Junior School

Wellbeing Garden is back in bloom!

Over the course of the semester, Ms Cipolato has been working with her Food Tech classes to introduce the garden program into the curriculum and to explore aspects of food production. Students have been researching seasonality and the ideal growing conditions for fruit and vegetables. Thanks to all their hard work this semester, I think you'll agree that our Wellbeing Garden has come a long way!  

February 2023:

June 2023:

Our Year 7 Food Tech students have been bringing in fruit and vegetable off-cuts and seeds from home and have been amazed to see the regrowth process in action. 

I found growing a seedling from off cuts or food scraps that would have been thrown away a positively amazing experience! Not only was I able to learn how to germinate and regrow seeds and veggies, but also some notes to keep in mind for future planting. It was incredible watching my capsicum seedling grow from something that was getting thrown away, into a plant that would produce its own capsicums and repeat the circle of life! In conclusion, I found this a wonderful add on to our food tech classes and I was able to get a lot out of it!  

- Jana L, Year 7

Participating in this project has been an amazing experience. We were able to get out in the garden instead of being in a classroom and we were able to learn and experience things we wouldn't be able to indoors or on our laptops. It was incredibly fun and I will miss being able to do it, as it was such an awesome activity to do during theory. We developed skills that we can use in the future and help decrease the amount of landfill being produced by re-using old food scraps and seeds and growing a whole new plant. I already love gardening, but being able to engage in my hobbies with my classmates and teacher has truly been a great learning experience. I can't wait to watch the plants we've grown transform into beautiful, thriving plants that we will be able to harvest for the food tech rooms. Truly a brilliant experience I will never forget. 

- Bridie P., Year 7

All About Pablo Picasso

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (aka Pablo Picasso), started the Cubism art movement. Picasso painted many prized portraits, particularly of women, often painting two viewpoints of the face. 

Using oil pastels, our Year 8 Art students were tasked with drawing Picasso-style portraits. Here is a sample of the excellent work submitted.

A different way of learning:

Incorporate cooking into the Year 8 Mandarin Curriculum

In the second term of 2023, I was extremely fortunate that I was able to take two of my Year 8 Mandarin classes to the Food Technology department and open a new world to the students. Both local and international students worked side by side in creating 4 traditional Chinese recipes: Hokkien Fried Noodle, Chinese Sausage Fried Rice, Pan-fried Dumpling and Spring Roll. Both groups of students learnt new skills with each other. They used equipment that they’ve never used before and used both English and Chinese terminology to complete a mini project each lesson. 

When the students first came in, they found it challenging to comprehend what each other were saying, as well as understanding the recipes. However, by week 4 they were very comfortable working with each other. They were diligent and task-focused producing 4 wonderful dishes which they shared with their friends and families!

It has been a real privilege for me to be able to take these students on their food journey. I am proud of what they have achieved. 

Ms Ning Zhang

Mandarin teacher

We would like to describe our experience of our cooking classes. Many students have learned a lot about our Chinese culture, recipes and cooking process through these cooking classes. We feel that this is a good opportunity to exercise our hands-on ability, cooperation with each other and survival skills. We are very grateful for the principal and our teacher’s support and encouragement, which has made the students fall in love with Chinese food and allowed us to taste the delicacy of our hometown. We would also like to thank the kitchen ladies who prepared the clean and healthy ingredients for us. We also hope that the principal could continue to support our program to spread the delicacy of China to various places.

-by Mila X., Andralyn Z., Jae Hee H., Nikki W.

We had a great experience in cooking Chinese food. We explored the Chinese culture and had lots of fun cooking with friends. we learned how to cook the very delicious foods Chinese people eat. even though we sometimes changed the recipe due to our religion, we still enjoyed the process of our happy cooking. 

- by Karin R., Tharika S.

In term 2 we were given the opportunity to cook in Mandarin class. We cooked a variety of Chinese dishes and got to learn more cooking skills that will be useful in the future. The dishes we cooked are:

• 福建炒面(Hokkien Fried Noodles)
• 腊肠炒饭 (Chinese Sausage Fried Rice)
• 煎饺子（Pan Fried Dumplings）
• 春卷（Spring Roll）

This was a great opportunity to learn about new things and apply these skills to more things we will be doing in the future.

- by Jericko M., Luca S.

During term 2 we were given an opportunity to cook and learn about what our language’s culture cook (for our class, it was mandarin). We cooked many Chinese dishes and learnt new cooking skills that would help us in the future. 

 

The highlight of this was that we got to cook and try these dishes ourselves. This was a very interesting opportunity since we were allowed to cook and have fun while also learning more things. This opportunity gave us an experience in what it is like cooking Chinese dishes. We learnt what ingredients they used for their dishes, how they would prepare their dishes and their different, unique methods used in their dishes. For example, 煎铰 (Pan-Fried Dumpling) and 春卷 (Spring Rolls) taught us specific way to fold the fillings in the wrapper. I learnt that using 黑醬油 (Dark soy sauce) helps to make a darker colour when cooking福建炒面 (Hokkien Fried Noodles). I found this very intriguing to learn and participate in. 

-by Helen L.