SECONDARY NEWS
From the Assistant Principal
Welcome BBQ
The Welcome Barbeque that was held last week was a great success with many parents and students taking the opportunity to meet with teachers in the Secondary Quadrangle. It was also a time when families could chat amongst themselves, meet the Secondary staff and ask any questions that they needed to. We appreciate the effort that parents made, and once again reiterate to all families to contact the school if there are concerns.
Secondary Social
The first social for the year was also held last week. Year 10 students organised the music and an entertaining evening eventuated. The social was a terrific welcome for the new students in the Secondary. Year 10 students demonstrated their intentions to make a difference in 2020 and they are to be congratulated for the well-run event. All members of the SRC from 7-10, and some other willing volunteers, were rostered on to run the canteen on the night.
Vaccinations
The team from Hunter New England Health will be at Holy Trinity on Thursday 5 March to administer the vaccinations to those Year 10 students who have returned the necessary documentation.
Parent-Teacher Meetings
Save the Dates
Years 7 and 8 interviews will be held on Monday 23 March and Years 9 and 10 on Wednesday 25 March.
Notes with more information will be distributed closer to the dates.
Inverell Show
On Friday and Saturday, I had the pleasure of taking our Show Team to the Inverell Show. We exhibited 11 animals over the two days with outstanding success. An absolute highlight was exhibiting the school’s young Limousin stud stock from our “Willow Glen” stud. The 14 students worked extremely hard and their work paid dividends receiving many of the top awards for the show.
The School Spectacular Feature event incorporated the following classes, a school ambassador talk, herdsperson, heifer fitting challenge, junior judging and paraders. Overall the Holy Trinity students gained third place in the competition. Year 9 student Sarah Townsend won the fitting challenge and was reserve champion parader.
It was exciting for the students to have animals that received so many positive comments and awards. We were particularly looking forward to exhibiting our stud heifers and junior bulls as we believe they are an outstanding line of Limousin cattle.
Below are our achievements for the show:
- 3rd School Ambassador Talk
- 1st and 3rd Heifer Fitting Challenge
- 1st, 3rd Junior Paraders
- 1st and 2nd School Steer
- 3rd Open Led Steer
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th under 12 months Junior Limousin Female
- Champion, Reserve Champion Junior Female and Grand Champion Limousin Female
- 1st under 12 months Junior Limousin Bull
- Champion and Grand Champion Limousin Bull
- 1st under 12 months Junior Angus Bull
- Reserve Champion Junior Angus Bull
- 2nd and 3rd All Breed Heifer Show
- Best Calf of the Show – Willow Glen Honey Q4
Our Holy Trinity team worked exceptionally well together and it was marvellous to have so many new students attending their first show. I was extremely proud of their efforts and support of each other.
We would like to thank the Holy Trinity parents, your support is very much appreciated.
The students who attended the show were:
Year 10:
Bridie Kennedy, Kristabelle O’Brien, Emma Page
Year 9:
Mia Bryant, Sarah Townsend, Sarah Harvey
Year 8:
Bella Thompson, Max Pianko, Bailey Horner
Year 7:
Luke Ticehurst, Keaton Pratap, Daniel Griffey, Cooper Emery, Molly Schutz
Mrs Kathy Townsend
HOTmaths
All students in the secondary department have a subscription to HOTmaths for 2020. Each student will soon have an individual log in, enabling them to complete set work or revise content they need assistance with. It also allows their teacher to set work and track progress.
What is HOTmaths? It is an interactive online maths teaching and learning program for students based on the NSW curriculum.
In a few words HOTmaths is:
- Connecting students, parents and teachers with each other and the world
- Making maths more meaningful and engaging
- Building confidence through success in learning
- Providing curriculum-based teaching, learning and assessment material
- A first-rate learning management system
- An effective and inexpensive home tutoring system
- An online resource accessible 24 hours a day
Students in Years 7 to 10 are encouraged to use their HOTmaths subscription. The program is a very effective tool for revision and consolidation of lessons taught in the classroom. We encourage all students to utilise their subscription and hopefully gain greater confidence in this subject. If parents have any queries regarding this they will be able to discuss the matter with their child’s Mathematics teacher at the Parent/Teacher meetings.
Big Write
Improving the writing skills of our students has been a long-term goal of Holy Trinity. This year students from K - 9 are continuing to undertake the Big Write and VCOP program as a means of enhancing the standard of writing across the school.
Big Write and VCOP is a methodology for raising the standards in writing across all ages and ability levels. It seeks to address the reasons why there are falling standards in writing. Based on the premise that ‘if they can’t say it, they can’t write it’, learning is scaffolded to allow children to become articulate thinkers and speakers, who will then become articulate writers.
The program is designed to bring the enjoyment back into writing by engaging students in writing and continuously challenging them throughout their writing journey. Through games, activities, writing tasks, conversations and discussions, students will learn not only where their abilities lie in a fun and engaging way, but also the steps they need to take, in order to continue to improve.
In Years 7-9 ‘Big Writes’ are a component of assessment in English where the focus is on individual improvement and self-reflection; instead of marks and grades. Written tasks are done on a regular basis in the classroom during the course of a unit and work is then evaluated in a ‘Breakdown Buddy’ session. Students reflect on their performance in the task, celebrating achievements and then setting clear goals for future improvement.
What does VCOP stand for? (see the diagram below)
Vocabulary: Ambitious vocabulary, WOW words.
Connectives: A wide range of words and phrases for connecting thoughts, ideas and sentences.
Openers: Effective opening words and phrases to begin a sentence.
Punctuation: A wide range of punctuation, including power punctuation.
Do students still have homework in English?
YES - students are required to prepare for their writing tasks by researching and practicing their writing, but most importantly, talking to others. By orally discussing their knowledge and understanding of a particular issue, they are preparing for their upcoming ‘Big Write’.
Is my child’s writing still marked by a teacher?
All written work is closely monitored by their classroom teacher on a regular basis. Relevant and meaningful feedback is used by students to improve their next written task. On five occasions each year students complete a ‘Cold Write’ (equivalent to an English writing exam) that is moderated by at least two English teachers. This determines a student’s grade and is tracked on a student progress wall.
The ‘Big Write’ is an exciting project in the Secondary - already we are seeing significant improvements in student writing across all grades.
For further information please contact your child’s English teacher or Mrs Watchirs.
General Permission Notes/Information Updates, Media Release Forms & Computer Code of Conduct
Students are asked to return these notes if they have not already done so. We appreciate the prompt return of this essential document.