Year 9/10 Art Elective
The year 9/10 Art Elective class have started the term by exploring the works of Georgia O’Keeffe and have already started to produce some exceptional artworks using charcoal and soft pastels.
Claire Sleeman
High School End of Term 2 Activities
At the end of last term, the activities organised by my fellow year 12 PDHPE students provided a well needed breather from our studies, a chance to connect with the younger students and an opportunity to enjoy the company of my friends before the holidays. The atmosphere while doing the activities was lighthearted and enjoyable. I left the last day of term feeling excited and ready for the holidays!
Lily – Year 12
Year 7 Gothic Art Main Lesson
Year 7 have been absorbed in Gothic Cathedral Art and Early Renaissance Art exploring different materials and techniques: clay, painting, charcoal, embossed relief using copper, fresco, collage.
Denis
Year 9/10 Elective Art
In term 1 the project was to make a large plant pot and incorporate a modernistic primitive relief face on the surface… these are a few results. In Term 2 a teapot, cup and milk jug had to be designed and made.
Denis
Year 10 Subject Forum
Students in Year 11 and 12 spent some time with our Year 10 students who are currently in the process of choosing subjects for their senior years. Students in Year 10 have heard from the teachers and it was time for them to ask questions of students actually undertaking these subjects.
Students were given 7 x 6 minute sessions of choosing a particular subject table and getting as much information as possible before the ring of the bell for the next session. A bit like our on-site parent teacher interviews!
We are always so proud of our senior students for their generosity of spirit and maturity in sharing their opinions and perspective of a Year 11 or 12 subject.
Random Weaving
Some of the Year 12 Art students had an enjoyable afternoon learning the traditional art of random weaving with Zimmi from Nature Weavers. Each student produces a unique basket made from the Bangalow palm.
From the Student Representative Council (SRC)
RECONCILIATION
We have a long way to heal this nation, acknowledging the Stolen Generations and the ongoing forced removal of children across this country is an important step forward as a nation. Amending the constitution to recognise the presence of the First Australians 80,000+ years before the Europeans invaded along with raising awareness about the 437 Indigenous deaths in custody since 1991, the Australian nation will be able to take a step towards the reconciliation and healing of our fractured history. Measures such as the Uluru Statement from the Heart: https://ulurustatement.org/ or Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility https://inmyblooditruns.com/takeaction/. Both outline clear and valuable first steps towards this reconciliation that all Australians may read and implement into their daily activities and reasonings. Racism is not limited to the individual choices of ‘bad people’. It is structural and embedded into all aspects of society-this includes laws, dominant cultural norms, and our very own consciousness. It is essential that we as privileged Australians living on stolen lands work hard every single day in order to progress as an equal nation where the First Nations people are acknowledged and admired.
As upper class privileged people, it is imperative that we not only endorse and applaud Indigenous peoples for their efforts and fight to achieve justice for their people and the 437 Black deaths in custody as those who attended the protest last Saturday did. But to further take up the cause ourselves as it is our system that is causing these deaths and numerous other issues for the Indigenous Australian communities. We need to understand that we not only need to reconcile with what we did to the Aboriginal People, but also change our way of life in order to incorporate the continuation of both reconciliations and work towards creating an Australia that not only sees its Indigenous culture as history but an active practice that we can incorporate into both laws and daily practice.
Year 11 and 12 English Advanced with Katie
I would like to very publicly show gratitude to the wonderful senior English students I have been teaching. When classes went online last term, I was perturbed and anxious about my ability to adapt to this new way of teaching.
I found some of the initial sessions quite challenging, particularly relating to open discussions, group work and other collaborative tasks. Questions came up, such as how to manage when students didn’t turn their cameras on and how could I really tell how my students were feeling in the lesson without seeing them face to face.
Teaching is fundamentally about human relationships and connection. It is about sparking the fire of enthusiasm and inspiring learning. These aspects are more challenging in an online environment – but not impossible. I learnt much along the way.
‘Cameras off’ could have meant that the internet was down or that the student had actually left the room, gone to sleep or actually had never been there after the first 1 minute! ‘Cameras off’ also might mean that the idea of watching yourself online was way too confronting – I think a lot of us could relate to that.
I learnt that it was pretty easy to ask the well timed question to a student with a camera off to try to catch them out. I never did – they always answered and were fully there in the lesson.
It was fun to have the option to ‘mute’ a student at any time, a practice much easier than in class when physical muting is not an option!
It was fun to continue my obsessive colour wearing with full embellishments (on the top half at least) and try to find something of the correct day colour to hang on the wall behind.
Despite the challenges of poor internet, weird connections, frozen faces and not being able to really judge how someone was feeling in each class (a vital thing for us teachers), there were moments of joy and humour. We managed to recite King Richard’s famous soliloquy with every student taking on a line.
All of my students were gracious, punctual, diligent, innovative and deeply forgiving of my mistakes and attempts at the new technology. They greeted me with smiles every day and their maturity in adapting was a pleasure to observe. I loved their delicate suggestions; “Katie, um, I think you might have your mic turned off” after I’ve been rabbiting on for minutes about something. Or…”Katie, it sometimes works better if you……insert many phrases here…!”
They were all so patient and kind.
It wasn’t so bad after all. But the goosebumps I got when walking back into class and seeing them all face to face were wonderful to feel.
You just can’t replace the full human connection. What a gift it is to be a teacher.
Katie Biggin
Year 9 Art Main Lesson
Year 9’s early 20th century Modern Art Main Lesson have been learning the history behind this incredibly inventive time of individuals and groups who not only made art practice available for everyone but which is still having an effect on art, architecture, fashion, theatre, furniture and ceramics. In conjunction with this, they have been exploring the actual art techniques using different paint materials and clay modelling. The photos show their exploration of expressionism which was an art movement that painted their own subjective experiences onto the portraits they observed using bold colour, emotional moods and gestural strokes.
Denis
Y10 PostModern Art Main Lesson
Y10 will be encountering many different art movements during this four week ML
The groundbreaking controversial abstract expressionist drip paintings by Jackson Pollock and The spin paintings of Damien Hirst both of which the artist did not touch the canvas with a brush…
Appropriation art using art from the past and adding collage discreetly to change the mood of the artwork as in these 17/18th C engravings
Art Brut (Raw Art) was a movement that looked at children’s art and people in mental institutions who painted naively. The students are asked to draw with their non-dominant hands.
They will be researching a whole variety of contemporary artists and their artwork
Denis
High School Swimming Carnival
High School House Swimming Report 2020
Olympia – 770 pts
Athens – 708 pts
Sparta – 703 pts
Crete – 701 pts
What a great day! Even though we had to shorten the program due to a late start created by Telstra and a complete communication outage combined with an accident on Ewingsdale road. Only a few records were broken this year but what a great demonstration of spirit and participation throughout the High School. Olympia finally broke their drought, holding a confident lead throughout the day. The other three houses were so close that their positions almost changed after every event. At the end of the day, only 7 points separated 2nd, 3rd and 4th position.
Congratulations to all students who competed and a special thanks to students who could not swim but assisted throughout the day as time-keepers, scorers and runners. (These volunteers also scored points for their houses). More than two thirds of the high school participated in individual events and a special mention needs to be made for the excellent work by all the year 12 leaders in making the day fun and entertaining for all.
There are some outstanding individual performances that need to be mentioned.
New Record Holders-
Manon Pouget yr 9 girls
- 50m Breastroke 48.56
Tom Pierce yr 12 boys
- 50m Backstroke – 40.88,
Thibault Walker yr 12 boys
- 50m Breastroke – 42.28,
Congratulations to all those students who participated and helped your team score points. A special mention to the following high scorers in each year level.
Year 7 Coco Winchester – 27 points/Zane Walmesley – 32 points
Year 8 Dakota Dennis – 28 points/Happi McMullen – 35 points
Year 9 Manon Pouget – 39 points/Jack Dodds -35 points,
Year 10 Lizzie Kirkpatrick – 30 points/Lenny Dowling – 30 points,
Year 11 Della Knight – 35 points/Dash Pegram-Jones – 30 points,
Year 12 Anais Stewart -Long – 32 points/Taj Birrell – 30pts, Thibault Walker -30points
A special thanks to the house captains and all the year 12’s for their hard work, encouragement and keeping the day fun. To the parents, officials and the staff who assisted on the day.
Steve Richards (Ric)
Congratulations Shanti!
Congratulations to Shanti Leimanis – Budden in Year 9 for winning first prize for her age group in the Wildlife Art Competition.
Shanti will receive a $50 Still at the Centre gift voucher.
Well done!
Year 12 Art
Year 12 Art Students immersed themselves in Contemporary Art at the MCA last week as part of their week in Sydney.
Parzival Main Lesson Year 11
In Year 11 at Waldorf Schools all over the world Parzival by Wolfram Von Eschenbach is studied by students. As they journey with Parzival the students embark on their own journey of understanding themselves, which in their future life will enable them to have a more conscious relationship to the world. Parzival offers our students many seeds that will germinate much later in life and imparts knowledge and wisdom our young people need to meet the challenges we all face as human beings.
CBRSS Students invited to attend Questacon Invention Convention
Isaac Poulsen and I both submitted applications to attend the National Questacon Invention Convention in Canberra at the start of next year and we’re very excited to both be offered places to attend. To get a place at the convention you are required to submit an original invention of your own. Your application has to compete with other students applications from all around Australia with the top 25 being chosen to attend the convention. My invention is designed to help the elderly or handicapped people to open difficult fridge doors. The lower temperature and thus lower air pressure makes fridges hard to open, particularly for elderly people. The device attaches to the side of the fridge with a small paddle inserted in between the seals, when the device senses motion around the handle it activates an actuator that moves the paddle in order to break the seal and equalise the air pressure allowing the fridge to be opened easily. I’d encourage any fellow student passionate about design and engineering to submit an application for next years convention.
Joshua Sykes Year 10
The National Invention Convention is an all-expenses-paid, five-day workshop held in Canberra every January. This program gives 25 delegates aged 14-18 from all around Australia the opportunity to play, make and create with us, designing and developing a prototype that solves a real-world problem.
Participants will use tools, tech and materials, work with local mentors and entrepreneurs, and forge friendships that last a lifetime!
End of Year 10 “Special Program”
As 2019 comes to an end and the current crop of Year 10 students prepare for their senior years ahead, Year 10 has been having an interesting last 3 weeks. Dressed in their finest they gathered together recently at the Kouzina Greek restaurant for their year 10 social and had a great night. They also undertook a “special program” for the last three weeks of term where they gained certification in First Aid and in Barista and Hospitality at Tafe NSW Wollongbar campus. Other things they learnt in the special program included their rights at work, car maintenance, sex education and their rights as young people when dealing with the law. All great skills that hopefully will assist them as they move forward as young adults.
Andy Robinson – Year 10 Guardian
High School Awards
At the end of each year, the school distributes a number of awards donated by organisations or philanthropists. The whole HS staff decide on the winners of these awards.
The Reuben Scarf award is given to a leaving Year 12 student for perseverance and commitment to achieve. Reuben Scarf was a philanthropist who donates a cash prize to every school (both government and independent) in NSW. This year the award went to Abbie Walden for her demonstrated determination, excellence and commitment to the school. Congratulations!
The Long Tan award is gifted by the Australian Defence Force to every school in Australia at the end of each year to a Year 10 and Year 12 student. The student must demonstrate teamwork, commitment to the local and wider community, leadership and determination to succeed at school. This year the award was gifted to Mia Green in Year 10 for her incredible commitment to her SRC role and fundraising for the wider community. The Year 12 award went to Avryl Hart who similarly was unsurpassed in her leadership amongst her class and her commitment to her studies and representation on behalf of our school in a wide variety of areas.
To give just one example in the past week of Mia and Avryl’s selflessness and commitment….Mia spoke to the whole HS at an assembly last week about her initiative to ensure older people living in aged care facilities in the shire all receive a handmade Christmas card at school to counter the loneliness that many older people experience. Many students are now busy meeting in the art room at lunchtime making these beautiful cards in the last week of school. Avryl decided that she wanted to organise some of the leaving Year 12 to come over to her house and sew little pouches and mittens for injured wildlife and this is what they are doing this week.
We are so very proud of all our students and the leadership shown by some to think about the world outside of their own and initiate positive actions.
House Leaders for 2020
The following students have nominated and completed an application for House Leadership. As part of the process, prospective House Leaders needed to demonstrate that they are committed to the role of leader including; upholding all school guidelines, being positive role models and being excellent peer mentors with younger students.
The following students have had their applications accepted and we congratulate them on their new positions!
Athens – Harper Kelso, Oden Lerner, Phoebe Neumann, Taj Birrell, Josie Huntsman
Crete – Amelie Wright, Zara Pellen, Danielle Shai, Ollie Liebke Pereyra
Olympia – Thibault Walker, Tilka Biason Formale, Pearl Truswell.
Sparta – Bimini Plesser, Tom Pierce, Lucia Bora, Phoebe Flamer Caldera.
Student Congratulations
Della Knight from year 10 recently received an academic excellence award at Southern Cross University. Congratulations Della!
RRISK = Reduce Risk – Increase Student Knowledge
The RRISK program aims to reduce adolescent risk taking associated with alcohol and drug use, driving and celebrating.
RRISK is a resilience building program that is relevant to the social life, developmental stage and concerns of adolescents. It extends the school based drug education and road safety curriculum by providing opportunities for senior high school students to develop knowledge, attitudes and skills to reduce risk taking and develop safer celebrating strategies. The program includes a well-designed, multi-strategic seminar day, preceded and followed by a range of in-school activities. It incorporates factual presentations on risk taking, alcohol, drugs, safe celebrating, safe driving and vehicle safety and is enlivened by drama, life stories and role models.
Year 10 Students at CBRSS participate in the RRISK program each year.
We have some comprehensive parent information available from RRISK we encourage all parents of adolescents to make time to read this, you can access it by clicking this link
