Year 9

Interesting Article of the Week

Please read

Currently students are learning about Personal Finance in Commerce, and producing a finance portfolio website throughout the term, setting themselves up, hopefully, for effective financial management later in life. Part of this course involves students getting jobs, saving for items and learning the value of money. The article this week makes an interesting read, as the author states that all teenagers from the age of 15 should have a part time job to help them understand the value of money, regardless of socio-economic status.

Pastoral Care Program

This week students have begun looking at another of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens (Sean Covey), specifically, ‘Seek first to understand, then to be understood’ which is ultimately regarding how they can listen more effectively. These habits were introduced to the students in Yr 8 and I have attached a link to a preview of the book, if you are interested in further reading.

Social Awareness Program

Students have begun the second topic regarding addressing inequality in Australia, namely Inequality in Indigenous communities. They are currently getting to know the issue by researching factors such as how indigenous people often have a shorter life expectancy, higher rates of infant mortality and lower levels of education and employment.

NAPLAN

Yr 9 Students are expected to participate in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) to assess literacy and numeracy skills. Testing will take place on Tuesday 14 May (Language Conventions and Writing), Wednesday 15 May (Reading), and Thursday 16 May (Numeracy) from 11.05am to 2.35pm. On Friday 17 May students will have an opportunity to catch up any tests they missed. Students need to bring a school calculator on Thursday 16 May for the Numeracy Test part A that requires a calculator. Students will be provided a pencil to complete all tests. Further information about NAPLAN can be found in the NAPLAN parent information brochure. Following the tests, all parents across Australia will receive results in a common reporting format. It is important for you and your child to know that NAPLAN is not a pass/fail test. It simply looks at what level students are achieving in literacy and numeracy against National Standards and compared with student peers throughout Australia. More information is available on the National Assessment Program website.

Student Achievements

Great team work has resulted in 31 students from Yrs 9 and 10 taking out the metropolitan Science and Engineering Challenge 2019. The day involved students engaging in a number of challenging engineering problem solving tasks including: building a robotic hand, a bridge and tower to withstand earthquakes.  Congratulations to all involved and thank you to Ms Aroney and Mr Wrighter for their guidance and organisation.

STEAM USA Trip

2020 USA STEAM Tour: A fabulous new opportunity has been developed for students interested in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) subjects or career options, a STEAM USA trip in 2020. It is an educational tour of America’s flourishing technology epicentres, innovative art exhibitions, geological landscapes and man-made structures with strong curriculum and cross curricula links. The tour will be visiting Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Phoenix. The trip is targeted to Year 9, 10 and 11 students in 2020 (current Yrs 8, 9 and 10). The information brochure is available here. The information evening is on Monday 3 June 2019 at 6.00pm and to register interest in attending, please complete the quick survey via the students Redlands Google account (access is only available using a student Redlands account).

I hope you have a great week.

Ms Rebecca Mountain
Yr 9 Advisor
rmountain@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 6462