Year 7/8 News
Year 7 and 8 Assistant Principal's News
Linda Buckeridge
TERM 1 - UPCOMING EVENTS
Harmony and Close the Gap Day – 21st March
Year 8 Health and Wellbeing Day – 29th March
Parent Teacher Interviews – 4th April
What a fabulous start we have had to the year in the green building and across the junior part of the school! The Year 7 and 8 students have been working extremely hard to kick the year off on a positive note, knuckle down with their learning and strive for the high expectations we continue to set across the College.
YEAR 7
What a busy couple of months it has been!
We started with Welcome Week with students familiarising themselves with their new surroundings and new relationships. The staff were always on call to assist in opening a locker or help students find their way to classes! Overall the students have settled in extremely well and very quickly and we are proud of the way our largest cohort of year 7 students ever, have made such a successful transition.
YEAR 7 CAMP
During late February, 130 of our year 7s headed off to Grantville Lodge. It was impressive to see the vigour in which the students tackled a range of activities and tasks, whilst building their teamwork skills, relationships, resilience and belief in themselves to tackle even the most tricky of challenges. Our students participated in a variety of activities that included high ropes, bike riding, low ropes/team building, canoeing, archery and bush cooking. There were so many highlights as you will be able to see in the pictures included, however the most memorable for our staff was the high level of genuine praise we were given by the camp co-ordinators and leaders, that our Year 7 CESC students were so far the most polite, well behaved and courteous group they had had through their camp in a number of years. What an honour to be recognised in such a way and how proud we were of our students!
MEET 'n GREET
During February, families had the opportunity to visit the green building and familiarise themselves with staff and the spaces that their children would be working in. We had Home Group teachers from Year 7 as well as, wellbeing, leaders and principal team members to assist in answering any questions and to enable more connections to be made. The free BBQ was also quite the hit, despite the weather not really being in our favour!
CASEY 360 BUS
During last week we had a visit from the Casey 360 bus. This is an initiative of Casey Council to provide opportunities for our youth to connect with a variety of local services. Each home group was able to access the bus during one period and throughout the week it was in attendance during recess and lunchtimes. The bus will continue to visit us throughout the year and at anytime students will be able to access any of the services on offer. Once again we had reports from the organisers/facilitators that the Year 7 students of CESC were some of the most highly motivated and engaged students they had worked with. We are so proud of you Year 7!!
Year 8 will also be able to access the bus at anytime it is based in the school – during recess, lunch and after school. Most students have previously participated in a full session of familiarisation and now older students can access the service on a needs basis.
A huge thank you to our Wellbeing team for creating these engaging opportunities for real life and community links.
YEAR 8
Thank you to all Year 8 students and families in ensuring we commenced the year with a very positive start. Although at times uniform, homework and arriving on time has been a challenge, we are grateful for the effort everyone is making in ensuring our school policies and procedures are followed. This year we have welcomed a new Year Level Leader into Year 8 - Beth Batchelor and a number of new staff have also entered the year level and College. All staff look forward to building relationships and further connections throughout the year.
Swimming Carnival
It was terrific to see so many students from the junior school cohort representing their house during the swimming sports. Whether it was through participation in events, getting dressed up or supporting from the sidelines, it was a day to celebrate our College and build relationships, whilst supporting those with swimming prowess to move on to the district swimming event.
Production
During the first few weeks of term our students were invited to audition for the whole school production for 2019 titled ‘We Will Rock You’. We are very proud of those of you who auditioned and congratulations to those who were successful in achieving various roles. What an exciting time you have ahead in getting ready for this event in August.
Student Voice
Throughout the term we have had various nominations for a variety of leadership roles across the College. I would like to recognise the huge amount of students who put their hands up to take on one of these roles and congratulations to those who were successful. There are many opportunities to get involved in leadership opportunities here at CESC, so keep looking out for them all!
Clubs
There are many clubs on offer that have already started for the year. Please don’t forget to look at the bulletins and general information on Compass as to what is coming up! Students can always ask myself, leaders and/or Home Group teachers for information if they get stuck!
NAPLAN Tests going 'online' - Year 7 2019
As many students and parents would know, Year 7 is a 'NAPLAN' year. The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students is held in May each year. NAPLAN tests assess student knowledge and skills in Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy. The results of the tests provide information for students, parents, teachers and principals which can be used to improve student achievement.
In 2018, the NAPLAN tests began transitioning from a paper based test to an online assessment (i.e., students complete the tests utilising a computer or tablet). NAPLAN Online delivers numerous benefits including:
- a ‘tailored test’ design that adapts to correct and incorrect student responses providing a more precise understanding of student achievement;
- innovative use of technology, including a more engaging test design and a wider range of item types;
- the extension of the ‘test window’ to two weeks, allowing schools greater opportunity to schedule the tests at times that suit them best and increasing student participation.
In 2019, our students will sit the NAPLAN online tests. However, children in some other schools across Australia will sit the NAPLAN paper tests this year. Federal, state and territory education ministers have agreed that all schools will move online by 2020. State and territory education authorities have determined when their schools move online.
As students are assessed on the same literacy and numeracy curriculum content, regardless of whether they complete the test online or on paper, results for both formats can be reported on the same NAPLAN assessment scale.
To find out more about NAPLAN Online, visit http://www.nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/naplan-online-information-brochure-for-parents-and-carers.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Year 7 Camp
On Monday 25th of February, 130 students from year 7, full of excitement, came to school with bags and smiles. As the bus slowly came to the corner of the school, we jumped in and went off to Grantville Lodge, for 2 nights and 3 days. We participated in a number of fun and exciting activities, they included Low ropes, High ropes, Canoeing, Archery, Hut building, Mountain Biking and Bush Cooking. The food was tasty and everyone loved the night of ice cream dessert. On the first night after dinner, we went out for a short bush walk, for those who had forgotten their torches, it was a little scary. It was really nice to be able to hear the sounds of nature and see the bright stars fill the sky above us. A combination of excitement and nature’s bugsand flies, meant we didn’t get the earliest night’s sleep. The staff at camp were so friendly and made sure we had a really enjoyable time. On the second night we had a movie night, we watched The Mighty Ducks. The last morning, before we left, we had to complete a Survival challenge. We got into groups and participated in activities that involved teamwork, made a group chant and made our own canoes. We had a great 3 days of camp. We will never forget our first experience of camp as secondary college students.
Tanvir Kaur & Muskan Arora 7H
Year 8 News:
The year 8 cohort has had a great start to the year overall. Students have settled into their classes nicely and we are seeing positive attitudes and learning occurring. New to the subjects this year for year 8 is Learning 4 Success (L4S). In this subject students will be learning about things that are relevant to them as individuals and areas that will helped them to grow as both people and learners. The first big task for the year in L4S was selecting class captains. This year class captains are running a bit different, instead of only having just one or two class captains in each home group, in each home group class there are different areas that captains are assigned to. In order to be chosen as a class captain, students had to write a speech and present this to the class and then the class voted for each type of captain. Well done to all students that applied for these positions and congratulations to the successful candidates! Below is the list of class captains for each home group:
Also a big congratulations to William Richards and Keira Willams who were successful in their application for representing the Year 8 cohort as Year 8 student leaders. All leaders should feel very proud of their achievement and we look forward to working with them.
Upcoming events for Year 8s:
-On Friday March 29th the Year 8 cohort will be participating in a health and wellbeing day. This day will consist of a guest speaker, as well as many different lessons and activities to help with a healthy mind. We look forward to this day and hope all year 8s are too.
- Year 8 camp is in the works at the moment and is scheduled for the beginning of term 4. We hope to have the majority of the year 8 cohort attending this camp, as it will be a great experience and a chance for the Year 8s to step out of the comfort zone while enjoying some fun activities. More information is to come in regards to this so watch this space and keep an ear out for this!
We would like to congratulate the year 8s again on a great start to the 2019 year and look forward to what is to come for the remainder of term 1 and then term 2.