Around the School
Founders Day
On Friday we welcomed may visitors to the College who have been connected with the school's rich history as outlined in the Ms Menz's Principals Report. Being the day of publication, a full report will appear in the next addition of our newsletter. It was a fantastic day of celebration and many talented students and staff entertained us at the concert.
Z Club Activities
Birthing Kit Assembly at O'Connor
Gallery: Z Club Birthing Kit Assembly
Z Club at O’Connor have had another very successful year in raising funds and awareness for the Birthing Kits. We are very thankful for everyone who helped out. Some of the jobs that have to happen to streamline this process include: students helping with our pizza fundraiser day, which included baking cakes and biscuits to sell at recess, serving the massive 118 pizzas at lunch, folding plastics every break leading up to our assembly day, cutting up the string, and then of course, everyone who helped assemble the 600 birthing kits on Saturday, 28th June.
We have raised close to $900 because of everyone’s generosity. We would like to thank the Zonta Club of Armidale for donating $500 to help with the purchase of the kit supplies and to those members who could make it to our packing day. We would also like to thank the school community for their kind donations and support of this very important community service.
We can all be very proud that we are making a difference to many lives, those who are so less fortunate than us. A clean and safe birth should be a right that all mothers get to experience but for so many this is just not the case.
If you wish to find out more about this cause here is the link: https://www.bkfa.org.au/
NSW Training Awards.
Recently Tom Smith was announced runner up in the 2019 NSW VET in Schools Student of the Year for his work in VET Primary Industries and Construction. Well done Tom!
Photo: Rebel Heart Photography
Other past students also featured in the awards were
Brenden Lowe - Major Award -Commitment to VET
Ike Roberts – Brenden’s Trainer
Key note Address – Kieran Sullivan 2018 VET Ambassador.
O'Connor 'Johny De La Sales' Op Shop
In week 10 and Founders Day, Year 12 hosted an Op Shop to raise money for the Red Cross! Students received house points according to their donations. Clothes, books, shoes, board games, small furniture and succulents were on sale. Students had a bake off to provide produce to sell. The shop was very popular at Break A and B each day this week.
Photo: Mr Chapman was one of many happy customers at the 'Jonny's De La Sales' Op Shop this week.
College musicians join the celebrations at Guyra
A great celebration of 100 years of Catholic Education in Guyra occurred last week. Congratulations St Mary of the Angels. Our choir and musicians were fantastic and led the music at Mass. Well done everyone!
Photo: Music Students and teacher Mel Sampson at St Mary's of the Angels Guyra.
Philosothon
Last Wednesday, fourteen students from O’Connor joined with 50 other students from TAS, PLC and ASC to participate in the first regional Philosothon which was hosted by The Armidale School.
Over the day they had the opportunity to discuss big problems and think deeply about a variety of issues.
Photo: Getting ready to break into groups at the Philosothon at TAS last week.
Textiles
Year 8.2 have just completed a unit based on Textiles. The students learned how to use a sewing machine safely. They also designed a cushion cover that reflected sustainability and comfort. Here are some photos.
Gallery: The completed pillows from Year 8 students.
Mathematics - Year 10 Casino
The Year 10- 5.2 classes have just finished a unit on probability. As a part of this, Mr. Chapman's class ran a CASINO! Pairs of students designed an original gambling game suitable for a casino. The trick is that the students running the games have calculated the theoretical probability of winning. Armed with this information, they worked out pay-out figures to ensure they would win money from the punters.
Remember, THE HOUSE WILL ALWAYS WIN IN THE END!
On Casino Day the other three Year 10 maths classes came and tried their luck! Everyone had fun with some punters winning and some losing. Students were betting with counters. The learning intention for the task was to show that the Casino (the house) will win on average. At the end of the day when counters were counted, the whole Casino made a huge profit of 570 counters! Erin Porter made the highest profit (137 counters) closely followed by Joe Hedges and Charlie Fittler (131 counters).
It just goes to show, IF YOU GAMBLE, YOU WILL LOSE!
Maths unit on probability - Mock Casino - the house always wins....
Gallery: Year 10 Mock Casino - probability in action
Maths meets Art and Animation
The Year 10 maths elective class have been working on a Desmos graphing task. They use a variety of function types within the online graphing program. By restricting the x and y values, using shading, colours and changing variables, these students have created amazing pictures. Some even have moving parts. They celebrated the end of the term (and the course for these students) with a showcase lesson. Well done to these students and Mr Tonkin.
Gallery: Year 10 Maths elective class
Year 8 Maths
Year 8 have just finished a unit on Volume. Logan Gaunson and Liam O’Keefe used some free time on construction to make this amazing shape without guidance. It’s a "Snub Dodecahedron".
The model is made of 80 triangles and 12 pentagons.
Photo: Logan Gaunson and Liam O'Keefe.
Close Shave with Politicians at Shearing School - Glen Innes
When Deputy Premier of New South Wales, the Deputy Premier Hon. John Barilaro along with the Agriculture Minister the Hon. Adam Marshall visited the Wool Works Shearing School last week. Their reaction was one of "shear"delight.
Sam Graham, Ronald Boxall, Joel Croft among many other keen shearers at Glen Innes.
Photo: Courtesy RDANI
The Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDANI) facilitated Wool Works Shearing School is held at the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), Glen Innes Agricultural Research and Advisory Station. It introduces high school students to the skills of shearing and wool handling and the political leaders recognised it as a measure of inspiration that the industry needs.
“This is fantastic! This school is about introducing young people to the skill of shearing and a possible future in agriculture,” Mr. Barilaro said. “I saw kids here who were smiling, they were engaged and they wanted to be there. I think this particular program, with all the stakeholders coming together, has touched on something that gives us hope for the future of agriculture and our kids in the bush.”
As Agriculture Minister and Member for Northern Tablelands, Adam Marshall also praised the Wool Works Shearing School, after both politicians had rolled up their sleeves and had a go. “Look, it is tremendous. I came for the first time in 2018 and thought that this is such a wonderful initiative and I wanted the Deputy Premier to see it."
The June 2019 Wool Works Shearing School was attended by three students from Glen Innes, three from O'Connor Catholic College in Armidale(Sam Graham, Ronald Boxall, Joel Croft) and 18 from Inverell’s Macintyre High School. Thanks to Australian Wool Innovation, experienced shearers, Ross Thompson and Leo Fittler instructed and supervised. Experienced TAFE Trainers, PaulineSmith and Kim Jenkins showed what working the shearing shed floor entails.