YEAR 8 - HEART WEEK

Year 8 students had a wonderful week of activities last week during Heart Week, exploring a range of topics designed to widen their knowledge of themselves, and their community.

Students participated in a variety of Christian Service Learning opportunities including a Beach Clean-up at Sorrento Beach and cleaning the school grounds to prevent the rubbish from blowing over to the beach. This was facilitated by Adopt a Beach and College Environment Coordinator Mr Grant Miocevich. 

Other students made 80 lunches for students at Koondoola Primary School and Roseworth Primary School comprising of a sandwich, apple and flavoured milk. The lunches are given to children, usually eight every day, when they come to school without breakfast and/or lunch. 

A group of students shared morning tea with the elderly from: St Vincent de Paul Conferences, St Vincent de Paul Migrant/Refugee Committees, Grandparents Rearing Grandchildren WA, Seacrest Retirement Village, Aboriginal Catholic Ministry and Joondalup Men’s Shed. Below are two student’s reflections from the morning tea and comments we received from some of our guests. A huge thank you to Mrs Rosanna Hywood for organising the lunches and morning teas.

"Our experience with the Joondalup Men's Shed was thrilling, learning about how things were very different for some people. We were fascinated learning about how they used to do things and what they have accomplished. The booklet we had to fill out gave us a series of questions to ask the gentlemen from the Joondalup Men's Shed. We did not get all of the answers, but got some different responses instead. These men are truly remarkable, and we all enjoyed hearing different stories, leaving the room with a smile on our faces. Engaging with these men gave us a chance to hear another side of life where they do things quite differently to how we do them today. 

After chatting with the men from Joondalup Men's Shed, we took them to look at our amazing engineering, woodwork, and metals studios. Showing the men all the new generation technology and watching their faces light up with happiness truly made our day. It was sensational hearing them chat about how they were so shocked at the modern technology. We are so grateful we had the opportunity to show these men the beautiful studios we have here at Sacred Heart College. 

We would like to thank the Joondalup Men's Shed members for giving us their time to talk with these incredible men. It made our day. We speak for everyone when we say we truly left that room with a smile." - Ellie O'Grady and Eilis McCarthy (Year 8 Trinity)

"Thank you for inviting us into the atmosphere of Sacred Heart College again. We enjoyed it very much. 

It was a pleasure to meet and chat to the three young ladies. They presented very well and represented the College perfectly in their demeanour and personality as well as their willingness to question us. Lovely experience." - Thelma and Frank Pelusey

"This is just a quick note to thank yourself and Sacred Heart College for inviting our members to morning tea yesterday.

The feedback from those who attended is that they all had a wonderful time and would be happy to come and do it again anytime you ask. I understand that one of our younger members turned up on his motorcycle which the students thought was amazing. From what I heard the students were amazed by stories like milk being delivered by a horse and cart. They also found it hard to believe that there were no phones, computers, TV etc, so I think our members enjoyed telling the stories as much as the kids liked hearing them. 

All in all, it appeared to be a great day and do not hesitate to call on us again if you decide to repeat the exercise." - John Spence, Secretary Joondalup Men's Shed

Students learnt valuable first aid skills in a hands on session with St John and looked at how to flourish at school in their Positive Psychology session. Youth Choices presented a role-play titled ‘Isolation’ which is a four-actor theatre workshop portraying real students' experiences of bullying, cyberbullying and their impacts on their mental health. On Wednesday afternoon students listened to a presentation from ySafe on how to be safe online which provided them with some practical solutions to protect themselves and others. Thursday concluded with a high energy House Quiz where students battled questions and games against other Houses and their peers from their own House.

On Friday, students participated in three activities that they had chosen the week before. The activities included:

• Art – Students engaged in mindful colouring and focused on how to choose and apply colour in a design to bring about awareness to the present moment. This process is similar to meditation, where we let go of any thoughts about tomorrow or yesterday, or what we are going to do when we finish.
• Book Club – Students relaxed and indulged in a book.
• Build a Project – Students made a puzzle out of wood that they had to cut so the pieces fit together.
• Cupcake Crazy – Students cooked up a storm! They made and decorated cupcakes to eat themselves and also some to donate to the less fortunate. The photo at the beginning of this article shows Eilis McCarthy (Year 8 Trinity), India Schneider (Year 8 Barlow), Reuben Sawyer (Year 8 Trinity) and Joel Lafferty (Year 8 Barlow) with the cupcakes that will be donated.
• Engineering – Students were challenged to build and test an automatic sorting machine for red and blue balls. Their device was manufactured out of Lego components and operated by an EV3 programmable controller.
• Fitness Fun – Students got their heart rates up working out in Heartbeat, then they worked up a sweat on the basketball courts.
• Jungle Body KONGA – Students engaged in a full body, high intensity dance and boxing workout. It focused on four, easy to follow moves including hip hop, old school, merengue and boxing.
• Marine Exploration – This activity asked students to explore some of the principles of Marine Biology such as testing water conditions, experimenting with desalination and convection currents, exploring marine food chains, researching ocean expeditions and analysing the effects of pollution and coastal erosion on our beaches.
• Music Technology – The next music composer may have been found in this activity. Students composed music using loops, audio and MIDI tracks for cartoon films. They were able to download their music to share with others.
• Rock Climbing – Students challenged themselves and supported their peers as they faced the various challenges on our rock climbing wall.
• Self Defence – Focusing on personal safety and fun, as well as practicability, students covered easy, basic techniques that work when applied under pressure.
• Theatre Sports – Students engaged in improvisational theatre, which uses the format of a competition and games for dramatic effect. Opposing teams perform scenes based on audience suggestions.

“On Friday, I did three activities: Book Club, Engineering and Build a Block. My favourite activity has to have been Book Club. A relaxing time, reading and playing board games, with a hot chocolate and a comfortable chair. What’s not to love?

Engineering was also fantastic, where we had to build a robot that could sort different coloured balls into different areas, and the winner got a prize (we won). Overall, it was a fantastic day." - TJ Boylen (Year 8 Trinity)

A huge thank you to the Year 8 PCG teachers for facilitating the activities throughout the week and the various other staff who ran and supervised the sessions. The students are very grateful to these staff members who assisted so the students could have a fun and memorable week.

Mr Brett Dayman

Assistant Deputy Principal – Year 8