Learning in the Senior School

York Library Short Story Competition

This year as part of our CBCA Book Week celebrations, York Library will once again be holding a Short Story & Poetry competition with this year’s theme “Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds”.  

The top two entries from each category in Years 7-8 and 9-11 will each receive a book voucher from Pegi Williams Bookshop.  For more details, go to Loreto Connect > York Library, or come and visit us here in the Library.  

Entries close Monday, 23rd August (Week 6). 

Ms Julie Staley

Information Resources Coordinator R-12

Science Practicals

Year 7 Science

The Year 7 Science classes have been learning about Forces as part of their Physics unit.  To help the girls understand different types of forces and how they work, they completed several small practical activities across a few lessons. These activities were designed to show different types of forces, how to measure forces using a spring balance, and help the girls to see how forces are all around us. One of the favourite activities was trying to use a hairdryer to make a ping pong ball float in mid-air and another was comparing how many Newtons it took to open their pencil cases! They were then able to use their knowledge to help explain what forces were involved at the different stages of each activity.

Year 10 Biochemistry

The Year 10 Biochemistry class have been learning about DNA, including the structure, chemical makeup and location of it in our cells. To get a better understanding of the double helix structure, discovered by Watson and Crick, the girls made their own 3D, origami DNA strand out of paper. This week the girls also completed a practical activity, giving them the opportunity to see DNA in real life. All living things contain DNA and by following a range of steps and by adding in a few simple chemicals, the girls were able to extract and see with their own eyes the DNA from a kiwi fruit. The girls loved being able to do some active learning to gain a better understanding of DNA.

Ms Kate Ferguson

Science Teacher

SAPSASA Year 7 Girls' Soccer

Congratulations to Anna Zappia who has been selected in the East Adelaide SAPSASA Year7 girls' Soccer team to play in the SAPSASA State Soccer carnival at West Beach from 25-27 August. We wish Anna every success when she competes!

SAPSASA Hockey Selection

Congratulations to Portia Katsaros who has been selected in the East Adelaide SAPSASA Girls' Hockey team to compete in the SAPSASA Hockey Carnival 1-3 September.

Bread Tags for Wheelchairs

Dear Parents, 

As many of you are aware, the Senior School Environment Committee has put forward a competition to the Junior School students which aims at collecting as many bread tags as possible in support of the charity; Bread Tags for Wheelchairs.

We are extremely proud of the girls and their enthusiasm for this cause, however, we would like to point out that it has not ended yet. The collection competition will end at the end of Term 3 and winners will be announced and receive their prize early Term 4.

The bread tags will be collected and counted multiple times before the end of the competition to keep track of the winning class. Gather some from home, friends, or family and place them in the donation box in your daughter’s classroom to support this cause. This competition is a great opportunity for some healthy rivalry, to grow closer with your communities and work together for a great cause.  

This week, the bread tags were counted again, here are the results so far: 

Thank you for your help,

Alexandra Seal

Member of The Environment Committee 

Why Learn French?

On Friday 23rd July, French students from Years 7-12 attended an online webinar during lockdown, entitled, Why Learn French?  Below are some articles from the girls, explaining how much they enjoyed the opportunity and what they took away from it.

Lucy Boardman - Year 8

Why should you learn French? This is a question you may be asking yourself. What is the point? When am I going to need this in the real world? Well, this is exactly what I was wondering, until I watched the French webinar, and it answered all my questions.

 If you learn French in school, you can open many doors for yourself in the future. Have you ever wanted to travel? Speaking a second language would benefit you massively as around 30 countries speak French, so you can travel to many different places and know how to speak their language. If you’re looking to get a job, being bilingual shows, you have good qualities such as perseverance and acceptance of other cultures and, more than half of the world is now bilingual.

As for job opportunities, speaking French can give you a chance to pursue many career paths such as speech pathologist, journalist, teacher, cruise tour guide and being in the military. Being able to speak French can give you huge advantage such being upgraded to a higher role or even being picked for the job over others. 

So, from this French webinar I have learned that you need to take every opportunity you can, put in 100% effort, never give up and enjoy yourself!

Chloe Martin - Year 8

The French webinar was very engaging and inspiring. By listening/watching to the webinar it made me very inspired to keep learning French. I personally just thought that by learning French you would just know another language but, it can lead you to going around the world to study it. I enjoyed listening to all the people talk on the webinar and share their journey about learning French. Watching the French webinar made me really want to keep studying French because it is not only a language you get learn, it can lead you to going all places around the world

Sophie Ali - Year 8

The Why learn French webinar was a very insightful and enjoyable experience. We got to learn all about the opportunities that would be available to us by continuing to pursue French. We were also told about reasons why we shouldn’t give up learning a language when it begins to become hard. 

During the webinar, we were told that although we might make errors, they are a sign that we are learning. The panellists in the webinar also said that we would definitely be able to learn French because at one point in our lives, English was a foreign language to us, but yet we still managed to learn it.

French is one of the only languages that is spoken on all continents, meaning that you gain personal opportunities and job opportunities by learning French. I learnt that one of the personal opportunities French gives you is the chance to travel. By doing this, you can connect to many different cultures through talking to French speaking people from all over the world. It will also give you the chance to study overseas, which will allow you to gain life experience and also make new friends.

Some job opportunities given to you by learning French include jobs in the military, journalism, teaching, business, trade and much more. It can also open up the possibility of internships. As well as this, having learnt French shows employers that you have certain skills that are great for the workplace (E.g., perseverance, communication, creativity etc).

Zoe Karas – Year 7

The French webinar was a great way for us French students to learn about all of the opportunities you get when you learn French, and we heard from some people who learnt French and went on to have great experiences with the language. We learnt that there are many jobs you can get when you know French, specifically in other countries which can also hold great travel experiences. There are also many places to study and do internships when you learn French, all across the globe. As well as that, one of the most important things we learnt in the webinar was that you should never give up, even if something is tricky. 

Emmy Denys – Year 7

I hope to achieve a great ballet career out of my French studies, as all of the terminology is French, making easier for me to make connections with the movement and choreography. It is important to love what you do and to make yourself happy in life. French is quite a tranquil language, as you don’t have to sound out words, you can think of them! 

Mr Matthew Houston & Mrs Sonia Chiappin-Scalzi

French Teachers

State Touch Football Selection

Congratulations to Phoebe Neck who has been selected in the 2021 Touch Football South Australian U/14 girls National Youth Championship team. Phoebe will represent South Australia at the 2021 DoorDash National Youth Championships. Well done Phoebe!

History Award Winners Presentation

The Simpson Prize Competition is in its 23rd edition and each year, Year 9 and 10 students from across the nation are eligible to write a written response to that year’s question using their own research and the source material corresponding to that question. Each State and Territory has a winner and Runner-up for that year. 

Unfortunately, due to the recent pandemic related changes to safety and travel conditions, the 3-day Canberra program for our award winners from both 2020 and 2021, including the awards ceremony at Parliament House have been cancelled.

During assembly this week, the 2020 Simpson Prize Winner; Lily Farrell (Year 12), the 2020 Simpson Prize Runner-Up; Imogen Grbin (Year 12) and the 2021 Simpson Prize Competition Winner; Eliza Pearce (Year 11) were finally presented with their framed awards.

Once again, congratulations Lily, Imogen, and Eliza. This is yet another example of our Loreto Marryatville students shining on the national stage through their love of learning and embracing challenges.