Around the KLA's - students and their learning
CAPA
Eisteddfod Soiree
Join us for some examples of student's musical and visual art works which they have been preparing for HSC and the Armidale Eisteddfod.
Music
Wind Ensemble
Armidale Eisteddfod
The Armidale Eisteddfod kicked off on Tuesday with the Choral Section starting the program. O'Connor sponsored the night this year and our Vocal Ensemble performed. This year the school choirs perform in a non-competitive section due to the irregular lead up due to COVID restrictions. It was a wonderful night of celebration of the privilege of being able to sing together once more!
Meg Lawry
Congratulations to Arts Captain, Meg who competed in 3 sections at the Eisteddfod last night; Popular song, jazz piece and musical related performance. Meg won the popular song accompanied by Charlie, Arts Captain. Meg won the two other events as well. Wow! We would love to hear Eisteddfod results. Please let us know how you go and good luck everyone!
Adjudicator Katie Rutledge
We were so lucky to have ex student Katie Rutledge visit O’Connor this week. Katie is an accomplished Opera singer, vocal teacher, judge and musician and she was kind enough to spend some time working with our vocal ensemble. Katie is in Armidale adjudicating the voice sections for the 2021 Armidale Eisteddfod. Katie and the students shared stories of their time at O’Connor, caught up with some teachers who are still at OCC, and enjoyed a tour of the school. Thank you Katie for visiting us!
New England Singers
On Monday morning, a select number of students from New England Singers performed in the 100th Anniversary of the Dangarsleigh Memorial. O'Connor student Meg Lawry was one of those musicians. They performed an original composition written by Luke Byrne called 'Gostwyck' which the composer wrote after attending the 2016 ANZAC Service at the Dangarsleigh Memorial.
English
Around the English Classrooms
Miss Armfield's Year 7 lesson where they were recreating scenes from the text we are currently studying (the text is whale rider) using lego.
They had to identify a key scene from the film and create a visual representation using lego.
One scene is Pai getting the boat motor to work, another is a haka scene whilst the last one is the family watching a film together.
PDHPE
Ms Camila Clydsdale
PDHPE Department Electives Information
Year 8 into 9 Subject Selections
Students are able to elect the following subjects for Yr 8 & 9:
PASS
Child Studies
Yr 10 into 11 Subject Selections
Students are able to elect the following subjects for Yr 11 & 12:
PDHPE - Personal Development, Health & Physical Education
CAFS - Community and Family Studies
EEC - Exploring Early Childhood
SLR - Sport, Lifestyle and Recreation
VET - Fitness
For more information on the above subjects ask your PDHPE Teacher or visit:
https://www.educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/stage-6-learning-areas/pdhpe
Science
Mr Daniel Fittler / Mrs Lilly Moar
Year 8 students are studying Chemistry this term and this week's learning was focused on atoms, elements and compounds. Students in Mrs Moar’s science class enjoyed making 3D atomic models to help them better understand their structure and how atom’s bond with each other to make compounds and molecules.
TAS
Year 8 Creating Simple machines
Mr James (Jim) Healy's Tech class was busy on Tuesday commencing their unit on Simple Machines. The lego kits are always popular and a great tool in looking at the mechanics of how things move.
Year 8 Tech - Spinning toys
One of the rights of passage through Year 8 at O'Connor is the creation of the Tech class spinning toys. It is always fun to see what creations and variations on a theme Year 8 can create. On Tuesday, they were hard at work in the Design and Technology workspace.
iSTEM
Flight Simulators Land at O'Connor
iSTEM students at O'Connor were lucky to have members of the Australian Army Aviation attend the Design and Technology rooms to set up their helicopter flight simulators. The students and Ms Menz had challenging but enjoyable time experiencing what it is like to be behind the controls.
T-VET
O'Connor Student Wins NSW TAFE Award
Congratulations go out to Year 12 student Joseph Stanley who has won the Technology and Business Services Student of the Year for TAFE NSW!
Joseph traveled to Strathfield to receive his award. Studying through TAFE Digital format, Joseph was recognised for his efforts and achievements throughout the course. When asked about his experience with TAFE Joseph shared his thoughts;
"People think that going to TAFE is an alternative to University, but TAFE can also be a pathway to Uni with your units gaining credit towards a Uni course in the same industry area. "
