Teaching and Learning
Teaching and Learning
Term 3 in any school is synonymous with an intensity and energy that is difficult to describe and hard to believe. Excursions, assessment tasks, examinations. Learning is ongoing, students are busy, teachers are busy and our Teaching and Learning team continue to pursue those initiatives that are proven to make a difference with enthusiasm.
Year 12 students have been exceptional in their completion of the Practical Examinations and submission of Major Works that have been held these past weeks at the College. Congratulations to the staff and students involved.
In these last weeks, I will meet with Year 12 students and give them an overview of what to expect during their HSC examinations. These exams are supervised by an expert external team and students will be prepped further about the requirements around attendance, illness and misadventure procedures, approved equipment and generally what to expect in the HSC examinations. Please ensure you are clear about NESA rules, procedures and protocols and email me with any questions to clarify.
Many of our staff have, once again, availed themselves to Year 12 students during the school holidays for revision sessions. This is a very generous offer and students have been reminded to attend if they have agreed to commit themselves to this extra curricula offer.
During Term 1 this year, Year 12 students and I discussed ‘The Choice Point’ - those decisions and actions that move us towards the goals we want compared to those decisions and actions that move us away from the goals we want. With 50% of the total HSC mark still up for grabs for Year 12 students, I encourage them to make the choices that will move them towards their goals; work hard, go for gold ...another choice point is before them!
Year 11 students will complete their examinations in Week 9 and 10 and they have received their published timetable. Please be sure to contact the school if for any reason your child is unable to attend. The blue forms used to apply for special consideration must be completed upon return with documentation (eg a doctor’s certificate) attached.
Year 8 students are considering their elective choices for next year. Students have been asked to download the Subject Selection Guide from the website and to read and discuss with their parents and teachers. Students are listening to KLA presentations before choosing electronically in Year 9 during classes.
Mrs Raelene Maxworthy - Teaching and Learning Coordinator
HSC Drama Practical Exams
Students were relieved to finalise their Drama HSC Practical Exams on 5 and 6 September.
The exams were a culmination of nine months developing Individual Projects and four months developing Group Performances.
Congratulations to Year 12 students on completing the first part of their exam and thank you to the Year 10 and 11 Drama students who supported the group, by being audience members, for the performances. We are all very proud of you!
Ms Felicity Sawtell - Drama teacher
Hope Prize
Eleanor George, Year 12, has been awarded the Hope Prize for her short story 'Biographies of the British Monarchy' in the category of emerging writers under the age of 18. Eleanor is a talented writer who was also a recipient of the Hope Prize in 2017, and who completed the English Extension 2 course this year composing a suite of poetry exploring the lives of women throughout history using the poetic styles and language of their respective eras. Congratulations, Eleanor! An extract from 'Biographies 0f the British Monarchy' is included below.
Lucas hops over a particularly cracked piece of pavement. Today is the seventy-fifth day of crack-free walking. There is a rhyme that his sisters taught him when he was little that they used to chant together:
If you step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back
If you step on a line, you’ll break your father’s spine!
It has a good rhythm. It stays in his head all the way to school.
Mum had found the letter, but she hadn’t mentioned it over dinner. Neither had Dad, but Dad doesn’t usually like talking about anything to do with school, or Lucas, over dinner. Lucas feels like Dad had been building a wall with the silence, a wall that had WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY SON? written on it in graffiti. Miss Morris would say that’s a good metaphor. But in real life, Dad just hadn’t said much.
It is nearly bell time when Lucas gets to school. He hadn’t thought that Neil would be there after abandoning him yesterday, but he is, waiting for Lucas at their usual spot under the King Richard III tree. Lucas called it that because it has a gnarled, bent trunk. A hunchbacked tree, like the hunchbacked king. It’s a good spot, because all the other kids flow around it without stopping to look or see who’s there; it’s like a rock in the middle of a river.
“Hey man,” says Neil without looking up from the gadget he has in his hands. Neil is painfully skinny and has a really loud laugh, but he knows everything there is to know about computers, and the Internet, so that makes up for it. He has a fading bruise on the side of his face. Lucas feels the matching one on his shoulder.
“Hey Neil,” he replies. He doesn’t want to mention what happened yesterday, in case Neil leaves again, so he just asks, “What are you doing?”
Neil says a lot of stuff about the thing he’s pulling apart that Lucas doesn’t understand even a little bit, but he pretends to be interested because that’s what you have to do to be polite.
“Did you know,” says Lucas, when Neil is finished, “that the first modern computer was designed and invented during the reigns of King William IV and Queen Victoria?”
“Yeah,” says Neil, sniffing and pulling a red cord out of the thing in his hands. “Everyone knows that.”
“No they don’t!” says Lucas, indignant. For a moment their argument is interrupted as the Year Ten boys drift a little too close to the King Richard III tree. Lucas and Neil look down and shut up. But the river tugs the boys away, and they breathe again.
“Yeah!” Neil says. “First computer, 1830s, Charles Babbage. In England.”
Well, in real life it probably isn’t everyone that knows that. Just people who know about kings and queens and computers. The bell rings. Neil packs up his little device, and they go to class.
Australian Geography Competition
Geography students from McCarthy tested their geographical skills and knowledge against students from around Australia in the 2018 Australian Geography Competition.
Geography teacher, Mrs Tracey Bradbery, has recently received the results and was pleased with how students performed. Congratulations to James Potter and Isobelle Sullivan who recieved a credit.
Mentor Group EGB Bake Sale
On Friday, 24 August, the Year 10 Mentor Group EGB, with the help of others, successfully ran a bake sale. The money was contributed to the drought relief fundraising - the focus of this year’s Walkathon, during this time of so much hardship for farmers. I am very proud of the group which, as a whole, rose to the challenge, showing both great organisational skills and compassion.
The bake sale was a complete success, with the Mentor Group raising over $200. It was a marvellous effort, with a special thanks to Safia Arranz, Olivia Bath, Emily Berton, Alana Dickinson, Jessica Downey, Allee Farrell, Kate Gulliford, Nicholas Hannan, James Highlands, Mia Newman, Bella Robertson and Chelsie Shaw, who supplied the delicious food and assisted in the selling.
Well done to Year 10 EGB Mentor Group and a thanks to all those students who bought the cakes and assisted the farmers at the same time.
Mr Shaun Nichols
Ancient History and Big History
Recently Ancient History and Big History students from McCarthy were fortunate to attend a presentation on Pompeii and t