Junior School News
Term Two for our Year 7 students has been a fabulous exhibition of growth in all areas. It is remarkable how far we have come in the first 6 months of secondary school.
Parents may have noticed a physical growth – it is remarkable to note that the average 13-year-old will grow 5cm in 6 months! Throughout their time at our College, our Year 7 students have demonstrated a growing awareness of our College Values and day to day learning.
We have been so impressed with how each Year 7 Student has grown since beginning with us at the start of the year. New skills have been learnt, challenges have been faced and overcome, friends have been made and laughs have been had.
Over the last 6 months, students have been engaging with our 4 school values of Persistence, Excellence, Community and Respect in many exciting ways.
6 months of Persistence
Starting secondary school brings new challenges including lockers, confusing timetables and unknown subjects. Year 7s took on these challenges head-first and demonstrated persistence every day. By week 2, they were naturals and what was a challenge mere weeks ago was now part of their daily routine.
6 months of Respect
We have had a focus school wide this term on ensuring that the beginning of each lesson is calm and orderly to set up for a fantastic lesson. In Year 7, this looks like lining up outside classrooms and waiting quietly for teachers to arrive, entering the learning space calmly and writing patiently behind chairs. Whilst the lesson purpose and starter activities are being shared, students listen attentively and take note of what needs to be achieved by the end of the lesson. Teachers have been so impressed with how Year 7s have demonstrated this behaviour and what a difference it has made to the outcomes of learning goals.
6 months of Excellence
Semester 1 has been busy for Year 7s showcasing exceptional achievements in their learning across various areas, including NAPLAN, inter-school sports days, leadership development and Excel challenge days. By excelling academically and demonstrating prowess in sports, students have not only displayed their individual capabilities but also showcased the strength of their school community.
6 months of Community
Our community at Patterson River Secondary College grew by over 220 students at the beginning of the year. We have loved seeing Year 7 students getting involved in events such as the swimming and athletics carnival, camps and excursions and representing our school with pride during various sporting events. We recognise and celebrate how proud we are of each individual student for consistently displaying our values when venturing out into the wider community.
It was fantastic last week to come together to celebrate our successful semester – we even had some lucky door prizes for students who arrived at our assembly displaying our values.
Year 9
Students in Year 9 this term have had an action packed 9 weeks.
To start the term off students learnt about how Indigenous Australians thrived on this land for 65,000 years. They also learnt about how the land was taken and the effects of white colonisation had on Indigenous culture.
Students had the opportunity of attending the Willum Wurrain Centre in Hastings where we learnt traditional survival methods and some Dreamtime stories. Our Year 9s were commended on their respectful attitude while listening to the presenters.
We then moved onto the next unit which was all about World War 1 where students focussed specifically on trench warfare, women's roles in the war and the Spirit of the Anzac's. Students attended the Shrine of Remembrance on a City Trip where we learnt from the presenters who had a wealth of knowledge on the war.
We are looking forward to starting Term 3 where we will be looking at the students futures as well as studying the movie Rabbit Proof Fence.