items from the wreckage. How would you rank these 15 items of most to least important?
Compass, Mirror, Whistle, Rope, Food Rations, Lighter, Mobile Phone, Torch, Parachute, First Aid Kit, Knife, Waterproof Jacket, Sunglasses, Map of Area and 2 litres of water.
Here's their final consensus list!
Leaders who have successfully gained a leadership position for 2026 will be announced shortly.
Kind regards,
Year 7-9 Leadership Team
Art
This week in Year Seven Art, students are developing their observational skills through still life drawing. As they have been learning, “A still life drawing is when we draw real objects sitting still in front of us. We look closely at shapes, proportions, and shadows, and draw what we see, not what we think it should look like.”
Using a range of drawing techniques, students are practising accurate proportions, shading, and capturing light and shadow to create depth and realism. This project builds patience, concentration, and attention to detail, and we are proud of the focus and determination Year Seven have shown. We look forward to sharing their finished artworks soon.
In Year Eight Visual Art, we’re diving into Notan Art, a style that focuses on the balance between light and dark shapes. Using just black and white paper, students are discovering how artists create eye-catching designs through strong contrast and thoughtful placement of shapes. By simplifying images into bold light and dark areas, they’re learning how balance and contrast work together to make artwork visually powerful.
This week in Year Nine Art, students are exploring the Elements of Art and learning how to recognise and experiment with them in their own creative work. Through practical activities and guided experimentation, they are developing an understanding of line, tone, colour, texture, shape, form, and space, and how these elements work together to create powerful, meaningful artworks. As part of this unit, students are designing and creating a personalised front cover for their visual diary. This project encourages them to apply the Elements of Art in a creative and thoughtful way, showcasing their individual style while demonstrating their understanding of key artistic concepts.We are excited to see the originality and confidence developing in Year Nine as they build the foundations for more independent and expressive art-making.
English
We have had a wonderful start to our English programs this term, with students settling quickly into routines and engaging positively in their learning. Take a look below at what we have been up to across Years Seven-Nine.
Year Seven have welcomed Miss McCormack, Miss Pearce, and Sarah Plant to the team. This term, students are preparing for the upcoming NAPLAN tests while building their skills through meaningful, engaging texts. They have commenced their study of My Place, exploring the theme of identity and making connections to their Hums Citizenship learning.
Year Eight have welcomed Ms Rossi, Ms Cole, to the team, joining Mrs Tolfo. They have launched into The Hunger Games, using the novel to explore key concepts of dystopian and utopian societies. Students are developing their comprehension, discussion, and analytical writing skills as they respond to the ideas and issues raised in the text.
Year Nine students have made an excellent start to the year. The Year Nine English team includes Miss Stephanie Fatouros, who has joined us from our Primary campus; Mrs Phebe McDougall, who worked with the Year 9 cohort last year; and Ms Maria Nardo, who brings two years of prior experience with the cohort.
This term, the focus is supporting students as they prepare for NAPLAN. Students are applying key skills through their reading comprehension studies of Underdog, an anthology of short stories written by Australian teenagers exploring themes of identity, belonging, diversity, and acceptance. They have also begun developing their narrative writing skills as they plan and craft their own short stories, including creative prequels or sequels inspired by the texts they’ve studied.
We are excited to continue building momentum throughout the term and look forward to sharing more of our students’ learning and achievements as the year progresses.