Parent & Student Matters 

What's happening in the College? 

• Duke of Edinburgh Award
• Successful Bronze Award Adventurous Journey
• King Richard III
• NAPLAN Online 2021
• Maths Drop In
• After School Study Year 5 - 11

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Bronze Hike

Congratulations to Outdoor Education students who accompanied Mr de Silva on the weekend to complete the Adventurous Journey section of their Bronze Awards. A reminder that you will need to complete your AJ Report. You can download the Bronze AJ report template from the Outdoor Education Section of the College App. Alternatively, you can also access this on the Duke Of Edinburgh’s Award Course on CANVAS. If you don’t have access to this yet, please email or see Mr Manga for an invitation.

GOLD Residential Opportunities

Any student who is currently enrolled in the Gold Award may be interested in the following opportunity to complete the Residential Section of the Award with Outward Bound.

In the April school holidays, Outward Bound Australia will be hosting a 12-day / 11-night youth development program, known as Navigator. The ACT location has booked up, but they still have limited places available in our Grampians VIC program. 

The cost of the program is $2,348, which includes the program delivery, all food, water, camp shelter, and cooking and activity equipment. Participants need to bring their own personal clothing and camping needs, as per an Adventurous Journey. Outward Bound will be arranging transport assistance to Grampians National Park from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport, to make access easy for participants coming from interstate. 

General program information and booking ability can be found on their website here: Navigator - Grampians VIC | Outward Bound Australia

Please speak to Mrs Manga if you are interested. If you require more information from Outward Bound, please contact Caroline Bowman - Manager Client Engagement & Duke of Ed Award on 0448 238 930 or email caroline.bowman@outwardbound.org.au

Mrs Kara Manga - Duke of Edinburgh Coordinator

Successful Bronze Award Adventurous Journey

Different weather, different experience. The weekend provided a range of experiences with plenty of sunshine and even more rainfall. Thirteen Year 10 boys completed their Bronze Award Adventurous Journey hiking from Mt Ku-Ring-Gai to Cowan train station, a distance of about 30km. The boys certainly had an adventurous journey.

This was the first of the College’s “homegrown” Adventurous Journey to take place post COVID-19 restrictions and now allows our Bronze Award students from last year to move onto their Silver Award. Our new Year 9 Bronze Award students have an Adventurous Journey planned for the end of Week 4 Term 2.

The College offers a range of experiences with our Duke of Edinburgh Award program and is committed to providing Adventurous Journeys up to the Bronze level. Weather and time permitting, Silver and Gold journeys may also be offered but are not guaranteed. If your son wishes to undertake an Adventurous Journey as part of his Award through the College then he must liaise with Mr de Silva and attend the Monday afternoon Outdoor Education training sessions. If your son is not part of the Award but would like to be, he is to discuss this with Mrs Manga our College Duke of Edinburgh Coordinator. There is a process that must be followed if your son wishes to attain an Award. Students are advised to read their Daily Notices and Woodchatta for details.

Mr de Silva - Outdoor Education Coordinator

King Richard III

It is often the case that the teacher in a classroom exploring a Shakespeare text, is the only person in the room feeling enthusiasm whilst the kids feel that this journey into the brilliance of Shakespeare is more like a Covid lockdown experience…until last Friday, Period 5, when we were working through the play….again…finishing Act 5 of King Richard III.  

King Richard III is a difficult play--that’s the truth--but it does such a wonderful job of exploring human follies, fears and frailties that our empathy for humanity is greatly enhanced. Explaining the emotion that is presented on stage is not the same as the students seeing it live...sooo, last Friday afternoon we decided to act out the Ghosts’ Scene. This is a vital scene where the consequences of Richard’s actions are exposed for the audience. The final battle scene "A horse, a horse..." is so short, 15 lines and then "the dog is dead"--but the Ghosts' Scene is where Shakespeare shows us what Richard has become and Richard’s 'self-reflection soliloquy' bares Richard’s soul to the audience. Our ghosts got up and did their bit out the front: one after the other their body language, tone and delivery developed in confidence as they denigrated Richard concluding with "despair, despair, and die!" and praised Richmond, concluding with "...live and flourish".  

Maybe it was the passion that each ghost brought to the front of the classroom, their shared enthusiasm as they prepared at the back of the room, the support of the rest of the class reading along that gave Charlie the idea of jumping into Richard's shoes and presenting this soliloquy. The next 3 minutes froze the room. The pain and anger of Richard's realisation of what he had become was alive in the room with us all.  Charlie lived the self-righteousness as it conflicted with Richard’s self-loathing.  His delivery of this soliloquy was profound. Unprepared, and only bouncing from the energy that our spectacular Ghosts' performances brought to the room, Charlie became Richard.  That a teenager could 'act' the range of emotions presented in this soliloquy, could articulate the rhyme and rhythm of the lines on a first reading, could show the anguish, isolation, rage, vengeance and final self-acceptance of “no pity for me”...was profound.  I had to look down at the text and just keep scrolling through, keeping up with Charlie's delivery as it was overwhelming watching him and I didn’t want to tear up.  We were silent when he finished...that few seconds of silence when an audience gathers itself before an outpouring of applause.  Charlie just laughed, took a little bow and back to his seat. That moment is galvanised for life. Congratulations to all, and Charlie 😊

Mrs Michele Waterson - English Teacher

NAPLAN Online 2021

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

Our school will be participating in NAPLAN Online between 11 and 21 May 2021. 

In preparation for NAPLAN Online, our school will also be participating in practice tests between 22 March and 1 April. The practice test is a trial-run and key preparation activity for NAPLAN Online in May. It is not an assessment of student ability and the tests will not be marked. Excessive preparation for NAPLAN Online is not recommended. Students can use the public demonstration site (https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site) to familiarise themselves with the types of questions and tools available in the NAPLAN Online tests.

If you have any questions about NAPLAN Online, please contact either Mr Greg Bell or Ms Leisa Proc via the school number, 9411 4733.

Mr Alex Damo - Assistant Principal, Teaching and Learning

Maths Drop-In 

A reminder that all students in Years 7 - 12 are welcome to Maths Drop-in. The sessions are run each Tuesday & Thursday morning 7.40 am - 8.40 am in C1.

With assessments approaching fast, concepts are taught, practice papers are completed and problems are solved all with the company of your mates. 

This is the ideal place where students can come and feel comfortable to ask questions and nut out some challenging problems. Rewards are given, laughs are heard and words of encouragement are shared. Come along and be a part of the team in C1.

After School Study Year 5 - 11

A reminder to all Year 5 - 11 students that After School Study is held from 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm in the classroom above Student Reception.

During Term 1 this opportunity is available on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and concludes on Thursday 25 March.

Students must sign in on arrival and have sufficient work or reading material for an hour. Students are not permitted mobile phones or food in the study space.

Individual guidance with tasks is provided by Mrs Gunns.

Mrs Annabel Gunns - Diverse Learning Coordinator