Wurrin News
Years 8 & 9
Year 8 and 9
With only 3 and a half weeks to go of Term 1, Year 8 and 9 students are working hard to ensure assessments are completed before the end of the term. An assembly for Year 8 and 9 is scheduled for Tuesday 10th March to remind students to continue their hard work and live up to the College Values.
Year 9 Introduction to Psychology Class
In this class students have been exploring aspects of the brain – especially in regards to childhood development. We have focused on the key stages that children learn important skills, such as walking, speaking and writing. Historically, there have been cases of ‘feral’ children who are believed to have been raised by wolves and only learned to make barking sounds. These children were only ever able to speak in single words after intense care and instruction. Year 9 students explored the areas in the brain where language develops, such as the Broca and Wernicke areas – and what happens when there are problems in these areas. Some are unable to speak and others speak only in rambling sentences without communicating anything meaningful.
Through our discussion on language, we surveyed the class to see how many languages students have learned either at home, on holiday or at school. We discovered that the class has learned around 15 different languages including Auslan sign language! Some of the community languages are Russian, Dutch and Macedonian, and the holiday languages are Balinese and Bislama – the language of Vanuatu. The foreign languages that have been formally studied at school have included: German, Indonesian, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish.
Children have a great capacity for language acquisition and the learning of additional languages only enhances their own first language.
After School Gym Program
Year 8 and 9 students have the opportunity to sign up for the After School Gym Program which is starting on Friday 6th March. The program will run every week on Wednesdays and Fridays from 3.30 to 4.30pm. The College has a full set of new equipment in the school gym including a power rack, free weights, brand new squat bar and weight plates.
Activities will include weight lifting, core workouts, running and skipping and there will also be music and a different workout each session. There will be staff members at the gym working out and helping students who participate in the program. We hope to see lots of students sign up to get extra fitness into their week.
If students would like to sign up to attend the training sessions they can pick up a permission slip from the 8/9 Learning Hub and return it to Mr O’Rourke.
Alpine School - Student Leadership
Five students in Year 9 have been selected to attend the School for Student Leadership, Alpine School Campus in Term 2 this year. These students undertook a rigorous application process, including being interviewed by a panel, and have been selected based on their leadership potential. While at the Alpine School they will embark upon a 9 week leadership journey, developing their capacity as leaders within our community! They will also have the opportunity to hike, camp, ride mountain bikes - and if they’re very lucky - go skiing!
Well done Cadence Harrison, Honey Wheeler, Jordy Gardam and Aidan Kell!
School Uniform
Now that the weather is cooling down we have been noticing more students wearing non school uniform items. We would like to remind everyone that track pants and hoodies are not part of the school uniform. If students are not wearing the correct uniform they will be asked to change into spare school uniform stored at the College. If families need assistance purchasing uniform please contact the College. Below is the correct school uniform.
