Middle School

Middle School News

Year 10 Exam

Year 10s will be sitting their mid year exams during Week 9, from Friday 3rd of June to Friday 10th of June. This should now appear on the students’ Compass schedule. Students have been asked to check for any clashes that may occur with Year 11 subjects/exams and other commitments and to notify the Middle School office asap.  Please note that there will be no classes running during this time. In the lead up to exams it is important that students keep up to date with both their class work and study and seek assistance from their teachers where required.

Athletics Carnival 2016

It was great to see so many enthusiastic contenders and supporters at our recent annual whole school Athletics Carnival. It is such a great opportunity for the school community to enjoy a day of fun, sport and (thankfully) sunshine. We feel it is important that students attend sports days such as these, even if they aren’t planning to participate and thank parents for their continued support in this regard. A reminder to parents of students who were unable to attend to provide consent on Compass if they have yet to do this.

Middle School Sports captain Harry Norman wrote the following report:

On Thursday the 20th of April, we travelled down to the Knox athletics track for our annual Athletics Carnival; we had a wide range of competitions, from the highly anticipated 100m sprints to the exciting game of tug of war. We witnessed a lot of impressive performances and were kept entertained by the students in their bright house colours cheering on their mates.  Overall the winning house for the day was Mabo with a splendid win!

Harry Norman

Winter Uniform

Just a reminder that as it is now Term 2 students should be wearing the Winter Uniform. This is as follows:

Boys: Grey pants or shorts, white shirt (short or long with school logo), tie, charcoal school jumper, black socks (no markings) and black shoes that can be polished.

Girls: Winter skirt, white fitted shirt (with school logo), charcoal school jumper, black socks/stockings/tights (no markings) and black shoes that can be polished.

As always, thanks for your support in this regard.

Year 9 Camp

We had a great time at our Year 9 camp to Phillip Island Adventure Resort last Term. Over 250 students and more than 20 staff attended and enjoyed three days of outdoor activities including the giant swing, high ropes course, archery, flying fox, canoeing and raft making. In the evenings we enjoyed a movie night and a highly competitive trivia quiz. There were lots of laughs, personal growth and fun all round.  Staff who attended the camp commented on how impressed they were by the teamwork and camaraderie exhibited by students, and it was especially pleasing to see the development of so many new friendships. 

Abbey and Nicole shared their camp experience:

On the 7th of March the Year 9s went to camp at Philip Island. We spent three days at the camp and did heaps of really fun activities. I loved being able to talk to so many new people out of the school environment and I made heaps of new really good friends. My favourite activity was canoeing because it was something I hadn’t done a lot of before and it was really funny when my group and I capsized.

 Abbey Williamson

Last term Year 9 students set off for Philip Island for three days of adventure. At the camp there were many fun activities including flying fox, raft making and ropes course. I personally really enjoyed the flying fox. The camp was an awesome experience and really united our year level. Without the school staff it wouldn't have happened so I think that they should get a very special thanks.

Nicole Dykes

School for Student Leadership

This term four of our Year 9 students started a term long adventure at the Snowy River Campus of the School for Student Leadership in Marlo. Portia King-Smith, Declan Caldecoat, Gideon Davidson and Georgia Scotto will stay at the residential school for ten weeks learning outdoor skills and personal, community and leadership development. Since they arrived on Sunday they have been taught how to make a bed, use a washing machine, and take charge of their own chores. They have also started thinking about the Community Learning Project that they will undertake for the duration of their stay. Here is a blog post from Declan from Day 3 this week:

Day 3: 19/4/16

Today we started the day early, ten minutes early when someone accidentally set a door alarm off. It was not the happiest start to a day. Our first class we did an intro to CLP's and we decided that we would do something to make our home school look better. There is a new building going in and we decided to organize for a garden and a mural to be put there so it doesn't look bad when it is finished. I feel that doing something for the school is really good. For afternoon class we learnt how to operate our laptops and weebly. It was a little tedious and frustrating but we got there in the end, even though a lot of us are still confused about how to use this website. Today is Teamwork Tuesday, the vibe in our team is good but there is a lot of talking over each other and not listening, which we need to change if we are to have a productive team. It would be a great help if we got to know each other better, which I'm sure will happen considering its only the third day at the Snowy river campus.

Declan Caldecoat

We are so proud of these four Middle School students and look forward to sharing their many experiences in the coming months.

InterGREAT news

Maroondah Council Guest Speakers

Three officers from the Maroondah City Council visited the school last Tuesday to speak to the Year 9s about the various services and initiatives in our local community. The Arts and Cultural Development Officer, Belinda Robertson, Grant Meyer from Integrated Planning and Jeanette Ingram, the Sports and Recreational Planning and Policy Officer each spoke about their roles and offered the students an insight into what goes on in the local area in terms of policy and planning for the future.

Personal Projects

The 500s block was alive during week 2 as interGREAT students presented their Personal Projects to teachers and classmates. We were absolutely delighted by the calibre of the work that so many of our students had completed. As you can see from the photos there was a really diverse range of projects undertaken and we are so proud of the effort, originality and commitment that was clearly on display.

Here’s what Sam and Josh wrote about their Personal Projects:

For my InterGREAT Project I made a basketball skills video. I found this very enjoyable and very engaging because basketball is something I love to play. This did take a while to make both the video and my visual diary, but when I finished it was a great feeling. This is a great project that students in Year 9 loved completing.

Sam Timmer

For my personal Project I chose to make a rocket. The best part of the project was watching all of my work come together for the launch. During my project I got to work with my dad to create something that was truly amazing. Although the project was full of ups and downs we pushed through and the final product was phenomenal. Next time I would know what to change and would really be able to improve upon the rocket.

Josh Joyce

MAD Filmmaking Tasks

During Term 2 students will be shifting their focus in interGREAT from ‘Making a Difference’ to themselves to ‘Making a Difference’ in the Community. As such they have been busy making short documentaries about people in their local community who they have identified as making a difference.

Monty Pryor Guest Speaker

Last week Year 9 students also enjoyed a presentation by Monty Pryor, a multi-talented performer and an articulate public speaker on Aboriginal issues. Pryor is a storyteller, writer and performer who has been presenting to Year 9 students at RSC for over 20 years. Due to scheduling constraints the session was booked during period 4 on a Friday, rather than the usual interGREAT Tuesday, but it was a most engaging way to end the week.

Community Engagement

In the coming weeks students will also participate in a Community Engagement which will enable them to make a positive contribution to a service provider in Maroondah by volunteering their time. These projects include assisting primary school students at Heathmont East and Great Ryrie Primary Schools, visiting Olivet Aged Care to interact with residents there and provide garden maintenance, working with intellectually disabled students from Your DNA, assisting the Maroondah Council in in variety of projects, knitting for the needy, teaching technology to less con