Arts & Technology Report
Music
We have been working hard in Music in term 3, with our new Music teacher Tuan Le. Students have been engaged in their classroom studies, with our instrumental students attending private lessons and band rehearsals. We have been really impressed at the student’s ability to practice their new songs and contribute positively to band.
Mr. Le specializes in classical Latin guitar, and has recently started a guitar ensemble. Students play acoustic guitar in a group of 8 where they need to practice and listen to each other. Although they are only in their second week, students sound great and are working together to build on their skills. We can’t wait until the group are performance ready!
If your student is interested in having some private music lessons, they can approach any of the music or instrumental teachers in G building for more information.
Food Tech
Over the past few weeks in Food Tech, students have been busy in the kitchen working on their organisation and time management. Recently, the Chinese and Food Tech teams collaborated to run a dumplings cooking class. Students were taught some of the Chinese food words relating to dumplings along with folding techniques to try. Overall, it was a great success and we were really impressed by the skills of our students. Below, we have 9G showing us how it’s done!
Julia Rossi – Arts & Technology Acting Learning Specialist
English & Humanities Report
In English and Humanities this term, our students had the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge through a range of extra- curricular activities.
Year 10 Holocaust Museum
Our Year 10 students learnt about the Holocaust and the experiences of people during World War II on their excursion to the Holocaust Museum. After an introductory session providing the context to the museum and the Holocaust, the students interacted with artifacts from the time that helped them understand the experiences of individuals who were affected.
The highlight of the day was a question and answer session with a Holocaust survivor, Joe Szwarcberg, who was only eight years old when the Nazis invaded Poland. During the war, he spent time in several Nazi labour camps, before being liberated in 1945 from Buchenwald concentration camp and finally ending up in Australia.
Students represented ESC extremely well, actively participating in activities and asking insightful questions. Many were deeply moved by the experience. The content knowledge they gained from the excursion will assist the students in their study of the text ‘Night’ in term 4 for English, their History World War II studies, as well as VCE English texts in Year 11.
Organ Pipes
In September, Year Eight Geography students went on an excursion to Organ Pipes National Park. We have been studying the effects of weathering and erosion on landscapes and landforms. Mrs. Stone organised this fantastic opportunity to experience Geography studies in the real world.
The Organ Pipes’ unique shape was formed by lava millions of years ago and are an impressive sight. Many students said it was great to get outdoors and see real-life examples of key Geography concepts. They were enthusiastic and encouraged each other to keep persevering on some steep hills and rocky surfaces. The excursion was a wonderful learning opportunity for all and students displayed a keen attitude towards learning.
Year 7 Field Work
Liveability in our local area has been the main focus of our Year 7 Geography classes this term. For their final CAT, students have created an inquiry question and undertaken a collection of data in the school grounds to consider improvements to the liveability of the school.
Each student needed to fill out a table and collect information about the amount of green space, seating, shade and equal accessibility at the school, and make suggestions for improvement. The Year 7’s handled their fieldwork with great focus and responsibility, demonstrating some great ideas and impressive note-taking skills.
Rachelle Cole- English and Humanities Learning Specialist