Year 7 Healthy World

The traditional owners of Australia are the oldest continuous culture on the planet and have been caring for the land of Australia for thousands of years. Indigenous Australians understand the important role of connecting with the environment for health and wellbeing, but as our world becomes more urbanised and more open spaces are replaced with concrete, we are losing this connection.

Through the medium of sport, physical activity and Indigenous games, students in year 7 Healthy World are exploring the changing Australian landscape through understanding Indigenous connection, Australian sporting culture and the geographical concepts of place and space.

Year 8 Healthy World

This term, in year 8 Healthy World, students are exploring the impact of inclusivity by planning and investigating strategies and practices that promote diversity. By evaluating the impact promoting inclusivity has on enhancing wellbeing and relationships, students will walk a mile in the shoes of those who experience adversity and hardship on a daily basis.

Through learning experiences in the practical and theory classroom, students will extend their knowledge of people with a disability and evaluate strategies to overcome barriers to engaging sport and physical activity - promoting lives that are personally fulfilling, unique, socially inclusive and empowering!

Year 9 Health and Physical Education

In sport, where performance, ethics, values and morals collide on a regular basis, making the ‘right’ decision is not always straightforward. Ethical dilemmas often exist in grey areas where right and wrong may not be so clear. This term, students have been tasked to consider ethical behaviour through an investigation of ethical dilemmas often faced in sport.

Through this unit of study, students will reflect on how fair play and ethical behaviour can influence outcomes. In practical lessons, students have begun experimenting with ethics by participating in games to simulate ethical dilemmas, as well was discussing equitable participation, and evaluating the impact of playing by the rules. 

Students are now halfway in to their Up & Atom G-STEM Fair Passion Projects. They have completely blown us away with their creativity and ingenuity. Some examples of inquiry questions driving their projects are:

• How does PCR testing help match DNA from crime scenes to potential perpetrators, and how can we use this in historic unsolved crimes?
• Is 3D printing a sustainable, efficient and environmental option, and what application does this have for developments in the future?
• What is the most environmentally friendly food waste system, and how can this be used on a household scale for a more sustainable lifestyle?
• How does ocean acidification affect calcareous marine organisms, and what does this mean for the future of our oceans?
• What effect does iron deficiency anaemia in teenagers have on their circadian rhythm, and how can we address this in future children?
• How does salinity affect the growth rate of seedlings, and how can this be used to determine ideal crops in different geographical locations?

Shortly, a letter will go home offically inviting parents, guardians and distinguished guests to this evening, hosted at Foxwell on Wednesday 14th September from 4-5pm. Please enjoy some photos of our G-STEM students hard at work!

The Foxwell State Secondary College Instrumental Music students took to the stage on Monday night to perform at the Showcase evening, and what a brilliant night of music it was! With repertoire from classical music all the way through to pop songs, the atmosphere was exciting, and the students were thrilled to be able to perform for their family

and friends. For some students, this was the first performance of the year and a fantastic opportunity to perform before we head into the Gold Coast

Eisteddfod for the next 3 weeks.

The Foxwell SSC Strings Ensemble students performed at their first ever Gold Coast eisteddfod on Tuesday 9th August and received second place and a Gold Award. This means they were at the top of their section! These students competed against larger State Schools schools across the Gold Coast including senior students up to year 12. What a fantastic achievement for our students and a wonderful first experience for them! We are so excited to watch the Music program continue to grow as the school grows. At the moment they may be a small ensemble compared to the competition, but wow they are mighty for sure! Congratulations to all!

On Wednesday 29th July, our Year 7 and 8 Advanced Learning Program (ALP) students presented their TED Ed Talks and presentations about their learning to an audience of family and friends.We are so proud of our many students who challenged themselves to get up in front of an audience on stage in our new Performing Arts Centre and share what they have learned about something they are passionate about. We listened to speakers, watched animations, engaged in Keynotes and power points and rejoiced when students realised that what they once thought was unattainable became a reality.Students presented on a huge range of topics such as whether we should bring back the woolly mammoth and what it might be able to do to assist climate change, how we see colours differently, how gaming can improve our abilities and skills in other areas, Norse gods and their impact on history or the impact of planes on the course of World War Two.

Our students have the opportunity to be featured on the TED Ed YouTube channel in the future, so stay tuned for updates on this.Congratulations to all of our Year 7 and 8 ALP students on a wonderful evening of entertainment and education. Your talks and presentations were engaging, interesting and showed us all that the future is in wonderful hands.

Year 7 and 8

Our Year 7 and 8 students received letters for our Camp on the 5th and 6th of September. Please return your forms as soon as possible. More information and a camp booklet will be provided in the next couple of weeks. We're all looking forward to an exciting camp where we work together to improve our skills and develop strategies that will help us to become more creative and critical thinkers.

Engineering challenges

Recently Year 7 and 8 ALP students have been challenging each other to see who can build the tallest or strongest tower using various materials.  We've used marshmallows and spaghetti as well as newspapers and masking tape!  

Year 9

Our Year 9 ALP students have been investigating and learning about Psychology.  They are currently working in small groups to investigate Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung and their feud and legacy to psycholanalysis and psychology.  Students have also learned about the Victorian fascination with phrenology (the study of the size and shape of your head that allegedly indicated your character and mental abilities) and how this led to stereotyping and other ethical problems.

Our English students have been analysing and evaluating picture books this term - The Arrival, The Island and Home and Away. This week they completed a practice exam on one of the books and wrote a paragraph. Students then assessed their paragraph using the Guide to Making Judgments as well as another classmates paragraph.

Students have been continuing to write paragraphs to practice their analytical skills.

Next week our Year 9 students will receive their stimulus materials for their exam. During Week 6 students will work to annotate the stimulus and analyse how each book uses visual and language features to convey meaning in practice paragraphs. In Week 7 students will sit their exam over 2 lessons. They will receive clean pages and their paragraph topics at this time. Students should be practicing their analytical writing by completing paragraphs on each of the picture books we have read in class. They have either pdf copies or a video of a reading of the book in their One Notes to assist them for homework or if they are absent.

Our new recruits of Year 9 Ceramics have had a great start to the term as they have embraced the artform with energy, enthusiasm and commitment. Students have been learning the basics of safety and have been learning how artists design forms that meet specific functions. Students will be engaging with how various artists across a range of cultures times and places have used hand-building techniques to create functional works. The making assessment will ask students to demonstrate knowledge of hand building techniques to create functional Ceramic artworks for display at the end of term Ceramics’ exhibition. We can't wait to see their artworks on display. 

Today is the last day you can complete the School Opinion Survey!

Thank you to all of those who have already completed the Parent/Caregiver Survey. This is your opportunity to provide feedback about what our school does well and how we can improve.

To have your say, check your email for an invitation from the Department of Education titled School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2022. 

Can’t find your invitation?  If your family has more than one parent/caregiver, check that they haven’t received the invitation and/or check your junk email folder.