KLA News
English
Miss Lauren Donnely
Over the last four week, the English KLA have been running a creative writing competition.
We have included one of the stand out entries below from Week 7's competition.
Don’t Open The Drawers by Olivia and Lauren Fenton
I finally seized the house. I’d rescued it from the few other clients who couldn't see that the old-timer was admittedly a fossilized building. The Beauty was timeworn and no one had lived there for generations. People had probably not even looked at it as their tunnel vision could only see rubble. It was in great condition with exquisite paintings and an elegant piano in the furthest corner room. My success of initially scoring the house had always come with the bounty of it being internally dressed-up and furnished. I don’t care why everything has been left - I have my own museum essentially.
I go ahead and ransack the home in utter excitement of my success. Every room would lead back to this place with a dark brown desk in the middle. I had my own central “meeting place”. Every drawer was sealed shut with chains and chains of locks. The keys were nowhere to be found but I did not give up and I was going to get into these drawers. Days, months and years past trying all the different keys I had found in the house. The locks wouldn’t budge. Whoever locked it knew what they were doing...giving me an exciting challenge.
I was reaching underneath a desk and I felt something engraved. A feeling that is easy to recognise as all furnishing was polished wood. Underneath there were words that said, ‘Don't open the drawers, don't listen to its calls, leave, just leave’, I was startled and yet joyously intrigued, they were all written in capitals.
From this moment forward I heard an unfamiliar voice almost beckoning. The temptation to open the drawers was an appealing call to my adventurous personality, until the voices were so deafening the drawers busted open on impact. The voice had stopped. I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I look within or not? Full silence across the house. I looked inside the drawers as there was nothing obvious about why I shouldn’t open them. It was generic; books stacked with pens scattered. Except there were interesting glasses. Holding the glasses before my eyes I started seeing things. I thought I was going mad but I seriously could hear the voice again. But this time, instead of it being out loud it was in my head.
I could now see a man talking to me. I called friends but they refrained from seeing me, almost stuttering at me asking. Instead they said I was insane and forced me to a doctor. I was later admitted into a psych ward.
I kept the glasses with me. After 70 years in the psych ward I got discharged and felt an immediate pull to the house, just like the pull when I bought it. There was something so special about this house that only I could see.
Returning to live in the house, and reminiscing about my ex-friends’ reactions to my former decline, I started to realise that it wasn’t normal to see ghosts and I locked the glasses in the drawer just as the old owner did. The voice started again and the pull was intense. But although I completely resisted, this time I kept something that should’ve been locked away, ‘The Ghosts’. They were manipulating me, using me...
20 years had passed and I was gone. An intense light illuminated the perimeter of the drawer. One look I shrivelled up into the glasses and now I was the one calling to get out of the drawer.
I wish I’d have seen what others saw before I bought the house.
Congratulations to the Week 8 winner:
Mia Vaughan
Highly commended to:
Jessica MacMahon
Maya Teege
Riley Fittler
Vanessa Riggall
Mathematics
Mr Mark Harris
It has been great to have most students back after 5 weeks of remote learning.
Most students have coped well with this and our Maths Staff have done an excellent job to keep learning going during this time.
This is a summary of what’s been happening in each year.
Year 7 have been working on Measurement - finding area and perimeter.
Year 8 have been learning about Rates and Ratios.
Year 9 5.2 Mathematics have been focused on Area and Perimeter of 2D shapes.
Whilst 5.3 have been working on Quadratic Equations.
Year 10 5.2 have been studying Linear Relationships and Equations, whilst 5.3 have been learning about Trigonometry.
Year 11 have just completed their final exams and had them returned this week.
Congratulations to all that have completed the Year 11 courses. We now look forward to the HSC course beginning for this cohort in Term 4. There has been some movement between courses and a number of students will also now embark on the Extension 2 Mathematics course.
Year 12 students continue to revise and consolidate on their learning to prepare as much as possible for the HSC exams coming up next term.
This has been a challenging term for all, still a lot of great learning and successes have been achieved. Mathematics is all around us - always remember to pause and take notice of the ways it makes things possible and improves your life each day.
PDHPE
Ms Camilla Clydsdale
Mr Moore's Year 10 Strength and Conditioning Class we enjoying the sunshine on Monday out on the College Oval. Great way to kickstart the week!
PDHPE Bingo
The PDHPE KLA has designed a month of 'PDHPE Bingo' for students of O'Connor to participate in. It has also formed the basis of our 'daily challenges' this week. Thank you to all students who have been getting involved. Your
Science
Projectile motion was the topic of the day in Mr Fittler's Science Practical class. The students have also been looking at Newton's laws of motion and angles and distance.
7.2 Win Science Week Competition for Year 7
The Science KLA held a competition during our period of Connected Learning, that awarded a pizza party to the class who did the most work on Education Perfect. They were certainly enjoying the fruits of their labour today in the sunshine!
Year 8
Science, of course, is always fun and this week is no exception for Mrs Moar’s Year 8 class. They spent time this week learning about the rock cycle including making plaster of paris fossils and models of the rock cycle using chocolate.
Chemistry
Who is the most relevant acid/base scientist???
Year 12 Chemistry held the traditional scientist competition and party. It is so great to have so much interest in Chemistry at O'Connor.
TAS
Mr Jon Hawthorne
Year 12 Design and Technology
Year 12 have been busy finishing their major works in what has been an unusual year. There have been some really interesting designs. Well done to staff and students involved.
Textiles
Mrs Vicki Channon
Year 8 Technology
Year 8 Technologydid not quite get their cushion covers completed before lockdown, but with some super assistance from Mrs Osborne and students working really hard in our one period this week, I am happy to announce that 100% are now finished and ready to take home to take pride and place in their bedroom, living room ….etc….
Here are a few photos of the finished products.
Year 10 Textiles Technology had an opportunity to be a little creative during lockdown with some students attempting natural dyeing and printing. Some of the materials used were spices such as turmeric, curry powder as well as coffee, tea and even beetroot. Results were mixed but it was a lot of fun experimenting. Mrs Channon tried smashing flowers in between some fabric which was interesting!!
Cottage crafts have proved super popular during this lockdown period so Mrs Channon provided all of the students with a little gift - a knitting bee. The students are learning how to master the art of simple circular knitting using this piece of equipment, along with cute pom poms. We will then move onto knitting needles and yarn and see how we go from there. Another trend is crochet, so some of the students are keen to have a go at that. Basket weaving is also proving quite a trend, so that is the next challenge. All of these skills are great to have, and then can be interpreted and used in many different ways as the techniques are developed.
Year 11 Textiles & Design had been working on a practical project, but this did get cut short due to lockdown.. It has been great to get back to school this week so that we could try and get some more work done on these projects. Three of the students are entering their work in the Fleece to Fashion Awards which have been postponed until November.
The HSC Textiles class worked really hard just before lockdown to complete their Major Textiles Projects - the lockdown proved really annoying as we needed more time just to refine folios, but we got there in the end.. Here are some snippets of their amazing work. More to come next term. They should be really proud of their efforts considering the difficult circumstances that we have been dealt.
Agriculture
Mrs Janet Price
Springtime at the Ag Farm
Spring has sprung at the Ag farm and we have had a variety of the animals producing offspring. The students always love the time of year when we have little versions of our animals appearing. Thank you Mrs Price for all the hard work you put into the Ag farm.
Armidale Show Competition
WE ARE LOOKING FOR AN AMAZING ARTWORK TO BE THE COVER OF OUR 2022 ARMIDALE SHOW SCHEDULE!!!
The 2022 Armidale Show will be held on March 4th & 5th 2022, and we are looking to find an amazing artwork to feature on the cover of our Show Schedule.
1. Who can participate?
Participants must fall into one of the following categories
Category A – 5 to 10 years old
Category B – 11 to 15 years old
Category C – 16 to 18 years old
2. Competition theme:
The theme for the 2022 Armidale Show in “Water: A Rural Lifesaver”.
Each participant should design a cover around this theme, that includes the words ‘Armidale Show Schedule 2022’
3. Entry Fee:
This competition is FREE
For Entry Forms, Terms and Conditions and How to submit your entry, please visit:
http://www.armidaleshow.org.au/2022-cover-competition.html
Good luck and we can't wait to see your amazing entries!!!