Senior School News
Has it been 3 weeks already? The Grade 5 and 6 students have been keeping themselves so busy that time is flying by.
The Grade 5 students had an exhilarating and long-awaited 3-day adventure at Camp Rumbug, and the excitement leading up to it did not disappoint. During their time at camp, the students participated in a variety of activities such as raft building, mud runs, aeroball, tree climbing, archery, orienteering, low ropes, and their favourite, the giant swing. Alongside these incredible activities, the students also focused on improving their character strengths as they earned beads for demonstrating different strengths. Of course, they also had a blast singing lots of camp songs.
Meanwhile, the Grade 6 students have been dedicating countless hours to preparing for their Confirmation, which will take place on May 25th. They have researched and selected their patron saint, chosen a Sponsor to guide them on this next phase of their journey, and are currently working on creating a poster that details their saint's life, why they chose them, and outlines their understanding of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As part of their preparation, the Grade 6s recently attended a Confirmation retreat in the city. They visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, learned about the church's history, had the opportunity for confession, and received heartfelt letters from their parents. A big thank you to the parents for their participation in this activity; it means a lot to the students!
A few reminders regarding Confirmation:
-Student photos with Bishop Ireland at 6.30pm in school hall
-Sponsors to meet with Mr Blake at 6.40pm in the school library
-Mass starts at 7pm on May 25th in the church
-Students wear smart casual clothes
-Parents and sponsors will have reserved seats
-All other guests will have to be in the church early to insure seating
-Almost all Confirmation Cards are in, thank you
-Link to at home Confirmation sessions https://sacraments.melbournecatholic.org/ospCS1.html
In case you were unable to attend our Parent Info Session for Confirmation please find the presentation below.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sO7BtVxMRYKbTE3LGvQyPf860y-lK5s_K4Hp9QRWegE/edit#slide=id.p1
Interschool sports has kicked off on Fridays with a successful first week against St. Finbars. Both our netball teams and football team achieved victories, and we were extremely proud of how our students demonstrated sportsmanship on the field and court. Congratulations are also in order for the students who participated in the cross country event last week. Special recognition goes to Benji Simpson, Harry Hopgood, Eden Molony, Milly Surkitt, and Bonnie Lagan, who all advanced to the next round.
In Maths, the Grade 5 and 6 students continue with catch groups this term whenever our learning areas align. We have completed catch groups for our first topic on location and transformation. However, our second topic will be covered within our individual year levels. The Grade 5s will be focusing on multiplication and division, while the Grade 6s will delve into a unit on decimals. During catch groups, students are pretested at the beginning of each unit and placed into groups based on their misunderstandings and learning goals.
We are continuously working on improving the structure within the senior school, and this includes our English block. We are planning to make a change to how we structure our two-hour block by breaking it down into five small sessions. These sessions will cover spelling mastery, morphology, fluency, writing syntax, and reading comprehension. We believe this new structure will improve student learning as they benefit from the consistency of exposure of these five learning areas every day.
Lastly, our topic for this term is "Staying Alive," which focuses on Biological Science. The students will explore the concept that living things have structural features and adaptations that aid their survival in different environments. They will also learn how the growth and survival of living things are influenced by the physical conditions of their environment. So far, they have researched the incredible resilience of the tardigrade, also known as the water bear, and its ability to survive in various environments. Additionally, they have started studying animal migration and the reasons behind seasonal migrations.
Well, that’s all for now, so until next time,
The Senior School Team
Jayne McKay
jmckay@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au
Trent Thiessens
tthiessens@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au
Dara Blake dblake@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au
Simon Brown sbrown@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au