The last week of school, Alethea ran a ‘winter week’ selling soups, mac n’ cheeses, milos and brownies. Donations went towards TEAR Australia, a very worthy cause! Thanks to our community of staff and students for their generous donations.
Farewell
July 5, 2017Please join us in farewelling three amazing SSS servants, Mrs Diane Loan, Mr Richard Davies and Mr Paul Acutt. Every departing staff member will always have a special place in our hearts and none more so than Di! She has served our community for more than 28 years and will be missed by all. Enjoy retirement, Di and all the best.
WORK EXPERIENCE AND SERVICE LEARNING
July 1, 2017I have enjoyed being able to visit many of our Year Ten students as they have participated in Work and Service Learning this week. Every one of our students told me how they were enjoying their time in the workplace or service learning, and many said this had helped them make decisions about their career path. One of the very special elements of the week were the past students who I encountered along the way. Their positive feedback about the long term impact of our school community were delightful to hear. There are also a number of our parents supporting this week and I thank all of you for the support you have given to the Year Ten cohort. The week was obviously of great value to the students. A special thank you to Cathy Trethowen who coordinated the challenging logistics of the week so successfully.
My best wishes for a relaxing and peaceful term break.
Dr Liz Criddle
Deputy Head of Secondary.
Year 10 & Year 11 2018
July 1, 2017Dear Parents and Students
At the moment we are building the timetable for the next academic year (October 2017 to December 2018). It has been interesting and challenging to accommodate the changing desires of students. Subjects that didn’t exist in schools several years ago, such as ATAR Marine and Maritime Studies, Cert lll and lV in Business, Psychology etc. have grown in popularity while certain more “traditional” subjects have shrunk. Changes in the workplace are strongly influencing the subject choices that students and their families make.
Many Certificate classes (e.g. Certificate ll in Hospitality; Certificate lll in Design; Certificate ll in Sport and Recreation – Fitness; Cert ll in Outdoor Education) are chosen by both Year 11 and 12 students who enrol in a particular certificate depending on their needs. This mixture of students in Certificate Courses has been common for many years.
As we endeavour to keep other subject pathways open into the future, some very small Year 11 classes which have a significant practical or oral component do lend themselves to merging with small Year 12 classes. In 2018 fewer than 4 students have chosen ATAR French and this will be run in conjunction with the Year 12 class. The same will be true for Drama and Media. Students choosing these three subjects need to understand that they will be working with older students and that they will be required to work at a high and self-disciplined level. I am pleased that there are still bigger numbers of students choosing subjects such as Economics, Modern History and Visual Art.
Our timetable is constructed “from the top down”: we start with Year 11 and 12 simultaneously. Initially student choices give us an indication of how many classes might be possible. We use a very advanced program to satisfy the needs of as many students as possible. Some subjects exist on one grid line only and this complicates things. Subjects such as ATAR English and Mathematics Applications are spread across as many “grid lines” as possible in order to create as many choices for students as we can. Decisions around the viability of classes are based on numbers, the historical number of students who drop particular subjects in favour of a private study in Year 12 as well as whether a subject is a university pre-requisite.
Over this last week of term, almost every prospective Year 11 and 12 student will finalise their subjects for upper school. While Year 11s chose 6 subjects, by the start of next year over 60% of year 12s on an ATAR pathway, will have only 5 subjects and will have a private study as their 6th “subject”. We are in the process of constructing the Year 9 and 10 “electives” gridlines and fitting those into the complicated matrix that makes up a timetable. This timetable will be in place until December 2018. After that timetables will be constructed later in the year and run from February to December each year.
I would like to wish every family a restful time over the extended mid-year break.
Regards
Bruce Titlestad
Head of Secondary School
Surveyors for the day
July 1, 2017Year 9 students went on an excursion to Curtin University. They were surveyors for the day. Students are pictured below absorb in the task.
New Year 7 Reps Announced
July 1, 2017Year 7 student reps announced this morning. Badges were presented to the students by Mrs Suzy Mettam. Congratulations to the following students:
Lauren Gallager
Thomas Parsons
Isabella Djordjovic
Jae Pradhan
Elouise Scott
Heath Lindup
Japan Exchange for Science Teacher
July 1, 2017It is such a privilege to represent St Stephens as an Exchange Teacher in Japan. I will be heading off to Tokyo in October where I will get the opportunity to teach in a Japanese secondary school and collaborate with Japanese teachers. Another important task would be to learn some of the culture and hopefully some of the language too. I will be visiting some visiting some iconic Japanese places.
This is a wonderful opportunity for me to engage my students in this cultural connection and I plan to do this by using my blog. I would welcome parents and students to be a part of this journey with me by logging onto my St Stephens Japanese Exchange blog where I will be sharing my stories, daily interactions, photos and fun features.
I look forward to this opportunity and hope that you will enjoy this journey with me.
Shannon Fletcher
Science Teacher
Maths Is The Future
June 29, 2017
The countdown is on until school holidays! The countdown is also on for our Year 9 Extension Mathematics students!
They have spent time over this term creating videos inspiring others as to why and how MATHS IS THE FUTURE. On Friday these videos become public and available for the country to vote on. Search for St Stephens and vote for your favourite.
Laura Manley
Head of Mathematics
Good luck to all the students!
C3 & C6 homerooms hit the beach
June 29, 2017For their service learning homerooms C3 and C6 went to the beach at Whitfords Nodes.
Community engagement pedagogies, often called “service learning,” are ones that combine learning goals and community service in ways that can enhance both student growth and the common good.
Quotes from a few of the students:
“I think service learning is a great idea and more people should do it.”
“What you take from the experience will stay with you for life.”
“Gave me more opportunity to be aware of what is going on in the community.”
Feathered Friends Visit
June 28, 2017Students played host to some ‘special visitors’ from the Museum of Natural History last week. Students studying art spent the afternoon sketching three types of feathery friends, a toucan, a peacock and a lorikeet.
The visit was arranged by Mr David Elsing.
