I am proud to report that many of our students have been doing an outstanding job in wearing their uniform with pride. The uniform helps to create a sense of unity and community within our school, and I am thrilled to see our students represent us in such a positive way.
In this week's newsletter, you will see a summary of some of the great learning that is happening across some of our faculty areas. Our teachers and students are making exceptional progress, and I am thrilled to see the creativity and innovation that is taking place in the classrooms.
I was also proud to host the Tuggeranong Principal's Network meeting this week, where our Head of Careers and Pathways, Jennie Sheppard, outlined the amazing offerings available to Calwell High School students. With an emphasis on preparing our students for the future, Jennie highlighted the exciting plans that will see Calwell High School as a leader in this space.
I am also delighted to announce that Mr Ventura will be launching our Gifted and Talented Program. Mr Ventura is a passionate Calwell High School educator and so enthusiastic in his teaching. His efforts in this space is another step in reinforcing that all students are catered for at Calwell High School. We look forward to further announcements in this area in the near future.
Have a great weekend.
Steve
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Monday 13 February
Tuesday 14 February
- Courage to Care Incursion Y9/10
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LIONS CLUB YOUTH AWARDS
On the evening of Monday 6 February, Sally Johns was awarded a finalist certificate in the Lions Club Youth Awards. She was presented with two framed certificates, one for the school and one for home.
Sally, (one of the youngest finalists), and one other student were selected to progress to the next round for the dinner/speech presentation category. Congratulations Sally!
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FUNDRAISING SAUSAGE SIZZLE
On Wednesday 8 February, a group of student volunteers came together to support a fundraising sausage sizzle for our Breakfast Club.
Supported by our Youth Workers, our Admin and Kitchen team and our Building Services Officer, John, the students made posters, set up, cooked, served and packed up for a very worthy cause. It was fantastic to see so many students volunteering with lots of smiles and confidence.
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JAPANESE
Year 7 Japanese
Year 7 students are jumping straight into the heart of Japanese language and culture by doing an in-depth study of the classic anime movie ‘My Neighbour Totoro’.
The students are studying the culture behind this classic and viewing it in it's original Japanese. They are learning useful, everyday vocab selected from the movie and will take on the challenge of re-recording Japanese lines from the movie using their own voices.
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Year 8 Japanese (elective language class)
Year 8 Japanese language students are using Duolingo, (a language learning app with the largest user base worldwide), to underpin their journey into Japanese.
Duolingo is supported by language and education specialists from around the world and provides a data-driven tool to measure and encourage your language learning.
Parents are encouraged to try Duolingo out (it’s free!) and see if there is a language that you would like to learn. If you need help, please contact Mr Kirton at kevin.kirton@ed.act.edu.au
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DIGITAL AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The Year 8 Digital/Information Technology class is using the education-focused programming languages Scratch and Blockly to learn the basics of Python.
Python is used by industry leaders such as Spotify, Instagram, Facebook and Google to make prototypes of new features and products. Like your child, the potential of Python is amazing and unlimited.
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LSU
In the LSU, the students have started the year well with all students showing great attitudes towards the essential testing and orientation activities required to get our classes started. A friendly face goes a long way in high school and as we get to know each other and understand how high school works, many friendships are starting to form in this space.
In Year 7/8 Science, the students were excited to use a bunsen burner for the first time. Students discussed all the important safety aspects of using a Bunsen burner before having a go. We talked about twisting the collar of the bunsen in order to expose or cover the holes to create a hotter flame or a safety flame.
A big congratulations to the students who all showed courage to light the Bunsen burner for the first time and also demonstrated an impressive level of sensibility and safety. Well done LSU crew!
Marcus Berryman, Executive Teacher - Inclusion & Diversity
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MATHEMATICS
Welcome back to another year and The Mathematics Faculty would like to take to extend a warm welcome to our new and continuing Calwell High School families for 2023.
A new school year is always an exciting time for both teachers and students as the possibilities are limitless and motivation is high. Already this year, the staff have been working extremely hard to deliver the best program to each and every student in a bid to improve their skills in this hugely important subject.
The philosophy and goal for our faculty again this year can be summed up in one word, ‘mastery’. It is our goal to teach our students how to master the diverse skill sets that Mathematics offers and requires to succeed at the standards set by the Australian Curriculum. Like mastering any skill, the core emphasis is on ‘practise’.
We strongly urge and encourage all our students to practise the skills they learn in maths to show true mastery of the subject matter. Of course all the teachers are more than willing to provide any assistance they can to achieve this feat.
Like any new school year it is an opportunity for students to start a fresh. Keeping up-to-date with the curriculum and on-top of assessment are the two biggest challenges students face in Mathematics.
As most are aware mathematics builds upon the previous year’s knowledge and continues to extend deeper into how we use maths in the world. This can often be daunting to students who may feel less confident in their abilities with numbers. With hard-work and persistence these challenges can all be overcome.
To practice these skills we have provided every student with ample resources both online and in hard copy format. All maths classes have set up a ‘Google Classroom’ page which is frequently updated with information and assessment copies/deadlines/examples etc. Again, all students have free and full access to our primary online resource, Education Perfect which is extensively used in class for both course work and assessment.
Students will be explicitly taught in-class how best to utilise these resources for maximum effect and the advantages and disadvantages to all. As such it is imperative that students have a working and charged Chromebook for each and every lesson. If students are having technical issues with their Chromebooks or it has been damaged please contact the school to submit for assessment and repair. Our IT Officer is Alex Tandy and can be contacted via email at alexander.tandy@ed.act.edu.au or by contacting the front office.
Next week teachers will be making contact with families via email, which will also contain the Course Outline and Assessment Plan with some other specific information around class expectations. Please respond to them if you have any questions about Mathematics or your child’s progress.
Lastly, I would like to introduce our staff for 2023. The Mathematics faculty is very lucky to see all our teachers returning from 2022 plus the addition of a few more. These are:
- Mr Steven Deans (Co-Head of Faculty) steven.deans@ed.act.edu.au – Y8 Maths, Y10 Maths, Y10A Maths
- Mr Tomas Rodriguez (Co-Head of Faculty) tomas.rodriguez@ed.act.edu.au – Y10 Maths
- Ms Emma Streeter emma.streeter@ed.act.edu.au - Y7 Maths, Y8 Maths, Y9 Maths
- Ms Apinder Sehgal Apinder.sehgal@ed.act.edu.au - Y7 Numeracy Program, Y8 Numeracy Program, Y9/10 Numeracy Program, Y8 Maths, Y9 Maths
- Ms Robyn Pearce robyn.pearce@ed.act.edu.au – Y7 Maths, Y8 Maths
- Mr Jaswinder Mehar Jaswinder.mehar@ed.act.edu.au – Y9 Maths
- Ms Kim Lum kim.lum@ed.act.edu.au – Y7 Maths, Y10 Maths
- Mr Damien Plenty (currently on long service leave and will return for term 2).
We would like to wish all students the best for the year ahead and again remind all students to seek help and guidance from their teacher if unsure how to tackle the challenges of maths this year.
Steven Deans, Executive Teacher - Mathematics
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STUDENT PATHWAYS
The Student Pathways Faculty has had a great start to the year led by our new team of Jennie Sheppard (Careers Practitioner & Executive Teacher) and Andrew Rowe (Careers Advisor and WEX Coordinator).
We are implementing a school wide career development program in Aspire (pastoral care) for Years 9 & 10 students starting with self knowledge quizzes and finding out about how to organise Work Experience (WEX) placements in the coming weeks.
More information about WEX will be communicated through the newsletter soon and we will also be seeking WEX opportunities for our students within our community. Many industry and education training courses and programs and parent/carer career workshops will be offered throughout the year.
Jennie Sheppard
Executive Teacher - Student Pathways I Science/Technology Faculty
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BELOW: Year 9/10 Careers presentation and lesson
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TECHNOLOGY
The Technology Faculty is thrilled for another exciting year of - Industrial Design with Metal and Wood Technology, Food Studies, IT, Work Studies and Women in Construction.
Throughout the courses students will have the opportunity to develop a comprehensive understanding of the principles and practices of planning and design, with a focus on industry technology.
Projects will continue to challenge students to use their creativity and problem-solving skills as they design, implement plans and/or construct functional products that meet specific design criteria. By the end of the courses, students will have a strong understanding of the principles of industrial, food, IT design, work skills and the ability to apply them in the creation of products.
These courses are a valuable opportunity for students to continue exploring their interests in industrial design principles and to further develop their employability skills in different fields and we look forward to another successful year.
Jennifer O’Donoghue, Executive Teacher - Science & Technology
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HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION
The Health and Physical Education Faculty would like to like to say welcome back and we hope you’ve all had a chance for some down time over the holiday period! We have a number of exciting this happening this semester in the HPE space.
Junior HPE (7/8) classes spent the first week of term getting to know each other and their new teachers, engaging in class vs class games and team building activities. This week saw all classes starting a unit in basketball where students will develop their dribbling, passing and shooting skills in readiness to implement those skills in games. Looking forward to a great term ahead!
Senior HPE (9/10) is now in full swing for the term. All three senior lines have now started their Sport Education unit in the sport of Dodgeball. The unit is designed to have students grade and place players into teams, write the draw, score the games, and mark results; with finals rounds being played at the end (including a medal presentation ceremony for the winning team and MVP/MIP).
After our first Sport Education unit our students move back into the classroom to engage in a health unit based around Safe Choices. Human Movement has had a solid start, introducing the weights program to students which will be run weekly throughout the term. Teaching students how effective consistency is when it comes to progression. Students have also been introduced to their first theory topic, being the energy systems. Developing an understanding of how our energy is created and depleted in the body.
Outdoor Education at Calwell is up and running with the very first class already having exciting plans on the horizon! For the next four weeks Outdoor Ed will head to Erindale College to use their pool to prepare for the upcoming snorkelling Camp in Week 7 at Jervis Bay. We’ll cover our swim test, water safety and Snorkelling techniques to make sure we are ready to make the most of our time at the beautiful Booderee National Park.
I’d like to introduce our HPE staff for 2023. We have familiar faces and some new faces in our team:
We are looking forward to a fantastic year ahead full of physical activity, carnivals and excursions. Teachers will be sending out and posting Course Outlines with assessment information and further class details. You should also be receiving a welcome email from your students classroom teacher. Meanwhile, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Tomas Rodriguez, Executive Teacher - Health & Physical Education
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ARTS
The year is off to great start in Arts. In Visual Art, the year 7s have been mixing colours, creating colour wheels, while the year 8s have been creating sculptures based on yoga or dance poses, and the year 9s and 10s have been exploring the use of tone in drawings.
Meanwhile, in the computer lab, the Year 8s, 9s, and 10s have started using Photoshop to explore principles of design and art in a digital environment.
Our music classes are already producing some great sounds with students starting to learn to read notation and selecting their pieces ready for their term 1 performances. We have 3 senior music classes on offer this semester and it’s great to see so many students keen to expand their skills.
Our dancers have also started creating with their first composition task underway. Students are working in small ensembles and learning about the different elements of Dance to create their own pieces.
We can’t wait to see some of the amazing performances and pieces are students come up with.
Alex Whitrow, Executive Teacher - Arts & Languages
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SCIENCE
In Science we are looking forward to challenging all of our students to develop their experimental thinking and scientific literacy skills, by creating a sense of curiosity about the world around them.
Year 7 students are introduced to the science labs and learn how to use the equipment safely, and they are looking forward to earning their Bunsen Burner licences. They will then move onto their first topic in chemistry where they will investigate different types of mixtures and separating substances.
In Year 8 the students have started off the year investigating different forms of energy and will have the opportunity to conduct many different science experiments. They will finish off the semester looking at the rock cycle and will learn how different processes in the formation of the Earth have led to different features in the Australian landscape.
Year 9 students have been studying the nervous system and how our bodies interact with the world around us, and will move into the exciting topic of Chemical Reactions in Term 2.
Our Year 10 students began the year learning about how forces affect the motion of objects, and will be using datalogging equipment to investigate different questions about forces. The will then move onto the study of genetics and evolution.
Jennifer O’Donoghue , Executive Teacher Science & Technology
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Hello Parents, Carers and Friends
The next P&C meeting is at 6.00pm on Wednesday 22 February. Save the date!
Geoff Puleston, P&C President calwellhighpandc@gmail.com
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ACT NATIONAL ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER HEALTH ACADEMY OPEN DAY
Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) is promoting its ACT National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Academy (ACT NATSIHA) through an Open Day on 20 February 2023 in Deakin.
The ACT NATSIHA is a Career Pathways Program that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school and senior secondary school students to complete year 12 and graduate with a Certificate III in Allied Health Assistance as an Australian School-based Apprentice. The program is currently accepting applications from year 10 and 11 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Canberra to start training on 27 February 2023.
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