Learning Updates
- School of Innovation
Project ROCKIT empowers students to speak up
School of Innovation students marked the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence with Project ROCKIT workshops at St Anne's College today. The National Day of Action is an important day when Australian school communities stand together against bullying and violence. Today, together with the support of Project ROCKIT, the college aimed to empower students to rally and unite their ideas and actions to address bullying.
For over a decade, Project ROCKIT has been empowering school students to stand up to bullying, hate and prejudice instead of standing by watching. Through the lens of (cyber)bullying, their workshops explore themes of inclusion, respectful relationships, social leadership, diversity, values and ethics and empathy.
Project ROCKIT is the go-to youth cyber safety partner of online global leaders Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Google and the e-Safety Commissioner. School of Innovation students were today able to experience a 90-minute workshop with presenters from Project ROCKIT.
Bullying remains a huge issue affecting young people across the globe – with the rapid growth in use of digital technology and social media, bullying occurs around the clock and is often suffered in silence. It is hoped that these sessions will empower our students to speak up and stand up against bullying.
Helpful websites:
https://www.projectrockit.com.au/
- Mel Formica, Wellbeing Officer
Year 9 students keenly explore VET options
Year 9 students participated in VET (Vocational Education and Training) information sessions with Phil Molloy from Catholic Education Sandhurst this week. Phil is working with St Anne's College around our VET program development. The first part of his work is to gauge the interest level of the students around the sorts of VET programs the college may be able to offer in 2022.
The students spent 30 minutes with Phil exploring some of the VET offerings for 2022. They were given a guide to some VET possibilities that are being explored as a partnership with GOTAFE, however there are many more VET options that can be considered. During this week's sessions areas such as electrotechnology, allied health and performing arts came up as other areas our students were interested in - the sessions were an introduction to thinking. In the coming weeks, students will be offered an opportunity to express interest in VET studies where they will be able to elect a first and second preference; these are not guaranteed to run - it is dependent on numbers and interest levels, but it gives us a place to start with what we can offer.
The journey into senior secondary education can sometimes be overwhelming so we will provide families with information as we go along, but if you have any questions or concerns, you can contact:
VET Coordinator Phil at pmolloy@sackialla.catholic.edu.au
Careers Practitioner Belinda at bgleeson@sackialla.catholic.edu.au
Here is the link to some information from the Australian Parents Council which gives some further advice on what Vocational Education and Training is.
https://austparents.edu.au/information-and-advice/vocational-education-and-training/
- Sue Carroll, Principal
Learning Italian in an innovative way
This term all the Year 9 students have been learning Italian in four sessions of 30 minutes, for a total of two hours per week. Students had to select one of the four available groups, based on their knowledge of and confidence in the subject. This means that all the four Year 9 Learning Mentors have been teaching Italian. Talk about getting out of the comfort zone!
Students have been learning Italian using an innovative approach, called Extensive Processing Instruction (EPI). According to this principle, learners learn best from comprehensible and highly-patterned input flooded with the target linguistic features. The teaching of lexis and grammar should serve communication, hence language learning should be about learning to perform real-world communicative tasks through a range of high-frequency chunks and constructions in the second language. This means that students will use sentences for: creating questions; describing people; describing places; reporting an event in the past; talking about future plans; comparing and contrasting and expressing a purpose. Below is an example of how this works (basically, use one word or expression from each column, moving left to right to create a sentence):
Students have been learning how to talk about what they wear and what other people wear. They were asked to include the correct Italian words for clothes, colours and style, along with the correct indefinite article and adverbs. Students had the opportunity to select the level that better suited their knowledge and skills. The results were very impressive! Here are some examples from Ella Daldy and Chiara Villani.
- Christian Steri, School of Innovation Languages Leader
Inquiry learners investigate beauty
School of Innovation Year 9 students are busy wrapping up term one's inquiry, 'Beauty is Subjective'. Students have worked hard to develop skills as inquiry learners, investigating beauty through a range of mediums including cooking, sewing, building, art and research-based projects, such as the history of hair styles and Le Bron James' shoes! The Year 9 Learning Mentors are looking forward to seeing the finished products! The standard has been set and we can't wait to see where the students take the term two inquiry statement.
- Sarah Baglin, School of Innovation Learning Mentor
Council seeks feedback from our students
As a follow-up to St Anne's College students participating in the Greater Shepparton City Council's Community Vision and Council Plan Survey, council staff visited the college today to speak to Year 9 students about creating a community vision. They explained that part of the community consultation process is to gather feedback from young people. The students were asked, "How do we grow Greater Shepparton?" Some of their ideas were: more hospitals; more teaching about racism and countries; more shopping malls and food courts; bike jumps. The students listed multiculturalism, different foods, lakes, the friendly community, pools, the rivers and bike paths as things they love about Greater Shepparton.
Year 9 students Dakota Rogerson and Tayla Robertson explain the process that led to today's visit from council staff:
The Greater Shepparton City Council came to our school last year to talk to us about our inquiry, 'Built Structures Meet the Needs of the Occupants'. Town planners spoke to us about how they design spaces within communities to meet the needs of the residents. This year, St Anne’s College was asked to participate in the Community Vision and Council Plan Survey. We hope that this feedback is going to be helpful towards developing the future of the Greater Shepparton area. It was great to be invited to complete the survey and allow the St Anne’s College community to have a say.
As two teenagers living in the Greater Shepparton region, there's not a lot for us to do. We have come to the conclusion that these are the things that we would like to have an input on. Some of the ideas of the Year 9 group included: having more teenager-based festivals and events, free parking throughout Shepparton, especially at the Goulburn Valley Hospital, and more attractive shops that teenagers would like to see. This may include retailers such as Culture Kings, Universal and JD Sports, just to name a few. To be honest, we would just be happier with a better range within existing stores.
Feedback also included the need for accommodation for homeless people and better access to healthcare, so less time is spent travelling to Melbourne. We believe that it is very valuable to have these accessible throughout Shepparton as they are very important and are really needed for our community. We believe that these options and ideas may help improve our community and the future of the Greater Shepparton region. The survey is open to all people in the Goulburn Valley. If you would like to complete the survey, you can use this link: https://shaping.greatershepparton.com.au/think-big-think-great/community-survey
Reminder about mobile phone usage
School of Innovation students are reminded that mobile phones are not permitted to be used during school hours. Mobile phones need to be placed in the student's locker on arrival at the college and must remain in their locker until the end of the school day.
Students encouraged to visit Wellbeing site
The St Anne's College Wellbeing site has many useful resources and supports for School of Innovation students. Students are encouraged to access this site and explore it. They can reach out to their Pastoral Group Leader or Wellbeing Officer Mel Formica if they have any questions. Please note that the site is only accessible by students and staff.
https://sites.google.com/sackialla.catholic.edu.au/wellbeing-online/home
Be familiar with college's Social Media Policy
All parents/carers are strongly urged to read the St Anne's College Social Media Student Usage Policy (below) and to discuss with their child the college expectations regarding the responsible use of social media.
Carly Ryan Foundation - supporting young people
https://www.carlyryanfoundation.com
Resources created by the Carly Ryan Foundation are valuable and beneficial to regularly revisit - their aim is for all young people to have a positive online experience.
App fact sheets
Would you like to know more about the following apps?
See the parent booklet below for details on these and other commonly accessed apps.
Our Cycle of Learning and Teaching
Graduate Outcomes
At St Anne’s College we aspire for our graduates to be:
- Engaged learners, risk takers and confident leaders
- Able to apply literacy and numeracy skills capably
- Readily transfer learning as collaborative global citizens
- Stewards of our environment
- Skilful, responsible and competent users of technology
- Socially respectful, value diversity and act justly