Covid Update

Just a quick update re our current Covid Situation.

Case numbers are still relatively low and in-school programs have been able to proceed as planned.

With a tightening of advice about out-of-school events we may see some cancellations or postponements during the remainder of the term. We will keep you posted if this directly affects any of our upcoming planning.

The year to date:

• 19 active student cases, 31 recovered
• 3 active staff cases, 4 recovered
• Currently 9 cases in grade 9
• We are not at “outbreak” stage in any class group, (5 active cases in one class)
• Maximum we have ever reached in a class group has been 3 active cases
• We haven’t seen any connections between staff and student cases

Thank you for the ongoing support of mask wearing in our school. Mask wearing indoors by staff, students and visitors will continue through to the end of term 2.

Swimming Carnivals/Wellbeing Days

Our junior and senior swimming carnivals went off without a hitch this week. All students who attended made the most of the days. I am proud of the reluctant swimmers who still got in the water or on the water-slide and enjoyed their time. We even had students who couldn’t make the 25m distance enter into races and have a red-hot-go! Nice work to all involved.

Our wellbeing day’s provided significant challenges for our students and have been extremely valuable for our school in setting the right culture to support students and their learning. A big thank you to all staff and students for making the most of this opportunity to work together in a different way!

Interim Reports

Staff are in the process of completing our first term Interim Reports for all students in all subject areas. These reports are a quick snapshot of how your young person is progressing across their learning and covers both behaviour and academic progress. The reports will be out before the end of term. Please feel free to make contact either by phone or email if you wish to discuss any of the ratings that you see in these reports.

Year 7 have been learning about lab safety and lab procedures. They have also learnt important skills to be a scientists such as making observations, data collecting and displaying data. The most exciting part for Year 7s would have been them achieving their ‘license’ to use the Bunsen burner -  a regular tool used in the lab. Very soon they will be learning about chemistry in our world.

Garde 7 HaSS

This term in HaSS Grade 7 classes are learning about the key features of ancient societies. Over the last few weeks, we have used Cornell note taking to record information on Otzi the Iceman and then produce a paragraph explaining our ideas on his demise.

We have also been examining different sources of information and analysing information to determine whether it is a primary or secondary source. This will also allow us to deepen our understanding and identify any potential bias in information sources moving forward.  We will finish the term with an Inquiry task so students can put their skills to practise and deepen their understanding of Ancient civilisations.

Here are a few photos of students classifying information sources during class.

Grade 7 Maths

In maths this year, students have started focussing on number and place value. Students have been learning how to:

• Use place value to add, subtract, multiply and divide whole numbers.
• Apply the commutative, associative and distributive laws in the correct situations.
• Use order of operations to complete calculations which require steps in the correct order.
• Find the square numbers from 1 to 400 and justify your choices.
• Use square root notation in the correct manner.
• Use known square numbers to estimate the square roots of non-square numbers.

We have been using a variety of learning activities and strategies to engage our students and to reinforce and deepen their understanding of these important mathematical concepts.

Mr. Dalton