School of Leadership
From the Head of School…
With a week to go before we break for Easter, I found myself reflecting on what we, the School of Leadership students and their teachers have achieved together in the last 10 weeks.
We started this term with new faces and ideas, and we quickly formed a community of learners who are dedicated to making the most out of every opportunity. Our students have tackled complex tasks and projects, pushed themselves out of their comfort zones, and supported each other along the way. They have learned new skills, discovered new passions, and made new connections that will last far beyond this term.
And this is just the beginning. I am excited to see the new ideas, projects, and collaborations that will emerge in the coming terms. Not to mention the completion of the final stage of our building project in the not too distant future. As we look towards the next term and semester, I encourage you to continue work with your sons and daughters to embrace challenges and opportunities, and to build on the successes of this term. Let's continue to push ourselves, learn from each other, and create a supportive community that empowers us all to achieve our goals.
In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." Let us use our time wisely, and make the most of every moment together.
Thank you for your hard work, dedication, and commitment this term. I am honoured to be a part of this community, and I look forward to seeing all that we can achieve together in the future.
Wishing you a happy and holy Easter and quiet time spent with those who mean the most to you.
Year 7 Parent Discovery Night
We were delighted to open the doors to the Market Place and the Year 7 learning spaces to welcome 2023 Year 7 Parents to our inaugural “Discovery Evening.” Parents were able to see, firsthand, our learning spaces, to meet and hear from school leaders, Pedagogy Coaches and House Leaders and enjoy the company of fellow parents of Year 7.
Parents also had the chance to visit their child’s wellbeing classroom, hear about the exciting and innovative learning, social and wellbeing experiences that our students are engaged in and learn about the resources and technology that we use to enhance our teaching and learning.
Many thanks to the wonderful House Leaders and Pedagogy Coaches who stayed to welcome our Year 7 parents and to our panel of student experts for their insightful and articulate response to parent questions.
Learning Apps
The following infographic was shared at the recent Parent Discovery Evening to support parents to connect with their students’ learning.
Please use THIS link if you are unable to access Canvas at this time.
Mrs Kate Kelly - Head of School, School of Leadership
A Note from The SOL Assistant Principal…
World Poetry Day
On Tuesday the 21st of March we celebrated World Poetry Day. This day is a special occasion to celebrate the achievement of wordsmiths all over the globe, whether it be a songwriter, playwright, novel writer, or the writer of those two poetic lines in a special hallmark card, poetry has the power to capture in words the beautifully chaotic world we live in. As a college, we created a World Poe-e-tree in the centre of the market place where each student had the opportunity to write their name, draw a picture, create a short alliterative poem, write a few lines from their favourite poem or song and form part of our installation artwork. The activity saw students from K-12 assisting and it really was a charming reflection of the creative talents of our students and a reminder about the importance of narrating our world in poetry.
We also facilitated several fun poetry inspired activities in the Hub including sensory poetry, colouring in activities, paint chip poetry composition, rhyming dominoes, ice-cream scoop poetry creation to name a few.
And finally, our poetry competition. We had 30 students from the SOL enter the competition with wonderfully composed poems. We could only select two winners and it is our great pleasure to announce that the winners from SOL are:
Salma Bah (Year 8) Tragedy
Sehaj Kaur (Year 6) Maths
Their poems are below for your enjoyment. A special thank you to Miss Chelsea Wick for helping me in planning, leading, creating, facilitating and executing the activities for World Poetry Day. Miss Wick’s excitement, energy and passion were clearly evident and I appreciate her help to make this special day a reality for our students. And a HUGE thank you to students from Miss Wick’s Year 9 Creative Writing and Film Studies elective class who helped facilitate the activities in the Hub and erect the Poe-e-tree.
Tragedy - By Salma Bah
My heart was heavy full of sorrow,
Mother's cry shot like an arrow,
They took our land with no alarm,
Our pride, our community were put in harm's way.
They labelled us savage,
When all we are is damaged,
We were trapped with no communication,
Our only way was isolation,
Our dignity and soul was left feeling overpowered,
My heart and love became devoured,
Our lives have become a tragedy,
Sooner or later we will know this is our reality.
Maths - By Sehaj Kaur
In the world of numbers, so vast and grand,
Mathematics reigns supreme, a noble command,
From arithmetic to geometry and beyond,
Its power and beauty are there to respond.
Addition and subtraction, the basics we learn,
Multiplication and division, the bridges we earn,
Fractions and decimals, the concepts we unfold,
Ratios and proportions, the stories we told.
Algebraic equations, a language of its own,
Solving for x and y, we're never alone,
Polynomials and factoring, the puzzles we solve,
Functions and graphs, the stories we evolve.
Calculus, the queen of all maths domains,
Limits and derivatives, the concepts it explains,
Integrals and differential equations, the mysteries it reveals,
Optimization and physics, the wonders it feels.
Geometry, the art of shapes and space,
Angles and lines, the basics we embrace,
Polygons and circles, the figures we draw,
Trigonometry and vectors, the paths we saw.
Statistics, the science of data and chance,
Probability and random variables, the numbers enhance,
Sampling and inference, the insights we gain,
Hypotheses and testing, the conclusions we obtain.
Mathematics, the language of the universe,
The key to understanding, a priceless purse,
A tool for problem-solving, a skill we should learn,
A subject of beauty, a flame that should burn.
Shine Project
We have our final Shine wellbeing experience for female students in the King house happening on Monday 3rd of April (Term 1, Week 10). Female students in the King house will attend their wellbeing activity at 8:30am and then the incursion will commence at 9am.
Upcoming Shine dates for female students in year 7, your calendar:
Teresa → Friday 5th May (Term 2, Week 2)
MacKillop → Monday 8th May (Term 2, Week 3)
Curie → Thursday 11th May (Term 2, Week 3)
Have a wonderful and restful Easter holiday. It has been a pleasure to work with you all this term and I look forward to seeing you next term.
Mrs Josephine Camilleri - Assistant Principal, School of Leadership
Stage 3 Stories…
Note taking and summarising is a key element of the English syllabus for a variety of genres. The image below shows Stage 3 practising our speaking and listening skills, and our notetaking skills. Students listened to an information text being read aloud and took notes about important points in the text. In small groups they used their notes to recount what the text was about and to share additional ideas with each other.
Science Specialist
Stage Three students have now completed the construction of their Rube Goldberg Machines to demonstrate their understanding of forces and the transfer of energy through a system. Students have now begun exploring gravity, air resistance and the relationship between the two. Over the next week students will conduct an experiment to determine how surface area impacts the time taken for something to fall whilst demonstrating their understanding of air resistance.
STEM Make a Difference (MAD)During week 8 and 9, 17 students from Stage 3, who indicated their interest in participating in the STEM Make a Difference (MAD) came together to plan the STEM investigations they wished to pursue this year. Some of these projects are directly related to work in class, but all the projects are inquiry based and student driven. These students will participate in lunchtime and after school activities to learn about, and to create products and prototypes that have the potential to make a difference in their world. Please take a look at the link below to check out past projects. https://stemnational.cna.catholic.edu.au/
Stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks.
Mrs Karen McDaid Extension and Enrichment Leader K-12
Stage 3 Volleyball Program
During the last three weeks of this term, students were given the opportunity to participate in an after-school volleyball program. It has been great to see the students having fun each week and developing their skills.
The following is a reflection from Seeret, a stage 3 participant in the program.
It’s been a great experience having volleyball coaches from Australian International Sports Organisation visit us. We have been learning heaps of skills like spiking, setting, digging and serving. I am thankful that I was able to be a part of this program and can’t wait for next week's session.
Seeret T, Stage 3 student.
Italian Language Immersion
Benvenuti a tutti! Welcome everyone!
It is so exciting to start learning Italian in the stage 3 space! Students were so curious about the language and its culture as well! They have learnt the different colours in Italian, also singing the colour song “la canzone dei colori”! Students were also very happy to share with me some vocabulary in Italian that they have learnt at home or from their older siblings who are currently learning the language as well.
It is very effective to start learning a new language at an earlier age, it can open children’s minds about new cultures, traditions and interactions.
As their teacher, I am very proud seeing them being confident to express themselves in a new language, bravi!
“Children's brains are like sponges, absorbing everything going on around them. Every little thing they soak in builds connections in their brain. One of the most important ways you can build your child's brain connections is to talk.” - Maria Montessori (Italian educator)
Ciao ciao, a presto.
Around the learning spaces…
Stage 3 Malala - Wellbeing Corner
In stage 3 Malala we have recently introduced an “affirmation station” to help build student self confidence and ensure that students are not only kind to others but also kind to themselves. We have strategically placed this within our calm space which students regularly use to self regulate when they may be experiencing big emotions or moments of self doubt. At the start of each week, we take the time to explicitly unpack one affirmation with students and we encourage them to look at themselves in the mirror and repeat these affirmations to affirm their capabilities.
Riley’s student-led workshops!
In Geography and English this term, the students have been exploring the importance of informing others about the cultural significance and preservation of different landmarks both within Australia and around the world. As part of this learning, students have been using the 5 E’s of collaboration to work in groups as they research a landmark of their choice and digitally present their information using Google Sites. We have asked students to make their final works as interactive as possible, encouraging the use of features such as 360 images and using tools to annotate maps and diagrams for their intended audience. This meant that there has been a need to run workshops on how to use these tools. This week, some of our student experts took on the role of peer leaders and shared their knowledge of how to use these tools with other students.
There is so much power in providing opportunities for students to learn from each other - we see students go through a process of cognitive conflict and come out of it with new insights and further development of ideas, clarity, inspiration and increased confidence. Overall, it greatly contributes to a positive culture of learning within our space where students feel safe to make mistakes and supported as they help each other on their learning journeys. We are very proud of the way our students worked and supported each other, and we look forward to seeing their final products!
Freeman’s Rube Goldberg Machines
Students have been learning about a range of different forces and energy and the transfer of energy between objects. Their learning has been demonstrated through a rube goldberg machine where students choose their own resources and display their understanding of force, energy and the transfer of energy throughout each stage of their machine. Their collaboration allowed for students to build on a range of skills including their communication, their ability to compromise and joining ideas together in order to contribute to this task. This was then followed by a conversation around the purpose of each stage in demonstrating their knowledge about forces and energy.
From Year 7…
Religious Education:
Students have been exploring ways to enhance their sense of belonging at St Luke’s. As one of the learning activities, they are in the process of co-constructing an anthem for St Luke’s. They are drawing inspiration from the Australian Anthem, the St Luke’s Faith Community and the vision, mission and uniqueness of St Luke’s Catholic College to create their Anthem. Here are some samples of their draft anthems.
HSIE (Geography)
In Year 7, we have been learning about Landscapes and Landforms, which allows our students to investigate the physical world around us. One of the key components of the topic Landscapes and Landforms is understanding how to use Geographical Skills. Over the past few weeks our students have been enhancing their use of Maps. To correctly do this, students have been developing their use of the acronym BOLTSS (border, orientation, legend, title, scale and source). As an extension activity, students were given an opportunity to create their own map and include the required components of BOLTSS. Our students have been enjoying integrating their creative side into Geography.
From Year 8…
CAPA
Let Them Eat Cake!
Year 8 students have been exploring the concept of food as subject matter and developing their artmaking skills in three dimensional forms. Students have drawn upon their own cultural experiences of food and studied Pop Art as inspiration for their own artmaking. Students have illustrated platters of food, created mini sculptures and are now onto creating large sculptures.
Technology:
Year 8 had their first cooking lesson today, and made protein balls. Their smiling faces say it all! They have been learning about how food gets from the paddock to their plate, how to grow herbs from seeds, and how to modify recipes for a wide variety of different diets. Stay tuned for when they cook their own recipe early next term.
Maths
Year 8 started the new unit of Angle Relationships with this amazing group activity to construct their Knows and Need to Knows for the new unit. Students worked in groups of 5 and used the white boards around the room to show us their prior knowledge of angles and then had a group discussion to write down what they needed to know more about the unit. We as a class then went around the room to listen to each group. These knows and need to know were then added on to our wall for Angle Relationships so that students and teachers can come back to it during the unit and erase the need to know which become our Knows along the way.
Wellbeing at St Luke’s
Wellbeing Wednesday for Stage 4 (Year 7 and 8)
Empathy and Compassion
This month's topic during Wellbeing Wednesday has been about ‘Empathy and Compassion’, which falls under the domain of Positive Relationships when we look at Positive Education. Empathy refers to understanding and experiencing the thoughts and feelings of others – the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Compassion involves experiencing empathy and includes a desire to help those in need.
Humans are social beings. Empathy and compassion help us form emotional bonds with others and enable us to contribute meaningfully to our social groups. Researchers have found that children as young as two years old are naturally helpful, even when the person in need is a stranger and there is no reward involved.
We can practise empathy by identifying others’ emotions, actively listening and recognising their points of view. Studies have shown that one way to increase our levels of empathy is by doing volunteer work. Through deliberately engaging in others-focused, helping activities, we can develop our understanding of others’ lives and support their needs.
Try this at home: When watching a movie with your children, ask them to name each character’s emotions and points of view. What might they be thinking or feeling in a particular scene? Why might they be thinking or feeling this way? Can they relate to those thoughts or feelings?
