Middle School E-News 18
Year 7 2018 Orientation Day
Mark Barron
Head of Year 8
Huge congratulations to the Year 6 cohort who attended Orientation Day. Their behaviour was impeccable and their enthusiasm was infectious.
Students had an amazing day trying out a range of different subjects. The beginnings of friendships have already been made and we very much look forward to meeting them again next year.
CHRISTMAS BEARS SPIRIT OF GIVING
In the lead up to Christmas, AvÐÔ°® Christi College students gave the gift of their hand made and decorated teddy bears to unwell children at St John of God Murdoch Hospital. In the past, the bears have been a welcome gift for many children who find being in hospital a daunting experience.
AvÐÔ°® Christi’s Coordinator of Christian Service Katrina Thomas says the school endeavors to undertake Christian Community service with meaningful and helpful projects for the community.
“The year seven students explored the idea of Christian Service and how through showing the love of charity, we could make a real difference in the life of others,†Ms Thomas said.
“They were then given the time and tools to create their bear and write a heartfelt prayer for the person who received their bear.â€
“As the year comes to an end and the sight of advent arrives, we felt it would be a nice gesture to donate bears to another Catholic care agency within our community – St John of God Murdoch Hospital.â€
The Year seven choir from AvÐÔ°® Christi College will also sing Christmas Carols in a number of different areas around the hospital.
SEMESTER TWO REPORTS
Mr Italiano
Deputy Principal Middle School
Parents will access their child’s report through SEQTA - Engage. These will be available after 5:00pm Thursday 14 December.
To access Reports, please follow the following instructions:
· Logon to SEQTA - Engage as you have previously done or access the link from the College Intranet - .
· Click on Academic reports – as highlighted below.
Ìý
· When you access this section you will see all of your children. Select a child and then the Report titled 2017S2.
· Under the Download section click on the pdf document that is there and access this as you normally would for a document of this type. (If you do not have a pdf reader installed on your computer this can be downloaded by accessing ).
· Once the Report is downloaded you can now save and print this document if you wish.
Year 8 Perth Zoo Sleepover 28 and 29 November
Mr Brian Hurn
Science Teacher
The Zoo AvÐÔ°® was very successful again this year.
With five staff, Brian Hurn, Scott Connery, Jacqui Johnston, Taylor Matthews and Melissa Baines, twenty-three very well-behaved and motivated Year 8s who love animals attended with great excitement. This is a unique experience. Zoo staff constantly expressed admiration for how well and how quickly our students performed the various challenging activities.
Students were exposed to various educational experiences including
o conservation activities involving the endangered status of zoo species.
o different enrichment processes that are used to engage captive animals.
o construction of an enrichment activity for the Lemurs and Capuchins.
o hands-on reptile experience.
o guided spotlight night-time tour of African savannah
o exposure to the sounds and sights of night at the zoo.
Year 8 Rocket Science
Mr Brian Hurn
Science Teacher
Year 8 Science classes have recently been studying Energy including the concepts of potential energy and kinetic energy. Students launched water bottle rockets to investigate the variables effecting distance travelled such as angle and water volume.
Ìý
Year 7 Reptile Incursion
Mr Brian Hurn
Science Teacher
Students have been treated to a reptile information and handling session. A variety of reptiles were available for close encounters of the scaly kind. Stimson’s pythons, Carpet pythons and Black-headed pythons were among the collection.
Hi-Tech Sci-Tech
By Kalea Gowland, Nikita La Rosa and Siobhan Stevens
On the 4th and 5th of December 2017, ten year 9 students partook in a biotechnology and ethics workshop. On day one there was an incursion at AvÐÔ°® Christi College in the Library. AvÐÔ°® students met with the students from Emmanuel College and Prendiville College and played a short icebreaker game to encourage students from all schools to work collaboratively. We then separated into small groups to work with for the day. After this, we spent time with Dr Pedersen discussing the importance of ethics in science, the history of philosophy and some of the kinds of ethical reasoning- Utilitarian and Catholic. In the middle of the day, we reinforced our knowledge of ethics as it contributed in the discussion of the case of Henrietta Lacks and how it was morally wrong or right to refrain from compensating or at least notifying Lacks’ family about the use of Henrietta’s cells for research. We continued learning about the many discoveries found due to Henrietta’s HeLa cells. During the afternoon the we learnt about DNA, RNA and CRISPR. CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. It is a revolutionary technology that allows modification and editing of DNA. The afternoon concluded on an engaging discussion of the ethics involved with the applications of CRISPR. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience, especially learning about DNA and the ethical approaches involved in the development of biotechnology. We were truly inspired by the Henrietta Lacks story and how her cervical cancer cells have shaped and contributed significantly to so numerous medical and scientific advances that we know of today.
On the second day, all three schools partook in an excursion to the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. The day began with some basic laboratory skills such as the correct use of pipettes, followed by observing the HeLa cells by dying them using the various chemicals and then observing the basic uses of the centrifuge. We observed the cells via a microscope and our guide showed us how the HeLa cells were different to normal non cancerous cells. This was a great experience as we developed our practical skills in the lab. Following this, the year nine students were invited to participate in an ethics discussion. This discussion involved students considering what makes humans alive and the future of robotics, engineering and genetic modification. To conclude the ethical discussion a guest speaker was invited to tell us a bit about clinical trials and how sometimes rules can restrict important scientific research. This raised the importance of ethicists in today's society and their importance in the role of contributing to the development of scientific research today.
This opportunity was really interesting as it engaged us to be open minded about how the world and environment develops around us and how the world is constantly changing whether we like it or not. These discussions were really beneficial as they allowed us to challenge our everyday thinking and to have a taste of what the science workplace can be life. The controversial questions that we had to face also related directly to the problems that we will have to face in the future when our generation becomes the leaders and decision makers of our world. We were also provided with the consequences that if we do not regard the differing sides of every story and make decisions based on information that may be biased or inaccurate. We also discovered the importance of thoroughly discussing issues and weighing out both the positives and the negatives of every decision before acting them out. By exposing the us to new ideas, we were able to communicate our opinions based upon facts which can hugely benefit our critical thinking skills.
