Secondary Campus

YEAR 3 AND YEAR 10 DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

On Monday 15 November, two Year 3 classes from the Primary Campus visited the Secondary Campus to participate in a hands-on activity day with the Year 10 Hospitality class. It was a fun-filled day that built on the connection of both campuses coming together with the senior students supporting their younger peers. Students participated in three activity sessions over the course of the day which included cooking, a design and technology activity, as well as garden activities.

In the Design and Technology activity, Year 3 students engaged in the production of a laser cut money box as part of an introductory to technology. Students used their problem-solving ability to piece the boxes together and finally, with the use of glue, assembled the finish product. Students found it challenging but rewarding with all successfully completing the task. Big smiles all round!

In the cooking session led by the Year 10 Hospitality class, Year 3 students produced Christmas cookies. Showcasing their skills from the cooking program at the Primary Campus, Year 3 students weighed and measured ingredients, rolled biscuit dough, and cut out Christmas shapes before they were baked in the oven. The biscuits will then be decorated at the Primary Campus. Year 3 students loved our Secondary kitchen space and look forward to continuing their cooking programs.

The garden activities involved a whole range of wonderful hands-on tasks with the creations made now used in the Secondary Campus vegetable garden. Year 3 students, with the assistance of the Year 10s, completed the following activities: filling tubes for Trees for Life, building tomato climbing structures, painting old pots, making terrariums out of old teacups, making origami seed packets, and building an insect hotel.

It was an engaging and fun day had by all and we look forward to more days and activities connecting both campuses.

Ms Liesel Dunstan, Food Technologies Teacher – Secondary

STAGE 1 LEGAL STUDIES

On Wednesday 10 November, the Stage 1 Legal Studies class visited the Adelaide Magistrates Court and Sir Samuel Way building as part of their study of the justice system. Students also toured the Old Adelaide Gaol.

The day added to their knowledge of how justice in Australia has changed over time and how court procedures continue to hold some old traditions today. Watching trials in both courts allowed students to reflect on their own mock trial presentations as part of their studies this year. It was a great and insightful day had by all.

Ms Elli Nicola, Teacher – Secondary

YEAR 9 RETREAT

Last month, Year 9 students took part in the Laudato Si’ retreat which aimed to make closer connections between the students and the natural environment. Blessed with beaches close by, we had planned a pilgrimage where students explored the outdoors walking from station to station. However, the beauty of earth’s thunderstorms meant that it was safer for us to run the sessions here at the College and the students adapted well to the changes.

Laudato Si’ is the second encyclical of Pope Francis. The encyclical has the subtitle ‘care for our common home’. In it, the Pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls all people of the world to take ‘swift and unified global action’. With this in mind, students visited different parts of the College to participate in a variety of activities and presentations that highlighted the urgency of looking after our planet and the need for all of us to be aware and take action. Please read the following reflections written by Year 9 students:

“I came away with the message that we need to take care of our earth due to different issues such as climate change, pollution in the oceans and the fact that there have been major extinctions of animal species. My favourite session was making the poster that allowed me to create my own motto and visual image of changes we can make. I created a picture of earth being held within two hands that signified that we need to be gentle with the earth and not be harsh when using its resources”. – Gemma Camozzato (9GPC-04)

“I believe that the Laudato Si` message is about the earth, how to take care of it and being aware that we only have one. Drawing the posters allowed us to visually display our own interpretation and our thoughts on Laudato Si` and I really enjoyed being creative. It was interesting to hear Mr Kitschke’s stories of sinking islands and the coral bleaching of the Barrier Reef. Mr Smith also introduced us to how our lakes are natural water resources but they are slowly drying up because of global warming. There was a strong message to look after our planet because some things we can’t get back”. – Sofia Perkovic (9GPC-03) 

“I came away with a lot more knowledge about the environment, the issues we have caused and how we can fix them. Mrs Puglia and Mr Dempsey taught us about the connection between religion and the environment. We brought to our session with Mrs Puglia, different pieces of nature such as leaves, rocks, water, and dirt to symbolise the coming together of all the different parts of Adelaide. I was able to express my stance on these issues in our poster session through a creative format where I made my own symbolic representation of what I had learnt”. – Samuel Jarvis (GBPC-02)

Mrs Anna Haracic, Year 9 Assistant Director, Mr Brent Parfrey, Year 9 Director, and Mr Robert Dempsey, Director of Mission

YEAR 7 AND 8 CHRISTMAS DRIVE FOR VINNIES

As the year comes to a close, Year 7 and 8 classes are busily gathering items for donations to St Vincent de Paul for Christmas Hampers.

Any food donations will be greatly appreciated. We thank the St Michael’s Community for their kindness and generosity of spirit in bringing hope and gratitude into the homes of many families.

Year 7 and 8 Pastoral Teams

YEARS 7-9 LEARNING AND WELL-BEING CHARACTER STRENGTH FOCUS

Week 6: Gratitude

Last week I compared kindness to a vaccine because we can consider that kindness does help protect us against choices that can hurt or offend. Most of us are familiar with the triple antigen vaccine. Gratitude is a bit like this – like the second component of the triple antigen-protecting us against choices that can hurt or offend! The third one is coming next week!

As the second of this important trio, gratitude helps us to build stronger relationships with other people – to know, value and care for them. This makes all of us happier. Science tells us that when we are grateful, we become more willing to help others and to overcome hurt, which helps us all get along better, and it enhances our wellbeing too!

When people are grateful to us it also helps us to feel valued; and we all like to feel valued. It’s important to us as people as it helps validate our purpose. Most of us are quite grateful, but we can sometimes overlook thanking those who have had the biggest impact on our lives. Research tells us that thanking those we are most grateful to and explaining what we are grateful for, is one of the best ways to ‘grow’ happiness – theirs and ours.

Unfortunately, at times when things don’t go our way, it’s easy for us to fall into the pitfall of focusing on the negative, and it can consume us and be very damaging to our wellbeing. Our inbuilt ‘negativity bias’ takes care of this to some degree. But it’s harder for us to fall into this trap when we train our brains and look at life through the lens of gratitude. Give it a try!

On Monday morning in Chapel, Mr De Silva and his Year 8 class led the way with gratitude. Mr De Silva stood in front of the year level and personally and publicly thanked some of his class members who make a difference to the whole class before the presentation began. The icing on the cake was a short animation which focused on the way gratitude can transform us. You might like to view the clip here.

On Wednesday, Year 9 Mass also inspired gratitude as its theme, and it was wonderful to see the great work Year 9 had done in raising awareness for Laudato Si’ and collecting bread tags towards wheelchairs!

This week, as we catapult towards the Christmas season and the end of the year, classes are encouraged to really stop and think about what and who they are grateful for, and to take action to personally thank that person for making a difference to their life. When I visited classes embarking on this challenge, students seemed happy and eager to take the leap. Who knows what magic will unfold?

They say it takes 21 days to change a habit for the better. Enlighten Education, a wonderful organisation which works with our students in Year 7 to 9, offers a challenge to enhance our gratitude here.

I hope that the gratitude we savour and the kindness we share brings us all warmth and a smile this week!

Mrs Tonia Carfora, Year 7-9 Learning and Wellbeing Initiatives Leader
Image source: https://flybluekite.com/importance-of-gratitude/

YEAR 10/11 EXAM PROTOCOLS

Student Responsibilities

• Students should be ready to enter the exam room 15 minutes before the starting time. Please assemble in the adjacent courtyard; for example, for all morning exams, please assemble by 8:40am, sign the attendance sheet outside the room and you will be directed from there.

• Students are not to enter the exam room until invited to do so.

• Students are to ensure that all the necessary equipment has been obtained for the exam. NO borrowing will be permitted. NO pencil cases allowed.

• Where the exam is undertaken in electronic format, students are responsible for ensuring their laptop is fully charged and updated and wired headphones only are used if required (check requirements with Subject Teacher).

• Students plagiarising will have their paper cancelled. However, the exam must be completed. Final assessment will be adversely affected.

• No student will be permitted to leave the exam room before the appointed finishing time.

• The allowance for reading time varies depending upon the particular exam. Students must listen carefully to instructions from the invigilator regarding reading time. All notes must be written on the sheet supplied ONLY. Before the exam, consideration should be given as to how best to use this time. Check with teachers if uncertain.

• If a student is ill and unable to attend, a phone call must be made to Mr O’Reilly, ideally prior to the commencement of the exam.

• Full College uniform is required for all exams, including compliance with the Uniform Code.

• Students are encouraged to bring a dictionary into the examination room, but only unmarked dictionaries are to be used.

• Students will not be required for formal lessons during the exam week. Instead, private study should take place at home.

• Graphic calculators need to be cleared for subjects other than Mathematics.

• For online exams students will need to clear their laptops of any unnecessary files, undertake a complete shutdown, and restart the night before the exam to avoid being disrupted by updates, and ensure their laptops are fully charged.

• Mobile phones are NOT permitted. Teachers will not be responsible for these during the examination period.