Secondary 7/8 Learning

End of Term

It is hard to believe that term 1 has finished and that Easter and the holidays are upon us. Students have made a great start to the year and are engaged and learning in all curriculum areas. Thank you to all parents/carers and students who attended SSG meetings last night. I wish you all a happy Easter and safe holiday. Enjoy, but don’t over-indulge in chocolate and hot-cross buns!!!!

Mathematics

All Secondary 7/8 classes have completed a Maths moderation task in Place Value that shows their learning. Students each had a sheet with a task board printed on it, teachers read through and modelled each task and then allowed students time to work through each task using resources if required. This finished our unit on Place Value until we revisit it again at the beginning of term 4.

All students have completed data collection from relevant questions to create bar or pie graphs and have analysed and interpreted this data. They have become familiar with everyday language to describe outcomes of familiar events. Some classes did a final collection of which football teams we barrack for in Secondary 7/8. This was easy data to interpret; Collingwood is the most popular team!

English

Secondary 7/8 hold a section assembly each Friday at 2.30pm in Etaoin and Ashlee’s classrooms. This assembly is hosted by 2 nominated students each week who have a running list of what to present. Assembly begins with singing the National Anthem, follows with class reports and ends with drawing names from our weekly raffle and occasionally, teacher announcements. Class reports are written prior to assembly; sometimes by the whole class and presented by 2 chosen presenters or actually written by the presenters themselves. This encourages our students to be confident when speaking in front of a larger audience and to be active listeners. Classes have devised termly schedules to ensure all students have the opportunity to present to their peers. Class reports may also be in the form of a video or imovie or even a short performance. Parents, carers and family are welcome to attend our section assemblies.

In readiness to write individual narratives, students have been investigating the format of what to include in their narratives. Narrative structure needs to include; when? where? who? (characters) and a problem with a solution. Narratives need to have a ‘sizzling’ opening sentence that grabs the reader attention and an ‘exciting’ ending to finish with. Narrative writing will continue during the first four weeks of term 2.

Social Competencies

Six girls from Secondary 7/8 and two girls from Year 9 have just returned from the challenging Alpine Bike Ride camp; a 100km ride along the scenic Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail. Although a challenge, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and pleasurable experience as they rode at a comfortable pace through the region. The ride was fully supported by Victoria Police, local shires, the Rail Trail Committee, St John's, the Savoy Bocce Club and local businesses. Thank you to Vera Mitchell and Stef Ouliaris who accompanied the girls on this camp.

Thank you to SFC who planned, shopped, cooked and served our section BBQ last week. This was a fun way for all students to interact and socialise with their peers while enjoying a delicious lunch.

Jump Start program has been put on hold until term 4 as we start our Spectacular rehearsals with Laura from Australian School of Performing Arts on the first Friday of term 2. The students in Jump Start will work on their learning goals within their class groups.

Integrated Studies

All classes have listened to ‘The Wild Colonial Boy’ my preferred version being by Dr Hook, the Australian version. Classes have discussed why Britain decided to establish a colony in Australia in 1788 and how and why further colonies were established. Students, either as a class, independently or with assistance completed a given t-chart to timeline the establishment of the British colonies – how and when these colonies came into existence and when they began governing themselves. All students have an expanding portfolio of all their wonderful work they complete during integrated studies.

PreCAL Experience Days

This term the year 7/8 PreCAL class have been working towards an end of term project; plan for and deliver an end of term section BBQ. SFC have used public transport to travel to Coles, Woolworths, IGA and Aldi to research products, costs and values. On Wednesday 21st March, students travelled back to Woolworths in Greensborough to purchase the items needed. They had to find and collect 10 x 24 pack of sausages, 12 loaves of bread, 2 large sauce bottles, napkins and foil trays.

Thursday 22nd was the big day! In the morning students viewed texts on barbecue and food handling safety and collected the equipment needed, such as tongs and tables. Some students assisted with the cooking of the sausages while others organised and created patterns using the napkins and bread slices. Students also went to each class to invite them out to enjoy the sausage sizzle. Some students were allocated the role of taking orders and serving the food. This involved asking their peers if they wanted sauce and listening to their responses.

It has been great to see SFC working as team, taking on responsibilities and problem solving. Their confidence and sense of achievement on this day was incredible. We’ve had a great term!

Karen Hickling

Acting Team Leader Secondary 7/8