ISSUE 29, May 2015

COOKS HILL CAMPUS http://www.cookshill-s.schools.nsw.edu.au

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Advisory Reports Sport Report NAPLAN Information

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

TERM 2 WEEK 4

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

Tracey’s Talk

“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.”

― Brené Brown It is the BEGINNING of another term of learning here at CHC. We are certainly con-tinuing to learn from all elements of our community. In Big Picture learning we talk about the ‘I’, the ‘you and me’ and the ‘we’. This culminates in our learning com-munity and leaves our small grounds out into the community through our intern-ships. To capture the essence of what we stand for, we continually come back to these areas within our 12 distinguishers. Students just completed their second round of exhibitions. It is refreshing to see how smoothly they approached this element of the design a second time around. Students have really taken on the idea of per-sonal qualities and can talk very deeply about what they are learning about them-selves. How do they manage their time? Did they have to rush to complete their full Learning Plan? How are they at setting their own deadlines? What did they learn from their mentors? It is encouraging to see them really reflecting on their learning. Term Two Learning plan meetings will be happening in a more rigorous way with parents. You will be invited into Advisory to discuss the plan with your child and their advisor. These meetings will not last longer than about an hour. It is an hon-our to be a part of your child’s learning journey.

Tracey Breese - Campus Leader

From Darren’s Desk

Welcome back to Term 2.

This term is set to be even more exciting than last term. Our Pioneers will continue to travel along the path of their learning journey here at Cooks Hill Campus, developing a deeper knowledge in an area of their interest. To aid in the development of this deeper understanding, students will be required to organise the research they conduct around their project’s ‘essential question’ into a research report. In theory this shouldn’t be a task in addition to their project work, but more a matter of formalising the process of their research into a coherent and struc-tured report of the project. The writing that forms this report can then be used by the student as speech notes for their exhibition, for their portfolio and for their term narrative. It will also help our advisors to assess how well the student is meeting their English outcomes (as set by the NSW Board of Studies). Our Explorers have spent Term 1 learning how to complete a project (through the completion of the Who Am I project) and are now planning and developing their own project based around an area of interest to them. Where possible, this project can also be their LTI project, a project developed with their LTI mentor that develops the student’s knowledge and assists the business or organisation in some way. One way parents can assist in the project development process is to attend a LEARNING PLAN MEETING with their child’s advisor. These are being held now during learning session times and are a vital part of developing your child’s learning plan for Term 2. It is requested that all parents make contact with their child’s advisor to arrange a learning plan meeting. As we say in Big Pic-ture: parents are enrolled too. These meetings also allow parents to see how learning occurs here at campus. As you know, Learning Through Internship is a key part of the Big Picture design for learning, and students are expected to be actively seeking an information interview, shadow day or intern-ship. Students who are absent on Tuesdays at a workplace are required to have the workplace mentor complete an attendance record, which the student then shows to their advisor on a Wednesday so that their attendance on Sentral can be changed from Unjustified to School Business. Students who cannot prove that they were at a workplace will be marked as Unjusti-fied and this absence will also be reported on their end of term narrative from their advisor. As such, Parents are encouraged to remind their child to have the attendance record signed by the workplace mentor and shown to their advisor to accurately amend their attendance. Finally, this will be my final “Darren’s Desk” report as, in Week 5, Darren Ponman will be returning from injury to resume his role as Deputy Campus Leader. I’d like to thank Darren for his guid-ance so far this year, Tracey for her assistance in helping me to come to terms with the responsi-bilities of this role, Aurelia for acting as my 2IC when I’ve been in the big chair, and all of the ad-visors for their support and patience with me. I cannot forget to thank Ros, who does a marvel-lous job as the nerve centre of our campus: her assistance has been essential. I’d like to make a special mention of Phelissitie Milgate who has been looking after The Linchpins for me while I’ve been relieving as DCL.  

Brendt Evenden - Deputy Campus Leader (Relieving)

The Lair By Patrick Gallagher The beginning of Term 3 has been a successful one. On the very first day of term, most of us immediately started ploughing through our work. This term is the first time that we’ve been able to create and complete our very own PIP (Personal Interest Project). I’ve written a list below as to what our class-members are doing as their Term 2 PIP: Antjuan Trainer - A Guide to Gaming Patrick Gallagher - ‘Friends Of Judy’ Magazine. (Judy Garland Fan-Magazine) Josh McLeod - The Design & History of a Gaming Weapon (Created & Designed by Josh) Finn North - A Sound System for his Car Lily Taylor – An Interactive Fishing Map Taylor Scott – A Digital and Interactive Resource on Ayurveda and Breathing Exercises Mia Bench - Recording (Music) Sommer Crouch - Creating a Bass Guitar Baylee Fittler - TBA Katie Unwin - Creating a Loki-Sceptre (from the Thor movie) Samantha Oswald – Health and Fitness Plan Mia Smedley – Health and Fitness Plan Mia Watts – Fashion Design Portfolio Gabby Carter - TBA Emily Crawford - Creating a Sports Game Jed White - TBA Mel McLeod – Fashion Design and Textiles Jessica Howley – Writing a Novel Emerson Sewell- Writing a Novel with illustrations As I sit here looking at my peers working, it’s clear to see the improvements made, and the fulfilment of the goals set at the end of last term. It’s amazing to see the quantity and quality of work produced in only two (and a bit) weeks! It’s equally as nice to see everyone going out on their LTI. Some of us are working on the Design/Editing Team for the September Big Picture Conference during LTI. For example, I have been made editor for a documentary that is going to be featured during the Conference, A Day In the Life Of… (A Big Picture Student). One of our peers, Katie Un-win did an LTI block during Week 2 at ‘Fletcher Veterinary Clinic’, working with animals. “It was really awesome,” Katie said.

OHANA By Jessica Brent This term, Ohana gained two new members to our advisory, Uma and Corey. After the broken up first week due to the storm, on Thursday we all went walking down Laman Street to investigate the damage that the storm had caused to our local community. We watched as they lifted trees with cranes and chopped them all up with chainsaws and ma-chines. This linked into the year 9 Geography work: seeing firsthand the destruction caused by natural disasters. We all had to take a picture of at least one thing we found interesting.

After this, we continued to walk past the library and art gallery, and had a synonymous vote to continue down to Darby Street and get drinks and refreshments at the Three Monkeys Café. We had to use our social etiquette when we realised the café didn’t split the bill, so Jess used her card to pay and everyone else rounded to the nearest dollar to pay her back. We were all very sur-prised at some of damage and were very pleased to have a break and refresh ourselves for the last session. We all agreed that it would be good to have a pick-me-up on Wednesdays, halfway through the week, to refresh us and keep us engaged and working hard for the rest of the week. It’s also something great to look forward to on Monday and Tuesday. We plan to do a hot chocolate or coffee drive: make hot chocolate and sell them to the other advisories to fund our coffee machine and it keep it maintained and stocked.

Sasha’s Advisory By Brittany Ayres Welcome back to school everyone, I hope you had a good break. It has been a disruptive start to the term, with the major storms and all that came along with that so we have struggled to settle in with the new term. Now that all problems are resolved we are getting on with this term’s work. Although the expectations this term have been set to a higher level, we all believe that if we work our hardest we can achieve that. For all new students in Sasha's advisory we will be doing our first ever personal interest project. As a new student myself, I am nervous and confused but starting to under-stand the design process which will guide me along the way. I feel that this will be the most exciting thing I will do at Cooks Hill Campus and I will have the opportunity to ex-plore my interests further. This term seems positive and the vibe of all students has shown the commitment, motiva-tion and the approach that we have to our learning so this term will be a successful one. In Sasha's advisory we are continuing to work as a team, supporting each other along the way. It has proven that having this environment is encouraging and motivating. So that’s all from the best advisory! (I mean Sasha's advisory)

The Linchpins By Shine Jones-Britt & Lauren Burnley On Tuesday 5th of May, 20 students from Cooks Hill Campus went to Noah’s Re-treat. Noah’s Retreat is an animal refuge which is owned by John. Noah’s is on a 5 acre block of land and has a range of animals including; alpaca’s, mini horses, dogs and birds. 2 students from Cooks Hill Campus organised the trip to Noah’s Retreat after they had been notified that Noah’s Retreat had many trees down and plenty of storm damage had been done to the proper-ty. The 2 girls; Lauryn and Cheyenne, from The Linchpin’s advisory, had gone around to all the classes in the school and asked for volunteers. After an hour of asking for volunteers, the 2 girls had another 20 people to go with them. The students were at Noah’s from 9am to Midday. For the first half an hour the students were free to look around at the animals and meet the other volun-teers. The students were given activities to undertake while at Noah’s, ranging from; pulling out weeds to taking branches out to the roadside. The students were split into 2 groups, one group loading a trailer full of branches to take to the roadside

and another group to pick up; sticks, leaves and branches to fill a ravine. After a day of hard work, the students sat down to some healthy fruit. Once they finished their lunch they were dismissed from the property and headed back to school. “I think I pulled a muscle in my back,” said Lauryn, “from all that raking.”

The Wolf Pack Den Last Friday Riley, Kirra and Lara went to the NHS athletic carnival. Our colour scheme was rainbow and black. Riley entered in Javelin. Kirra went in 5 events and Lara didn’t com-pete. Congratulations to Kirra who placed 2nd in 400m.

RFPs Welcome our newest edition to the Room Full of People’s family, Ashleigh. We are happy that everybody was safe and not too much damage occurred during the storms for our families and campus. Rhiannon had a challenge to find high ground for her beautiful horse, Handsome. Tiana’s horse, Lilli, was very lucky not to be squashed by a falling gum tree. Our windows in the class are a little looser but all is safe except for the telephones and a slight scare with the toilets. We loved seeing our classmate Josh in the Newcastle Herald: he really is a giving, humble human being. Mackenzie, Bethany and Brittany volunteered (along with other students from our campus) on Tuesday at Noah’s Retreat to help clean up after the storm. Teams raked walkways and waterways and cleared debris around the site. It was a great day to give back to the community. Congratulations to Cassidy for getting an internship at Brunker Road Veterinary Centre for Term 2.

SHOUT OUT:

Kate Grant’s panel pack for each member at her term 1 exhibi-tion showcased her passion for film. Very creative and informa-tive. She included her agenda, narrative, book review and biog-raphy on Sir Isaac Newton.

The Zen Pen Students in the Zen pen have commenced the blended learning program called SNAC which gives real world aspects of education. Here are some of the thoughts from students in the Zen Pen. “SNAC is simple and it helps ya!” – Jack “(shakes head)” – Chelsea “It’s a combination of everyone’s needs!” – Zac ”It gives you fewer assignments.” – Paige “It’s good.” – Alex “SNAC is a very interesting and a cool way of doing work in a very simplified way!” – Connor “It’s the best course.” – Sam Bam “It makes my work load lighter!” – Georgia

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C allipygous With SNAC, everyone’s looking up.

From Dave’s Shed Sport: Sport this term has begun and students had to think about their sport choices as demonstrated by Claudia and Holly. The sports that were most popular were: Netball Music Walking Yoga

David’s Workshop: A reminder to ALL students wishing to make a practical project this term to come and see David to discuss their project needs. Some of the JEWELLERY materials and equip-ment has arrived so time to come and be creative!

SNAC Program: It is fantastic to see many Y11 students embracing the blended learning concept that we have developed in the SNAC program. Seeing students engaged in the task and working in groups on real world projects that are authentic has been exciting. Well done Y11!

Boxing Boxing with Darren Fleming continues this term. The one hour sessions run every Friday during session 2 and all students are encour-aged to participate in at least one session per term. Darren has given extremely positive feedback about our students and we are very thankful to Darren for coming in every week and running this program.

19April 2015

Cooks Hill Campus, Newcastle, NSW

Cooks Hill Campus, an annexe of Newcastle High School, opened at the start of 2014. This NSW public school campus was the fi rst

site in NSW to be established wholly on the Big Picture Education Australia model. In 2015, Big Picture Education is celebrating 10 years of operation in Australia.

Passions and Projects

Our campus in Newcastle CBD has this year expanded to 136 students ranging from Year 9 to 11. We are a public school that is committed to delivering a diff erent style of learning, in a small school setting. The Cooks Hill Campus curriculum is based on self-directed, project-based learning. The campus environment fosters adult learning opportunities.

The Big Picture model encourages all students to explore their unique interests, passions and abilities and be active in designing their own individual learning plans based around developing those areas.

Each student’s style of learning is unique, so each student (with their advisor and parents) develops a learning plan that explores their interests and passions, identifi es personal learning goals as well as curriculum requirements. The project–based learning model of educating is embedded in each curriculum area, as well as students having the opportunity

to complete PIPs: personal interest projects that “are our own interests that we research and create a whole project around”. (Cheyenne, Year 10 student)

Learning looks diff erent at Cooks Hill Campus, as students meet with their advisors at the start of each day and, with their planner, note the tasks they need to concentrate on for the day.

“It’s diff erent here because you plan out your own day and you’re not given a timetable to go off ; you have your own time to do things even though they have due dates. You don’t have to do certain things at certain times,” said Cheyenne, a Year 10 student with a wide variety of interests and passions.

At the moment, Cheyenne’s Internship placement is with an automotive business, as she is exploring her interest in mechanics. When asked what she has found to be the best part of the fl exible learning delivery, she said: “My best part of the learning here is – if you feel the need you can have some down time and still get work done eg reading.”

Instead of exams, students showcase their learning at the end of each term through presenting an exhibition of their work to their fellow peers, advisor, mentors, parents and other invited guests of the student.

Learning Through InternshipsThe idea of Leaving to Learn is far more than a work experience program. At Big Picture we believe that learning can happen anywhere, not just inside classroom walls.

In a Big Picture internship, students spend a day a week within a community organisation or business of their choosing to become an active member of their team. Internships usually run over the school term or longer, which allows students to experience more aspects of their work and make strong connections with an adult with similar interests, called a mentor.

“Through the Internship opportunities to work in an interest once a week, I have discovered what I really want to do,” said Georgia, a Year 11 student with an interest in childcare and dance. “I am now teaching dance at a Primary School for an LTI (Learning Through Internship) and love every second of it! Without CHC I couldn’t have done this!”

Under the direction of a mentor, students produce meaningful work at their placements in the form of a project. Students and their mentor within the organisation design a project around their passion, one which will give the student skills and also contribute something

One student at a time,

in a community of learners

Connect 212:20

D u r i n g each Internship p l a c e m e n t , s t u d e n t s become more aware of the r e q u i r e m e n t s of the world of work, as they are exposed to the discipline of learning new

skills in a real-world environment. This, in turn, gives a real sense of purpose to their school work – to be able to make the connection between their learning and future pathways. I have received such positive feedback from mentors who experience teaching their craft to a young person with shared enthusiasm.

We are an open and welcoming school and invite any interested community members to get involved in our school.

Amanda HineLTI Coordinator

www.cookshill-s.schools.nsw.edu.auAmanda.Hine3@det.nsw.edu.au

helpful back to the organisation or business. They present their LTI project at school as evidence of their learning.

Project work is designed to foster broad learning as well as their vocational skills. The Internship is integrated with the student’s learning goals and school-based study.

When speaking about being able to follow her passions within her learning, Tayla, a Year 11 student said: “The only thing you’re not allowed to do here is nothing”.

More of what the students have to say...

“You are in charge of your own learning.”

“Instead of going to classes every lesson, I can work alone and concentrate.”

“I can work now, instead of teachers forcing me to do the work.”

“CHC helps achieve my goals because I never knew what I wanted to do work-wise, but CHC allows me to try out different career paths through Internship.”

“CHC helps provide better learning through learning about our own interest.”

“CHC is allowing me to do my Certificate 3 in Child Care; I can study Year 11 at the same time.”

“You have your own personal space; you can decorate your own area and you don’t move around classes which is good, because being in the same class all the time gives you the time to get to know the students you’re in a class with and the teacher (or advisor) personally.”

“I have been given opportunities like Internship and Personal Interest Projects to research and try out what I like.”

“I like knowing that, during school, I can explore interests that I haven’t found yet.”

SHOUT OUT to all the SES workers, Ausgrid workers and people who helped oth-ers out during the recent storm.

KATE GRANT - Student Chief Editor

PATRICK GALLAGHER - The Lair

JESSICA BRENT - Ohana

BRITTANY AYRES - Sasha’s Advisory

LAUREN BURNLEY & SHINE JONES-BRITT - The Linchpins

RILEY O’DONNELL - The Wolf Pack

OTHERS

BRENDT EVENDEN - Staff Chief Editor