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Social Justice Sleepover
Recently, Year 10 students participated in a sleep-out on the school oval which covered aspects of social justice relating to our local region. The sleepout had a particular emphasis on homelessness and associated social issues and gave students an opportunity to immerse themselves in the issues of human wellbeing that are fundamental within the Geography curriculum.
Students heard from a range of local Christian specialists who offer support services in this area as well as a local person who has experienced homelessness. The ideas that the students were confronted with integrate well with the school's key values of community, care, and character.
The students acquitted themselves wonderfully in a challenging situation, displaying compassion, teamwork, and a genuine interest in the lives of others.
'On Wednesday afternoon, Year 10 stayed at school to participate in the Sleep Out which aimed to increase our knowledge and empathy for homeless people in the Shoalhaven. We started the afternoon with free time, snacks, and setting up our tents. Then we did some activities that related to homelessness. I was in a group that played monopoly with a twist, acting as the different social classes (upper, middle, working and lower), meaning some people like Ryllie got to make rules, therefore getting himself out of jail. We then listened to Dave and Pete from SALT. They told us part of their stories and their mission as an organisation, as well as how we can pray for them and the homelessness in the Shoalhaven. We had a soup kitchen for dinner while we listened to Sylvia from Vinnies. She taught us about some background to the St Vincent De Paul organisation. Then afterwards there was a fire pit with campfire songs before going to sleep in the cold. My favourite part of this activity was the monopoly because it was challenging to think about how we needed to save our money and make the right decisions, whilst we still were having fun and playing with friends. The talk and question section of the talks were also really good because we were able to have more of an insight into the homelessness outreach programs in the Shoalhaven as well as learn how to empathise and cope with homeless people in Nowra and the wider Shoalhaven.' Lilly D'On the 28/04/2021 Year 10 had a homelessness sleepout to help us recognise some of the aspects of life when you're homeless. We had two speakers (Dave and Pete - SALT and Sylvia - St Vinnie's) who encouraged us and talked to us about some of the aspects of homelessness. Although we could never imagine what a homeless person goes through, it helped us to get an insight into the life of a homeless person. As Dave has experienced homelessness, he told us about the trauma that homeless people experience. Something that really encouraged me about SALT is that they pray for the people without expecting anything back. They never force the people who come into the shelter to go to church. They simply pray for them and show them love and compassion. Being a homeless person would be extremely hard. As well as being cold, you lose all of your connections and don't have a support network. I found it a really encouraging time to just reflect on the way that I may next be able to assist in the lives of homeless people.' Beth W'The campout was actually pretty fun. The talk from SALT and The Salvation Army was really eye-opening about the problems of homelessness and how the numbers were really big. They shared interesting stories that showed the struggles that they have. We also got to sing camp songs like 'I want it that way' and '10, 9, 8 God is Great'. Some of us managed to sleep in the freezing cold and even those who did struggled the next day which showed us how homeless people have to live their lives every day for years. It was also pretty fun being with our peers but almost all of those struggling have no one.' Isabella C
Senior Retreat 2021
During Thursday and Friday of last week, all of Years 11 and 12 had the opportunity to attend a senior retreat camp with Mrs Hetherington, Mrs Rebel and Mr Bray. We travelled on Thursday morning to a place called Attunga, located in Canyonleigh in the Southern Highlands. We were surrounded by the breathtaking scenery of mountains and valleys and received multiple opportunities to observe the landscape. We were also blessed to have lovely weather with much sunshine and little rain.
The campsite is operated by Attunga Youth Ministries, a friendly group of people with Christ-centered hearts. This team spoiled us with delicious meals filled with plenty of food to sustain us, doing so joyfully. They also engaged with us during the outdoor activities we undertook. The activities included a giant swing, a zipline, a bushwalk up to a lookout and a campfire. We were even fortunate enough to see Mr Bray on the giant swing! Many of us enjoyed the various activities where we were challenged to have courage and try new things.
Seniors had the privilege of a guest speaker named Jon joining us, teaching about the book of Matthew. Jon is currently involved with ministry at the University of Wollongong. There were two talks over the two days which challenged our journey with God. We enjoyed discussing certain ideas such as repentance, faith and hope with each other, our teachers, Mr Bray and the speaker. At this time, some of us had the opportunity to share or hear testimonies. We also had a band of Year 12 students leading ‘worship unplugged’ where we enjoyed singing worship songs with one another, accompanied by a few instruments. Before this, students were able to send through music that they liked, which made the experience all the more special.
We also had a series of interactive talks from Mrs Rebel, Mrs Hetherington and Mr Bray with constructive advice on study skills for the HSC. In this time we learnt the importance of managing our time with assigned studying space, as well as how to efficiently occupy this time. We also learnt all about setting goals and outlining the actions we can take to achieve our aspirations. In addition, we were able to understand how we learn and revise best, with potential study techniques to implement accordingly.
As we returned home, we were happily exhausted from the packed couple of days that we experienced. We left with knowledge, inspiration and encouragement that we can now implement into our lives both at school and home. I am confident I speak on behalf of all who attended when I express how thankful we are for coming to this location.
Written by Jemma P and edited by Cassandra B
Year 8 performs Les Trois Petits Cochons
Year 8 French performed Les Trois Petits Cochons for a number of primary classes recently. Here are some of their accounts of the experience:
'Les Trois Petits Cochons (The 3 Little Pigs) was a fun yet challenging learning experience. It helped us with team work and enhanced our French skills. The best part of performing this play was getting to see the smiles and happy faces of the little kids and our peers. Some challenging factors were learning the pronunciation, learning our lines and knowing when to come in. Overall this play was a great learning curve.' Meah, Tabi, Din and Joseph (who performed for Mrs Landstra's class)Micah, Harry, Jesse, Kevin and Jackson performed the puppet play, Les Trois Petits Cochons (The 3 Little Pigs) in French for Mr Parker's Year 5 class. This is what they said about it:
Kevin: 'It was an interesting experience. Performing helped us. It is a good way to expand our French.' Harry: 'I enjoyed it and we all had a good time.' Jesse: 'A good experience for learning French to get into the flow for speaking a different language.' Jackson: 'A fun way to learn French.' Micah: 'It was a fun experience.'This article was written by Millie, Hayley, Amelia, Claire and Tamsin who performed the play, Les Trois Petits Cochons (The 3 Little Pigs) for Mrs Hefferan's and Mrs Baker's infants classes:
'It was nostalgic to meet and see the area that infants have played in for 41 years. Memorising lines took time but our acting was fun and enjoyable to practice. It's a memory we'll take though our high school and senior years. It was fun learning a play through a French language perspective. A privilege to perform for infants and an audience because they really appreciated it.'
John Morrison and Jacki Cooper Music Workshops
NCS was awash with music on Wednesday 5 May, as we ran a day of workshops led by... wait for it... John Morrison and Jacki Cooper.
Primary and Secondary Concert Band, along with Vocal Ensemble, and Elective Music students benefited from the expertise and wisdom of these two outstanding musicians.
Here is what some of our students had to say:
What did you learn?
Amelia: 'Melody is like a ball and when you have the ball you play with confidence'
Charlotte: 'How to find rhythm in songs, and improvise beats and simple melodies.'
Shae: 'I gained confidence and learnt to play louder in parts.'
Harry: 'How to interpret different music from different cultures (ie the Aboriginal Yorti Yorti song that we sang).'
What did you enjoy?
Courtney: 'I really enjoyed the vocal workshop, she gave some great tips and it was just really fun.'
Beth: 'I found it really good in the vocal ensemble workshop as it was an inspiring time where we learnt how to use our larynx, vocal chords and diaphragm. This was really helpful. I also found the elective music course really good because John was able to teach us about moving to music and just 'feeling' it.'
Ollie: 'The professionalism of the people running the workshop meant that the stuff we were learning was completely new and interesting, and we got to play music and sing.'
Special thanks to Mr West and Mr Drury for their help in organising this fantastic day.
