KLA News
This fortnight we hear from the CAPA, English, PDHPE, Science and TAS Key Learning Areas.
CAPA
Miss Melita Roache
Ensembles
Our music ensembles and drama clubs are back in full swing and getting performances ready for the Armidale Eisteddfod next term. If you are not already involved in an ensemble and would like to please get in touch with the respective ensemble/club coordinator. Instrumental scholarships and lessons are also available please contact occadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au for more details.
Rehearsals:
- Jazz Band Mondays period 5- Miss Sampson
- Vocal ensemble Thursday- Miss Suann
- Drama Club Wednesdays Wednesday Break A - Miss Plane
Year 10 Music
Year 10 music has been looking at a range of Australian Music this term. They have also been working on their own individual projects either performing or composing their own song. We look forward to these students publicly performing or presenting their compositions at a lunchtime concert in the near future.
Year 10 Drama
Throughout term 1, year 10 drama have been looking at ancient greek theatre. We started with looking at the history of the Dionysus (Greek God of Theatre) and amphitheatres. The class created diagrams looking from a bird's eye and cut-away. Weeks 4-7 have seen us creating chorus pieces with the addition of masks from our two plays for the term. The photos below show students working collaboratively to create a piece from ‘Little Girls Alone in the Woods’ by Morgan Rose.
School of Rock Update
It is wonderful to see the show starting to come together. And we could not do it without our committed and talented affiliates. O’Connor musicals have a rich history of affiliates since Annie! In 2016. Our affiliates include a number of past students who have come back to support our current students in various roles, including cast, vocal coaches, technicians and musicians.
This week we will introduce you to Kate Frazier.
What is your role in SOR?
I am assisting with vocal coaching for School of Rock and have been having the best time working with the students and other alum getting their beautiful voices in tip top shape!
How did you get into musical theatre?
I have been singing for as long as I can remember but only got into theatre 8 years ago when O’Connor collaborated with TAS and PLC to put on West Side Story. I’ve been hooked ever since, now I do shows in my spare time with ADMS
What have you done since leaving occ?
Since leaving O’Connor I have moved away from and then back to Armidale (twice), been at university studying English for a million years, and now work at the Catholic Schools Office. I spend most of my free time performing with ADMS and doing smaller gigs around town.
Why come back to occ?
I absolutely loved my time at O’Connor and jumped at the first opportunity I had to get involved in this fabulous production with such a great cast and creative team!
What are you looking forward to?
I am looking forward to hearing all of the incredible voices involved put on an absolutely rocking show!
Acapella Choral Group
Miss Suann's Acapella choral group has been rehearsing regularly in preparation for the Armidale Eisteddfod in May-June. We look forward to hearing to them perform.
English
Miss Lauren Donnelly
As we move into the second half of this term, students in English classes are starting to complete both their analytical and creative compositions. This has seen students challenged with writing in different forms and being aware of both the audience and the purpose of their writing. These two ideas are a great way to focus a piece of writing and achieve success, moving their learning forward in this area.
Year 7 English - Survival
Year 7 English are completing their unit of work focused on the theme of Survival, this has allowed them to explore both real life situations and fictional ones on how people are resilient, determined and are able to persevere during difficult times. With COVID impacts on our learning, this unit becomes an important stepping stone in settling into high school English and the expectations that they are to meet.
Year 8 English – Genre Study
Year 8 has been exploring a genre study focused on fantasy. Focusing their study on core ideas like the hero’s journey and how this shapes much of modern-day fiction. As they get closer to completing the unit, students will review the film Eragon and how well it achieves the conventions of the genre.
Year 9 English – Media
Year 9 English has been exploring the role of media in society and in their lives, and how it influences our decisions and opinions about the world. This unit encourages a deeper understanding as to how we receive information and what the desired impact on that as a responder if. Students have been particularly focused on the techniques used by composers so that they can identify when they are utilised.
Year 10 English – Celebrating Australian Stories
Year 10 English has focused on exploring Australian Stories, with their main focus being on the film Ride Like a Girl which recounts the historic win of Michelle Payne at the Melbourne Cup. Through this exploration of the film, they are exploring the concept of ideology and how Australians are represented in films. Students have been particularly focused on deconstructing the techniques and considering how they shape meaning.
Year 11 Advanced, Standard and Studies
Moving into the second half of their Reading to Write unit, Year 11 students are currently preparing for the submission of their first formal English assessment on Monday 28th March 2022. This is a culmination of the work that they have been doing in class and applied to their individual topics.
Year 12, Advanced and Standard
With moving into Week 8, Year 12 Advanced and Standard English classes move into their third unit. Module A: Language, Identity and Culture is the exploration for Standard students on the role that these three concepts have on shaping a responder perception of a person and the experiences they have gone through. Standard students will be exploring the text Reindeer in my Saami Heart, an Australian documentary. Year 12 Advanced English are moving to Module A: Textual Conversations, which explores the discourse between poet John Keats work and the film Bright Star by Jane Campion which explores the love story of the poet and Fanny Brawne.
Writing Competition
Congratulations to all students who competed in the March Writing Competition. The judges are now reading through all of the fantastic submissions. A big congratulations to the large number of Year 7 who participated this month.
PDHPE
Miss Camilla Clydsdale
Our PDHPE students have been busy working on the following this term:
Year 7 has been exploring personal identity through the unit Who Am I? Outdoors they have been enjoying Fundamental Movement Skills and Modified Games.
Year 8 have been exploring lifelong physical activity in the unit Fit for Life and outdoors they have been engaging in Fitness Testing and Fitness based activities. Pictured below is 8.2 enjoying a boxing and skipping relay.
Year 9 have been exploring support networks in the unit The Network. Each class will contribute to the community in our Vinnies visits this term. All students will complete community service hours as part of their common task this term - please see your child’s Google Classroom for further details. Outdoors our year 9’s have been enjoying striking games. For example: Ms. Mellowship’s class have been playing a range of racquet hybrid games.
HOME RUNS: Ms Mellowship's Year 8 class were striking the ball well last week.
BADMINTON: Another type of raquet ball game played at the College this last fortnight.
Year 10 have been exploring the components of respectful relationships and enjoying Modified Games during their practical lessons.
Our Senior Sport Lifestyle and Recreation (SLR), Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) and Community and Family Studies (CAFS) studies are well into their Term 1 studies and most subjects have completed their first assessment task this term.
Cross Country
All students are busy preparing for the College’s Cross Country Carnival to be held on Friday the 8th of April - the last day of term. Over the next few weeks each PDHPE class will walk/run the course to become familiar. If your child hasn’t started training yet here is a Couch to 3km Beginner Runners Program to get you started: https://livelighter.com.au/Assets/resource/physical-activity/PA-Resource_Couch-to-3km-Run.pdf
Miss Camilla Clydsdale
Leader of Learning PDHPE
Child Studies
Year 9 Child Studies have been working through a unit called 'Preparing for Parenthood'. Students have been learning and developing their understanding of the factors that influence an individual or couple's decision to become a parent and planning considerations that may take place.
Whilst learning about these considerations, students have extensively discussed and related the idea of becoming parents back to the Catholic Principle and Value of 'The Sanctity of Life - Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end; no one can under any circumstances claim for himself the right to directly destroy an innocent human being'.
The Child Studies class had the opportunity to partake in a Zoom call with new Mum Kim and her 6 week old baby girl. During this call, students had prepared questions which focussed on understanding how the parents prepared themselves for the arrival of their child and looked at the physical, emotional and financial responsibilities that come with becoming a parent.
Natalie Mellowship
Child Studies Teacher
Sport, Lifestyle and Recreation
As a part of the Sport, Lifestyle and Recreation course in Years 11 and 12, students had the opportunity to attend an excursion to the pool to demonstrate their Aquatics skills and put their theory into practice. As part of their formalised assessment for the Aquatics unit being studied, students have been able to learn and develop their knowledge, understanding and skills necessary for safe and rewarding participation in Aquatic activities.
Natalie Mellowship & Felicity MaGann
Sport, Lifestyle and Recreation Teachers
Miss Camilla Clydsdale
Leader of Learning PDHPE
Science
Mrs Lilly Moar and Mr Daniel Fittler
In Science students are coming to the end of a term's work. This is the time when they will be putting multiple ideas together to test their understanding of science. This will take place in many formats which include; quizzes, writing tasks, design projects, experiments or topic tests. Below is an outline of what each year group has been studying;
Year 7 - Filthy Filthy Water
Year 7 has been looking into the particle model and how we use this to explain the behaviour of solids, liquids and gases. Recently they have been applying these ideas to separation techniques by asking the question “What property of these substances can I use to separate them?”. The properties that students have used so far are; particle size, density, solubility and boiling point.
Year 8 - Energy
Year 8 had started the topic on energy to try and figure out “What exactly is energy?”. They then progressed into the law of conservation of energy and began exploring the idea that energy can change into other forms. After this, students have been learning about the different types of energy, particularly heat energy and recently electrical energy. In the last weeks of this term, year 8 will be learning about energy efficiency, “How do we keep energy where we want it?”.
Year 9 - Living Forever
In this topic, year 9 have been learning about body systems that enable people to maintain a balance of bodily functions such as body temperature so that the body can continue to function as normal. With the understanding that the body strives to maintain an equilibrium, students then learn about infectious and non-infectious disease and how these attacks on the body can disrupt the systems in our body.
Year 10 - Evidence is Everything
In this topic year 10 have been learning about evolution and that populations have the tendency to develop characteristics over time that are suited to the environment that they are in. After this students began learning about genetics and how DNA codes the instructions for our bodies “genes” and that the structure of DNA enables processes like cell replication (growth and repair - mitosis) and reproduction (meiosis) to occur millions of times a day without many mistakes at all. To finish this topic, year 10 will be learning about inheritance and biotechnology.
Years 11 and 12
In each of the senior science courses (Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Extension Science), students have completed their first task for 2022. This is a major achievement especially after the disruption of 2021 and is a good time to remind students that the HSC is an endurance event, there will be times which are full on and packed with assessments, and there will be times of relative reprieve, which still feel busy due to the classwork that needs to be completed at that time. During those stressful times, keep talking with your teachers and they will give you the support that you need to get through it as best you can. Good luck!
TAS
Mr Jon Hawthorne
O'Connor Technology Teams up With Precious Plastics Australia to Reinforce the Importance of Recycling Plastic
O'Connor recently purchased a plastics recycling machine from Precious Plastics Australia (PPA).
In the words of PPA:
"We're creating disruptive design to positively impact the planet, striving for better outcomes for traditionally non-recyclable products, and providing accessible, local manufacturing solutions Australia-wide."
The new machine and associated products such as plate mould allows students at O'Connor to recycle old milk bottles (HDPE) and milk lids (LDPE) into usable products and materials that can then be used create new designs.
It is already being put to good use by Yr 12 HSC DT student Tommy Nguyen who is designing and creating a range of kitchen utensils from recycled plastic. Tommy's aim is too also raise awareness of the importance of recycling plastics to prevent them ending up in our oceans and landfill.
O'Connor also purchased a jenga block mould with the O'Connor logo to start making class sets of this popular game. It is hoped that the recycled plastic products produced will be used in a number of technology classes including textiles, DT, STEM & food technology.
Mr Hawthorne, Mr Fittler, Mr Kelly and Tommy Nguyen recently attended a training course with Precious Plastics to understand how to use the new recycling equipment effectively.
In the words of the PP presenter he described O'Connor as being a "trailblazer" as the College is one of the first schools in Australia to undertake such a project.
In the coming weeks some exciting news will be released about a house competition to collect milk bottle caps for recycling.
Around the Classrooms in the DT and Construction
Agriculture
Mrs Janet Price
After a shortened season the local shows have come to an end. O’Connor has had great success at all three shows with produce, junior judging and cattle.
Our last show was Walcha where 30 students competed in the RAS zone U25 competition for Sheep appraisal. We had several students who made the final and had to make an oral presentation. From that Erica Menzies and Angela Ryan were placed 2nd and 3rd. Angela is a reserve for Sydney.
GALLERY: O'Connor students were well represented. (Photo credits Makaala Dodd)
Congratulations to our finalists Lucy Selby, Abby van Eyk, Lachlan Bradford, Cooper Morley, Tom Lockyer and Isabelle Kelly.
Local Cattle judging followed with Anna McClelland speaking in the finals in a very challenging class. She was 4th. Congratulations Anna.
Junior paraders had lots of competitors with Phoebe Colvin and …. Making the final.
Our cattle did well with the 2 X bred heifers placing 2nd and 3rd in their class and the Devon cow Not A Lot Charlotte taking Champion Devon Female.
We have our 1st calf of the season this morning! YEAH.
Food Technology
Mrs Healy was showing her Year 10 class on Tuesday the effects gained from garnish.
Textiles
Mrs Vicki Channon
Year 8 Textiles have been a wonderful group of students who have been focussed on the learning intentions this term. They were given the task of designing a cushion cover that would give comfort to people on ‘New Earth’. Some students took up the option of a photo collage that was printed digitally onto fabric, then stitched onto their fabric, and then finally made into a cushion cover (with a zipper). Students learned how to use, care for and maintain the sewing machine along with collaborating with their peers. The students also researched a designer who works sustainably in the fashion and clothing industry to reduce the huge amount of waste that is produced. A folio accompanied their practical work.
Year 9 Textiles have been constructing a very practical project over the last couple of weeks; a calico tote bag. Students have decorated them using various techniques. Some used a digital transfer print and others created a hand embroidered pattern and buttons. We then accessorised with our own hand made pom poms.
Year 10 Fun with Fashion have been working on the construction of a pair of boxer shorts. The class have worked enthusiastically in this endeavour, since many have not sewn since Year 8.
Year 11 Textiles are learning about the elements and principles of design. They are experimenting with many different techniques that can be utilised to symbolise all of the aspects. This will lead into their first assessment task where they will be designing and creating a textile art piece called ‘Me’.
Year 12 are in the midst of developing their major textile projects into fruition after researching inspiration, sketching ideas, making toiles, and doing samples and experiments. This is an exciting time for them as it starts to take shape and meaning. Practical and folio work are both equally important, so it is important that the students are closely monitoring their time and effort on both parts at this time.