Year 7 & 8 News

Welcome to the 2023 Learning Year

We are quickly approaching the end of Term 1 and it has flown by for Year 7 and 8. Since our last newsletter, students have participated in Athletics Day, sports, went on excursions to the tech school, raised money through a free dress day and Year 7s have completed NAPLAN. 

Student Leaders

Our Year 7 and 8 student leaders have been attending frequent meetings at lunchtime with Ms Qu and a guest appearance from Mr Rodaughan. In these meetings, students discuss initiatives to bring into the school for positive change and planned the free dress day for National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence we had last week.  The student leaders for 7 and 8 are: 

National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

On Friday the 17th of March, Kurnai Morwell held a day against Bullying and Violence. Students could come to school dressed casually and bring a gold coin donation. Games and activities were held at lunchtime, as well as free orange slices at lunch. Some of the activities were getting your face painted, games in the gym. The idea of this day was to raise money towards kid's helpline. This day was also to teach students about its not okay to bully anyone verbally, physically, or mentally.

By Nursahala Rashid and Xavier Killoran, 7A.

Year 7 & 8 News

Year 7 students have settled into high school now and continue their learning within subjects. Their first Common Assessment Tasks (CATs) will commence soon. These CATs summarise the learning that has occurred over the last 10 weeks. Year 7s have also now finished NAPLAN and have really impressed us with their readiness, focus and attitude around this. Earlier this term, a group of Year 7 students attended the Morwell Tech School. The excursion focused on the students learning about how the world of work is changing and the skills that will be most important for them as they move into the workforce. Students will then rotated through three activities which will expose them to industry changing technologies and new ways of problem solving. 

"We did three different activities such as VR, laser cutting, and robot programming. All of the activities were super cool and interesting, and they taught us so much about how the world is changing because of new technology". – Rahni Mrzygloski, 7A

Last week, a group of Year 7 and 8 boys represented the College at the Wellington District school cricket. Whilst the teams didn’t come away with a win from their respective 20/20 games, the students had fun participating and working together as a team while upholding the school's pillars; engagement, excellence, relationships and work ethic.

After our new building handover this term, Year 8s now have new and shiny lockers, a relief after carrying their bags since the beginning of this year. Year 8s are enjoying their classes and extracurricular activities, I don’t think I’ve ever seen our sports have so many sign ups! I have been especially impressed seeing Year 8 students engage in LOTE. In Chinese, students are learning about Chinese culture, including Chinese New Year, and developing their oral language skills. In AUSLAN, students are learning to exchange information about self, family, friends, and interests and to express feelings and preferences through sign language.

Year 7 Camp

The Year 7 Camp to Camp Coolamatong is now live on compass. Permissions are due back as soon as possible. From the Year 7 and 8 Teams’ point of view, we believe it is really important that we have all students participate in this camp. 

The Camp will leave on the 13th of June and return on the 16th. Camp Coolamatong works really well with us and we ask for you to please work with us to overcome any barriers to your child attending so that they can get the full benefit of the curriculum and opportunities that we offer them in Year 7. 

The students were told about camp and the activities in store when we spoke with them all earlier in the week. Details for Year 8 Camp, which is later in the year, will go out to families in future newsletters.

Year 7 & 8 Goals (Kurnai Positive Acknowledgements)

 I would like to promote the continued fantastic start our students have made towards their learning. We understand that the importance of celebrating the positive success our students demonstrate every day. This can mean showing improvement in the learning or behaviour right the way through to our high-end academic achievers. As you can see below the numbers of our positives are extraordinary and encourage you to continue the conversations you are having at home about the positive choices our learners are showing every day.

Awareness Day

 As many in the Learning Community know, each year we have an extensive transition program for students coming up from primary schools. This starts with our Awareness Day program on the 2nd of May, next term, where we will welcome our feeder schools into the Kurnai Learning Community. 

These students will take the first steps in experiencing high school life.

Due to the increased number of students in the school at that time, some other year levels will be released from school that day. We will update families with more details closer to the date.

ALPs Testing