Year 7/8 News 

YEAR 7 & 8 ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL NEWS

LINDA BUCKERIDGE

Firstly, I’d like to introduce myself! My name is Linda Buckeridge and I am really looking forward to working here at Cranbourne East SC. I have been so impressed with the first impressions I have had of this school. Coming from a primary school background, it has been interesting to see all the similarities and differences. One of the main similarities I have noticed is how much the staff care for the students and genuinely want the very best learning outcomes for all.

I am pleased to say that the students I have met so far across year 7 and 8 have been welcoming and have provided me with lots of great stories and insights into life here at CESC! I look forward to meeting more students and families as I continue to build relationships across the College.

I have been an Assistant Principal now for approximately four years and prior to that a Leading Teacher for approximately 5 years. My most recent school was Barton PS in Cranbourne West where I assisted in the development of the brand new school. It was a challenge I enjoyed immensely and now I look forward to new opportunities and challenges here at CESC.

Over the past 5 weeks I have built my understandings about what is important to students, staff and the community here at CESC. The school’s values are so vital and underpin all that we do and I am incredibly passionate about ensuring our students meet these values and the high expectations set by the school in regards to behaviour and student learning. I too have high expectations of myself, the staff and students and look forward to building this culture even further as we move forward.

So far I have seen some fabulous opportunities on offer here to students including the school production, athletics day, careers information assembly, sports events, breakfast club, 1:1 assistance from staff with students for learning and lunchtime clubs. What fabulous opportunities are on offer here at CESC!

Just a reminder that we will continue to be monitoring school uniform, regular attendance and the completion of homework tasks so please ensure your child is adhering to the policies and procedures as set by the school.

I look forward to meeting more of the Junior School family as the term and year continues.

YEAR 8 NEWS 

FRIENDLY REMINDER ABOUT: YEAR 8 CAMP WEEK 3 OF TERM 4 2018.

The Year 8 OutBeyond Leadership Development Camp term 4, (24thto the 26th ) October at Inverloch will engage students with a variety of exciting adventures such as surfing, along with developing both their individual confidence and the ability to work as part of an effective team. The camp will be a great opportunity for the year 8s to grow and develop within a scenic coastal environment of Inverloch, Victoria. A great way to finish year 8 and prepare for year 9. 

https://www.outbeyond.com.au/holiday-camps

ATHLETICS HOUSE SPORTS: Friday 24th August.

Remember the CESC Athletics Day is on Friday. It will be great to see all the house colours on show along with Year 8's participating within the wide range of different track and field events. Remember that just participating within the variety of events on offer will bring in points to your house. All in all, we hope to see everyone enjoying the colour and activity of the upcoming Athletics carnival.

YEAR 8 SUCCESS IN LEARNING

It has been fantastic to see the literacy and numeracy data of the year 8 cohort demonstrate clear growth and development. The data for year 8 this year has shown that there is a large amount of year 8s who are really working hard to develop their skills within the areas of literacy and numeracy. It also shows both a maturity, that learning is important and that these areas are recognised to be skills which you will need long after you finish school at Cranbourne East Secondary College. Well done, Year 8! 

MATHEMATICS AT Cranbourne East Secondary College

Dear parents,

Let’s say that you are using a recipe to make a cake. The first step of the recipe is to cream the sugar and the butter. You have never learnt how to do this or didn’t really understand how to do it when you first learnt it. So, you skip that step and move to the next step instead. When the cake comes out it doesn’t look right or taste right! OR you buy a do-it-yourself book shelf and when you get to a step you don’t know how to do, you skip it and move on to the next step. You put something heavy on the shelf and the shelf collapses because you missed an important step.  

In both examples you need to go back and learn how to do the missed steps, otherwise when you do it again you will get the same result – it won’t work out right.

Mathematics is a bit like making a cake or assembling a bookshelf.  If you don’t not know how to do a step and you leave it out, when you get to the end it won’t work.

At CESC we are trying to take your child back to the part they didn’t know so that the result works.  This will then improve their mathematical understandings, so that they can successfully solve problems in everyday life today and in the future.

For a variety of reasons, students come to our Mathematics classes with different levels of understanding; they are at different stages of learning. Even if they are all in the same year level!

We, the teachers, pre-test the students to see what they already know and what they need to learn.  Then we try to help each student to fill the gaps (or steps) in their learning, so they can use their understandings and follow the right steps towards getting the right end result.  This takes time.

We record the pre-test date on a document like the one in the picture below. We talk to the students about this document.  What do the colours mean? What level are you at right now? What do you already know? What do you need to learn? We let the students look at their results on the document so they understand what it is they need to learn…….to be able to follow the steps. We then plan tasks around these results; they help to inform the teacher of what to teach.

Student growth is what is important here at CESC.  Growth to fill the gaps, growth to improve understandings. Sometimes students show wonderful growth but because they had many gaps in their learning, they still aren’t quite “at standard’.  Despite this, their growth should be celebrated BECAUSE THEY ARE GROWING……..getting closer to greater understanding of the right steps towards the right end result.

If you would like to talk about Mathematics at CESC further, please call 59900200 and ask to talk to Mrs Amanda Werner.  She can even try to arrange a time to meet with you and discuss the colored document in detail.

8G science: Energy transformations

On Thursday June 28, 8G science put their knowledge of forms of energy into practice during the ‘Energy transformations’ experiments. Students have recently been studying about what energy is, how energy can transform from one form to another and also the difference between kinetic and potential energy. Students worked in groups of 3-4 to rotate around the room and perform a series of small experiments all involving energy transformations. Experiments included: solar panels, matchstick rockets and convection spirals. Students will soon write up a practical report about the observations they recorded. A special thank-you goes to Ethan and Jayde for helping me pack up so quickly.

Mrs Crawford - 8G science teacher

Yr 7 science - How to build a pyramid

On Wed June 27, 7J science students put their knowledge of simple machines, friction and forces to the test. They were in groups of 3-4 students, trying to simulate how the ancient Egyptians may have built the Pyramids 4,500 years ago. Each group of students had 30 minutes and were given one brick, 2 cotton reels, 1 wooden ramp and 6 pieces of dowel to use. Their challenge was to get the brick from the floor to the top of a chair, without using their hands directly. Students worked cooperatively and used great communication and negotiation skills. They also showed terrific critical and creative skills. Congratulations to the winning students: Domonick, Sadul, Vismaea and Raiyan!

7J science - ‘May the force be with you’

On Thursday June 21, 7J science students completed a lesson about balanced and unbalanced forces as part of the unit of work on ‘Physics in Term 3. This lesson saw students build on their knowledge from the previous lesson, where they learnt what forces were and how they impact our daily lives. Students participated in an activity in class where they paired up to apply forces to a Malteser through straws. Students had to complete 2 challenges: applying balanced forces to the Malteser to make it stationary, and then applying forces to try to keep the Malteser in the air. Students worked cooperatively and discussed the relevant scientific terminology after the activity. At the end of the lesson a fresh bag of Maltesers was opened and shared!

Mrs Kyla Crawford - 7J science teacher

Year 7 Girls Netball

 Towards the end of Term Two, Fourteen very enthusiastic Year 7 girls headed to Casey Stadium for a round robin of Netball. The day was tough, with some excellent competition and talent from all schools. Success wise, it was a mixed day for our school, as both of our teams won some games but lost some games.

The day was tiring, as the girls played 4 games each- with no subs! Importantly, the girls displayed comradery throughout the whole day and commendable sportsmanship, even if defeated. It was pleasing was seeing how much the girls had improved from the start of their training sessions to game day and also how they’ve been able to implement concepts learnt in PE over this term, such as moving into open space to create play that is beneficial to their team. Teamwork, as well as compromise, for who would play in a particular position was handled without a fuss. By the end of the day, 14 tired girls came back to school, still with a sense of achievement, as they knew they had each given it their best.

We must thank Vaiana Vaiimene for giving up her time to train the girls over many lunchtimes leading up to the games .THANK YOU!!

 From proud coach: Miss Lisa Monaghan

Mindfull Aus

Patty Adair, has been passionately raising vital funds and awareness for Mindfull Aus, selling socks and rattling tins over the last few months and has amassed and incredible $530 which will in turn improve the lives of those effected by mental illness and allow us to further develop and facilitate our mental health, wellbeing and resilience programs and workshops across schools and other high risk areas of our beautiful country. Congratulations Patrick.

Matt Runnalls - CEO of Mindfull Aus