Project SOS: Year 7 Life Week Saves Our Surroundings!!!

LIFE Week was an exciting adventure for the Year Seven students as they explored their local environments and discovered ways to become more conscious and citizens and consumers.

On Monday, the students walked the Camino Salvado from Maylands to Guildford, stopping along the way to remove more than five thousand pieces of rubbish from the environment.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the students split into house groups and departed for their first Project SOS excursions - to Red Hill Waste Management Centre to Save Our Scrap and to Whiteman Park to Save Our Scrub. At Red Hill, students took a tour at the facility and were astonished at the amount of landfill waste produced by the local area in only one morning. They undertook a range of activities, including repurposing recycled material to create magnets and using iPad microscopes to examine the lively inhabitants of a compost heap!

At Whitman Park, students discovered the danger of the Dieback disease threatening certain species of local plants. Several students had the opportunity to inoculate trees with a protective serum to assist them in fighting the disease, and there was fierce competition to see which house could plant the most new trees!  All the students had the opportunity to meet a Stimpson python and a bobtailed lizard - Mrs Rosman was particularly keen to adopt a pet snake!

In the afternoons, the students rotated through four workshop activities - Save Our Skin, Save Our Selves, Save Our SCOBY and Save Our Style. In Save Our Skin, the students investigated the chemical used in commercial body products and created a natural body scrub. In Save Our Selves, the students were taught about the dangers of sugar and had the opportunity to make a chia pudding and some yummy trail mix! In Save Our SCOBY, Mr Hughes and Mrs Barrett discussed the importance of good bacteria and taught the students to make sauerkraut - the Year Sevens particularly enjoyed tasting some kimchi! In Save Our Style, Miss Lester led an investigation into the world of fast fashion and the students turned an old t shirt into a tote bag.

On Thursday, the group met Felicia, an expert in wetlands ecosystem. They enjoyed learning about swamp plants and examining the different bugs found in water from Bibra Lake. The students experienced a documentary screening of the recent ABC program 'The War on Waste' and indulged in snacks from a zero waste popcorn bar! The students also strengthen their skill set with a First Aid course from St John Ambulance.

On Friday, the students rounded out the week with a water filtration challenge and a visit from Lindsay Miles, a local activist in the Zero Waste movement. She taught the students different methods for reducing their waste output and helped them to explore factors to consider as current and future consumers.

Throughout the week, the students were challenged to a 'Zero Waste Week,' bringing no single-use disposable items in their bags or lunch boxes. The majority of the group did a great job undertaking the challenge and we hope that they will continue with this habit as they become more aware of their impact on the local environment.

Throughout the week, the students reflected on the different environmental and health concerns facing the local area. Project SOS: Save Our Surroundings has given the students an overview of a number of issues and they will now choose one of these issues on which to base their platform for our upcoming 'election' for the City Of Swan.

The work undertaken by the Year Sevens so far has been outstanding and their participation and engagement with their activities in LIFE Week was wonderful to witness. We look forward to seeing their work at the end of the term!

Miss Emilie Reynolds
Year 7 Innovator

Junior School Update

Pre-Primary

LIFE Week in Pre-Primary was a fantastic week! We started on Monday with our first excursion to Caversham Wildlife Park. This was a fantastic opportunity to meet and feed a large number of Australian wildlife. The students loved feeding the kangaroos, holding a snake and watching Mrs. Fretwell crack a whip at the Farm Show. After the excursion, the children created a diorama of their favourite animal’s habitat. This experience allowed the students to investigate living things and their basic needs.

We continued exploring the concept of living things and basic needs throughout the week by creating a new Pre-Primary vegetable garden for the children to maintain. We also looked at the needs of human beings with healthy food and exercise.  

Our busy week ended with our Rosendo Salvado Pilgrimage. As we walked around the College, the children explored the life of Salvado and his presence amongst our school. After our Pilgrimage, we gathered together to celebrate a gratitude and stewardship liturgy.

We would like to thank all of our wonderful families for their support and organisation during LIFE week. We hope you had as much fun as we did!

Mrs. Dorota Fretwell, Miss Abbey Rowlands and Mrs. Natalie Pecherczyk.

Pre-Primary Teachers

Year 9 LIFE Week Perth City

During LIFE Week, Year 9 students visited the cities of Fremantle and Perth. Students engaged in a wide range of activities that were based on the broad theme of Expanding Horizons and related to various aspects of the LIFE Curriculum. Each day, students met teachers at the Perth Train Station. This meant early starts for many students and was an opportunity for students to develop their independence. On Monday, all staff and students then travelled by train to Fremantle where students explored the wealth of information about Western Australian migration at the Maritime Museum and explored the cultural heritage of Fremantle on a walking tour.

Over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, the students’ attention was turned towards the Perth CBD. Students visited key venues around the city including the Bell Tower and Parliament House, with some lucky students even visiting Premier Mark McGowan’s office! Students also explored Perth’s culture and diversity through food and street art walking tours.

Thursday saw students take part in Living City Classrooms where a particular street or public space became their classroom for the morning. Students undertook surveys, observations and photographs to determine how the space is being used by people and to identify a need to improve the area. This activity gave students the opportunity to consider the information needed to develop a refurbishment proposal, which will form a major component of the relevant Big Ideas project. On Thursday afternoon, students selected from different venues to visit including the WACA, Kings Park, the Perth Mint and the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Friday saw students bringing together their learning with time to complete tasks at the State Library before attending Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral and Italian Lunch and bocce at the Perth Italian Club.

Ms Karen Taylor

Year 9 Learning Innovator

29 August 2017

Year 8 LIFE week - students enjoy the landscapes of New Norcia.

Last Monday, 115 excited year 8 students boarded three buses, heading for New Norcia. The Year 8 students have a focus on 'stewardship of our gifts.' New Norcia is Australia's only monastic town. It was originally set up by Dom Salvado, who was seen as a friend to the Aboriginal people of the area.

This year, the year 8 students were to answer the question, 'How do we create our own landscapes?' All students completed seven workshops while at New Norcia. They were encouraged to take photographs as evidence to use in their movies, which would be created back at school in Big Ideas.

One of the rotation activities was Aboriginal tool making and Maya-Maya building. The students learned how the local Aboriginal population sustainably used the landscape of the area. They were then able to create their own Maya-Mayas.

Students also learned about the symbolism in Aboriginal dot paintings. They were asked to paint a boomerang, as long as it told a story using the symbols they had just been shown.

Students also completed a graveyard study, an art and architecture tour and a heritage town tour of New Norcia. We were lucky enough to find out about the European Space Agency's work also.

On Thursday and Friday of LIFE week, Year 8 students completed a retreat at school and walked a section of the Camino Salvado, from Bells Rapids to Shady Hills. Students are to be commended on their attitude and behaviour throughout LIFE week.

Year 11 Geographers explore the Swan Valley

As part of their studies into Global Networks and Interconnections, Year 11 Geography ATAR students recently completed fieldwork into the diffusion of tourism in the Swan Valley. Students counted the number of visitors and vehicles at each site, before being given a tour or a talk from the owners or managers of each venue.
The day was a great success, with each student collecting lots of useful data for their studies.

Year 9 LIFE Week: Melbourne Canberra Tour

YEAR 9 LIFE WEEK 2017: MELBOURNE-CANBERRA TOUR

Year 9 LIFE Week is based on the theme of Expanding Horizons and provides students with the opportunity to spend a week in Australian cities, engaging with all aspects of the LIFE Curriculum in a real-world setting. This Year a group of 23 students accompanied by Ms Bond, Mr McRae and myself travelled to the cities of Melbourne and Canberra before heading to the ski fields at Smiggin Holes. Melbourne proved to be a highly accessible city and we were able to move between venues using trams and by foot. Highlights of our Saturday in Melbourne included exploring the iconic Queen Victoria Markets, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and a self-guided tour of the Immigration Museum where students gained significant insight into the history of Melbourne and the contributions of a range of migrant groups. On Saturday afternoon, students visited the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch a match between Geelong and Collingwood, where Mr McRae cheered loudly for his team.

On Sunday, students took in some more of Melbourne’s iconic locations including the Royal Exhibition Building, The Old Melbourne Gaol and the State Library of Victoria where Ned Kelly’s original armour and Jerilderie letter are housed. Students then had some time for shopping in the Melbourne CBD before flying to Canberra.

While in Canberra, students visited many of the key venues of the Nation’s capital, including the Australian War Memorial, Federal Parliament House, Old Parliament House, the Australian Institute of Sport, the National Museum and Questacon. Students gained some significant insight into how the nation’s capital preserves the legacies of many groups in Australia, making close connections to their Big Ideas project. On the final leg of the journey, the tour was joined by Mrs De Courcier to lead the snow experience. Students and staff travelled to Smiggin Holes where they spent one and a half days enjoying the snow and experiencing either skiing or snowboarding.

Our tour of Australia’s national capital – Canberra – has provided students with the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy. The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $240.00 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards these costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Ms Karen Taylor

Learning Area Coordinator – HASS and Year 9 Innovator

28 August 2017