Chifley College Bulletin
Week 9 Term 2
A Journey
Narelle Trist, from Mt Druitt Campus, completed a lengthy journey from HSC student, to parent of students attending the previous Mt Druitt High School and onto the AEO at Chifley College at the end of this term. Her time at Mt Druitt Campus was celebrated with the opening of a room celebrating Indigenous culture. It was attended by community members, AECG, Principals and AEOs from across the College and local primary schools, past students and special guests - Narelle's family and was a fitting testament to Narelle's contribution to our students. Narelle will be taking up a position at Noumea Public in the new term.
Language Enrichment Day
French, Spanish and Italian languages were explored by students from Bidwill, Mt Druitt and Shalvey Campuses and led by Senior Campus language students in the annual Extension Language Day. Language teachers from Shalvey and Senior Campus developed activities that challenged students' oral, written and cultural knowledge and skills. Successful as always, the day motivated students to step outside their comfort zones and try the range of languages.
Thanks must go to the facilitating teachers: Dona Issa, Nella Perovich (Senior Campus) and xxxx (Shalvey Campus) who provided students with a rich day of learning and enjoyment.
A NIGHT OF PURE MADNESS!
On Thursday the 13th June, 2013, nine students from Standard English were fortunate enough to travel by College bus to NIDA to see a fabulous production of their prescribed text Cosi by Louis Nowra. The play, set in a mental institution in 1971, challenges the audience to question how the mentally ill are treated by society. Despite its serious messages, Cosi is filled with comical scenes that were handled beautifully by an incredibly talented cast. Chifley students were very fortunate as this was supposed to be a ‘friends and family only’ event. For our students, they were visually treated to not only a set design that was beyond compare, but 2nd Year NIDA students showing us they will be on our screens in the near future. Look out Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, there’s some new talent in town. As luck would have it, our students just happened to be in the foyer at the end of the production when the cast arrived. A brilliant end to a sensational night! The cast spoke with Chifley students about the performance and we even grabbed a photo opportunity. The photo says it all… smiles from ear to ear as we met a cast who delivered the best performance of this play this College has ever experienced. Our personal thanks to Julia Selby from NIDA who went out of her way to make this happen for us. The students who were in attendance are now able to understand this text and, as a consequence, should be able to write about it with much more depth in their HSC. A night of learning, laughter and complete madness…
Mathematics Enrichment Day
Problem solving tasks challenged students to explore maths in context at the Mathematics Enrichment Day held at the Senior Campus last week. There was a fantastic hum of on task conversation as students from Dunheved, Mt Druitt, Bidwill and Shalvey junior campuses worked in collaborative teams to meet a range of challenges. Congratulations to the Suzie Berry who organised and to the staff who facilitated yet another excellent enrichment day.
Shakespeare at the Library
In a great Enrichment Activity organised by Librarians across the College, a group of 30 Stage 4 students caught the train into the city to participate in the Shakespearean Workshop run by the State Library. The students from Bidwill and Mt Druitt Campuses were given Ipads with a PowerPoint template and challenged to complete a presentation of their day's activities as they moved through the State Library. They explored the world of Shakespeare whilst sitting in a room representative of his time in history. Later, they had the opportunity to look at the collection of the State Library including the largest and smallest books in their collection, artefacts of our past and the underground stacks. All students agreed that the day was of great value. Only one had been to the State Library and one student had not travelled by train prior to the event. These experiences are part of the hidden curriculum that make our enrichment tasks so important to our students learning opportunities.
Keep an eye out for the next Enrichment Activity organised around the visit by author Phillip Gwynne in August talking about "How somebody who grew up in a house that had no books ended up writing them for a living - From Footballer to Writer: a Bloke's Journey". Students will work across a range of activities with Phillip, design animations and explore the online resources of the State Library.
Enticing Exemplary English Enthusiasts.
Congratulations from the Senior Campus English Faculty to the 65 English students who were invited by their teachers to lunch on Thursday 20th June. The recognition of students in English who have attended 95% of their English classes and try their personal best in English is an event we are planning to repeat. It was sensational to see how many of were invited. To those who just missed out, we hope to see you next time. The food was awesome and, if we do say so ourselves, you can never spend too much time with your English teachers! Congratulations to you all.