Middle Years

Year 7 & 8 Incursion

'The Hurting Game' by Brainstorm Productions  

'The Hurting Game' was about the phases and challenges of high school, that we  might go through. The problems presented in the performance ranged from mental health and harming yourself to friendship issues and  problems.  Two friends re-enacted their memories from Reception to Year 12 and the challenges they went through, and how exactly they got through it. 

The message behind this performance was that making mistakes is fine but learning from your mistakes is the best way to develop and learn. Mistakes will become your best teacher and a learning technique to get you on board with life choices and opportunities. None of us have complete control over what others do or say, and really besides everyone is so focused on themselves to notice if your hair looks good down or up. The best thing to do is to be happy and focus on you. 

I believe this was a very important topic for the Year 7s because all of the issues shown in the performance (such as online bullying and body image issues) are issues we could face everyday now we are in high school. Control over our lives is something we all want but to get something like that we may need to occasionally face embarrassment, shame and bad self-esteem. These experiences can be awful but they can also lead us to make better choices about our thoughts and actions.  

Elizabeth Bolo

Year 7  Student

Year 9 Incursion

‘Orr-some’ Author Visit

Miles Franklin long-listed South Australian author, Stephen Orr, recently conducted a writing workshop with our Year 9s, where they enjoyed an afternoon revelling in the world of words. Much of the interactive session was based on a talent show, appropriately titled the ‘Endeavour Factor’ where teachers transformed into ‘judges’ who could choose to turn a chair – or not. Stephen stressed the importance of reading and highlighted how stories are imperative for the future survival of humanity. In this technology saturated world books are sadly sidelined in favour of passive hand-held devices that often take precedence. Students had the opportunity to read the work from a number of writer’s works, ranging from Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and even the illustrious Mills and Boon authors. Here they quickly discerned the difference between quality literature and pulp fiction! Stephen emphasised the power words can yield and discussed how they can perpetuate negative gender stereotypes, as well as elicit great social change – Harper Lee's ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ being a prime example.

Students thoroughly enjoyed the session and appreciated the opportunity to learn from such an engaging and accomplished author. Hopefully they left with a thirst for imbibing words that help them make sense of this increasingly complex world in which we live.

Catriona Davies

English Learning Leader