Head of Junior School Junior School
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Mr Mark Hackett Head of Junior School
008 has been an extremely busy year! The decision to move Year 7 to the Middle School created a number of extra events to accommodate this transition. In essence, it necessitated duplication of all the events that traditionally occur in the last year of Junior School for both the Year 6 and 7 classes.
It has also been a year tinged with sadness after the passing of our beloved Chaplain Father Michael McMahon in July. His guidance and influence on the students, staff and community was immense and he is dearly missed.
Interactive whiteboards are a valuable tool and next year every classroom will have one. Many boys are visual learners and they enjoy the variety of programs an interactive board can present and facilitate. Boys are generally very tactile and relate well to hands on activities, particularly those presented in the Technology and Enterprise (T & E) learning area. Open ended tasks that allow students to be creative often result in unique designs and this was very evident when, in T & E, budding young engineers built bridges or marble timers of various shapes and sizes. Teachers have been focusing on giving tasks with broad parameters, giving them an insight into the various learning styles of their students and how they can best accommodate the specific learning needs within the classroom environment.
Although it has been a very demanding year I am pleased to report that the Junior School has continued to flourish spiritually, academically, in music and arts as well as on the sporting field.
Performing Arts The Junior School has excelled in the performing arts this year. We are very much indebted for the wonderful work done by Ms Ruth Bott and Mrs Elizabeth Leith. Ruth has a special rapport with her students and this is evident in the way the students perform. The Junior School Dance group, Boys in Groove aka ‘BIG’, once again won the Primary Dance Section in the Catholic Performing Arts Festival.
Curriculum Engaging children in the learning process is the key to student satisfaction and development. It also creates a successful and positive classroom environment. In literacy, our RAISe Literacy program has continued to engage our boys because we have seen a significant improvement in spelling, comprehension and reading results. Activities such as Book Club have captured the interest of most students and helped develop a greater desire to read and, subsequently, improved levels of comprehension.
Ruth left us this year to take on the important role of motherhood. Her special talents will be greatly missed although the solid foundation she has laid in dance at the College has given us an excellent program to build upon. Mrs Elizabeth Leith has also been able to impart her vast knowledge to her students and produced three choirs of excellent quality, with two of them achieving honourable mentions at the Catholic Performing Arts Festival. Elizabeth also managed to mould a diverse range of students and instruments into a band which also achieved an honourable mention at the festival.
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