Secondary School News
Secondary School News
QUICK GUIDE TO STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING - DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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MIDDLE SCHOOL REPORT
Finally the end of the term is nearly here.
Well, Middle School students, we have made it through another term. We are nearly at the end of a most unusual term, one spent entirely in Remote Learning. All of your teachers have never experienced a situation like this before in our teaching careers (and some of us have been doing this for a long time). Difficult as it has been for everyone involved, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our entire school community for the positive outlook that has been adopted and exercised throughout this period of Remote Learning.
It isn’t an ideal situation, but definitely one of necessity. Quite a number of events and activities have been cancelled or postponed which we know students are sad about, but just as well that, apart from the senior VCE students, most of our students will be experiencing some of these events and activities when school life resumes as normal. So students, please relax these holidays, come back re-energized and happy in the knowledge that this is the last term of 2020….the year that almost wasn’t…..!
Liria Stratus
Middle School Learning Community Leader
YEAR 7 NEWS
To the Year 7 Students.
Never in my thirty-six years of teaching have I ever experienced a year like this. 2020 started off as a regular year and I do remember speaking to all of you in the theatre, welcoming you to the new school. You were nervous ex- year 6 students entering a new phase of your learning, that of Secondary school. As I stressed to you at the start of the year, it takes about two to three weeks to learn the ropes and to start feeling very comfortable in your role as aspiring year 7 students.
But what a journey you have had! I am so grateful that we managed to have one or two SRC events before Remote Learning entered our lives. I am also so very happy that we managed to fit in at least one camp, especially since it was the combined Steiner and Mainstream Transition City Camp, where we all got to enjoy each other’s company. It has not been the way we were hoping your year would have panned out, but truly this has been a unique experience for all of us.
The most important lesson that has come out of all this has been the immense effort that all parties have put in to make this all work. You, the students, your parents and your teachers have certainly put in a great deal of effort to remain connected, communicate often and achieve mostly good results in your learning. Making the best of an unusual, and sometimes very demanding situation, is part of the learning process. In actual fact we did not have much choice, but we all put our ‘best foot forward’ and hopefully we can see ‘the light at the end of the tunnel’
Have a great break, students. Relax and enjoy the sunshine and after the initial period of isolation to start with, hopefully we will all be face to face again, sooner rather than later. See you in the later part of October!
Cheers, Liria
7C Simple Machines
Students in 7C recently completed a 'Simple Machines' main lesson, where we explored the Lever, Pulley, Wheel & Axle, Inclined Plane, Wedge and Screw. Our final challenge was to create a Rube Goldberg machine...
Owen Casey and Casey Mathieson
Owen - Rube Goldberg Machine video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rJ_GX8CiIqC2iswsALT-jg1sN1Y7SJ4v/view
Casey - Rube Goldberg Machine video #1:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SCfPhK9GPbiWCwDeeqpNFPGgB_5v3DyL/view
Casey - Rube Goldberg Machine video #2:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E4qfHvtuKkVEwA1Pk-rbKJVGQU4Gv_VV/view
YEAR 8 NEWS
LOCKDOWN 2.0
The Year 8s have done a fantastic job during Lockdown 2.0 and should be really happy with themselves. It hasn’t been easy to keep the motivation going every day from home, but they have managed themselves well (with a lot of help from parents and guardians!).
It certainly feels as though remote learning has become the new normal as we continue to move through Lockdown 2.0 and, hopefully, to a normal that involves us all actually being in the classroom together! It has been a very difficult time for many of us and we hope that you’re all staying safe and well. Hopefully, it won’t be too long until we will be able to go about our ‘normal’ daily lives, without restrictions.
Lisa Bianchi
Year 8 Coordinator
AROUND THE YEAR 8 TRAPS
Ken Watson Year 8A
8A Homegroup has been an invaluable time where we have been able to 'check in' with each other and share experiences. Apart from completing learning tasks students have found all sorts of ways to make this time more productive. Laszlo has made an animated Lego Movie. Ella has used digital art to create this amazing character.
Euan Morton Year 8B
8B has spent the last few homegroup sessions sharing tips and tricks for getting through the lockdown.
This started by sharing a story about a song we like and now we have a HG Spotify playlist.
We've got a list of movie recommendations and some stories about why we like that movie!
This led to the sharing of cake recipes and this week our top three things to do whilst in lockdown. We shared exercise/recreation tips, music practice, games and movies.
And here's a picture of one of the student baked cakes... Amazing!
Lisa Bianchi Year 8C
The students of 8C continue to take remote learning in their stride. Students studied Food Chemistry and the Power of the Word but the most challenging thing for us this term was how to do our class play – Shakespeare’s, The Comedy of Errors. It was Shakespeare, but not as we know it! Instead of learning parts, students were given a section of the play to present however they decided. They became director, producer, set designer, costume designer and the results were fantastic and as individual as they are! We had puppet shows, Lego stop-motion and the traditional humans – they even got the whole family involved! All their small sections have been edited together to form one movie and it is excellent. It’s quite a large file, but you may see some small clips on our Instagram page soon! As usual, I would like to thank the parents of 8C for being so supportive and encouraging. I hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break from screens and school work, you’ve all earned it!
Here is a link to a small section of the play:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WdnzZIC5GPhgdVyDM1JRnk2TEEDSQQTd/view?usp=sharing
Rosie Campbell-Miller Year 8D
8D started the term with the World of Shakespeare Main Lesson and are finishing the term with our class play Shakespeare's romantic comedy 'Much Ado About Nothing'. There was some initial reluctance with performing a class play on Google Meet and the words 'Why don't we just cancel the play?' were mentioned but as Queen say, 'The show must go on!' The technical hiccups have added to the comedy. Every student has persevered through this unique situation and given it their best. And before you ask, no, sorry there will not be a public screening.
YEAR 9 NEWS
Year 9 Report for Term 3
As we reach the end of the term, Remote Learning in Term 3 has been a learning curve for many of our year 9 students. For many of our year 9’s, they have seen that their organisational skills have improved, their abilities to communicate with their teachers has extended and the workload has been more manageable.
I encourage all of our Year 9 students to focus on completing all of the set tasks assigned to them by the end of the week so they can enter the holidays with a clear slate and focus on resting and building up their energy levels before resuming Remote Learning at the start of Term 4.
The importance of this last term cannot be underestimated. It is in term 4, where there will be a big focus on career pathways for our entire Year 9 cohort as they will be completing the Morrisby Test <https://www.morrisby.com/> as well as participate in our own Real Industry Job Interviews based in house with volunteering professionals from our community. Discussions will be focused on the Year 10 Program, as well as enhancement opportunities to explore VCE/VET in 2021.
So, Year 9s, enjoy the holiday break…. refresh, unwind and prepare for your final term in the Junior school before moving into the upper Senior School area in 2021. We wish you all the best and commend most of you for the stoic efforts you have displayed in this rather challenging year. Have a great break!
Stephanie Moussi
Year 9 Coordinator & Health PLC Leader
YEAR 9 POEMS
Year 9 have recently been working on a poetry unit analysing techniques used in poems from William Blake to Angelou Maya. Students were asked to write a poem with the simple message of 'home'. Here are two examples:
The Storm by Abbey Caldwell
Look out the window, past the streets,
Everyone meets from head to feet,
Smiling faces, but not for long,
This time everyone can see the storm
It’s brewing up, getting ready to strike,
Stay inside when it hits the night,
And when the days starts, remember beware
Sickness and death is in the air.
It’s been a few months, and everything’s changed
The way the wind blows and the way that it rains
Houses are empty, but not from the storm,
Families are left in the dark to mourn
The streets are empty and roads are closed,
Police roam the streets and tell us to go,
To go home where it’s safe, where we can survive
Because others like us have lost their lives
By now you must know, the name of the storm
Covid 19, well it's killing us all
Thousands of deaths every day,
When will this end, what is that day,
The day we're all gone, the day we're all dead,
The day we're all shot in the back of the head,
This needs to stop, god help us please
What must we do, beg on our knees.
It is getting dark, and hard to breath,
Feeling depressed with anxiety
I miss my school, my friends, my life,
I wish I could go back, to stop that night
The night it started, the night it began
The night Covid’s death song slowly sang
Then night our lives suddenly changed,
The night we started to feel this ongoing pain
I look out the window and all I see,
Is sadness and pain and misery.
So to answer your question, where do I live?
I have no answer that properly fits
I live in the darkness of this here storm,
Stuck in my house where it is warm,
Where the demons outside cannot reach
But can still drown me like waves on a beach.
So stay at home, away from the swarm,
Of bloodshed and death, in amongst the storm.
Simpler Times byElvis Candy-Radovanovic
At the start of this year I thought life would be grand,
The world was my oyster and no one needed to hold my hand.
I'd look up at the sky, the stars shone bright,
but ever since January, my life’s been kinda shite.
To start off the year, the bushfires ran rampant,
from the top of Longreach to the toes of Toowoomba
Fear struck throughout my soul when I learned
my brother may have been swallowed whole.
You see my brother had gone on a road trip, which was not advised,
but he insisted he wouldn't quit even though it may have led him to his demise.
Less than a week later he was completely blazed in
with everyone trying to escape, the fear really started to sink in.
He tried to call us but the telephone wires were down,
he must've felt like he was drowning as there was virtually no air around.
To finish off quick he got out of there,
even though it was by his last hair.
Now you may be thinking what's this have to do with home? Well let me tell you,
I promise you will be the first person to know
You see this year has been a build up from the start.
Each fire that popped up shattered my heart
and to more dismay the floods rushed in tearing up towns and caving them in.
Then there was a conflict between America and Iran.
So much bickering it caused an alarm,
then in a fish market in the centre of Wuhan,
a virus broke out infecting left and right.
The timing of this couldn't have been more of a delight.
You see it was Chinese New Year, year of the rat, and as rats they scatter and scamper
infecting anyone who decided to stop and pander.
The world went into panic many a life was lost, the cost of which we still don't know
as of this moment it is still causing woe.
I’m stuck in my house day by day watching the sun fade away.
My life is blacker than it has ever been before,
Often at times, I find myself sprawled across the floor.
Thinking of the times I used to have. Six months ago life used to be not a drag,
Six months ago I was chirpy nothing could bring me down,
Six months ago home meant something, home was safe not a prison cell for me to waste my days.
I know what you are thinking, this took a darker turn
but I promised I’d tell you my life greatest depression
hopefully soon I can escape my mind and reflect on simpler times.
Vicky DeRome
Year 9 Home Group Teacher
LOTE NEWS
During our term 3 Remote Learning, the Year 7 students had been learning about 我的家 （My Family).
Let's watch this video featuring Kai Stephenson-Lum (7B) and Kami Ware (7D).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1db45iQElFYKFARldivaztcPlIRDS1UKB/view?usp=sharing