Read more to hear about our Year 8 Wellbeing Seminar, Year 9 Camp, our Year 10 BStreetSmart Excursion, CSSA State Athletics and Year 11's Biodiversity Study Day.
Year 8 Wellbeing Seminar
Mrs Natasha Collins
As adults, we know some of the complexities that come with being a teenager. Our Year 8 Wellbeing Seminar was an all day event for our young people to learn about this stage of development and some of the social and emotional tools they need for this stage of life. Year 8 were able to hear from their very own teachers on a panel and participate in rotating workshops throughout the day. These workshops included topics such as ‘You can do hard things’, a seminar that explored attention economy and resilience, ‘What works and hurts in friendships’, ‘Your world on social media’ and ‘Personal Values and Healthy friendships’ that aimed to equip students with knowledge and practical skills in navigating their identity, social relationships online and in person. Students had the opportunity to reflect on the day with their peers and end the seminar with some yummy cookie treats.
Year 9 Camp
Ms Vanessa Bromhead and Mrs Emily van Bentum
Year 9 has had a wonderful few days and enjoyed glorious weather at the Cru Campsite at Lake Macquarie!
On the first day, the boys adventured upon the lake in canoes and then went fishing, with a few games of footy thrown in as well. Meanwhile, the girls conquered rock walls and mazes, then showed their skills in archery before moving to their bivouac site and setting up tents for the night.
On day 2, our students had the opportunity to learn from God’s word by hearing a talk about Jesus’ gentleness and humility. Next, the girls hit the water and spent some time fishing, canoeing, and enjoying the beautiful Lake Macquarie scenery. The boys enjoyed their land activities of archery, the maze, and rock climbing. That evening it was the boys’ turn to brave the wild by completing their bivouac activities in the bush!
It was a great time away spent building connections, challenging themselves and enjoying God’s creation!
Year 10 BStreetSmart Excursion
Mr Bradley Whale
On Wednesday, Year 10 participated in the 2023 BStreetSmart Road Trauma Forum. Students were presented with scenarios and stories that emphasised the consequences of not following driving rules, highlighting the impact towards themselves and others. Students were motivated to be more alert while driving, whether as passengers or drivers.
It was a very inspiring and challenging session, and encouraged a commitment from our students to changing road habits, being more cautious of their surroundings and instilled a heightened awareness of decision-making while driving, equipping attendees with a better understanding of preventing crashes and making responsible choices for safer driving.
Science Update
Mrs Anji Smith
Earlier this term, our Year 11 (On Campus) Biology students attended a Biodiversity Study Day at Mount Annan Botanical Gardens. This excursion is a collaboration with the Botanical Gardens, The Australian Museum and Taronga Zoo.
It is always an excellent day, where students can complete hands-on activities with fossils, plants and animals. It covers a significant portion of relevant syllabus content and is really interesting for students. Favourite activities included seeing huge megafauna fossils, and examining skeletal structures. Students also enjoyed Taronga Zoo's adaptations session, where they could see and discuss live animals including a shingleback lizard, a very large python and some other amazing reptiles!
English Update
Miss Shelby Mayo
Book Week 2023 has been a week to remember for our Secondary Students! From Monday to Friday, students engaged in a number of activities and competitions within their English lessons, Homerooms and as a whole Secondary School, all about the love of literature and the power of words!
They decorated classroom trees with their favourite quotes and book titles, redesigned the cover of their favourite book, decorated bookmarks and enjoyed discussions about what has inspired them. Students also participated enthusiastically in two competitions: a Twitter Competition where they wrote a message of inspiration in 140 characters and Bitmoji Scavenger Hunt where they found and decoded bitmoji clues to reveal titles of classic books. Well done to all our winners!
Twitter Competition Winners
Lavanya Nanda
Raelene Thomas
Ruby-Eve Milojevic
Isis Aliste-Osmond
Acsah Thomas
Uluaki-Ofa Tuipulotu
Bitmoji Scavenger Hunt Winners
Lavanya Nanda
David Adams
Sahasraamshu Dasari
And to finish off what has been a truly special week, there were a number of events today: a photobooth, visits from authors Dr Patricia Weerakoon and Dr Jessica Kirkness, a Year 11 Creative Writing Workshop and a Best Dressed Homeroom Competition in which one Homeroom from each grade won a pizza party!
Best Dressed Homeroom Winners
Year 7 - 7R
Year 8 - 8V
Year 10 - 10C
Year 11 - 11K
Year 12 - 12M
It was wonderful to see and feel the spirit students brought to Book Week and their creative and inspired costumes!
Please see below some photos of our students with their classroom trees, and check our Facebook page tonight for a full album of shots from our dress up today!
CSSA State Athletics
Mrs Tiarne Tranter
On Thursday 24 August, 21 of our Secondary students attended the CSSA Secondary State Athletics Carnival at Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre. It was a rainy start to the carnival, however, the sun made its way through the clouds to allow for a great day of tough competition for our athletes.
Whilst results are still being finalised for publishing on the CSSA website, a small number of our students have qualified to compete in the upcoming CIS Athletics on September 19 - a huge achievement!
Special thanks goes to Mr. Mthembu, Mrs. Mewjork, Mr. Whale, and Mr. Kwok for their supportive presence. Congratulations to all participants for the spirit in which they participated in the day!
