Secondary 

From the Head of Secondary

"Finish Well"

If I have heard it once I have heard it 20 times this week.  For each of us, I am sure it has a different meaning, but for me it is to try your best.  For our new Year 12 students it will mean that they must strive hard to achieve their best on assessments that go towards their HSC. For our Year 9 and 10 students, it means working hard to prepare for the upcoming exams so that they learn from the experience. And for our Year 7 and 8 students, it is accepting the final challenge of assessment tasks to achieve results they can be proud of.  

I spoke at assembly this week of being proud of our school.  This year I have had two main goals; establish a learning environment that enables all students to achieve their best and to provide opportunities for our students to drive change.  With the former, both teachers and the Year Level Coordinators have worked hard to develop the learning environment.  At times, this has meant that the relationships are affected, however our staff and YLCs work hard to restore these relationships.  With the latter we have put the ball in the court of our leaders and the Student Representative Council. They have risen to the challenge and have come up with many ideas. These have ranged from whole secondary activities, such as the year level dance-off and 'find my tutor teacher', to submissions on uniform and the length of recess. It is these submissions from the student body that will make change, and hopefully make us proud of our school and what we can achieve. I ask all our community members; please make suggestions when you can see opportunity to improve and my door is always open to discuss.

One such idea came from a Year 9 student who wanted the opportunity to undertake something that he was interested in whilst at school.  From this discussion the idea of Student Interest Modules was born.  This elective option will be available for Year 9 and 10 students next year and they have been making selections from a range of activities.  I would love to hear from parents who could offer time or skills to be involved in the program.  Each SIM runs for 4-5 weeks on a Wednesday afternoon.  

Greg Cadd

Head of Secondary

Year 12 Maths

A radial survey is used to create a diagram of a piece of land in the shape of a polygon. It involves drawing lines from a central point radiating out to the corners of the polygon. The length of the lines and the angles between them and the central point are measured. Students then use various formulae related to triangles to determine the area of each triangle formed. Adding these areas together then provides a good estimate of the size of the land.

Science

Year 9 Forensic Science students completing their final Assessment Task. Working as a forensic 'team', students investigated a crime scene set up by the other Year 9 Forensic Science class. Blood spray, fingerprints, footprints & potential weapons were collected and analysed. Suspects were interviewed, further prints taken for comparison, and evidence, both circumstantial and direct, reviewed. Students then presented their final reports. 

Students in Year 8 STEM designed and constructed a balloon powered car. They learnt about the concepts of Newton's law of motion, friction, propulsion and air resistance. They have also been working on designing a virtual environment to live on the moon which is conducive to humans. It involves researching the conditions required, the items, transport needed from earth to moon and sustenance for future generations. They also had a healthy debate on what some of the most important things would be to transport on their first trip the moon. According to them, the vital things were earthworms, humans, equipment to produce water and air, seeds, rocket and an expandable dome which would house all their equipment. Designed using co-spaces, a software where one could use virtual reality glasses to walk through the environment students have come up with a prototype as to how it would look like.

Year 8 landscape perspective

Year 8 students have been learning about perspective techniques using acrylic on canvas this week.