Middle School News - e-News 9 - 2017

Year 8 Vaccinations

The second round of vaccinations for Year 8 students will be occur on Tuesday 13 June in the Foundation Block classrooms.

Term 2 and 3 Dates

As always, please refer to the College Calendar for the most up to date details of College events.

Please note:

Term 2 concludes on Friday 30 June
Term 3 commences (for students) Tuesday 18 July

The Bishop's Religious Literacy Assessment 2017

At the request of the Western Australian Bishops, Year 3, Year 5 and Year 9 students in Catholic schools across Western Australia will take part in The Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment (BRLA) from the week commencing Monday 31st July. For Year 9 students at Av�԰� Christi, the BRLA will be held on the morning of Wednesday 2nd August. The assessment will be accessible to students only online.

The Nature and Role of the BRLA

The Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment is a large-scale, standardised assessment program that consists of a series of Religious Education (RE) assessments. The purpose of the BRLA is to measure student learning of the content in the RE curriculum. The test items in the BRLA are developed and mostly marked by the Office of Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA). Formal school and student reports are produced by the CEWA for students in Year 5 and Year 9.

The BRLA provides a ‘point in time’ snapshot of student performance in RE. Students’ knowledge and understanding of the content of the RE curriculum is assessed using a combination of multiple choice, short and extended response items. Students’ faith is not assessed. The use of the BRLA complements the school based assessment programs in RE.

Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any inquiries regarding the administration of The Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment 2017.

Academic Excellence Extension Program (AEEP)

Each year, members of the Academic Excellence Program (AEP) are given the opportunity to take part in the Academic Excellence Extension Program (AEEP). This year we already have 50 students who have registered to take part in the program.

The purpose of the program is to:

Empower students to strive for excellence and achieve at their true potential.
Maximise the potential of all students, converting gifts into talents.
Provide students with a positive environment as a result of being involved in unique opportunities whereby they can pursue their interests.
Offer students the opportunity to work with like-minded students.
Train gifted and talented students to ensure correct attitudes and approaches to learning.
Maintain academically able students, motivated.
Cater for academically able students who are often self-directed learners.
Ensure selected students excel at the attributes identified in the Av�԰� Christi College Learner Profile.
Provide students with the opportunity to apply 21st Century skills including working collaboratively and communicating with others, nurturing student creativity and problem solving skills.

Students can select from a wide range of projects. Click below to access the website with information relating to the program and past projects and the available projects.

Additional Details:

When: Every Tuesday
Start Date: 23rd May 2017
Time: 7.30am- 8.30am
Venue: TCC

Exhibition evening: 31st August 2017 (Celebrating Excellence Evening). Student projects will be exhibited and showcased to parents and friends later in the year.

Murdoch mentors: Year 9 and 10 students have been given the option to have a Murdoch University Student Ambassador mentor them.

Year 7 - Pastoral session - e-safety

Mr Mark Barron
Head of Year 7

As the Year 7s work towards the end of another busy term they are working hard to complete assessments leading up to the reporting period.

Students have been actively engaged with their SMART goals throughout this term, they should see improvements in their academic results because of this. I have been working closely with a group of students to ensure that these goals are met and I have already seen positive outcomes. I encourage parents to monitor and discuss the iSMART goals with their children, it's a clear motivator for students when parents become involved.

In pastoral periods, we have been looking at the importance of e-safety with a focus on the use of social media. Students are beginning to understand the implications of their online behaviours and the impact that it can have on others.

I am very much looking forward to next week’s Year Assembly as our student leaders deliver for the first time. Their leadership skills are already developing as they oversee the organisation of Av�԰� Christi Day. From discussions with the students I am confident that the day will be very successful.

Year 8 - Pastoral session on bullying

Mrs Jen Overend
Head of Year 8

Last week the Year 8’s experienced a pastoral session led by well-being coach, Amy Coombe. The students were made aware of the definition of bullying behaviour. Incidents of bullying include all 3 of these characteristics:

INTENTION TO HARM: the behaviour was aggressive and a deliberate attempt to hurt another person
REPEATED AGRESSION: these aggressive actions occur repeatedly over time to the same person or group of people
IMBALANCE OF POWER (REAL OR PERCEIVED): the person bullying has more physical or social power than the child or children being bullied

Four types of bullying were identified that can occur separately or together. They are:

PHYSICAL BULLYING - such as kicking, punching or pushing
VERBAL BULLYING - such as name-calling or yelling
RELATIONAL BULLYING - such as excluding or rumour-spreading
CYBER BULLING - such as text messages, e-mail, and material posted on social media sites.

Given the way that technology is used these days it is not surprising that we are seeing an increase in the occurrence of Cyber Bullying. Students were educated on the bullying cycle, as well as how to break this cycle. They were taught the ‘bystander’ has the most important role when bullying behaviour occurs and they were given some tips as to what to do when they see or hear of bullying behaviour:

Plan what you’re going to say. Rehearse it with someone you trust.
Practice how you’re going to stand. Strong. Confident. Powerful. Show them through your body that you mean what you’re saying.
Try and have the conversation 1 on 1. If they have their ‘team’ with them, they have more power.
If you don’t feel comfortable/ safe doing it by yourself, use an Adult as they automatically have more power over the Bully.
No matter what your body does in reaction to your nerves/ fear/ anxiety – SPEAK UP ANYWAY

Please take this opportunity to speak with your son or daughter about bullying behaviour and the role that they can play if they do see or hear or such behaviours. Av�԰� Christi has a zero tolerance towards bullying. The Year 8 students were made aware that their homeroom teachers, class room teachers, and all other staff are here to support them and want to make their school experience as safe and enjoyable for them as possible.

Year 9 Pastoral session and Personal Projects

Mr Yvette Pearce
Head of Year 9

Pastoral session - ALPHA MOTIVATION

Week 6 saw the second presentation of Alpha Motivation to the Year 9 group.

Alpha Motivation presented ‘The Motivation Hour’ to empower students to start taking action towards their longer term goals. It is heavily focused on the concepts of self-awareness, passion and building confidence. This innovative workshop is made up of, Motivational Games, Interactive Activities and Powerful Presentations. This presentation contributes to the Year 9 Pastoral Programme, working to assist the students to Strive for Excellence and also helps them to continue to work on their Personal Project,that should now be in the process of production.

Personal Projects

Some amazing projects are taking place and being produced. Students are encouraged to keep working on achieving their goals and to remember that they should be aiming to have their project complete by the end of the Term 2 holidays. In Term 3 students will work on fine tuning their project, writing their report and designing their display.

IT Support12 June 2017eNews, Middle School