For all upcoming events please see the Penguin District School Calendar

This term in HASS, our Year 7 students have kicked off a new unit in Civics and Citizenship. They’re learning all about how the Australian Parliament works, including the roles of the House of Representatives and the Senate, how laws are made, and the responsibilities of elected representatives.

Year 7 Japanese

After finishing our hiragana focus, they have been using this knowledge to complete a mapping task. They have submitted some truly "sugoi" maps - these will be in the evidence of learning envelope next week. 

Year 8 Japanese

We have been focusing on festivals and celebrations and are so lucky to have our Japanese student, Senan, to give us more information. By the end of the term, students will have learned about Children's Day, Tanabata and Japanese New Year. 

Senan has visited 5/6B and chatted all things Japanese with them, especially as he is cousins with Miss Hayward! He will be visiting again in Week 10 to teach them about Tanabata. 

Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have started brainstorming and beginning their Science Week Investigations.

This year, students have the option to present their scientific research in one of the following ways:

1. Photo Essay
2. Scientific Essay
3. Scientific Infographic
4. Creative Writing
5. Video
6. Science Inquiry Board

In previous years, all students have completed a Science Board to display the findings of an experiment that they designed and completed.

These were then presented to the student population at our Science Fair.

This year, our Science Fair will display the various works that our students produce. We look forward to inviting the community in to explore the work our students complete over the coming term.

Numeracy Growth

Year 7 & 8 students have been exploring the mathematical concepts of quadrilaterals and other polygons during their maths and numeracy growth classes.

The tangram provided mild frustration and plenty of success for the Year 7 classes this week, as classes challenged each other to build various shapes.

Below is the challenge that was worked through today – can you complete all 12 challenges?

The following link provides an online Tangram that you can manipulate: http://www.tangramonline.com/

This term in Year 9 English, students have been working through a novel study unit featuring three engaging books: Goodnight Mister Tom, The Road to Winter, and A Weekend with Oscar.

They’ve been involved in a range of activities to help them explore the story, characters, and themes in more depth. From written responses to creative tasks and group discussions, students have had the chance to think critically and express their ideas in different ways.

In this book fear is explored by grief and loss, Jamie spends the whole book grieving the loss of his dad, it also made him more scared about losing his mum, on page 140, “Jamie is talking to the doctor about if mum will even wake up.” that scares him not knowing what will happen to his brother Oscar, Jamie promised him mum he would protect Oscar throughout everything, he never told anyone about their mums absence in case Oscar got re-homed. Ultimately fear is shown a lot in this book and how Jamie got through it by himself.

Jamie kept his mum’s disappearance to himself the entire time she was away. Once Jamie realized that his mum wasn’t coming back for a couple more days, he hid his mum’s absence from her clients and friends. On page 75, “Jamie cancelled an appointment with her client Margie on her behalf”. He knew that if anyone knew about her absence it would be reported and Oscar would most likely be re-homed, after their dad’s death Helen pulled Jamie aside to make sure that if anything happened to her Jamie would have to protect Oscar, which he did. Overall I believe Jamie made the right decision but he should have told an adult that he can trust to not report it and potentially have somewhere to stay.

The first theme in ‘Road to Winter’ is resilience. Finn shows great resilience throughout the book; he must grow and change to become more resilient. The death of Rose takes it toll on Finn. This is shown in the book when Rose starts to struggle during childbirth “Ray starts to press up and down on her chest, but her body is so small and wasted he’s afraid to push too hard. The towel between her legs is soaked with blood. After a few minutes Ray checks for breathing again. There’s nothing. He keeps trying, but eventually he has to stop.” Pg. 122.  He must show resilience when Rose sadly passes away after childbirth if he doesn’t, he knows that Willow Kas and himself will be hunted down and killed by the wilders.

Our assembly on Thursday was hosted by Tannah and Alex.  Some students from Year 7-10 were presented with Growth certificates. 

Montgomery House Captain, Chelsea was presented with the shield for their winning effort in Cross Country earlier this term.

Student Board members spoke about 'silly shorts and sock day' on the last day of term.

Sensory Garden

It was fantastic to meet with almost 20 enthusiastic gardeners and designers from the Primary school, earlier this week. The students are really excited about the Sensory Garden and they had so many amazing ideas! I hope they won't be too disappointed that we won't have a pond, waterfall and river, but we can certainly make sure lots of their other ideas become a reality. I was so impressed with their knowledge of plants, and their ideas to keep the garden respected and protected. It was also great to hear that they really want to grow their own fruit and veg again, and that they'd like to be using their waste to make compost. 

If you would like to help with the garden, please come along to a working bee in the holidays. we have 2 dates so far: Saturday 5 July 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, and Monday 7 July 9:00 am - 11:00 am. You will need to have a Working With Vulnerable People Card. Students welcome!

If you are a builder, or know any builders that would like to help, please get in touch. We are looking to build structures such as seats, table, planter boxes etc - we would be grateful for any help possible!

Sheila

SAC Chair Person

We are excited to be presenting a family friendly cabaret - The Warmth Within - on the 28 and 29 June.

Tickets to The Warmth Within here.

Our school holiday program will take place on Wednesday 16th July.  Classes for all ages. $20 per class. 

Enrolments are also now open for Term 3.