Secondary School
Welcome Back to our School Community
This week our secondary school has been involved in a range of activities. I had the pleasure of attending the two camps we had running this week - the HSC camp to Melbourne, staying at Queen's College and the Year 11 camp to Murray Life Adventures. The locations were very different from each other, however the common theme was team building and connections. It was great to see our students working together, whether it was navigating the city, competing in team challenges, canoeing or shopping together to organise meals on a budget (there were a number of items left at the register for those groups over budget!).
These camps cannot go ahead without commitment from students and staff. As I spent time with the students and staff at each camp, it was great to see the connections they were making as they enjoyed the shared experiences. Thank you to the staff who attended these camps: Mrs Bush, Ms Hildebrand, Mr Townrow, Mr Hindson, Mrs Paterson, Ms Martin, and Miss Thompson. Thank you also to the year level coordinators, Ms Aquino and Ms Duncan who both gave up time to organise these new camps from scratch which was a huge time commitment - and then leading the camp and being responsible for a large group of students and staff 24/7!
We have a very busy term ahead with many activities planned. The first of these is the swimming sports on Tuesday. It is expected that students attend our carnivals. Our Head of Co-Curricular, Mr McMahon and his team of helpers, including our student leaders, have worked hard to create a great day. Please ensure your child attends the day to support the carnival. There will be food and drinks available to purchase on the day.
With the continued implementation of less uniform changing at school, we ask your support to ensure your child is in the correct uniform. Students can wear sports uniform when they have double PDHPE, double PASS, an active Student Interest Module or Year 7 and 8 Sport. Single PDHPE classes do not require students to be in sports uniform.
Have a great term!
Greg Cadd
Head of Secondary
Leaning towers of books
This week, the English faculty have been busy getting to know our fantastic new Year 7 students. The transition from primary to secondary is a wild ride, full of highs and lows. These Year 7 students competed to achieve some impressive heights using paper and masking tape to build a tower that could hold up the most books. Our winners managed to build a structure that held 59 books and a Goo Jit Zu gremlin before their book tower toppled over.
The English faculty encourage our Year 7 students to keep on reading free choice books at home every night. A wide variety of free reading done outside school has consistently been found to improve vocabulary, reading comprehension as well as verbal fluency. As students' reading skills improve, so does their ability to comprehend classroom materials across the entire curriculum.
We are looking forward to a fruitful year with our newest students.
Year 9s on the Farm
Our Year 9 to 11 Agriculture and Primary Industries classes are preparing dairy heifers to exhibit at Deniliquin Agricultural Show in March. Mrs Smith has very generously provided Jersey and Holstein heifers from her family farm for the students to exhibit. They are named Duchess, Peggy, Princess, Silvermine, Design, Whynot, Glamour and Maida. The students are learning about livestock behaviour, handling cattle safely, feeding cattle and animal welfare.
