Learning Updates

- School of Innovation

Students engage in a range of rich learning experiences

Year 7

We can’t believe our Year 7 group are so close to completing their first year at St Anne’s College! Our Year 7 cohort have been undertaking a range of exciting learning opportunities and experiences at the beginning of this term to further develop and enhance their skills, knowledge and understanding in all areas. 

We are really proud of the efforts of our Year 7 students to adapt to their environment and embrace their learning in a variety of ways and through a variety of mediums and technologies. Our core and specialist subjects are enabling us to identify areas of strength and interest, as well as assisting us in setting goals for improvement and further development. 

Year 7 students met with the Foundation children this week to read to them the picture story books they have created during terms 3 and 4. The children enjoyed listening to the stories and it looks like the Year 7s had just as much fun sharing them. The books will be donated to the School of Wonder.

Year 7 students have been learning about forces. This week they looked at buoyancy and the factors that affect how well a boat floats. They built boats out of tin foil and tested these to see how many weights their boats could carry. They then made modifications to improve on their models. 

Year 8

This term in Year 8 students will be engaging in three-week rotations or cycles to complement their core learning in other subjects. 8C began the term by getting into 'La Cucina' and learning about various Italian recipes and experimenting with different herb combinations to make their own seasonings. It has been great to observe students learning life skills and testing out some different pizza toppings as inspirations for their upcoming 'Pizzeria' assessment in Italian classes. This assessment will see students design their own pizza menu and recite a short dialogue of ordering food in Italian.  

Year 9

Our Year 9 cohort are busily working on their iTime projects, which is very exciting! In addition to our core subjects, our iTime enables us to focus on our passion projects which incorporates all areas of the curriculum and we are only limited by our imaginations! The key skills and knowledge include:

• Learner assets
• Passions
• Identity
• Budgeting/Planning
• Community connections
• Pathways

It is amazing to observe individual students in this space, and the processes involved in each and every aspect of their projects. The projects are varied, thought provoking, challenging and inspiring, and we look forward to sharing them with you as the term continues. 

Warning about dangerous social media trends

We absolutely acknowledge and understand the role social media and online use plays in our world, and the world of our adolescents. It is really important that we continue to provide opportunities for our children to speak with us around their experiences to assist them in navigating the vast amounts of information, videos, trends, contacts and situations this can provide and present. 

It is important to acknowledge that there are wonderful and positive opportunities, information and learning that being online can provide. There are also particular things that we should be aware of and discerning about in terms of the online content we and our children are exposed to and experience. 

There are currently two concerning trends that have come to our attention that our students may be aware of or exposed to. The first is around a Tik Tok trend where a person deliberately increases their heart rate, encourages their friends to push or hit hard on their chest, causing them to lose consciousness temporarily. This is incredibly dangerous and can have significant impact for the person involved, and the others who are secondary participants and bystanders. 

The second concerning trend is around mixing medications such as codeine with other items such as soft drinks or confectionery and consuming them. This can be referred to as ‘Wok’ or ‘Lean’. The physiological effects of lean on the user are to produce mild "euphoric side effects", which are accompanied by "motor-skill impairment, lethargy, drowsiness, and a dissociative feeling from all other parts of the body. Lean is often used in combination with alcohol and/or other drugs.

We encourage you to be aware regarding these trends and to seek support or advice if you have any questions or concerns. Social media applications and platforms can be wonderful for communication, contact and information sharing. It is imperative that we are aware of what our children are accessing online so as to best understand their experiences, provide boundaries and support and enable them to best navigate their exposure and influence. 

St Anne's College Phone Policy Reminder

A reminder that phones brought to school are to remain in student lockers for the duration of the day. Phones are not permitted to be used or carried by the student throughout the day. Contact with your child can be facilitated via the office. 

 - Rach Chapman, School of Innovation Leader