FROM THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Legacy National Finals  – Second Place

Year 8 student, Elizabeth Moore, has achieved second place at the Legacy National Finals in Adelaide.  This is a huge win for Lizzie who is proving herself such a gifted orator both with prepared speeches and impromptus. A special thanks to Legacy for their wonderful support of our youth.

Katie Lester
Person-in-Charge of Public Speaking

Civics and Citizenship

Scotch Oakburn College’s ten Learner Attributes are skills that talk about the character of each student, forming the platform for our students to be the architects of their own learning.

Learning opportunities, such as last week’s Civics and Citizenship Trip to Canberra, help show a fuller picture of the whole student, not just their academic learning.

Some of the key Learner Attributes our Year 6 students have identified as corner-stone skills that they accessed during their Canberra trip include:

• curiosity
• compassion
• inclusivity
• showing agility
• collaboration
• courage
• self-regulation
• being ethical
• self-regulating

Year 6 Cullen has insightfully shared some of their reflections on the Learner Attributes that they demonstrated while away from home:

Curiosity: “When going to places I have never been before, I made sure to ask plenty of questions because I might never experience this all again, so I might as well take it all in and enjoy the moment, particularly at Parliament House and the War Memorial.”

Courage: “The Fall Slide at Questacon was overwhelming for me, when I got up there, I was extremely anxious. When I did it, I was happy after and wanted to do it again”. For others “going away is not something I am very comfortable doing and especially not without my family”.

Inclusive: “We were all inclusive throughout the whole trip, but especially in our cabins where we may not have had someone that we knew as well as others. We had to include them and make them feel welcome and at home, just like we did. We did this by including them in our conversations and starting conversations with them.”

Self-regulating: “I needed to show more self-control as I am not a morning person. I knew that if I wasn’t self-regulated and organised it would be harder for me and everyone else in my cabin.” “I showed self-regulation by helping the teachers navigate and round up our class while they were tired. This made their job ten times easier as we stepped up and self-regulated.”

Compassion: “When people were sick, I made sure that they were alright. I hope that by doing that, I made the trip and experience a little bit better.”

“During our Trip to Canberra, we were lucky to go to amazing places such as the AIS, Parliament House, Questacon and countless others. However, we were also faced with challenges, the main one being the trip back home.  … By using the Learner Attributes, I was able to keep calm and make this into a better situation.”

We remain very proud of our Year 6 students and very grateful to all our staff who attended and supported our students on this memorable and rich learning experience. Thank you to our parents and the wider College community, who have shown overwhelming support as challenges were faced and learning opportunities embraced.

Kiran Oates Pryor
Acting Head of Middle School

Wear Red for Redkite

On Thursday, 16 November, our Middle School students took part in a, “Wear Red for Redkite Day”. This was to show support for the amazing work that Redkite do for families and children who face a childhood cancer diagnosis. However, more importantly, we wanted to show our support for fellow teacher and colleague, Mr Timmy Bristow, who is raising awareness of the amazing work Redkite do. Timmy has created a “24 Challenge”, and will be running for 24 hours, on a treadmill, to push his body to the limit in order to highlight how a family’s life can change in just this short time period when diagnosed with cancer.

This was the situation for Khye’s parents, JJ and Bek, when taking their son to a routine surgery in Hobart. This was daunting enough; but it wasn’t until this keyhole procedure uncovered a tumour, that an all-too-common nightmare emerged. Khye had cancer, sending this family’s life into turmoil in the blink of an eye. Thanks to Redkite, support was never far away, and now they want to give back. They need your help. By raising awareness and funds on the treadmill, Timmy Bristow is helping them give back. His run begins at 8:00 am on Saturday 18 November.

Our Middle School students, through their philanthropy, raised $510 towards this cause and had a great time doing so, with splashes of red seen throughout the Middle School on the day. Many of our College’s attributes were on display through their generosity and commitment to this cause, such as Collaboration, Compassion, and Inclusivity.

We wish Timmy all the best for Saturday and hope he is successful with the challenge he faces.

Simon Dray
Teacher