This week we hear from the English, Science, CAPA, TAS & PE Leaders of Learning

English

Where are our students moving to in their learning within English?

As we move into the second half of the term, English students from 7-10 are moving into crafting extended responses - both critical and creative. Year 7 will begin working on their survival classic narratives, Year 8 will continue to refine their skills on fantasy world building whilst Year 9 and Year 10 will move into analytical and discursive writing focusing on the impact and representation of key historical events within the Australian context.

Stage 6 English students continue to explore how their literary voice can be expressed throughout their writing - One activity that many of the Year 11 students completed was an exercise that asked them to visually represent their ‘voice’ and to then explain and justify their compositional choices within their visual representation. Below are two examples from one class.

Literacy & Reading

Literacy is a key skill that is needed by everyone to access and interact with the world they live in. One facet of literacy is reading. Within every English lesson, students engage in 10 minutes of reading - this reading looks different every term and for each unit the students are engaging with. Reading in the English classroom can look like students silently reading a physical novel, it can look like students engaging with multimodal news articles and sometimes it is modelling and reading aloud.

Reading is beneficial for a range of reasons; it promotes empathy and engagement with the world and people within it, it exposes us to new concepts and ideas, increases our confidence in writing, extends vocabulary and can be a useful tool/strategy in the management of stress.

We actively encourage students to engage in reading beyond the classroom - both as a form of homework but also for pleasure and enjoyment. We challenge students (and their parents and guardians) to pick up a novel and spend some time reading as we move into cooler weather! Use your novel to strike up a conversation with the people around you!

Ms Jess Armfield on behalf of the English KLA

Science

On Wednesday the 8th of March, 32 students from O’Connor competed against other schools in the Armidale region in the Highlands Science and Engineering Challenge. In this event students work in teams of 4. Their team will work through 2 challenges over the course of the day. The challenges that each team faces are different. The table below outlines how the challenges are set out.

The students need to bring a variety of skills to each of these challenges because the challenges are so different. In the “Grasping at Straws” activity, students make a “bionic hand” from straws (which make fingers), string (which act as the tendons) and some PVC pipe which is the palm of the hand to which the fingers are anchored. Their masterpiece is assessed on its dexterity i.e. the kinds of objects that it can pick up such as ping pong balls and coins. The “Confounding Communications” activity requires a different skill set as this activity gets students to develop a code (like morse code) to send a message using combinations of different coloured lights (red, green and blue).

At the half way point the score update revealed that O'Connor was in the lead by a tenuous 30 points and with the motivation that the winning team would get to compete in Newcastle the pressure was on to do their best. At the end of the day the scores are tallied up during the testing of the final activity - The Bridge.

The Bridge activity is the only one which takes the whole day to complete. In this activity, students build a bridge that crosses a gap in a model train track. With their bridge in place, the track is laid down over the top of the track (which is heavy in itself) and a mining cart is rolled down a ramp and over the bridge. If the cart gets safely to the other side then a weight (called an ingot) is added to the cart and it passes over the bridge. There are 4 ingots in total that the bridge needs to hold to start with and it is safe to say that the O’Connor bridge team was able to hold these 4 ingots with ease. After this test the 4 ingots are replaced with the “super ingot” which has a much greater weight than the combined weight of the 4 smaller ingots. Again, O’Connor passed with flying colours, with the students cheering enthusiastically even before the cart crossed the bridge such was the confidence that we had in our bridge. The final challenge for the bridge team is to carry the weight called “Bertie’s Bridge Buster” which is a much bigger weight than the 4 smaller ingots combined and this is loaded onto the trolley with the super ingot. This proved to be too much for the O’Connor bridge and it collapsed under this great expectation. That being said, the only other team to carry the same load as the O’Connor bridge was the team from PLC, even so the O’Connor bridge was lighter than the PLC bridge and therefore had a better load to weight ratio thus giving us more points in this activity than PLC.

After the conclusion of the bridge activity, the scores were announced. The judges came to the moment when they announced second place, they paused and due to the excessive amount of cheering from both the O’Connor team and the PLC team, the judges blocked their ears and announced that O’Connor had come second. Although this is an excellent result there was a slight tinge of disappointment from our team. That being said, the solutions that our students put forward in their challenges were exceptional, but even greater than that was the team work and comradery that the O’Connor team displayed on the day. Truly coming together to solve the challenges that they faced and this is the greatest thing I would like to commend them for on the day.

Mr Daniel Fittler on behalf of the Science KLA

CAPA

What’s happening in CAPA

Visual Arts

Year 7 students have been learning about the design elements and Year 8 students the design principles. They have made concertina booklets to demonstrate their understanding of these concepts that will be used when making and studying art.

Year 7 Concertina Booklet

Year 8 Concertina Booklet

Year 10 Visual Art:

Year 10 students have started their ‘Strange Happening’ unit of work, which is a direct reference to the artists and artworks of the Surrealism art movement. Students have been studying the artworks of Salvador Dali, Rene’ Magritte, Frida Kahlo and other artists who identify as surrealist artists. Throughout this time students have been making a series of artworks, planning for their major artwork for this unit.

Drama

Drama this year is off to a creepy and exciting start. Year 11 have had to learn how to work with new and old actors through drama games that require teamwork like “Human Knot” (pictured below). They have also been continuing their learning around the Elements of Drama through short self created performances (pictured below). The class are exploring the text ‘Ruby Moon’ by Matt Cameron and the concept of missing children in a modern society. The text challenges them as actors to embody multiple people and personalities while only making minor changes to their costumes and props. The students will continue this text until their performance week 1 next term.

Remember Drama Club is on every Wednesday during Break B, it’s a wonderful opportunity to dip your toe into the dramatic world of performance without a scary audience of strangers. All years and abilities welcome!

O’Connor would also like to congratulate Amber Hahn for getting the role of ‘Little Red’ in the ADMS (Armidale Drama and Musical Society) production of “Into The Woods”

Human Knot Activity

Elements of Drama Performances

Music

Year 7 students are learning to read and play musical rhythms. They are currently working on creating and performing their own compositions for percussion using ‘pokemon’ rhythms. The year 7 enrichment class is also working on learning ‘Beginner Rock’ as an ensemble and learning their own piece on their chosen instruments.

Year 8 students are learning about film music. Their Term 1 project is learning about sound foley and adding sound effects and music to a short film clip.

Year 9 Elective Music students are learning to read music notation and play music as an ensemble. They have been focusing on learning percussion instruments and next week we will be moving onto learning guitar. Year 9 have also been working on their own performance projects which they will perform to the class later this term.

Year 11 Music 1 students are learning about the concepts of music and learning how to notate their own compositions. They have also been learning to read scores and play percussion instruments as a class ensemble.

Year 11 Music 2 students are studying the mandatory topic, Music of the 1600-1900s, they are learning to analyse and compose music reflecting this topic.

Year 12 Music students completed their first performance assessment task yesterday. Our Stage 6 students will have an opportunity to perform to family and friends later this term.

Music Extension Performance

Max Buckland

Sam Russell

Music 1 Performances

Sofia Martin

Isabelle Murphy

Keyman Seymour

Eisteddfod

The 2023 eisteddfod will begin early next term. Our class and co-curricular ensembles will be participating in the eisteddfod again this year. If you are interested in entering as a soloist visit https://armidale-eisteddfod.org.au/. Entries close next week

Ms Melanie Sampson on behalf of the CAPA KLA

TAS

Armidale show 2023

Armidale show done and dusted for another year. 40 something teenagers, nine sheep, six cows and 6 chooks – what could possibly go wrong?!! Nothing of course! The weather was kind with a nice cool sunny weekend.

45 students competed in the junior stock appraisal events with some outstanding results. Junior paraders showed the strength of our students with several in the placings (Tom Graham, Ollie Starr, Arlie Tanner, Chelsea Green) and our cattle behaved very well. Ex student Sam Graham was the champion overall parader. Our Devon cattle stud competed in the beef cattle show on Saturday with Not A Lot Marasashed as champion Devon Exhibit.

Sheep results were interesting! Our Merinos ran 2nd to ex student Tim Light all day while our Meat sheep had more success, up against stiff competition from Dom Miller. Placings were shared around with O'Connor taking out the supreme XBred Ewe. Shyan Dodd took home the Junior Handlers award from a very strong field. Our beautiful superfine wool achieved several 1st, 2nds and 3rds with ex student Michael Ward beating us in the novice championship.

In the poultry, our Modern game hen was Champion Junior and our Vorweck cockeral reserve. Thanks so much to Shyan Dodd for her work taking care of the poultry and the sheep.

It was great to catch up with past students, Heidi Cumming ( nee Anderson) who judged the fleeces: Angus Dawson judging the Sheep, Sam Graham, Tim Light and Karina Dawson exhibiting their own stud Cattle.

Junior Stock Appraisal results below.

Merino Sheep Intermediate- Joachim Rice 2nd ( on his first attempt!) – congrats JR Senior, Eve Porter 2nd , Chloe Rollan 3rd .

Stock horses Lucy Selby 3rd

Meat sheep Juniors – Oliver Starr 1st, Ben Cox 2nd

Intermediates – Abi van Eyk 1st, Erica Menzies 2nd, Isaac Brown 3rd

Seniors – Chloe Rollan 2nd, Kal Blair 3rd, Eve Porter 3rd

Merino Fleece Intermediate – Grace Pett 3rd

Seniors – Chloe Rollan 1st

Fruit and Vegetables Intermediate - Emily Simpson 2nd, Angus Belfield 3rd, Georgia Swift 4th

Beef Cattle Juniors - Jarvis Munsie 3rd

Intermediate – Anna McClelland 1st, Joachim Rice 2nd

Some special mentions to our cattle team – Phoebe Colvin, Shyan and Monty Dodd, Tilly Boxell, Emily Simpson and Kal Blair who cared for the cattle over the 2 days.

So to Walcha This weekend

Walcha -10th and11th of March. A terrific community show in Walcha with many events for youth including Judging, cattle exhibition and field day events. A bus will run from the school for this event see compass for details.

Textiles and Design News from the Armidale Show March 2023

The Textiles classes have had great success at the Armidale Show this year. Due to the timing of the show, it is quite hectic to get projects organised for entry. However, we entered a few items from last year’s work that was completed, and I want to thank all of the students who made the effort to bring work back in.

Mrs Channon also entered a couple of Major Textiles Projects that had been donated to the school as outstanding work samples. The projects generated a great deal of curiosity and education to the general public who were astounded at the level of talent and creativity that our young people are capable of. Georgie Cullen, a student from 2017 gained a Band 6 for her Dorothy inspired costume from Wizard of Oz. Lilli Johns, from 2021, also achieved really high marks for her ocean inspired costume.

The amazing ideas that are developed each year in this course, and then created into a finished product are an excellent example of how students are able to choose their own journey and find out what inspires them. Working through the design process is a big part of this journey, and, at times, the journey can get rough with lots of pressures to adhere to a time frame, the end results are always such a credit to our students.

Here are some photos of the finished projects and their prizes from the show.

Jon Hawthorne on behalf of the TAS KLA

PD/H/PE

SLR

Pictured below are students from Miss Fryar’s Sport, Lifestyle and Recreation (SLR), completing the practical components of the Aquatics Unit at the pool last week.

Child Studies

This term students in Year 9 Child Studies have been studying the unit “Preparing for Parenthood”. As part of the course content students have been exploring what social, emotional, financial and physical preparations for expecting parents. Pictured below are students who experienced wearing the pregnancy suit. The suit's bladder casing was filled with water to simulate the weight of a baby. Students were asked to walk, jog, sit down, then stand up and tie their shoelaces/touch their toes. Some of the quotes below describe the student’s experience:

“Wearing the suit was restricting”

“Wearing the suit made movements slow and heavy”

“Wearing the suit puts pressure on your shoulders and lower back”

Ms Camilla Clydsdale on behalf of the PD/H/PE KLA

From the Archives

News and new acquisitions