Year 8

Key Dates

Start of Term 3 – 13 July
AAS (Allwell) Testing – 14 July

Futurepreneurs Masterclass

A group of Yr 8 students attended the Futurepreneurs Masterclass held at Canva HQ, Surry Hills. This Masterclass offered an experiential learning framework that activated students’ entrepreneurial ‘DNA’, augmenting and amplifying classroom learning outcomes which built new capabilities for the future. Led by a trained Entropolis facilitator, Ms Tanya Price, students worked through 10 exciting challenges, simulating a real start-up journey, designed to develop creative problem solving, design thinking and pitching skills. Throughout the day, students collaborated with their peers, collected feedback on their ideas and built on their confidence and resilience as they presented their business concepts in a mock investor pitch to a live audience (Mr Corcoran, Ms Van de Peer, Mr Bentley, Ms Jansons, and Yr 8 parents). The concepts designed by our students demonstrated their sophistication as a group – mature and thoughtful, they excelled at this project.

Group Pitches

Group 1 – Elenor Blankenstein, Lachlan Green, Rory Howe, Sophie Yu
A company which utilises genetic engineering to produce higher yields in plants to reduce global hunger.

Group 2 – Jesse Forrest, Carolina Pedro Inacio, Hiro Phillips, Ruby Wood
Speak Up – Virtual public speaking coach that helps your voice to be heard.

Group 3 – Krishna Gupta, Liam Petersen Chloe Scamps, Stella Simpson-Morgan
Efficiency. Organisation. Productivity. Say hello to ‘Convenience Life’ – the all new software-app fusion which uses next generation artificial intelligence to provide sophisticated recommendations to aid the user with day-to-day decisions.

Group 4 – Michael Havryk, Alexander Smith, Millie Winton
Helping the world connect through support – an app which focuses on mental health (primarily anxiety and depression) and the avenues to self-support and reaching out to external sources.

Group 5 – Betti Butcher, Amynta Field, Remy Pascoe, Thomas Whitney
To let people express themselves without feeling guilty and pave a way for a sustainable future – a clothing brand which creates ethical and environmentally friendly clothes which are still affordable and trendy.

Group 6 – Fede Gazilli, Charlotte Humphreys, Daniel Koppers, Emma Morris
Mental Health is quite a problem, lets come together and let’s solve it together – an app which assists with mental health through the means of music and meditation (music ‘made for you’).

Group 7 – Zoe Halliday, Syrah Hargrave, Maria Monsees, Alexia Van Der Merwe
Our chance at Planet B – creation of a website which is a central hub for all environmental concerns. There are various eco-friendly hotels, clothing brands, education awareness, online social media posts, donations and organisation of events.

Group 8 – Remie Gibbs, Charlie Gordon, Ruby Holgate, Sonia Polok, Nick Tebbutt
An online app for people to learn new skills in an affordable and collaborative way.

Group 9 – Eliza Draper, Benjamin Hanning, Thea Scown, Jules Stewart
An APP to help individuals who have high functioning Autism.

Group 10 – Soleil Burmeister, Imogen Jeffery-Bilich, Ayden Shaw, Cameron Simpson
To utilise the power of the future” – to empower and support your everyday life through the manufacturing of a solar efficient car.

WINNERS: Jesse Forrest, Carolina Pedro Inacio, Hiro Phillips, Ruby Wood

“We designed a start-up product called “Speak Up!”. The product would be a mobile app that coached you on public speaking. After inputting your script and a video of you delivering your speech, the artificial intelligence and facial recognition software would analyse the speech and give you tips on how to improve it. Our team identified the target audience, defined the features and benefits, created a working business model with revenue streams with cross-sell and upsell options, and wrote a mission statement, then pitched it all to mock investors at Canva.”

Jesse Forrest

NSW CIS XC Carnival

The NSW CIS XC carnival was held at the Sydney Motorsports Park, Eastern Creek on Thursday 10 June. The conditions were tough – running in 5-degree weather and rain, which made the course muddy and slippery. 

Congratulations to Daniel Koppers and Max Perry who placed 22^nd and 36^th respectively. What a wonderful achievement!

ICAS Science 

The 2021 International Competition and Assessment for Schools (ICAS) in Science will take place on Monday 23 August in school. This competition is undertaken by over 400,000 students across Australia and the region and is a rigorous test of scientific thinking. Participation in the competition provides our students with excellent examination practice and an opportunity to see how they fare in competition with students of their own age from across the country. Students who are interested in Science can use the test to assess areas of strength and weakness. Success at the test is a way of demonstrating aptitude when applying for Science related opportunities in and out of school.

Entry for students in Yrs 7-10 is voluntary. Please complete the ICAS registration form here Registration for ICAS before Monday 26 July if you would like them to take part. (Please note earlier registration date.) A fee of $16 will be charged to your account if you wish your child to participate. Read more information about ICAS.

AAS Testing 14 July

On Wednesday 14 July, all Yr 8 students are asked to bring their scientific calculators and a black or blue pen as they sit a half day of testing provided by Academic Assessment Services during periods 1-4. As independent consultants, AAS specialise in the assessment and analysis of educational performance and progress with literacy and numeracy. Their team of professionals include measurement and curriculum experts, education experts and teachers who will provide guidance in the development of strategic action plans for each student.

Pastoral Dodgeball Competition

In Pastoral Care this week, Yr 8 has created a dodgeball tournament between each tutor class. All students have been eager and enthusiastic in their participation of this student led activity. The Cowper Yellow team smashed the Cowper Blue players, leaving three players left and fighting to stay in the competition. Dumolo Red won by only one point whilst the spectators were sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for that final buzzer. McDouall Blue won with an outstanding headshot against McDuoall Green. Roseby Red had a quite reasonable run throughout the majority of the game but however, Roseby White came through to win the game. We look forward to the semi-finals.

Clara Blackstock and Ava Mills.

Ms Lisa Vale
Yr 8 Advisor
9968 9837
lvale@redlands.nsw.edu.au