Enrichment

Term 1 continues to be a busy time for students thinking outside of the classroom. In this update we congratulate the 2023 Middle School Ethics team for their participation in the international finals, we also take a closer look at the work Years 6 and 7 have been doing in the Junior Enrichment Challenge.

Middle School Ethics Finals

The 2023 Middle School Ethics gold medallists competed in the International finals this February. Their continued hard work earned them a commendation from the judges with the winning three teams all coming from Australian schools. The team was made up of Eve Ardagna, Edith Barrett, Mia Bek, Emily Hirschhorn and Oliva Santangelo and mentored by Kate Pitman-Fernandez of Year 11.

I am so incredibly proud of the fantastic results our Middle School Ethics team has achieved, and more importantly, I am so proud of the passion and hard work that they have put into preparing for this. Watching these girls develop and refine their skills in communication, reasoning and critical thinking has been such an insightful and rewarding experience.

Ultimately, their success is a culmination of the energy, dedication, passion and determination with which they have approached this experience.

It has been truly inspiring to watch them all grow individually and as a team, and their results reflect this incredible growth!

Kate Pitman-Fernandez
(Ethics coach)

Australian Brain Bee Challenge

March is the month of the first round of The Australian Brain Bee Challenge. Some students from Year 10 completed the online exam using the Education Perfect Platform. These students have been training since last year, independently working their way through high order biology and neuroscience content. It was a challenging but enjoyable experience for those who followed through with their commitment.

Participating in the Brain Bee was really interesting and refreshing, allowing us to independently learn about the brain and all of its complex processes in detail. I would do it again if I could, because as well as gaining rich knowledge I also discovered a new interest that I definitely wish to pursue.
Calliope Stewart
Year 10

Junior Enrichment Challenge

Students in Years 6 and 7 have been spending some of their Wednesday afternoons participating in the Junior Enrichment Challenge. 

In their creative writing challenge students were presented with a short poem from Hilda Doolittle titled ‘the Pool’. The students had a single 45-minute session to brainstorm and quickly write an imaginative piece. Below are two student short stories. 

The Pool – Ariadna Diaz

I feel my tail swish as the boat passes beside me. Men standing over, tall grey shadows. A thick, worn out net splashes down next to me, I swim away. The men pull the net back up. I see hundreds of my friends get pulled away while I stay in this giant pool of ours. I think I get away, but I still see the shadows of the men. By that time, I’m too late. I get carried up onto the ship, with other fellow friends. I can’t breathe, but I’m still in the moment. As the giant horn of the ship rings all I can think to myself is what will happen to us. I lay on the damp wooden floor as we arrive at the docks near the markets. As soon as we arrive we get placed into a big box filled with ice. We sit there, barely surviving on the little water from the melted ice. Then comes the big moment, I get bought. I feel every single cut, slice and chop that happens to me. Physically, I am dead, but my soul is alive.

The life of a Fish –  Michaela Zatorski

I swish through the water, following my family. These past few days we have been travelling a lot. We live in a place called the pond, it is very big. I’m not allowed to go too close to the surface because there are these big things called humans. They like to take one or two fish out of the water and away from their families. Everyday me and my friends like to play a game called Run little fish.

The game goes like this, we find a human, then we swim around in a circle very close to it, making sure it can see us. When it does see us we swim away as fast as we can. It is super fun. We are going to play the game again. We swim after each other, looking around for a human. We played the game as usual except this time the human must have really wanted to get us because he fell in! The impact makes the water go up and down. I think to myself, can I survive this? The human is struggling to get out of the water and is splashing all about. Luckily I managed to swim out of the commotion fast enough. I see all my friends get out except for the smallest one. After the human gets out of the water we look all around for her, we find her floating at the very top of the surface. She must’ve been under the human when it fell, the impact must’ve killed her. I get back to my family and I tell them the bad news. Now I am banned from playing that game.

It’s the next day and I really want to play the game, it’s the only fun thing I have down here. I sneak away from my family with my friends. We look for a human, we find one, actually the same one from yesterday! We get into a circle, getting ready to swim super fast. The human must’ve been ready for us.

I got caught in something. 

I realised slowly that I was getting pulled up!

I was getting pulled out of the water!

I try swimming out but I’m trapped.

I get pulled out of the water and get put on something big and white, floating on the surface. I can’t breathe. 

I look beside me and lying there is my best friend. I’m watching him struggle, I wish I could do something. 

Something comes right on top of my head, it’s silver and extremely sharp.

I hear a ringing in my ears and I suddenly see a blinding white.

Holiday Enrichment 

School holidays are a great time for students to use what they are learning in the classroom in the real world.  Inspiration for activities and outings to keep brains active in the holidays are listed below:

School Holiday programs at ANSTO
https://www.ansto.gov.au/whats-on?page=1

School Holiday programs at the Australian Museum 
https://australian.museum/event/school-holidays/

Art Gallery of NSW – free entry and drop in paper crafts workshops for younger students
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/programs/school-holidays/

MCA – free entry and some activities for younger students
https://www.mca.com.au/events-programs/calendar/school-holiday-programs/

City of Sydney school holiday ideas
https://whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/tags/school-holidays

Visit NSW school holiday ideas
https://www.visitnsw.com/things-to-do/family-holidays/school-holidays

Matthew Mountford
Dean of Gifted Education